Now that summer temperatures are here in northern Illinois, ComEd is ready to maintain strong reliability thanks to smart grid investments that have cut the number of customer outages by roughly half. ComEd’s energy efficiency programs also give customers the power to stay cool while controlling their energy usage. ComEd customers in 2018 enjoyed 45 percent fewer outages on average since the company started its smart grid investments in 2012. Additionally, customers saw record reliability last year in the city of Chicago, where overall reliability improved 70 percent. Since 2012, ComEd has avoided more than 11 million customer interruptions due in part to smart grid and system improvements. These include distribution automation or digital “smart switches” that automatically reroute power around potential problem areas. In addition, ComEd offers programs that incent customers to reduce energy use on days of peak demand. More than 301,000 customers are enrolled in ComEd’s Peak Time Savings program, providing 36 megawatts of demand response. ComEd customers have saved a total of $4 billion on their electricity bills since the company introduced its program to help families and businesses save money and energy in 2008. That’s the equivalent of approximately $1,000 for each of ComEd’s 4 million customers.