A ComEd bill does not have sixteen ways to get smaller. It has a few lines that move, a few that do not, and a long list of things that sound like levers and are not.
This page is the map. Each way below belongs to the line that owns it. The bill you already have is what tells you which of those lines you pay.
Compare the offer to the printed Price to Compare
The supply half is the half you can shop. ComEd prints an Electricity Supply Charge and a Transmission Services Charge. Added together they are the Price to Compare, the number every supplier offer is measured against.
How to reduce those two lines is the comparison itself: the offer's cents per kilowatt hour next to the printed number, for the same months, with any monthly fee counted the same way on both sides. An offer that beats the printed number is cheaper on these lines. An offer that only beats last year's number is not.
A supplier switch does not touch delivery. On a business bill the same two names print at different rates, and which half you can shop is the split that page is for.
The Purchased Electricity Adjustment rides on default supply. Switching suppliers removes that line. It is a credit about as often as a charge, so removing it is not automatically a saving.
Use fewer kilowatt hours
Several lines are priced on the kilowatt hours the meter delivered. Use less, and those lines fall together. That is one lever, not a separate trick for each rider.
On a home, the largest of them is usually the Distribution Facilities Charge, billed in cents per kilowatt hour. The Illinois electricity distribution tax and the state and municipal taxes move the same way. So do most of the small rider lines. None of those rates is yours to rewrite. The quantity is.
This is also why using less can make the cents-per-kilowatt-hour rate look worse. The customer charge and the metering charge stay put, so they get divided by a smaller number. The total can fall while the rate rises. The total is the one that matters.
Peak Time Savings credits already on the bill
If this month's bill printed a Peak Time Savings Event credit, that money is already earned. It is not a remaining lever on this bill.
Enrolling for later events is the remaining choice. Whether Peak Time Rebate is worth changing an afternoon for is the page that says who it pays and who it does not. The credit is measured against a baseline built from your own recent use, and a household that already runs a quiet afternoon has less to sell.
Cut the commercial demand charge
If the Distribution Facilities Charge is priced in dollars per kilowatt, it is a demand line. One thirty minute interval inside the weekday nine to six window sets it.
How to reduce that line is about that interval: shift it, stagger it, or shave it. Power drawn outside the window does not set the charge. On the standard commercial classes the number resets each month.
A home bill does not have this line. Residential delivery is billed on kilowatt hours. A battery sold as demand-charge savings on a house is selling a saving that line does not carry.
The customer charge and the metering charge do not move
The Customer Charge and the Standard Metering Charge are the cost of being connected, metered, and billed. On the residential bills reconciled on this site they are $15.50 and $3.87, $19.37 before any energy is used.
They cannot be avoided. A supplier does not remove them. Solar does not remove them. A battery does not remove them. Using less does not remove them.
What is not a way to reduce it
Hourly Pricing is not a way this page can stand behind. Whether a home would have paid less on hourly rates is a question about a full year of hours, including the summer hours that set capacity. A new connection to ComEd's interval data does not cover that year. This page does not treat hourly supply as a reduction.
A home battery cannot save demand dollars on residential delivery, because a home has no demand line.
Anything that needs interval data you do not have yet is not a lever on this page. The bill can name the lines. It cannot name the thirty minutes that set a commercial peak.
How do I reduce my ComEd bill?
Start with the lines you actually pay. Compare any supplier offer to the printed Price to Compare. Use fewer kilowatt hours if the large delivery lines are billed on energy. On a business, cut the peak that sets the demand charge. A Peak Time Savings credit that already printed is earned, not a remaining lever. The customer charge and the metering charge do not move.
Does switching electricity suppliers lower the whole bill?
No. It can change the supply half, measured against the printed Price to Compare. Delivery stays. On many commercial bills delivery is the larger half.
Can a home battery cut my ComEd demand charge?
No. A residential ComEd bill has no demand line. The Distribution Facilities Charge on a home is billed per kilowatt hour. A battery sold on demand-charge savings is selling a saving that bill does not carry.
Does ComEd Hourly Pricing reduce my bill?
This page cannot say that it does. The honest comparison needs a full year of your hours, and a new interval connection from ComEd does not cover that year. The supply page states the same limit and does not recommend hourly pricing.
Why does using less electricity make my rate look worse?
The customer charge and the metering charge stay the same. Divide them by fewer kilowatt hours and the cents-per-kilowatt-hour figure rises. The total can still fall. The total is the one that matters.