Learn more about the ComEd Beneficial Electrification Plan Pilots.
The Final Order in ComEd’s Beneficial Electrification Plan (“BE Plan”) proceeding, Illinois Commerce Commission (“Commission” or “ICC”) Docket Nos.22-0432 and 22-0442, Cons., dated March 23, 2023, and Amended May 8, 2023 (“Final Order”), specifies a budget of $77 million annually over the three-year period of the BE Plan, 2023 through 2025. Of this $77 million total, the Commission allocated $5 million annually to implement eight pilot programs, referred to collectively as the Beneficial Electrification (BE) Pilots.
ComEd’s first BE Plan (BE Plan 1) runs from 2023-2025. Following approval of the final order, ComEd developed a process for selecting and scoring pilot ideas, which was shared with stakeholders in July 2023. ComEd then sought input from stakeholders on pilot design through an RFQ process in November 2023. This input was incorporated into the final pilot design, shared with stakeholders through 1-pager documents in April, 2024. Pilot vendors were selected via a competitive RFP process which began in March 2024 and concluded between July 2024 and March 2025, depending on the pilot. Finally, pilots began implementation during the period beginning in November 2024 and concluding December 2025.
Interested parties may keep informed of opportunities to submit input and ideas in support of future BE Pilots by monitoring this webpage or signing up to join our mailing list to receive updates, by completing the form on the Keep in Touch page.
This update provides the latest information on the scope, vendors, anticipated launch and close dates, and the status of the BE Pilots.
| Project | Lead Vendor/Partners | Project Type | Customer Segment | Pilot In Field Start Date | Pilot In Field End Date | Status Update |
Air Quality Monitoring A collective of academic researchers and air quality experts will collect hyperlocal granular air quality readings in select EIEC neighborhoods across the city of Chicago. Target locations for this pilot include Pilsen, Little Village, and the Southeast side of Chicago. Monitoring will run throughout 2025 with data being accessible on a monthly basis. The goal is to identify where the need for electrification is greatest and where to prioritize investments to improve public health and quality of life. | Lead Vendor: RHP Risk Partners: Aclima, Clarity, Purple Air, UIC, UIUC, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Southeast Environmental Taskforce, Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization, Alliance of the Southeast | Field Tests & Demonstrations | Crosscutting | February 2025 | December 2025 | The team is finalizing the study design, including the EM&V plan and key research questions. The team continued collaboration with community partnerships to plan workshops and recruit residents for indoor air monitoring via partner organizations. To address the challenge of sensor placement in locations to minimize the likelihood of damage and or vandalism, we will be using city light poles for mounted sensors. Placement will be informed by mid-campaign snapshot data, as well as community partner input. This approach will also enable collection of pollutant data at the street level. |
Backup Power Capabilities The objective of this pilot is to conduct comprehensive market research and analysis to study technologies that enable the use of an EV’s bi-directional capabilities, such as vehicle-to-grid technology, to evaluate their readiness for adoption. | Lead Vendors: Escalent, Walker Miller Partner: ICF | Market Characterization | Crosscutting | May 2025 | December 2025 | The pilot focuses on three key areas. Activities related to market analysis and consumer behavior, and environmental and social impact study began in May 2025. We are currently in the contracting phase for the third focus area—technical study. |
Curbside Charging Demonstrate a modular and scalable curbside charging model that practically addresses gaps in electric vehicle charger access while optimizing cost, efficiency, and grid operation. The pilot also aims to develop best practices in equitable implementation, construction practices, and municipal collaboration. | Lead Vendors: HBK, MJ Electric, Electric Power Engineers | Scaled Field Demonstrations | Commercial and Industrial | June 2025 | December 2025 | Customer selection and site assessment is ongoing. Charger-related costs have been added to the scope to encourage more participation. In addition, enhanced customer advisory support services will be provided to help make charging decisions. |
Electric Vehicle Energy Management System (EV EMS) To test the ability of EV EMS software demand monitoring and load control technologies to regulate the capacity of an (L2) electric vehicle (EV) charger to ensure the maximum load of the EV supply equipment (EVSE) does not exceed the available capacity of the home’s main circuit panel. | Lead Vendor: WeaveGrid Partners: Emporia, SWTCH, Treehouse | Field Tests & Demonstrations | Residential Single Family Home, Residential Multi-Family Units | February 2025 (Residential) May 2025 (Multifamily) | October 2025 | Residential sites are currently in the data collection phase; one residential site has not yet begun participating due to permitting delays (anticipated to begin in June). Three multi-unit dwelling sites with a combined 15 L2 chargers have been recruited with data collection to begin in June. |
Residential Optimized Charging To examine the feasibility and incremental benefits of allowing customers to passively modify their level of charge by opting to allow the vendor/utility to actively manage their customer’s level of charge within a charging session to optimize demand savings and reduce grid impacts while ensuring the customer’s electric vehicle (EV) experience is not diminished. | Lead Vendor: Optiwatt Partners: Opinion Dynamics, Walker Miller | Field Test | Residential | February 2025 | September 2025 | Pre-pilot customer survey was completed and achieved a 74% completion rate with 847 responses out of 1,093 participants. Survey provided valuable insights into the participants’ profiles and their current EV charging habits. A follow-up survey will be conducted post-pilot to assess any changes in attitudes or behaviors. Pilot is currently in data collection/optimization phase through September. |
Rideshare To develop a carsharing program that provides EV access to low-income and EJ/R3 customers by addressing cost barriers and promoting familiarity. The pilot will place vehicles in transit-, work-, and residence-adjacent locations to enable households to own fewer cars while serving everyday transportation needs. | Lead Vendor: ZipCar | Scaled Field Demonstrations | Commercial and Industrial | March 2025 | December 2025 | The pilot has completed three car deployments. Cars have seen 24 reservations and an average utilization of 21.2%. Cars are now wrapped and back out for use. The pilot decided to expand potential site locations outside of EJ communities, if existing infrastructure exists. Zipcar continues to perform walkdowns. |
School Bus Vehicle-to-Grid To assess and demonstrate the viability of implementing vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology with electric school buses (ESBs) and showcase the technology’s potential to leverage ESBs as viable energy storage sources while achieving balance on the grid. | Lead Vendors: Resource Innovations, DNV Energy Insights Partners: Nuvve, Verdant | Field Tests & Demonstrations | Commercial and Industrial | May 2025 | November 2025 | The sites have been approved for interconnection, and the project team is working to onboard customers. Testing and data collection is slated to begin June 2025 and run till Q4 2025. Additionally, the first pilot stakeholder engagement survey is scheduled to be launched in mid Q2 2025. |
Submetering Understand and evaluate the feasibility of using the capabilities inherent in electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE) to act as a submeter for utility billing purposes, establishing a preferred set of standards and criteria to qualify chargers as submeters with sufficient accuracy for ComEd billing. | Lead Vendor: Resource Innovations | Market Characterization | Crosscutting | January 2025 | September 2025 | Recruitment, enrollment, and data collection device installation concluded for residential customers, with a second round of $75 incentives disbursed to these customers. All residential incentive disbursements are expected to complete in June. Commercial recruitment and enrollment is expected to complete soon. Data collection has begun for C&I customers. |
Visit the links below for more background on each of the eight pilots.
Air Quality Monitoring
Backup Power Capabilities
Curbside Charging
Electric Vehicle Energy Management System (EV EMS)
Residential Optimized Charging
Rideshare
School Bus Vehicle To Grid
Submetering
Pursuant to the Final Order, ComEd is required to determine an evaluation process and criteria for reviewing and scoring BE Pilot ideas and proposals. Id. at 87.
The BE Pilot Evaluation Process and Criteria document, linked below, outlines the process and criteria that will be used for pre-screening, reviewing requests for information (“RFIs”), reviewing requests for proposals (“RFPs”), and assessing BE Pilot success. More information on BE Pilots, as well as RFI information, will be posted here as it becomes available.
