Chicago ComEd Meter Issues

[Brett Babcock]

We manage a 105 unit 1927 vintage building that used to be a hotel (a long time ago). Since the building was new, there has only been one master meter for the whole building, and we include electricity in the rent. We are needing to upgrade our ComEd connection to get a higher load due to increased usage. ComEd is saying that in order for us to do that, each individual apartment must be metered separately. Does this sound right? In order for this to happen, we would have to install over a hundred meters, make wiring changes, and re-write all of our leases! I could find nothing in Chicago building codes, or in ComEd documentation that requires this.

Any suggestions?

[Mark Ainley]

@Brett Babcock we looked at a 50 unit building in Chicago (South Shore) in 2010 made up of mostly studio and 1 bedrooms and they was one one Peoples and one Comed meter.  There was some violations on the property that would have forced us to bring more amperage to the building and Comed told us too we would have to individual meters and it was a significant cost. We never bought the building but your issue is real. A couple years later I heard that Comed and various non for profits like CEDA offer grants each year to do upgrades like this but not sure if the grants exist anymore. 

There are subsiderary companies of Comed and People’s Gas that are set up to promote energy effeciency and that might be a place to start.  I know when we got larger buildings financed with CIC (Community Investment Corp) they made us do these energy audits so maybe calling CIC to start might work.