ComEd to make good for power failures

Unicom Corp. unit Commonwealth Edison Co., Chicago, Tuesday said it will automatically pay customers if it fails to live up to a commitment to reduce electric service interruptions, provide faster service restoration when outages do occur, and deliver better communication with customers and governmental bodies about service-related issues.

Developed in partnership with the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and the city of Chicago, ComEd pledged to automatically pay business and residential customers whose service has been interrupted as a result of utility-controlled circumstances. Customers have to do nothing to participate. Payments will automatically be disbursed within 30 days and do not require an additional call from the customer.

Under the plan, qualifying residential and business customers will receive about the average of 1 month's electric service for each outage that exceeds 8 hr or if they experience three or more outages, each of four or more hours in length, during a 2-month period. Business customers will receive a $100 credit on their account balance, while residential customers will receive a check for $60 for each qualified outage. Customers whose service is interrupted for 12 hr will receive a monthly credit, and subsequent 12-hr outages will result in an additional monthly credit for every outage incident.