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Read your electric bill, line by line

Every charge rebuilt and traced to the filed tariff, down to the block of eight or nine rider lines most people never read, and the questions the bill cannot answer, named. A ComEd bill is read to the cent today. Any other electric bill is read as far as the reader can take it, and it says so where it cannot.

It must be the PDF from your utility, not a photo or a scan: a picture of a bill has no text in it for us to read. On ComEd.com it is under Billing, then bill history, then download. On a phone, download that same PDF and upload the file.

Read once, never stored, nothing sold. A layout our reader cannot handle is read once by our AI provider and discarded the same way. Privacy notice.

SampleA ComEd business bill built around a real demand line, with the other lines invented so they add up, and not yours.

Commercial ComEd bill / Retail Delivery Service - 0 to 100 kW

What a bill like yours proves

Apr 2, 2026 to Apr 30, 2026 (29 days)

13 lines read, 9 recompute to the cent from their own printed rate, 1 checked against filed records (ComEd filed ratebook).

All 13 charge lines, read, and they add up to $2,497.81

ChargeQuantityRateAmountFiled
Supply
Electricity Supply ChargePrice to compare18,000 kWh$0.07474$1,345.32
Transmission Services ChargePrice to compare18,000 kWh$0.01310$235.80
Delivery
Customer ChargeDoes not move$24.79
Standard Metering ChargeDoes not move$18.44
Distribution Facility ChargeBilled on the peak46.2 kW$12.93/kW$597.37$12.93/kW filed ratebook
IL Electricity Distribution Charge18,000 kWh$0.00128$23.04
Taxes, fees and credits
Environmental Cost Recovery Adj18,000 kWh$0.00009$1.62
Renewable Portfolio Standard18,000 kWh$0.00516$92.88
Zero Emission Standard18,000 kWh$0.00087$15.66
Energy Efficiency Programs18,000 kWh$0.00369$66.42
Energy Transition Assistance18,000 kWh$0.00084$15.12
Municipal Utility Tax$47.35
State Electricity Excise Tax$14.00
Total$2,497.81

Every rate here is filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission and is the same for everyone on this rate. Every line on a ComEd bill, explained.

Every line on your bill was extracted and re-added. The computed total matches the Service Period Total ComEd printed, which is how you know nothing was missed or misread.

How, and the source
How
sum of 13 line items = $2,497.81 = printed total
Source
Your bill, charge details section

What this bill settles

Your demand charge of $597.37 reconciles to the cent

We rebuilt this charge from ComEd's filed ratebook -- the base rate plus every rider and adjustment factor that applies to Small Load at Secondary voltage in 2026 -- and got the same number your bill shows. This is the charge verified against the filed tariff, not an estimate.

How, and the source
How
46.2 kW x $12.93/kW = $597.37 (base $12.50/kW before riders)
Source
ComEd filed ratebook, 2026; reconciled against your bill

You are on ComEd's Small Load delivery class

We did not guess this from your peak kW. We rebuilt every rate class we hold and found the one whose rate matches the rate printed on your bill. We do not hold ComEd's rules for which class a customer belongs in, so this is the class you are billed on, not a check that it is the right one.

How, and the source
How
printed $12.93/kW matches Small Load
Source
ComEd filed ratebook, matched to your bill

Also on this bill

Supply $1,581.12 / Delivery $663.64 / Taxes, fees and credits $253.05

What you paid to buy the electricity, what you paid to have it delivered, and what you paid in taxes, fees and credits. Each section was re-added against its own printed subtotal.

How, and the source
How
Supply: lines sum to $1,581.12 vs printed $1,581.12; Delivery: lines sum to $663.64 vs printed $663.64; Taxes, fees and credits: lines sum to $253.05 vs printed $253.05
Source
Your bill, charge details section

The demand charge is 24% of this bill

$597.37 of your $2,497.81 bill was set by your single highest measured demand in the month, not by how much energy you used.

How, and the source
How
$597.37 / $2,497.81 = 23.9%
Source
Your bill

All-in rate: 13.88 cents per kWh

Everything on the bill divided by the energy you used. This is the number to use when comparing against anything quoted in cents per kWh.

How, and the source
How
$2,497.81 / 18,000 kWh = 13.877 c/kWh
Source
Your bill

What your bill cannot tell you

A monthly statement does not contain the data to answer these.

  1. When did the peak that set your demand charge occur, and how long did it last?

    Your bill prints the billed kW but never says which interval produced it. One 30-minute window set that charge, and the bill does not say which window, what was running, or whether it happened once or every day.

    Interval data: the peak interval is directly identifiable, with its timestamp.

  2. When did you actually use the electricity?

    Your bill resolves your usage to a single monthly total. A month is roughly 2,900 half-hours, and the bill collapses all of them into one number. Nothing on it distinguishes 3am from 3pm.

    Interval data: your usage every 15 or 30 minutes.

  3. What does your always-on floor cost you?

    Every building has a base load that never switches off. It is typically the largest single line in an annual energy bill and it is the one nobody ever decided to buy. The bill cannot separate it from everything else, because it never sees your usage at rest.

    Interval data: the overnight trough is the floor, and we already compute it.

  4. Could that peak have been avoided?

    Whether the peak was one avoidable coincidence of equipment starting together, or a genuine sustained load, decides whether anything can be done about it. The bill shows only the result.

    Interval data: the shape around the peak shows whether it is a spike or a plateau.

  5. Would a different rate have been cheaper?

    ComEd's hourly pricing rate settles against what you used in each hour. Your bill does not record hours, so this is not merely unknown from a bill -- it is unanswerable from one, for anybody, including us.

    Interval data priced against the hourly rate for the same period, hour by hour.

No bill handy? Type the two numbers.

Enter your peak demand and delivery class and get the exact ComEd Distribution Facilities demand charge, straight from the tariff. Upload the bill above instead and both come filled in from the demand line.

The kW on your demand-charge line, or your highest 30-minute interval.

Set by your trailing 12-month peak. Find the Retail Delivery Service line on your bill; the kW band next to it is your class.

Secondary voltage.

Phantom Grid reconstructs ComEd’s own tariff. It does not recommend, project savings, or sell anything.

Demand Charges

ComEd Demand Charge Calculator: Your Exact Distribution Charge

Calculate your exact ComEd demand charge. Enter your peak demand in kW and your delivery class and get the Distribution Facilities charge straight from ComEd's tariff, the same ratebook we reconcile real bills to, to the cent. Not an average-rate estimate.

UPDATED JUL 17 2026

The calculator above gives you the exact ComEd Distribution Facilities demand charge for a given peak demand and delivery class. Enter your peak kW, pick your class, and you get the charge and the effective rate per kW, computed straight from ComEd's tariff. This is the same ratebook that reconciles real bills to the cent, not an average rate typed into a generic calculator. It shows you what ComEd charges; it does not sell anything.

How ComEd calculates a demand charge

Your ComEd demand charge is one line on the bill: the Distribution Facilities Charge. It is your billed demand in kilowatts multiplied by a rate per kilowatt set by your delivery class. Billed demand is the single highest interval of demand the meter recorded, and the rate is fixed by which class you fall in, which ComEd sets from your trailing twelve-month peak.

The rate is not a round number, and it is not a single published figure. ComEd starts from a base Distribution Facilities rate and then applies a set of adjustment riders, and starting with 2026 bills each rider is rounded to the cent on its own line before the lines are summed. That is why a generic calculator that multiplies your kW by an average rate lands a few cents to a few dollars off. This calculator reproduces the actual tariff, rounding and all, so the number matches the bill.

How to calculate your peak demand charge

You need two things: your peak demand in kilowatts and your delivery class.

Your peak demand is the highest interval on the bill's demand line, or the single highest thirty-minute interval in your meter data. Your delivery class is set by the kW band your trailing twelve-month peak falls in: Small Load up to 100 kW, Medium Load 100 to 400 kW, Large Load 400 to 1,000 kW, and larger classes above that. Find the Retail Delivery Service line on your bill and the band next to it is your class. Enter both above and the calculator returns the exact charge and the effective rate per kW behind it.

To see how that peak compares to how you run the rest of the month, the same two bill numbers feed our load factor calculator, which turns them into the shape of your usage.

Why this is exact and generic calculators are not

Most demand-charge calculators multiply your kW by a single rate someone typed in once. That rate goes stale the moment ComEd files a new one, and it never captures the rider rounding. The rate this one uses is the rate ComEd actually billed: a committed ratebook, reconciled against real bills to the cent. Where a class or year is not loaded and proven that way, the calculator says so rather than guess. A number that matches the bill is worth more than a number that is merely close.

How is a ComEd demand charge calculated?

It is your billed demand in kilowatts times the Distribution Facilities rate for your delivery class. Billed demand is the highest interval the meter recorded in the period. The rate is a base rate adjusted by ComEd's riders; on 2026 bills each rider is rounded to the cent on its own line, then summed. The calculator above applies the exact tariff and rounding for the class and year you pick.

What is my delivery class?

ComEd assigns it from your trailing twelve-month peak demand: Small Load up to 100 kW, Medium Load 100 to 400 kW, Large Load 400 to 1,000 kW, Very Large Load 1,000 to 10,000 kW, and Extra Large Load above that. The Retail Delivery Service line on your bill shows the band.

Why does your number match my bill when other calculators do not?

Because your number comes from ComEd's actual ratebook and rounding, not an average rate. Generic calculators multiply by one stale figure and skip the per-rider rounding, which puts them off by a few cents to a few dollars. That same ratebook is reconciled against real bills to the cent.

What if my class or year is not covered?

The calculator tells you honestly rather than estimate. Only rates that stand up against a real bill are shown, so a class or year that is not loaded yet says exactly that. If you hit one, the gap is named on the spot and loading that class moves to the front of the line.