ComEd Help | Frequently Asked Questions

Hero Power (MeterGenius, Inc.) is a Retail Electric Supplier licensed to do business in the State of Illinois. Hero Power matches 100% of your electricity use with Renewable Energy Certificates so you can easily support a sustainable future.

A retail electricity supplier sells electricity to residential and commercial customers in a competitive or “deregulated” market. To do business in Illinois, an electric supplier must be certified by the Illinois Commerce Commission and complete the applicable utility’s registration process.

Hero Power is a retail electricity supplier, selling power to residential and small business customers in the ComEd territory of Illinois. Hero Power purchases renewable electricity on behalf of our customers from wind and solar power generators. ComEd is the local distributor in charge of the physical delivery of power to your residence. ComEd is responsible for the safe and reliable power to your meter. ComEd is responsible for the distribution wires, substations, poles, and meters; in addition to being responsible for all service issues, such as outages. Hero Power customers will also pay ComEd for their electricity bill each month, even though the power is being supplied by Hero Power. Hero Power customers should contact ComEd at 1-800-334-7661 for any outage, billing, metering questions.

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In less than 3 minutes, you can sign up for 100% renewable electricity with Hero Power by clicking here. You’ll need to enter your email address, the address of your home or small business where you get electric service, and your ComEd account number. You’ll also need to agree to the terms and conditions. And that’s it! We’ll handle the process of switching your electricity supply, and we’ll let you know as soon as your home is being powered by renewable energy.

Your ComEd account number is printed at the top of your ComEd monthly bill. If you’ve created an online account with ComEd, you can log in and find your account number here.

You will continue to receive the same reliable electricity service through the same transmission and distribution system operated by ComEd. There are no changes to your existing power delivery process. There is nothing to install and no wires to replace when you switch to Hero Power. You will continue paying ComEd for your electricity bill every month.

No, Hero Power will contact ComEd on your behalf to let them know that Hero Power will take over responsibility for your electric supply. After enrolling with Hero Power, there’s nothing more that you have to do.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a renewable energy certificate, or REC, is a market-based instrument that represents the property rights to the environmental, social and other non-power attributes of renewable electricity generation. RECs are issued when one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity is generated and delivered to the electricity grid from a renewable energy resource. So if you use 10 megawatt-hours of electricity in a year, Hero Power will purchase 10 renewable energy credits from wind and solar generators to cover the electricity that you consumed. By purchasing RECs, Hero Power is helping wind and solar generators earn money for the clean and renewable power that they are producing and invest in more renewable energy sources.

Hero Power will take over responsibility for your electricity supply service at the beginning of your next utility billing cycle, as long as you’ve enrolled with Hero Power at least 18 days before your next ComEd bill cycle. If your next ComEd bill cycle is less than 18 days after your enroll with Hero Power, then your Hero Power service will begin on the first day of the following bill cycle (not your next bill cycle, but the one after that). Hero Power will notify you when you begin your electric service with us, and you will begin receiving weekly emails from us telling you how much energy you consumed.

You will continue to receive one electricity bill from ComEd. The Hero Power charges for electricity supply and transmission services will be included in the “Supply” section of your monthly ComEd bill statement. ComEd will continue to bill you for the Distribution Services and applicable Taxes. You can continue to pay ComEd by check, automatic bill pay, or any other form of payment method accepted by ComEd.

Yes. Hero Power will send a confirmation email to the email address you provided when enrolling to confirm your decision to switch to Hero Power. Clicking “Confirm” in the email with serve as your electronic signature. You will be redirected to the Hero Power website where you will then have access to all of the content and tools that Hero Power offers to help you become a smarter energy consumer and lower your carbon footprint.

Yes. At least 30 days before your renewal date, Hero Power will notify you of the rate that you will pay and the date that you will be automatically renewed. We will make it clear to you if your rate will be higher than what you’re currently paying. If you do nothing, we will renew you for another month with Hero Power. Of course, you are free to call Hero Power or go to our website to cancel before we renew your service for another month. If you do cancel, you will not be charged any termination fees.

No. By law, ComEd must provide the same service to each customer, even if you have chosen a retail electric supplier to supply your electricity. ComEd is responsible for the delivery of power and energy to your residence, and will continue to respond to service calls and emergencies.

We make it easy for you to end your Hero Power service. You can either cancel by navigating to your account page on the Hero Power web and mobile app, email us [email protected] with the subject line “Cancel my account” and include your service address in your email, or call us at 888-684-4480.

We will be sad to see you leave, but you won’t pay any termination fees. There are no early termination penalties, but you will have to pay for the electric supply that you consumed while you were a Hero Power customer.

For questions about the supply portion of your electricity bill, call Hero Power at our toll-free number, 888-684-4480. You can call that same number if you have questions about the Hero Power web or mobile app. If you are calling to report an outage or have a question about your electricity meter, please call ComEd directly at 800-334-7661.

Yes! Hero Power will give you 50,000 points for referring someone to Hero Power. All you need to do is use the Hero Power web or mobile app to refer your friend. Your friend will receive an email that says you recommend Hero Power. If they complete their enrollment and your friend starts receiving power from Hero Power, 50,000 points will be added to your account.

You can call Hero Power at 888-684-4480 anytime between 8am and 5pm Central Time Monday through Friday. If our customer service representatives are busy, please leave us a message and someone will call you back as soon as they are free.

You can also email Hero Power at [email protected] any time, and one of our representatives will email you back within one business day.

A standard measure of electricity and energy use. A kilowatt-hour is 1000 watts used for one hour. e.g. one kilowatt-hour will light a 100-watt light bulb for ten hours or operate a 1,000-watt appliance for one hour.

A smart meter is a digital electric meter that securely sends electricity-usage information to ComEd, allowing you to view your usage with unprecedented granularity.

First, you should email Hero Power at [email protected] or call us at 888-684-4480 to let us know when you are moving. If you are moving outside of ComEd territory or if you don’t want Hero Power service at your new home, we will cancel your Hero Power service. If you do want Hero Power at your new home, we will help you with that too. When you move in ComEd territory, you are required to return ComEd service for at the least the first bill cycle after the move. After you move, we will email you to remind you to sign up for Hero Power at your new home (after you’ve received your new ComEd account number).

MeterGenius is the parent company of Hero Power. MeterGenius was built by two Northwestern University graduated students in 2014 to help energy companies better communicate with their customers and help their customers save money on their energy bill. After working in the industry for 5 years, the founders of MeterGenius felt like there wasn’t an energy company dedicated to helping the environment and their own customers, so they created their own energy company, Hero Power.

No, the Hero Power web and mobile app is free to Hero Power customers. You can download the Hero Power mobile app on the Apple App Store for iPhones or the Google Play Store for Android phones.

The Hero Power web and mobile app allows Hero Power customers the ability to monitor their energy use, learn energy-saving tips, and earn points which can be redeemed for rewards, such as credits on your Hero Power electricity bill.

My Usage gives you a detailed look at your electricity usage up through the previous day. You can also visualize your consumption hourly or daily by zooming into your Usage by Day, as well as compare your usage with similar neighbors in your area. By selecting days of the week, you can also gain insight into your daily consumption habits like never before!

The Energy Handbook is your best resource for customized energy efficient tips and a great way to earn points. Within the Energy Handbook, you’ll be able to answer home profile questions, select energy efficient upgrades, set up energy efficient reminders, read articles that will help you save energy, and purchase smart and energy efficient devices. You can access these features for the following Home Categories: Kitchen, Heating & Cooling, Bathroom & Water, Lights & Appliances, and Outdoors.

The levels represent your proficiency in each Home Category. Your level is based on the number of points you’ve earned in each Home Category. You earn points by completing tasks within a category, such as answer Kitchen home profile questions or reading articles.

Each level, after Level 1, has a point bonus associated with it. Once you reach a new level in a Home Category, the points that you earn from completing tasks in that category will be multiplied by the point bonus for your current level. For example, if you’ve made it to Level 3 in the Outdoors category, you will get a 20% bonus for every task you complete, which means you’ll get 120 points for every Outdoors home profile question you answer, instead of 100 points.

• Level 1: 0%
• Level 2: 10%
• Level 3: 20%
• Level 4: 30%
• Level 5: 40%

The Home Profile is a way of generating a concise summary of your energy habits. Based on your responses to the questions, we can generate customized Upgrades and Habits for you to stick to, helping you save more money. Your responses will also help us more accurately calculate your Tip savings. While it may take some time, by answering these questions, you will gain access to helpful tips. Rest assured that your personal information will never be shared with third parties!

Upgrades are one time improvements to your home that will help you save money on your electric bill. Some upgrades are purchases of new energy efficient products and other upgrades are simply improvements upon how you use certain appliances in your home. You’ll earn 100 points for each upgrade you make.

Reminders are energy-efficient behaviors that take time to learn. To help you adopt those behaviors, Hero Power allows you to set up daily reminders which will prompt you to make those changes at the best times that work for you. You’ll earn a 500 point bonus by completing at least half of the reminders for each habit.

After you’ve started filling out your Home Profile and unlocked your user specific tips, you can set reminders for yourself to help you develop consistent energy saving habits. Based on your settings, you will get notifications to remind you to perform certain energy efficient actions described in our tips. By using the reminders, you can develop better habits as well as earn points, helping you save even more energy and money. You are only allowed to select one energy habit at a time.

Genius tips savings are calculated by considering your responses in your Home Profile, which allows us to customize your tips and more accurately calculate your savings. All calculations are, however, only an estimation and may deviate slightly according to hidden variables. These are also the savings which can be reached under ideal conditions and should not be expected to be completely accurate.

After you read an article, there will be a question at the bottom of the article that assesses your comprehension of the information in the article. If you have read the article, you should be able to easily answer the question. You must answer the question correctly in order to receive the points for that article. You only get one chance to answer, so you must answer carefully.

Yes! We will constantly be adding new tasks, so be sure to check back regularly for new ways to save and earn points. We’ll be adding new articles, new profile questions, and upgrades every month.

That is the badge that represents your progress in becoming an Energy Saving SuperHero. There are five badges that you can earn: Apprentice, Sidekick, Carbon Buster, Captain, SuperHero.

Four times a year, we will hold a drawing for various prizes. You will only compete other people with the same badge as you. Each badge will have its own prize up for grabs, and the higher level badges have better prizes up for grabs than the lower level badges.

In order to improve your badge, you must earn enough points to level up in each of the Energy Handbook Home Categories. Each badge is based on the lowest level of all of your Home Categories. For example, if you are on Level 3 for Kitchen, Outdoors, Bathroom & Water, and Heating & Cooling, but you are on Level 1 for Lights & Appliances, you will have the Level 1 badge until you improve your status in the Lights & Appliances category.

• Apprentice – Level 1
• Sidekick – Level 2
• Carbon Buster – Level 3
• Captain – Level 4
• SuperHero – Level 5

The Hero Goals section is a great tool to understand how adopting certain energy efficient behaviors will help you lower energy consumption and bills. Hero Goals provides a bar graph that shows your expected energy usage for the next four months if you don’t make any changes (the blue graph) and a graph that shows your expected energy usage if you adopt the energy efficient behaviors you’ve selected as your Hero Goals. These projections are estimates based upon your historical usage, the information we know about your home, and the forecasted weather for the month.

There are a few reasons the estimated energy costs in the Hero Power app might not match your ComEd bill. Your ComEd billing cycle is unlikely to match up with the calendar month, but the Hero Power web and mobile app display your energy usage by calendar month. We do this because any change to your energy rate will come at the beginning of a calendar month.

Your ComEd bill is also comprised of several costs that aren’t related to your energy supply, which is all that Hero Power is responsible for. In addition to your energy supply costs, ComEd will also charge you for distribution fees, taxes, and other infrastructure-related costs.

It’s also possible that the usage data that we receive from ComEd is inaccurate. The usage data in the Hero Power app, while mostly accurate, is considered unofficial by ComEd. ComEd will bill you based on your official energy usage data.

No. Hero Power will house your data but it will not be shared with any other third party company!

Your smart meter is read every day, but sometimes that data takes extra time to process and upload. Rest assured that your data will be uploaded soon, so check back later to see if the data is updated.

ComEd only has usage data for you while you were a ComEd customer at your current address. If you do not see any data prior to a certain date, it’s likely due to the fact that you were not a ComEd customer. Now that you have Hero Power, you will be able to see your daily and hourly electricity usage.

To change your password, click on your username on the top right hand corner and select “Account Settings”. Fill out the form by entering in your current password, as well as your newly desired password.

To reset your password, go to the login page and follow the instructions to reset your password. You will be receiving a temporary password sent to your registered Hero Power email.

If you have registered for an account with Hero Power, you will by default receive weekly email updates which give you a summary of your electricity usage from the previous week, the amount of points you earned last week and your current total, as well as useful information about how you can save energy. To opt out or unsubscribe from these emails, please email us at [email protected]

The service address in your Hero Power app is the address associated with your ComEd account. If that is incorrect, you’ll need to contact ComEd directly, because Hero Power does not have the ability to change that address.

Hero Power customers are already getting 100% of their electricity consumption matched with Green-e certified Renewable Energy Certificates, which means they’re helping to fund clean energy generation from Osage Wind Farm. With the Greater Impact Plan, Hero Power customers can upgrade their contribution to clean energy by adding an additional REC to their monthly bill for just $4 per month. You will then help fund an additional 1,000 kilowatt hours of clean energy!

An additional $4 will be added to your electricity bill each month. Your plan will automatically renew until you unenroll from the Greater Impact Plan or you cancel your Hero Power service.

Each month, Hero Power will purchase an additional Renewable Energy Certificate from Osage Municipal Utilities Wind Farm on your behalf, if you enroll in the Greater Impact Plan. For more information on Osage Municipal Utilities Wind Farm, click here.

You can one-click cancel at anytime by navigating to your Account page. From here, click on the “Unenroll” button. Note, by unenrolling from the Greater Impact Plan, you will still be a Hero Power customer under the Hero Power Clean Energy Program. If you want to cancel your entire Hero Power service, you must click on “Cancel Account” on the left hand side of the Account page.

Each month, Hero Power will send you an email telling you how many kilowatt hours of clean electricity you supported the previous month. By enrolling in the Greater Impact Plan, an additional 1,000 kilowatt hours will be added to your contribution every month!

An active or pending Hero power customer can qualify for net metering if they own or operate an eligible renewable electric generator that is located on their premise, intended primarily to offset their own electrical requirements.

Eligible renewable electrical generating facilities include generators with a total rated capacity of not more than 2,000 kilowatts powered by solar electric energy, wind, dedicated crops grown for electricity generation, agricultural residues, untreated and unadulterated wood waste, landscape trimmings, livestock manure, anaerobic digestion of livestock or food processing waste, fuel cells or micro-turbines powered by renewable fuels, or hydroelectric energy.

Hero Power encourages customers to work closely with their system installers through the ComEd Interconnection Application approval and completion process. The interconnection application should be submitted and approved by ComEd prior to the start of your distributed generation installation construction. For additional questions, email ComEd at [email protected]. Hero Power customers will not be able to participate in the net metering program until they have complied with all applicable utility interconnection requirements.

To participate in Hero Power’s net metering program, email your completed Net Metering Application form, which can be found here, to [email protected].

Hero Power will coordinate your application request with ComEd. Once all the paper work is approved, you will start on our net metering program on the next available meter read date. If you have additional questions, email us at [email protected].