Illinois administrative code classifies moving ComEd customers as "present customers" protected from new-service deposit demands — but that shield covers deposits specifically; whether it reaches the connection startup fee renters are getting quoted is unresolved.

A Chicago renter posting on Reddit this week described being told by two separate ComEd customer service representatives that transferring service to a new address "doesn't exist" — and that her only option was to pay a roughly $160 startup fee to open a fresh account. ComEd's own website lists "start, stop, or move service" as three distinct actions.

Illinois administrative code draws the same distinction. Under 83 Ill. Adm. Code § 280.40, a customer who moves within ComEd's service territory is classified as a "present customer," not a new applicant. A present customer may only be required to pay a deposit if two conditions are simultaneously met: four or more late payments in the prior 12 months, and an undisputed past-due balance older than 30 days. Most renters moving without a delinquency history won't satisfy both.

That protection applies specifically to deposits — security money a utility holds against potential nonpayment. The startup charge the renter described is a separate line item in ComEd's tariff structure: a service connection or initiation fee. Whether § 280.40 or any other administrative rule caps that charge, as opposed to a deposit, is not clearly established in publicly available tariff language. Worth pressing with a supervisor if a representative quotes a connection fee for what should be a straightforward service transfer.

A 2021 state law goes further on deposits, but its coverage is income-conditioned. Public Act 102-662 (220 ILCS 5/8-201.7, effective Sept. 15, 2021) prohibits ComEd from requiring deposits from low-income residential customers — those at or below 80% of the latest median household income or 150% of the federal poverty level — even for brand-new service. A renter above those thresholds doesn't have that protection.

The confusion may partly trace to ComEd's February 2024 billing system overhaul, which reset every customer's account number and was supposed to make service continuity across moves cleaner. The transition produced billing problems the Citizens Utility Board and the ICC have since documented; the commission rejected most ComEd cost overruns tied to billing issues "that have plagued ComEd customers since February of 2024," according to CUB's June 2026 reporting on an ICC reconciliation ruling. Some institutional knowledge about how "move service" gets processed appears not to have followed.

For a renter already stretched between a security deposit and first month's rent at a new address, an unexpected $160 charge is not a small number. Chicago renters who believe a fee was assessed in error can contact the Illinois Commerce Commission's Consumer Services Division at 1-800-524-0795. The ICC has authority to review whether ComEd applied its own tariff correctly.