ComEd customers are about to see a big spike in their electric bills.

As the Sun-Times reported in November, the demand for power from big data centers and a delay connecting new power sources, such as solar and wind, to the electric grid is resulting in ComEd customers seeing their monthly bills go up $10.60 a month on average.

Most customers won’t see this increase until their July bills are delivered, a spokesman for the utility said. The higher prices may stick until May of next year.

Power demand across the country has skyrocketed as big data centers and artificial intelligence operations have created huge demand. Meanwhile, new sources of “renewable” energy, including wind and solar power, have been slow to get connected to an electric grid that spans from Northern Illinois to the East Coast, said Jim Chilsen, a spokesman for the consumer watchdog Citizens Utility Board.

“Those generators could bring down prices,” Chilsen said of the solar and wind projects.

Coal plants in Illinois and across the country have been closing, and the state has promoted cleaner renewable sources under a 2021 law aimed at fighting climate change. The problem is that new renewable energy isn’t getting connected fast enough to meet surging demand at the very time older sources of power, such as coal, is being shut down.

Chilsen blamed policies set by the electric grid operator, an organization known as PJM, for the difficulty bringing renewables on line.

“Of course data centers that drive up demand play a role,” Chilsen said, “but the number one reason is poor policy.”

State lawmakers also need to pass legislation that will help get renewable energy projects up and running, he added.

PJM oversees the electric grid that powers Northern Illinois as well as a dozen other states and the District of Columbia. So, power demands on the East Coast can actually affect the prices Chicagoans pay to keep the lights on in their own homes.

The prices are set by big power companies that sell the electricity to ComEd and other utilities. ComEd passes these increases on to consumers.

PJM drew the ire of Gov. JB Pritzker last year after a price-setting auction last July determined that Northern Illinois customers would be seeing steep rate hikes this year. The grid operator reformed some of its policies, said spokesman Jeffrey Shields.

Shields also denied that PJM policies make it harder for solar and wind projects to get started in Illinois or in any other state.