On the basis of a quantum-chemical description of the lowest singlet electronic excited states of bi-chromophoric model systems, 1 we have disentangled the through-bond (TB) from the through-space (TS) contributions to the electronic interactions mediating energy hopping in rigid-rod conjugated polymers. While TB interactions lead to significant mixing between local and charge-transfer excitations in the ground-state (acceptor) configuration, this effect is reduced in the excited-state (donor) configuration as a result of the self-confinement induced by geometric relaxation phenomena. Thus, an improved Forster-type hopping model retaining only long-range TS contributions between donors and acceptors but accounting for excited-state delocalization among acceptors (possibly driven by TB interactions) appears as a minimal model to treat excitation transport along polymer chains.