Illinois

If you live in Illinois, you now have a choice when it comes to electric providers. You can shop for the retailer that's going to supply your electricity; you may be able to save money and make other choices as well, such as selecting green energy sources or simply lower rates. Illinois electric customers have a choice in their electric providers. They can either choose to buy electricity from their local utility companies, or they can choose to buy electricity from a Retail Electric Supplier (RES).

When you decide you want to make a choice as to who provides your Illinois electric service, it'll either be from your utility or from a Retail Electric Supplier. Within your utility, you also have two choices, and then you can choose the utility's electric supply price, or its residential real-time pricing program.

Whether or not you decide to get your power from a Retail Electric Supplier, or your utility company, and whether or not you choose real-time or fixed pricing within your electric company is up to you. This is so new that long-term trends have not yet been seen, but at present, it can be said that Retail Electric Suppliers' rates are indeed lower than those offered by the utility companies.