Illinois Energy Deregulation - You have the power to choose your energy provider.

It is possible to save money in the state of Illinois by selecting a retail electric supplier, but this is not certain.  In fact if a consumer happens to have gained a space heating rate for their electric they will likely not save money by switching. With the open energy market that has developed since the laws were passed in 1997 all utilities in the state were required to provide the service to their consumers of choice in who they buy energy from when there are companies bidding to do business in their region 

Consumers across the state then have to make sure that they are aware of how their bills are structured in order to understand if a retail electric supplier is giving them a better deal then what the utility company can give them.  The delivery charge does not change no matter who provides the energy being delivered. The generation of power and the transmission of it varies in cost depending on who is providing it.

It is estimated that three fourths of the power used in Illinois is provided to consumers by retail electric suppliers (also called RESs).  These suppliers must be certified with the ICC and register with the utility company before they can provide power to those customers. Consumers can benefit in more than one way by using a Retail Electric Supplier.  They may lower their bill. They can choose environmentally friendly power. They may find that the Retail Electric Supplier offers additional services that the utility company does not.  If there are Retail Electric Suppliers in your area then it is very important that you understand and ask the correct questions before your chose a specific Retail Electric Supplier.

Because of corruption fears, in 2007 the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) was formed to develop and manage a procurement process for electricity in order to protect consumers of both Ameren Illinois and ComEd. The IPA oversees the negotiations for power and formulates the contracts needed for wholesale supply of power for a specifically determined length of time. This is done so that Ameren and ComEd can purchase power for consumers who have not selected a Retail Electric Supplier for themselves. The plan this provides is steady rates that change once a year, although this could change as needed. 

Consumers switching to a Retail Electric Supplier are typically contacted by the utility company that serves them after the provider contacts them. This is to ensure that the consumer really has asked for the switch.  Once the information is verified then the Retail Electric Supplier and the utility work together to ensure that the proper power is delivered to them and then onward to you, without any disruption of service.

What does change? You choose which company sells you your electricity and bills you for that service. The actual delivery and maintenance of your electricity to your home or office is still provided by your same local wires company no matter which electricity provider you choose.

Commonwealth Edison Company

Commonwealth Edison Company which is also commonly referred to as ComEd, is the largest electric utility company in Illinois. ComEd primarily serves all of the Northern Illinois area and Chicago, the territory that they serve is basically outlined by the Iroquois County to the south, the Iowa border to the west, the Wisconsin border to the north and the Indiana border on the East. The parent company of Commonwealth Edison is Exelon Company.

Commonwealth Edison Company has a long history with its earliest predecessor being Isolated Lighting Company that was established in 1881. Originally Commonwealth Edison was called Chicago Edison. It wasn't until 1892, when Samuel Insull took over the company and after making many changes to improve Edison Company he combined Commonwealth Electric with Edison Company to become Commonwealth Edison Company in 1907. Six years after this merger, Commonwealth Edison Company also absorbed Cosmopolitan Electric Company. Upon this acquisition it made Commonwealth Edison the only electric service available in Chicago.

In 2000 ComEd's parent company Unicom Corporation merged with PECO Energy to form Exelon Company which now owns both Commonwealth Edison Company and Philadelphia area utility company PECO.  The transmission lines of Commonwealth Edison Company operate at voltages of 69,000, 138,000, 345,000 and 765,000 volts serving 3.8 billion customers. The revenues that Commonwealth Edison generates annually are in excess of $15 billion.

In 1997 the General Assembly of Illinois passed the Electric Service Customer Choice Act and the Rate Relief Law. What these legislative changes did was forced the utility companies to provide all of their customers with the option of buying electricity from other suppliers. These laws also reduced the electrical prices that residential homes were paying by 15% and an additional 5% decrease to be effective in 2001 and then froze the prices for ten years. Once the ten year freeze ended the electric companies were to obtain their electricity through competitive processes.

What did this mean to Commonwealth Edison Company? In short it made divesting itself more politically desirable so that they could distance themselves from any allegations of bias being used in the competitive process. What they did essentially was sold their coal-fired generating stations in 2000 to Midwest Generation. In 2003 they sold their nuclear generating stations to Exelon Nuclear. The theory here was to make the generating and selling aspect separate from the distributing and transmitting aspect.

Today Commonwealth Edison offers consumers two options as far as how they would like to be charged for their electricity. You can choose the per kw per hour usage, that rate would then be adjusted based on the total usage. You also have the option of paying for your electric on an hourly rate. This doesn't mean that you are charged minimum wage per hour, but rather you are charged the real time hourly market price based on the wholesale price.

The purpose of the hourly pricing program is to help consumers decrease the amount of electricity that they use in an effort to make the world greener.

Information about Ameren

Ameren is an energy company that stands apart from other companies.  They are one of the few that are focusing on using technology to generate solar energy and deliver it to consumers.  They are doing research on solar equipment and planning environmental improvement projects to go green.

The company is a merger of two energy companies, CIPSCO (Central Illinois Public Service Company) and the Union Electric Company.  Their focus the past few years has been coming up with ways to use solar energy.  The company right now is split in to the Illinois and Missouri division.  The Illinois unit is based in Peoria.  The company employs over 9000 people and serves 2.4 million customers and over 900,000 natural gas customers. 

Customers can go online and do everything from checking out their energy rates, request for any kind of service, look at the status of outages, and pay their bill.  Everything is easy to access and customers can take care of their account online without any hassles.  The company is dedicated to interacting with their customers, business partners, the media, and community members.  They do everything from provide education on their website, update the current status on outages, help you reach their staff, and more.  They even have safety resources you can use to educate yourself and point yourself in the right direction in the case of an emergency.