Compare the Best Illinois Electricity and Natural Gas Rates

What is the Price to Compare in Illinois?

Your local utility will be your energy supplier if you decide not to shop alternative retail electric suppliers or if your retail supplier leaves the state.

Illinois utilities charge these customers a default rate known as the Price to Compare. It covers the utility's costs of the electric supply, without any mark-up.

The Price to Compare is determined through a procurement process run by the Illinois Power Agency (IPA). The IPA administers a competitive bidding process each year to line up electricity supply for the Price to Compare customers.

Each utility, Ameren Illinois, ComEd and MidAmerican Energy, submit load forecasts for the coming year. The IPA then requests bids from companies with power to sell. It then holds "procurement events" where qualified power companies can submit sealed, binding bids to provide energy to these utilities. These usually happen twice a year, in spring and fall.

The ICC must approve both the IPA's procurement plans and procurement events. Bids are then selected on the basis of price.

Utilities then enter into wholesale electric supply contracts with the companies that submitted winning bids. Because electricity demand fluctuates due to seasonal weather, the Price to Compare can also vary seasonally. Typically, the default rate during the summer months (June through September) is usually higher compared to October through May.

You can use the Price to Compare to compare Illinois electricity suppliers. Because they can negotiate contracts or take advantage of shopping wholesale electricity prices, most suppliers can offer cheap rates that beat the Price to Compare rate.

How Switching Works in Illinois

It's easy to switch to a new alternative retail electric supplier (ARES) in Illinois. To begin, gather the following information.

• Your most recent utility bill showing your account number.
• Your name and address where you want the service started
• Your phone number and email address.

Step 1: Enter Your ZIP Code

Type in your ZIP code to see the licensed alternative retail electric supplier available in your utility company's service area:

• Ameren Illinois - most of central and southern Illinois, including Danville, Decatur, and Peoria.
• Comed - serving northern Illinois, including Chicago, Joliet, and Naperville.
• MidAmerican Energy - serving western Illinois including Moline and Rock Island.

Step 2: Compare Plans

Select an ARES plan that fits your needs. Be sure to look at the price per kWh, contract length, fees, and renewable options.

It's a good idea to compare these details for each plan to help you find the best plan:

Price per kWh/ccf - The price you'll pay for each unit of electricity or natural gas.

Fixed or Variable rate - "Fixed" = same price every month. "Variable" = price can change each month.

Term Length - How long the contract lasts (e.g. 6 months, 12 months).

Renewable Energy - Some plans include features that support clean energy.

Step 3: Choose a Plan

Once you choose a plan, you can sign up with the ARES directly through UtilityRates.com.

Step 4: Confirmation and Switch

Once you've signed with your new provider, you'll need to watch for a letter from your local utility confirming the switch and showing the date when your new service will begin. This usually depends on your next meter read date. Your new plan will then take effect on your next billing cycle.

Step 5: Finish!

That's it! You're done! There's no service interruption, technician needs to visit, and best of all, no fees!

Plus, you can also switch to your utility's PTC rate whenever you want.

Illinois Utilities vs ARES

In Illinois, your local utility, (Ameren Illinois, Comed , or MidAmerican Energy) has two main jobs:

To do this, your utility must keep its grid running reliably so that it can get the energy to everyone's home. This includes maintenance, repair work, and expanding its capacity to keep up with demand. Your local utility is the one to call when there's a blackout or a downed power line. They're also the ones you pay on your monthly bill.

The Price to Compare default rate represents the actual price your utility pays for the electricity. In other words, it not only includes the generator company's price for making the electricity but also the cost to transmit it from power stations over high tension power lines to your utility's local electrical switch yards.

But because the Price to Compare is determined through a complicated bidding process, it's not exactly the most agile way to respond to changing electricity prices.

Alternative retail electric suppliers or "ARES", however, only supply energy to their customers. Their rates are also are not hampered by auctions or state agency oversight. ARES are free to bargain for cheap electricity deals by contracting with generator companies or by shopping the wholesale power markets. This way they can offer their customers competitively priced plans often at better rates than the Price to Compare.

Illinois Green Energy

Being able to choose your own alternative retail electric supplier in Illinois also includes your option to choose a green energy plan for your home. Some ARES offer plans containing up to 100% renewable energy.

The Role of RECs

When you choose a renewable energy plan it's more likely that your plan will rely on Renewable Energy Credits or RECs to meet that green energy requirement. That's because once power from a renewable energy source enters the grid, it can not be tracked. It just mixes in with all the other power from other power plants. So there's no way to be sure that the energy coming to your home is from 100% green resources.

How RECs Work in Illinois

When states like Illinois began passing laws for Renewable Portfolio Standards, they needed a way to to make sure their utilities used a percentage of renewable energy. While "green" electricity can't be tracked, RECs could be. As of 2025, both Comed and Ameren must buy 25% of their energy supply for renewable sources.

Whenever a green energy source (wind, solar, etc.) produces 1 MW of power the facility issues an uniquely-numbered REC to certifiy it and represent the clean energy benefits. A buyer can purchase both the power and the REC together or separately. When the REC is purchased by a utility or ARES, the REC is offically "retired". And the money for the REC goes to the renewable energy producer.

So, when you sign up for a green energy plan, your ARES buys RECs on your behalf so you can help support renewable energy producers and projects.