The Citizens Utility Board has officially published a new report, which claims that customers who chose alternative electricity suppliers have lost a combined total of about $297 million over the last year and $1.8 billion since 2015. You see, Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois, along with Ameren, make up two of the most popular utilities entities for providing electricity across Illinois. Having said so, under Illinois law, customers retain the right to choose another company to supply electricity. In fact, as of 2024, about 1.37 million Illinois residential consumers were with another supplier, which marked a 22 percent increase from the year before. Talk about what makes it problematic, as per a separate report presented by Illinois Commerce Commission’s Office of Retail Market Development (ORMD), ComEd customers who were with an alternative supplier, on an average, paid 3 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) more in electricity bills, compared with ComEd’s supply price. On the other hand, customers in Ameren territory who were with an alternative supplier, on an average, paid about 2.4 cents per kWh more, compared to Ameren’s supply rate. Next up, we must dig into how the highest alternative supplier variable rate across ComEd territory, discovered under the latter report, was 38.4 cents per kWh in June 2023. Furthermore, during the same timeframe, the study found a variable rate of 39.5 cents per kWh in Ameren territory. Both the prices were nearly five times the utility supply price at the time. Another ICC’s report detail uncovering why so many people are currently with alternative suppliers is rooted in the fact that, from June 2011 through May 2014, the switch actually presented a money-saving opportunity. This is because utilities were locked into more expensive electricity contracts. However, as soon as these utility contracts ended, competing suppliers had more difficulty beating the utility’s supply rate.
Complimenting the given findings is a piece of guidance which CUB has issued to help you avoid picking alternative suppliers unknowingly. For starters, the board has advised to check the “Supply” section of your electric bill to see if you’re paying for an alternative supplier. The idea behind that comes from many citizens being unaware about their supplier until the bills skyrocketed. Hence, checking the same can go a distance to educate you on the same. But why so many people have been unaware of it in the first place? Well, even if you’re with another supplier, you still receive a utility bill, considering your utility has to deliver the power to your home anyway. However, upon checking the company listed on the “Supply” section of your electric bill, you can easily gain information regarding your supplier, because if there is one, an alternative supplier will always be mentioned there. Assuming a different company is listed, people are encouraged to further check how its rate compares with your utility’s supply price. Not just that, in case you are on a “municipal aggregation” community power deal, then also you must check how the deal rate compares with the utility’s supply rate. To give you some context, around 43 percent of ComEd customers and 53 percent of Ameren customers, with an alternative supplier, were found to be on a community power deal, Another thing you can do is look for any hidden fees. This comes after it was discovered that some supplier have a charging fees ranging from 50 cents per day to even $14.99 per month.
Apart from that, in order to lower their electricity bills, one can also consider joining ComEd Peak Time Savings or Ameren Peak Time Rewards. In essence, the stated programs provide credits if you’re able to reduce your energy usage for a limited number of hours on certain days when electricity demand is the highest.
“Far too many Illinois consumers have suffered skyrocketing power bills because of an alternative electricity supplier,” said Sarah Moskowitz Executive Director at Citizens Utilities Board. “There are more reliable ways to reduce electric bills, including energy efficiency.”
