Is it worth switching electricity suppliers in Illinois?

Check whether your town already aggregated you, then lean on CUB's independent analysis. For most ComEd and Ameren customers, the default holds up well. The only offer worth taking is a fixed rate, for the full term, with no monthly fee, that beats your Price to Compare — and you compare it on Plug In Illinois, not off a phone or door pitch.

What is the Price to Compare in Illinois?

It's the per-kWh rate your utility charges for default electricity supply — the PTC — and it's the number any supplier offer has to beat to actually save you money. Your utility buys that power at a wholesale auction and bills it through with no markup. ComEd's and Ameren's Price to Compare is tied to annual energy and capacity auctions and changes periodically, so it's a moving benchmark.

Will switching suppliers in Illinois change my service or reliability?

No. Your utility still owns the wires, reads your meter, and handles outages regardless of who supplies your electricity. Switching only changes the supply line on your bill, and if a supplier goes out of business you're moved back to the default rate automatically.

What is municipal aggregation in Illinois?

Illinois communities can vote to negotiate a bulk electricity supply contract for residents and enroll them automatically (opt-out aggregation) — hundreds of municipalities have done it. That means many Illinois households are on a third-party supplier without ever choosing one. Check your bill's supply line; you can opt out at any time and return to the utility default or pick your own supplier.

Is switching electricity suppliers worth it in Illinois?

Less often than in most choice states, and that's arithmetic: ComEd's default supply (10.399¢/kWh) and Ameren's (11.326¢ first 800 kWh, summer 2026) are moderate, so a fixed offer must go unusually low to save a meaningful amount — about 1.33¢ below the default to save $10/month at 750 kWh. The Citizens Utility Board has warned for years that residential supplier deals in Illinois often cost more than the utility's price. Summer 2026 benchmarks: ComEd 10.399¢, Ameren 11.326¢ (first 800 kWh). If you shop, compare on plugin.illinois.gov and hold offers to the fixed-rate, zero-fee, below-the-worth-it-line standard.

Energy choice · Illinois

Illinois Electric Choice: how it works and when it's worth using

Check whether your town already aggregated you, then lean on CUB's independent analysis. For most ComEd and Ameren customers, the default holds up well.

What Illinois Electric Choice actually is

Illinois restructured its electricity market in 1997, letting residential customers of ComEd and Ameren Illinois buy the supply portion of their electricity from a licensed Alternative Retail Electric Supplier (ARES) while the utility keeps delivering it. Do nothing and you stay on the utility's default supply rate — ComEd's Price to Compare or Ameren's Basic Generation Service. Switch and you can generally return to the default within a billing cycle or two.

The official comparison site is the ICC's Plug In Illinois at plugin.illinois.gov — run by the state regulator, with no stake in your choice. Private comparison marketplaces also rank well in search; they're businesses that typically earn referral fees from featured suppliers, so treat them as storefronts and verify any offer on the official site before signing.

The two-grid split that changes the whole answer

Illinois is the only state we track split across two regional grids: ComEd (northern IL) is in PJM, where capacity auctions cleared at the maximum allowed price three years running and pushed supply costs up; Ameren Illinois (central and southern IL) is in MISO, a separate market that stayed far calmer. The same supplier sales pitch means different things in Chicago and in Springfield — and a pitch that invokes 'the PJM spike' to an Ameren customer is a red flag, not a reason to sign.

Both utilities' defaults are comparatively low (ComEd ~10.4¢, Ameren ~9.7¢ supply-only), which is why the honest verdict here is cautious: fewer offers clear the worth-it bar in Illinois than in high-default territories like Pittsburgh or Baltimore. Check your town's aggregation status first, compare on plugin.illinois.gov second, and hold every offer to the fixed-rate, zero-fee standard.

Check your own bill first (2 minutes, free)

Find the supply rate on your bill and compare it to your utility's Price to Compare. If a supplier is charging more, you're overpaying for identical electricity — and you can switch back. Our audit runs on your device; we never see your numbers, and we never try to switch you.

Check my rate

How choice works in Illinois

Your utility always handles delivery — the wires and the outages — and you can't shop that part. What you can shop is the supply: the electricity itself. Do nothing and you stay on the default rate, the Price to Compare (PTC). ComEd's and Ameren's Price to Compare is tied to annual energy and capacity auctions and changes periodically, so it's a moving benchmark.

Illinois's official, commission-run resource is Plug In Illinois. It's a neutral, no-commission comparison tool — the only place worth shopping. One catch: it shows a plan's intro rate, not the variable rate it can roll into later, so read the contract's terms box before you sign.

Like Ohio, many Illinois communities run opt-out municipal aggregation — check your bill's supply line to see whether your town already enrolled you with a supplier.
Illinois has the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), an independent, state-chartered consumer watchdog whose rate analyses are worth reading — and which has long warned that residential supplier deals often cost more than the utility's price.

Step-by-step: we wrote a full guide to using Plug In Illinois — what each column means, the three contract terms to check, and the math to do before switching. Read the Plug In Illinois guide →

Illinois's utilities — the rate to beat

This is the Price to Compare for each Illinois utility we track — the number a supplier offer has to beat. A "deal" above these is costing you money for the same electricity.

Utility	PTC	Last reviewed
ComEd	10.399¢/kWh	July 19, 2026
Ameren Illinois	11.326¢/kWh	July 19, 2026

Rates change on a schedule — always confirm the current figure on your bill or your utility's site before deciding.

Before you shop, know the traps

The same handful of tactics show up in every choice state: a teaser rate that flips to a variable one, an early-termination fee paired with a variable rate, monthly fees hiding behind a low headline rate, green-energy upsells, and "your utility sent me" pitches at the door. We break down each one — and the rule that cuts through all of them — in the main guide.

Read the full traps breakdown →

Common questions

Is it worth switching electricity suppliers in Illinois?: Check whether your town already aggregated you, then lean on CUB's independent analysis. For most ComEd and Ameren customers, the default holds up well. The only offer worth taking is a fixed rate, for the full term, with no monthly fee, that beats your Price to Compare — and you compare it on Plug In Illinois, not off a phone or door pitch.
What is the Price to Compare in Illinois?: It's the per-kWh rate your utility charges for default electricity supply — the PTC — and it's the number any supplier offer has to beat to actually save you money. Your utility buys that power at a wholesale auction and bills it through with no markup. ComEd's and Ameren's Price to Compare is tied to annual energy and capacity auctions and changes periodically, so it's a moving benchmark.
Will switching suppliers in Illinois change my service or reliability?: No. Your utility still owns the wires, reads your meter, and handles outages regardless of who supplies your electricity. Switching only changes the supply line on your bill, and if a supplier goes out of business you're moved back to the default rate automatically.
What is the electric choice program in Illinois?: Illinois Electric Choice (established by the 1997 Electric Service Customer Choice and Rate Relief Law) lets ComEd and Ameren Illinois customers buy their electricity supply from a licensed Alternative Retail Electric Supplier (ARES), while the utility continues delivering power and handling outages. Customers who don't shop stay on the utility's default supply rate. The official comparison site is the ICC's Plug In Illinois at plugin.illinois.gov.
What is municipal aggregation in Illinois?: Illinois communities can vote to negotiate a bulk electricity supply contract for residents and enroll them automatically (opt-out aggregation) — hundreds of municipalities have done it. That means many Illinois households are on a third-party supplier without ever choosing one. Check your bill's supply line; you can opt out at any time and return to the utility default or pick your own supplier.
Is switching electricity suppliers worth it in Illinois?: Less often than in most choice states, and that's arithmetic: ComEd's default supply (10.399¢/kWh) and Ameren's (11.326¢ first 800 kWh, summer 2026) are moderate, so a fixed offer must go unusually low to save a meaningful amount — about 1.33¢ below the default to save $10/month at 750 kWh. The Citizens Utility Board has warned for years that residential supplier deals in Illinois often cost more than the utility's price. Summer 2026 benchmarks: ComEd 10.399¢, Ameren 11.326¢ (first 800 kWh). If you shop, compare on plugin.illinois.gov and hold offers to the fixed-rate, zero-fee, below-the-worth-it-line standard.

RateWatchdog takes no supplier commissions and never enrolls or switches anyone. See the full energy-choice guide →