Report shows Illinois customers losing billions to alternative energy suppliers

ILLINOIS (WCIA) — In Illinois, Ameren delivers the energy but you pick who supplies it. Usually, customers are choosing between their municipality’s generation, called basic generation service on their bill, or an alternative supplier.

“By law, Ameren cannot mark up the supply. So what if you’re with Ameren as your supplier? Whatever they paid for that supply, they’re passing through to you as well. And so, what we’ve seen is prices jump this summer and more customers are now paying over 12, a little over $0.12 a kilowatt hour,” Bryan McDaniel with the Citizens Utility Board said.

$.12 a kilowatt hour might seem high but a new Illinois Commerce Commission Report is showing it can be even worse with the alternatives.

That report found in Ameren territory, some suppliers were charging as much as $.29 a kilowatt hour.

“We have seen the losses, supplier losses. We know people are losing money to suppliers. And suppliers like to scare people into these higher priced plans,” McDaniel said.

Over the years the higher prices have added up for consumers

“The numbers show that since consumers have lost more than $2 billion to alternative retail electric suppliers in the state of Illinois,” McDaniel added.

But it’s not all bad news

“The important thing to know is come October, if you’re with a supplier, you need to reassess your supply options,” McDaniel said.

That price drop is coming because of how prices are calculated. Generation prices used to be averaged over the whole year, but since 2022 prices are calculated by seasons. This means cooler temps bring lower energy rates.

“At the beginning of October, we expect to see eight or nine cents a kilowatt hour, which is, you know, a lot better than 12,” McDaniel said.

Switching your energy plan in Illinois is simple as suppliers cannot charge you an exit or cancellation fee. But Bryan and the CUB are hoping lawmakers can make it even easier, by getting rid of automatic renewals.

“Because what we’ve seen is once a supplier gets on your bill, they use that automatic contract renewal to just keep raising your bill and raising your bill and raising your bill,” McDaniel said.

If you are with a third party supplier and want to switch generation servicers all you have to do is contact Ameren directly and ask to switch plans.