ARES enrollment against the Illinois Power Agency Price to Compare
Retail electric choice here is optional shopping against a utility default, not a mandatory REP system. If you take no action, ComEd, Ameren Illinois, or MidAmerican Energy (Illinois electric) continues to supply generation at the Price to Compare while it also delivers. An ICC-certified Alternative Retail Electric Supplier can replace that generation line.
The Illinois Power Agency explains customer electric choice and default-supply procurement at https://ipa.illinois.gov/electricity-procurement/customer-electric-choice.html. Plug In Illinois at https://plugin.illinois.gov/ and the basics page at https://plugin.illinois.gov/electric-choice-basics.html are the official education and shopping starting points. The Illinois Commerce Commission at https://icc.illinois.gov/ certifies ARES.
Chicago city-page walkthroughs show ComEd bills in local detail, but statewide you must capture the Price to Compare date for the correct utility and class. An undated ComEd screenshot cannot benchmark an Ameren Illinois zone. IPA procurement cycles set those defaults on published schedules.
After an ARES switch, ComEd or Ameren still delivers and restores outages. Small-commercial ARES contracts have been subject to early-termination-fee limits under post-2020 Plug In Illinois rules—read the current basics page rather than assuming an ETF from another state. Delivery riders never move to the ARES.
Peoples Gas, Nicor, and Ameren Illinois C&I gas rules
Gas choice is a second market with LDC-specific eligibility. Chicago proper is Peoples Gas territory. Many collar-county suburbs—Aurora, Joliet, and similar Nicor cities—use Nicor Gas. North Shore Gas pairs with Peoples under related ICC rules. Do not assign a Chicago dryer meter to Nicor because the owner also has a suburban store.
Ameren Illinois gas choice is commercial and industrial under ICC guidance. A small laundry on an Ameren gas residential-style class may not have the same marketer path as a C&I account. Confirm class and eligibility on the bill and with the LDC before you promise a dual-fuel switch in downstate markets.
Dryer therms stay on the LDC delivery system after a marketer enrollment. Leak response and winter restoration remain utility functions. A ComEd ARES switch never rewrites the Peoples Gas or Nicor invoice. Keep electric and gas Letters of Authorization on separate account numbers.
When a seller says 'we already shopped gas,' ask which LDC and which marketer. A Peoples Gas Chicago enrollment does not travel to a Nicor Joliet store. Portfolio workbooks need one gas tab per LDC, just as they need one electric tab per ComEd versus Ameren Illinois.
ComEd in PJM, Ameren in MISO, and IMEA municipal islands
Northern Illinois ComEd territory sits in PJM. Central and southern Ameren Illinois territory sits in MISO. Those are different wholesale constructs and different Price to Compare products. A supplier desk that quotes 'Illinois' without naming ComEd or Ameren is not ready to enroll a laundry meter.
Municipal electric systems—Naperville, Springfield City Water, Light and Power, and dozens of IMEA members—sell bundled energy. There is no ARES choice on those meters. A store just outside Naperville may be ComEd; a store inside the city system is not. Address-level proof beats the metropolitan brand on the franchise.
Electric cooperatives may opt out of choice. Mt. Carmel Public Utility is another named exception in market records. If the bill logo is not ComEd, Ameren Illinois, or MidAmerican Illinois electric, stop before you open Plug In Illinois as if choice were automatic.
MidAmerican Energy's Illinois electric footprint is smaller than ComEd or Ameren but still participates in the IPA choice framework. Do not fold those accounts into a ComEd workbook. The Chicago city page is a ComEd and Peoples/Nicor story; Peoria, Champaign, and other Ameren cities need MISO-zone defaults.
ComEd and Ameren delivery lines versus ARES supply on the bill
Split the invoice into delivery and supply before you rank ARES offers. ComEd and Ameren distribution, transmission, and riders—including ComEd rider labels that owners often misread as supplier charges—are delivery. The Price to Compare or the ARES generation line is supply.
Ameren Illinois uses rate zones that must match the account. A Zone I delivery and default-supply package is not a Zone III package. If you copy a Peoria workbook onto a Metro East meter without checking zone, both delivery and Price to Compare will be wrong.
Consolidated billing keeps the utility logo on the envelope. The ARES name appears on the supply line after enrollment. Outage restoration stays with ComEd or Ameren. Train overnight attendants to call the utility for wires and the ARES for invoice disputes.
Plug In Illinois is an education and comparison aid, not a guarantee that an ARES offer will beat the dated Price to Compare. Hold delivery constant, match class, and read pass-through language. Do not invent a savings percentage from a portal screenshot.
Chicago winter therms, collar-county cooling, and dual-fuel plants
Chicago Peoples Gas stores stack winter dryer and heating therms on the gas LDC while ComEd carries washers, lighting, and summer HVAC. Collar-county Nicor stores see a similar dual-fuel split with a different LDC tariff. Downstate Ameren stores add MISO-shaped electric defaults. None of those patterns is a published statewide kWh average.
Student-adjacent Ameren cities can show move-in and move-out spikes that a Chicago weekday drop-off store will not. Use each meter’s history. ARES products with tight bandwidth or ratchet language need that history, not a city-page anecdote copied from Chicago onto Champaign.
Water-heating fuel is a procurement fact. Electric water heat increases ComEd or Ameren kWh exposure; gas water heat increases Peoples, Nicor, or Ameren gas therms. Changing equipment mid-contract changes which commodity carries the swing. It does not move a municipal electric meter into ARES eligibility.
Renewal timing should respect IPA default-supply cycles so you know what Price to Compare you are leaving. Align electric and gas expirations when both are shopped. The utility still delivers after either switch. Calendar ComEd versus Ameren dates separately.
Naperville and Springfield exclusions versus Chicago ComEd meters
The most expensive portfolio mistake is enrolling an IMEA or municipal meter as if it were ComEd. Naperville and Springfield CWLP are named exceptions. Dozens of other municipal members follow the same bundled model. Check the bill logo and the municipal utility’s service map before you send an ARES LOA.
Chicago city-page guidance applies to ComEd delivery plus Peoples Gas or, in some near-in situations, a boundary check. Aurora and Joliet city contexts are typically ComEd plus Nicor. Rockford, Peoria, and Champaign need their own utility pairs. Do not paste one ARES confirmation across those cities.
A single franchise owner may hold a Chicago ComEd store and a Naperville municipal store ten miles apart. Only the ComEd account belongs on Plug In Illinois. The municipal account stays on the city’s bundled tariff. Mixing them in one 'Illinois savings' workbook produces a fictional comparison.
Letters of Authorization should name ComEd or Ameren Illinois, the account number, and the commodity. 'All Illinois stores' is how a Springfield CWLP meter gets swept into an ARES enrollment the ICC choice rules do not allow. Re-verify municipal status at closing and at each renewal.
Plug In Illinois checklist before you sign an ARES or gas-marketer contract
Confirm the electric utility is ComEd, Ameren Illinois, or MidAmerican Illinois electric—and that the logo is not a municipal or IMEA system. Open https://plugin.illinois.gov/electric-choice-basics.html and capture the Price to Compare date for that utility and class. If the store is Naperville, Springfield CWLP, or another muni, stop.
Identify Peoples Gas versus Nicor versus Ameren Illinois gas on the dryer meter. Confirm C&I eligibility before promising Ameren gas choice. Keep electric and gas LOAs separate. Split delivery from supply on sample bills so rider labels are not blamed on the ARES.
After enrollment, ComEd or Ameren still delivers. Spot-check the first two invoices. Read current Plug In Illinois language on small-commercial early-termination rules rather than importing an ETF story from another state. Post the utility outage number for staff.
Portfolio tabs should be ComEd-PJM, Ameren-MISO, and one gas tab per LDC. Never copy a Chicago Peoples Gas enrollment onto Nicor or a ComEd ARES offer onto Ameren Illinois. Re-check municipal boundaries when you add a store near Naperville or Springfield.
- Verify ComEd, Ameren Illinois, or MidAmerican—not IMEA or municipal electric.
- Capture the Price to Compare date for the correct ISO zone (PJM vs MISO).
- Open Plug In Illinois basics before ranking ICC-certified ARES offers.
- Map dryer meters to Peoples Gas, Nicor, or Ameren Illinois gas.
- Confirm Ameren gas C&I eligibility before issuing a marketer LOA.
- Exclude Naperville, Springfield CWLP, and other IMEA members from ARES workbooks.
- Keep ComEd or Ameren outage contacts separate from ARES billing.
