Illinois Competitive Electric Offer Website Goes Live

The Illinois Commerce Commission has launched its online residential electric offer comparison matrix on PluginIllinois.org.

Matters exclusively reported earlier this month that the offer matrix was due to be launched shortly (see 7/4).

The offer comparison chart includes the official Price to Compare (which excludes the reconciliation factor) and competitive offers, listing the offer price in cents per kilowatt-hour, whether it is a fixed or variable priced offer, the term of the contract in months, any additional monthly fees in addition to the volumetric kWh charge, any termination fees that may apply, a brief description of the offer, and a link to the supplier's offer webpage.

The chart also shows the current month's generation cost for 500, 1,000 or 1,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity for each offer.

Customers are able sort offers by supplier name, offer price, and termination fees, among other features, and compare multiple offers side by side. The default view lists the Price to Compare at the top, with supplier offers then generated in apparently random order (e.g. not by price nor alphabetical, until the customer chooses to sort the list)

Suppliers currently listing residential service at ComEd on the site are:
- Ambit Energy
- BlueStar Energy Solutions
- Champion Energy Services
- Constellation Energy
- Direct Energy
- FirstEnergy Solutions (new offer see related story)
- IGS Energy
- Integrys Energy Services
- Spark Energy

As the site has just gone live, it is unclear if other active residential suppliers at ComEd (Energy Plus Holdings LLC, Nordic Energy Services, and soon to be Dominion Retail/Nicor Electric and Viridian Energy) will list offers on the site, or prefer to manage enrollments through their own targeted marketing.

For residential service at Ameren, currently listing offers on the site are Champion Energy Services and Integrys Energy Services, both of whose entry into the Ameren residential market was first reported by Matters (6/27). Other suppliers offering residential service at Ameren include BlueStar Energy Solutions and Nordic Energy Services, though the degree of active marketing varies.