Illinois Service Area Sees Decline in Residential Shopping, Statewide Migration Stalls Outside of Aggregations

An Illinois service area saw a decline in the number of residential electric customers on competitive supply during April, while statewide growth in residential shopping was comparatively muted.

Specifically, from March 31 to April 30, Ameren Rate Zone II saw a decline of 1,100 residential shoppers, according to the latest stats on the PlugIn Illinois site.

Elsewhere, residential shopping growth at Commonwealth Edison was 22,000 accounts during April, versus the aggregation-driven growth of nearly 1 million accounts in March.

At Ameren Rate Zone I, April residential shopping growth was 5,600 accounts (versus 32,000 in March), and at Ameren Rate Zone III, April residential shopping growth was 14,000 accounts (versus 32,000 in March).

The lower growth seen in April is similar to the prior lull between aggregation activity in late 2012 before the aggregations on the November 2012 ballot began service, and is expected to be temporary as aggregations from the April 2013 ballot begin to be billed on competitive supply. Notably, Ameren Rate Zone II had seen two months of declining migration to end 2012.

As of April 30, residential customers who have switched to a competitive supplier and have completed at least one billing cycle on competitive supply were as follows:

ComEd: 2,329,911

Ameren Rate Zone I, CIPS: 145,261

Ameren Rate Zone II, CILCO: 137,749

Ameren Rate Zone III, IP: 273,409

As previously reported, the ICC migration statistics discussed in this story reflect customers who have switched to a competitive supplier and have completed at least one billing cycle on competitive supply. Accordingly, the data lags completed enrollments.