Commercial Energy Procurement in Illinois: The Process

Commercial energy procurement is a decision process, not a rate lookup. Done well, it produces a defensible choice on both price and contract terms for a specific Illinois account. This page lays out the sequence so you know what to expect and what to have ready.

Who this is for

Any business preparing to price or renew commercial electricity or natural gas supply in Illinois — especially accounts with demand charges, multiple meters, or a contract nearing expiration. It applies to both ComEd and Ameren electric territory and to the Nicor, Peoples, and North Shore gas territories.

The procurement sequence

1. Define the accounts and the decision. List every meter, the utility, the current supplier and end date, delivery dates you need, and who signs. Multi-site portfolios need this inventory before anything else — see multi-location procurement.
2. Gather usage. Pull 12–24 months of bills and, for larger or load-shape-sensitive accounts, request interval data. Reconcile interval sums to billed kWh so the data is trustworthy.
3. Establish the benchmark. Identify the applicable utility default-supply comparison (the price to compare) so any offer is measured against the right baseline, not a national average.
4. Request comparable offers. Ask eligible suppliers for offers on matched delivery dates and a matched scope of included components. Un-matched offers are not comparable.
5. Normalize and compare. Line up energy, capacity, transmission, losses, renewable obligations, ancillary services, and fees, plus volume tolerances and credit terms. Use the apples-to-apples worksheet.
6. Review the contract terms. Pricing exclusions, bandwidth/swing clauses, change-in-law, termination, renewal, and post-expiration language often matter more than a small price difference — see contract review.
7. Decide, enroll, and verify. Execute, confirm enrollment with the utility and supplier, and check the first bills against the agreed terms.

What procurement does not do

It does not promise a specific saving, treat a supply-rate gap as whole-bill savings, or assume a switch is always the answer. Where utility default supply is the better outcome, that is the recommendation. Where a location is a municipal-utility territory (for example Naperville or Springfield electric), competitive supply does not apply and the work shifts to usage and, where relevant, gas.

What to have ready

Recent bills and account numbers, service addresses and utilities, 12–24 months of usage, interval data where available, the current executed contract and any amendments, and a meter/account inventory. A worked example shows the full flow on a single account.