Commercial Energy in Des Plaines, IL: Electricity & Gas

Utility and supplier-choice checkpoint

The utilities below are local service context, not an address-level eligibility guarantee. Confirm the current bill, service address, account holder, and rate class before requesting a change.

Electricity: Eligible ComEd-served business accounts can compare retail electric supply while ComEd continues delivery. Use the ICC’s electric-choice explanation and the account’s ComEd tariff and rate class. Keep supply, delivery demand, and capacity inputs separate.

Natural gas: Nicor lists this community in its service territory. For a Nicor business account, Customer Select is the relevant supplier-choice program. Check current eligibility, supplier fees, billing arrangements, and applicable utility charges and credits.

Supplier selection affects the supply arrangement. It does not replace the delivery utility or its infrastructure and emergency responsibilities. A change in supplier does not guarantee a lower total bill.

Build one row per utility account before combining spend

A Des Plaines business with an office, operating building, and separate parking or service area should reconcile its utility accounts before requesting a portfolio price. Site nicknames can obscure separate meter numbers, and a supplier invoice may cover accounts already included on a utility statement.

Match billing periods and confirm whether supply is consolidated on the utility bill or invoiced separately. Only then total the monthly spend. Nicor lists Des Plaines in its service communities, but the gas bill remains the account-level evidence; proximity to a North Shore community is not enough to choose a gas program.

Account review steps

1. Reconcile supplier invoice account references to utility meter records.
2. Exclude duplicate supply charges when totaling combined statements.
3. Keep one contract end date per commodity and account.

Worked Energy Desk example

Suppose one electric meter costs $2,400 in the entered month and a separate gas meter costs $800. The multi-location planner totals $3,200 per month and displays a $38,400 annualized run rate. That is the sum of the entries multiplied by twelve; seasonal heating or cooling can make actual annual spend different.

Use one row per account, keep unknown contract dates blank, and avoid entering a combined site total again as another meter. Grouping does not establish eligibility for one supplier contract. Add the actual utility name; MidAmerican Energy is available for Quad Cities accounts. Download the inventory before closing the tool. These are illustrative inputs, not local utility rates, supplier quotes, or promised savings.

Utilities in Des Plaines

• Electricity: ComEd is the delivery utility, with commercial supplier choice available. See the ComEd commercial guide.
• Natural gas: Nicor’s community list includes Des Plaines. Confirm the delivery utility, service address, and applicable Customer Select terms on the current account.

Nicor’s official community list includes Des Plaines. Confirm the utility and rate class from the service account rather than using a general geographic boundary.

Supply vs delivery: how choice works

A Des Plaines commercial bill splits into delivery and supply. Delivery is what ComEd charges to run the wires and Nicor charges to run the pipes — plus metering, billing, and emergency response — a regulated cost overseen by the Illinois Commerce Commission that stays the same no matter who supplies the energy. Supply is the commodity, and that is the part an eligible account can shop.

An eligible commercial electric account can take its supply from a licensed Alternative Retail Electric Supplier (ARES) or remain on ComEd's default utility supply. Nicor's Customer Select program offers the same for gas through certified suppliers, while Nicor keeps delivering the gas and responding to emergencies. Because Des Plaines is close to the North Shore Gas boundary, it is worth restating that the gas utility here is Nicor — the gas utility name printed on a recent bill is the reliable confirmation for any address. Whichever supplier an account uses, reliability is unchanged: ComEd owns the wires and meter and handles outages, and Nicor maintains the pipes and handles leaks.

What shapes energy costs here

• Industrial and larger commercial accounts may be demand-billed, making demand charges relevant.
• Offices, hotels, and retail benefit from supply comparison and a bill review.
• Gas procurement applies through Nicor where the account has meaningful load — see commercial natural gas.

Larger single meters — a hotel, a hospital wing, an industrial building — often carry a demand (kW) component on top of energy (kWh), where the monthly peak drives a meaningful share of the charge, and in the ComEd/PJM market that peak behavior also sets a capacity tag (PLC) that follows the account into future supply cost. A PJM capacity auction clearing price is a wholesale figure, not a bill rate. Hospitality accounts are notable for their gas load — heating, hot water, laundry, and kitchens — so procuring natural gas alongside electricity often matters as much as the power side. Gas is seasonal, weighted toward winter, so contract term and shape are worth weighing against price.

Getting started

Provide a recent electric and gas bill for a Des Plaines business (12 months of usage helps, and interval data helps for demand-billed accounts), and the account can be reviewed and priced on matched terms through the procurement process. Have the utility account numbers, the rate class on each bill, and any current supplier contract's end date ready so timing aligns with the renewal.

On timing, supply is usually shopped in a window before the current term ends, which leaves room to compare offers instead of deciding against a deadline or slipping onto a hold-over rate. A hotel or other hospitality account with both electric and gas load can review the two together and align their renewal dates, so the property is looked at once a year rather than piecemeal. No savings figure is promised in advance.