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Last Updated: September 2008
12/07: The Illinois Commerce Commission approved, with modifications, ComEd’s and Ameren Illinois’ plans for purchasing a portion of the electricity required to supply residential and small commercial customers beginning in June 2008. The Commission’s order complies with a new law creating an Illinois Power Agency to oversee the procurement of electricity beginning next year for residential and small commercial bundled customers.
Source: Illinois Commerce Commission
http://www.icc.illinois.gov/
02/07: “The Illinois House is expected to approve a bill establishing a three-year
rate freeze for Illinois utilities as soon as next week, the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch reported. Illinois State Rep. Dan Beiser, D-Alton, said the rate
relief proposal on the table from Ameren CEO Scott Cisel would provide no
relief for most of the utility's consumers.
Source: Edison Electric Institute, Energy Daily News, February 2, 2007
12/06: The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) approved a plan to phase-in Ameren and Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) rate hikes. The planned program would allow most Ameren customers the option to reduce their rate hike to a maximum of 14 percent for each of the next three years (2007-2009) and defer the additional amount to a three-year repayment period beginning in 2010. The program would also allow ComEd’s residential customers to reduce their rate hike to a maximum of 10 percent for each of the next three years (2007-2009) and defer the additional amount to a three-year repayment period beginning in 2010.
Source: Illinois Commerce Commission
http://www.icc.illinois.gov/
06/06: Senate Bill 1705 (SB 1705) was enacted to amend the Public Utilities Act. This bill required each electric utility to file a tariff or tariffs which would allow residential retail customers in the electric utility's service area to elect real-time pricing beginning January 1, 2007.
Source: Illinois General Assembly
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GA=94&DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=1705&GAID=8&SessionID=50&LegID=19897
02/06: House Bill 5766 (HB 5766) was put forth to amend the Electric Service Customer Choice and Rate Relief Law of 1997 in the Public Utilities Act. This bill provided that the "mandatory transition period" extend through the date on which the Illinois Commerce Commission had approved declarations of competitive service for all classes of service offered in the service areas of all electric utilities that, on December 31, 2005, served at least 100,000 customers (now, the mandatory transition period extends through January 1, 2007). Furthermore, the bill prohibited the Commission from taking certain actions prior to 2010 with respect to (i) initiating, authorizing, or ordering any change by way of increase or (ii) in approving an application for a merger, imposing a condition requiring any filing for an increase, decrease, or change in or other review of an electric utility's rates or enforcing such a condition.
Source: Illinois General Assembly
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=5766&GAID=8&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=25345&SessionID=50
01/06: The Illinois Commerce Commission approved plans for Ameren and Com Ed to purchase power through a reverse auction. This reverse auction would take place when the transition period ends, currently slated for 2007. In this way, once the transition period ends, the Illinois Commerce Commission would no longer regulate the cost to supply power in the state of Illinois.
Source: Illinois Commerce Commission
http://www.icc.illinois.gov/
11/02: The Illinois Commerce Commission issued an interim order to discontinue the current rate for Commonwealth Edison’s large customers with 3 Megawatts of demand or more and charge competitive rates by June 2006. The current rate would not be available to new or returning customers after June 2003. Commonwealth Edison stated that competitive rates would help spur competition in the State.
08/02: The Illinois Commerce Commission released the Report of Chairman's Summer 2002 Roundtable Discussion Re: Implementation of the Electric Service Customer Choice and Rate Relief Law of 1997. The report stated that "there is absolutely no competition (or choice) for retail residential electric customers, and it is unlikely competition (or choice) will be available for these customers for the next several years." The report also said that commercial and industrial retail customers also had limited access to alternative retail electric suppliers outside of the Commonwealth Edison service territory, and competition in ComEd's service territory had been reduced with the approval of a new "market value index" (MVI). The calculation of the MVI, the restructuring legislation, the absence of a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO), transmission constraints and credit risks were just a few of the reasons cited in the report for the lack of competition.
06/02: Senate Bill 2081 (SB 2081) was enacted to extend the utility-rate freeze and mandatory-transition charges, set forth in the restructuring legislation, for an additional two years so that the competitive market in Illinois could further develop.
Source: Illinois General Assembly
http://www.ilga.gov/default.asp
05/02: As of May 1, 2002, residential customers were allowed to choose their own electric supplier.
04/02: The ICC released its "Assessment of Retail and Wholesale Market Competition in the Illinois Electric Industry in 2001". According to the report, "14 percent of the load eligible for delivery services" switched to a retail electric supplier, mainly from the AmerenCIPS, Commonwealth Edison and Illinois Power service areas. Eighteen suppliers were licensed retail electric suppliers in 2001. In regards to the Power Purchase Option, the number of ComEd and Illinois Power delivery services customers increased from 2000. The PPO "allows customers to receive a rate discount even when no suppliers are serving the market," but this option ends in 2006.
10/01: The ICC released its "Report to the General Assembly: Experimental Programs Initiated by Electric Utilities Under Section 16-106 of the Electric Service Customer Choice and Rate Relief Law of 1997 During 2000". The utilities offered two types of experimental programs, specific customer group programs and reliability programs.
04/01: The ICC issued its "Assessment of Retail and Wholesale Market Competition in the Illinois Electric Industry." The report concluded that only in the ComEd service territory was switching rates and supplier activity high in 2000. "Approximately 22 percent of eligible customers in the ComEd service territory had switched to delivery services," and "62 percent of eligible usage had switched from bundled to delivery services." "At the end of 2000, about eight suppliers were active in the ComEd service territory; only three or four suppliers had acquired a fairly significant number of customers. In the downstate territories, by contrast, few suppliers are operating."
01/01: Customers in Commonwealth Edison's territory who chose competitive suppliers for electricity (nonresidential at this time) could have also chosen among competitive suppliers for metering service.
12/00: The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) issued an update on the status of competition in the State. The Illinois electric market first opened in October 1999 to a third of non-residential customers. As of January 1, 2001, all commercial and industrial customers were eligible for retail access to competitive suppliers, and residential customers would become eligible starting in May 1, 2002. The majority of customers who switched to alternative suppliers were in Commonwealth Edison's territory. About 12 percent of ComEd's eligible customers representing about half of the company's load switched to alternative suppliers. Illinois Power had 6.9 percent of customers switch and Ameren Central Illinois Public Service Company had 6.8 percent. None were recorded for Illinois Light Co. The ICC stated that a lack of competition could be due to a need for more suppliers, electricity shortages, inefficient transmission system, a lack of uniform interconnection standards, and the surrounding states lack of restructuring.
05/00: Commonwealth Edison decided to offer retail access to all industrial consumers on June 1, rather than hold a lottery to select a second third of the estimated 24,000 manufacturing customers. This would give all ComEd's manufacturing customers retail access 4 months earlier than planned. As planned, all remaining non-residential customers would gain retail access by December 31, 2000, and all residential consumers by May 1, 2002.
01/00: The ICC issued a report, "Assessment of Competition in the Illinois Electric Industry Three Months Following the Initiation of Restructuring." The report summarized the status of consumer choice in the State, finding that more consumers had switched suppliers in Commonwealth Edison's territory than any other Illinois utility, likely because ComEd had comparatively high rates for the State.
01/00: ComEd completed the sale of its fossil-fueled plants to MidWest Generation, a subsidiary of Edison International. The $4.8 billion sale resulted in a $1.5-billion gain after taxes and sales related obligations. The gain would allow recovery of nuclear-related regulatory assets, as provided under Illinois restructuring legislation, and provide funding for reliability improvements to ComEd’s transmission and distribution systems. The sale included 6 coal-fired plants representing 5,645 MW of capacity.
11/99: Direct access began in October 1999 for many commercial and industrial consumers. Loads over 4 MW and multi-site (at least 10 sites) customers with aggregate loads over 9.5 MW were automatically included in the first phase to implement retail access. A lottery was held at each utility to choose consumers to allow about one-third of the remainder of commercial and industrial load to participate in the first phase. Media sources report that customers in Commonwealth Edison's service territory were realizing 5 to 15 percent savings from competitive companies.
08/99: Ameren and Cilco both held lotteries to choose the one-third of eligible customers that would receive retail access. All customers over 4 MW are automatically eligible, and one-third on the load for non-residential customers would be available to competitive suppliers beginning October 1, 1999. Lotteries were held because more than a third of the customers expressed the desire to be included in this first phase of retail access in Illinois. Those customers not selected in the lotteries would have retail choice in 2000. Residential customers would have retail choice in May 2002.
07/99: ComEd held three lotteries (one for single-site consumers; one for commercial consumers with at least 10 sites and an aggregated demand of at least 9.5 MW; and one for non-residential consumers with 2 or more sites. Customers with loads 4 MW and more are automatically included) to choose the 1/3 of consumers who would have retail access by October. Over half of the commercial and industrial consumers in ComEd's territory were registered for retail choice. ComEd announced the resultant energy freed for competition would be over 30 billion kWh. In Illinois Power's service territory, all commercial and industrial customers who registered would begin retail access October 1st. Only about 75 percent of those eligible in Illinois' territory registered.
07/99: Senate Bill 24 was enacted to amend the restructuring law. The amendment moved up the transition to customer choice. The first third of commercial and industrial consumers would have retail access by October 1, 1999, the second third by June 1, 2000, and the final third by October 1, 2000. Residential customers would receive a 5 percent rate reduction by October 1, 2001, seven months earlier. The rate cap for utilities was increased by 2 percent, cogeneration was promoted, and ComEd was required to allocate $250 million to a special environmental initiatives and energy efficiency fund.
04/99: The sign up process for eligibility to choose began for each utility. Loads over 4 MW and multi-site (at least 10 sites) customers with aggregate loads over 9.5 MW were automatically included. Interested consumers would sign up and a lottery would be held to determine the 1/3 of nonresidential load (excluding the 4 MW and 9.5 MW aggregated loads) that would have retail choice by October 1999. The remainder of commercial and industrial consumers not chosen in the lottery were proposed to get retail choice in December 2000, and residential consumers would then have retail access by May 1, 2002.
03/99: ComEd's residential customers saved approximately $170 million as a result of the 15-percent rate reduction on August 1, 1998.
11/98: Central Illinois Light Company (CILCO) requested that the ICC terminate its pilot program for retail choice, "Power Quest." CILCO said that the program served the purpose of showing that retail choice works in Illinois.
10/98: As required by the restructuring law in Illinois, a 15-percent rate reduction went into effect in August 1998.
08/98: The phase-in of rate cuts took effect. The State's largest utilities, Illinova and Commonwealth Edison, cut rates 15 percent and another 5-percent reduction was due May 2002. Smaller utilities would phase-in 5-percent reductions by May 2002.
06/98: The ICC issued a ruling that prohibited utility affiliates from exploiting the name, reputation, or logo of the utility in advertising or marketing campaigns. The rule was intended to protect ratepayers from cross-subsidization of utility affiliates.
05/98: The ICC approved Commonwealth Edison's plan to offer nonresidential customers hourly rates under its "Hourly Energy Pricing" program.
12/97: House Bill 362, "The Electric Service Customer Choice and Rate Relief Act of 1997," was enacted. The bill proposed rate cuts for ComEd and Illinois Power effective August 1998. The law also proposed some commercial and industrial customers choice by October 1999, and all customers, including residential, choice for their generation supplier by May 2002. Transition charges would be collected through 2006. Most residential customers would receive a 15 percent rate reduction by August 1998, and another 5 percent reduction in May 2002.
02/96: CILCO and IL Power conducted retail wheeling pilot programs in 1995-1996. IL pilot included only large customers; CILCO pilot included all classes of customers.