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*Note: We will be able to confirm the non-summer prices in September.

We’ve warned consumers about sales reps trying to use the Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison price spikes as a way to lure people into bad energy deals–but what about another type of electricity choice: “municipal aggregation,” a.k.a. community power deals through your city, town, or county? We reviewed current aggregation offers across Illinois, and one fail-safe rule emerges: Never assume an offer negotiated by your community guarantees savings. Do your homework. 

Going into June, CUB counted 471 community power deals in Illinois, according to the Illinois Commerce Commission’s electricity choice website. Under a state law passed in 2009, local governments can negotiate with alternative electric suppliers to secure a price on behalf of residential and small-business utility customers in that area. The idea is that local leaders can use the collective bargaining power of all the households in the city or county to try to secure a lower power price for residents. Municipal aggregation is an “opt out” program, meaning if the community passes a referendum in favor of aggregation,  most residents of that municipality or county will be automatically enrolled in the program unless they tell the community they’re not interested.   

While there are plenty of examples of community power deals that have saved customers money, such savings are never guaranteed. This spike in ComEd and Ameren electricity prices is connected to an increase in the price of reserve power–also called “capacity.” Capacity costs have a major impact on the price of electricity–not just for ComEd and Ameren, but for alternative suppliers also. 

That is evident in CUB’s review of community power deals–in particular Ameren customers have reported receiving letters informing them that the price of the municipal aggregation offer is increasing, and giving them a chance to stay with the program or opt out. For example, the City of Peoria has announced that due to higher capacity costs its aggregation price was increasing about 25 percent to 12.937 cents per kilowatt-hour from July to early December.  

Have you received a letter informing you of a new price for your community power deal and giving instructions on how to opt out? A few notes: 

• If you received a letter, it will give you instructions on how to opt out. If you want to stay with the community power deal you don’t have to do anything–you are automatically opted in. 
• If you go with the aggregation offer and later decide you want out, you can do so at any time without paying an exit fee. But switching back to Ameren or  ComEd can take up to two months.
• If you do switch back, it’s likely you’ll have to wait 12 months before you can participate in the aggregation program again (unless you’re presented with a new aggregation program contract before then). Check with your community or the aggregation supplier about this detail.

If you’re unsure whether you’re on an aggregation deal, see if your community is on this ICC list—but make sure to contact your community or the supplier to verify the price of a deal and how long it will last.

If your community has such a deal, there’s a good chance you’re on it–unless you opted out.  Also, the supply section of your utility bill should list the company your community chose, if you’re on it. To confirm, you can also call this supplier–its number will be listed on your bill.

You could also be signed up for an alternative supplier that has nothing to do with the aggregation deal. In that case, you would do the same apples-to-apples comparison with the utility’s price that we recommend if you’re assessing a community power deal. Read CUB’s guidance below.

For ComEd customers:
Summer Price (June through September): 10.028 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). That’s a 45 percent increase from last summer.
Non-summer Price (October 2025 through May 2026): CUB has not confirmed the final price but it’s expected to be elevated, around 10 cents per kWh. 

Look for the Price to Compare on your bill.

Note: The price above is called the “price to compare,” because it’s the number you would use to make an apples-to-apples price comparison with an alternative supplier offer. This includes the supply price and a “Transmission Services Charge.” You can see the “price to compare” on your bill.

CUB guidance: 

• All of the community power deals in ComEd’s territory appeared to either be lower than the utility’s summer price or to promise to match it. But when it comes to your community’s deal, make sure to confirm the price and term so you can do an apples-to-apples comparison with the Price to Compare above. 
• Watch out for the possibility of any supplier attempting to back out of a lower fixed-rate offer, citing market conditions.
• If your community power deal expires before the end of 2025, watch if a new community power deal is proposed, and remember that the ComEd price is expected to be around 10 cents per kWh through May 2026.
• Another capacity auction is scheduled for this summer, so we will soon be able to confirm the expectation that prices will be elevated another year, 2026-2027.
• Thanks to Illinois energy legislation, the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), most ComEd customers, whether they are with an alternative supplier or not, will receive a credit on their bills. That’s thanks to a CEJA provision that gives customers a bill credit when energy prices go above a certain level. (You can read more about this credit–the Carbon Free Energy Resource Adjustment (CFERA)–in CUB’s deep dive about the price spike.) 

For Ameren customers:
Summer Price (June through September): 12.18 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). That’s a 50 percent increase from last summer.
Non-summer Price (October 2025 through May 2026): The price has not been finalized, but Ameren has estimated that it will be around 8-9 cents per kWh.

Look for the Price to Compare on your Ameren bill.

Note: The price above is called the “price to compare,” because it’s the number you would use to make an apples-to-apples price comparison with an alternative supplier offer. This price includes the supply price, a “Transmission Service Charge” and a “Supply Cost Adjustment.”

CUB guidance: 

• Confirm the price and term of your community’s power deal, and do an apples-to-apples comparison with the Price to Compare above. 
• Watch out for the possibility of any of the suppliers attempting to back out of a lower fixed-rate offer, citing market conditions.
• Important reminder: As with Ameren’s supply price, CUB found many examples of community power deals that are increasing to significant levels this summer (10 cents to nearly 13 cents per kWh), coinciding with the capacity price spike. We’ve seen offers that save consumers money over the summer, but remember that Ameren estimates its price will be dropping from more than 12 cents per kWh to 8-9 cents per kWh on October 1. So a plan that saves some money over the summer by beating Ameren’s elevated supply price may become a money-loser in the fall. And remember that it can take up to two months to switch back to the utility, during which you will continue to pay the aggregation supplier’s rate.
• Many offers from Homefield Energy have gone up significantly, including in Peoria, where customers will pay 12.937 cents per kWh from July through November. While a local leader told a TV station that the Peoria power deal offers “price stability,” nobody knows what Ameren’s price will be, come fall, and it could very well go down.  The chart below shows that customers who stay with Homefield could pay about 6 percent more over the summer and up to 60 percent more in the fall, depending on what happens to Ameren’s price.

Peoria 

A consumer from another Homefield community, Hoopeston, called CUB after he had received a letter announcing his rate was increasing to 11.928 cents per kWh July through December 2025. This offers some savings early on, but he said he was considering opting out, since the few dollars in monthly summer savings would not make up for the bigger potential losses toward the end of the deal. For example, a person using 900 kWh a month could save roughly $6.80 total over July, August and September. But if Ameren’s price drops to 9 cents per kWh, that same person would lose a total of about $52 over October and November. See the chart below.

Hoopeston

Again, make sure to do your homework and run the numbers yourself to see what the best choice is: staying with a community power deal or opting out. It shouldn’t be so complicated for consumers to make the right choice for their electric bills this summer, but the capacity price spike has made such a decision difficult–along with the usual complaints we have about poor communication from alternative suppliers to their customers. 

Keep the conversation going: Are you on a community power deal that’s particularly good or bad? Did you get notification of a change in your aggregation contract? Let us know your story. Email Communications Director Jim Chilsen, at [email protected].

For further reading…

• CUBHelpCenter.com, our online information center on the price spike.
• CUB’s deep dives on why Ameren and ComEd prices are soaring.
• CUB’s fact sheet on municipal aggregation. 
• CUB’s warnings about rip-offs peddled by alternative suppliers in ComEd and Ameren territories.