Illinois · electric utility
Ameren Illinois Price to Compare & rate increases
Ameren Illinois is a Ameren Corporation utility serving central and southern Illinois (HQ Collinsville), covering about three-quarters of the state's land area (about 1.2 million customers). Ameren Illinois covers roughly three-quarters of Illinois geographically — about 43,700 square miles — while serving far fewer customers than ComEd, and it sits in the MISO grid rather than PJM. (source)
Price to Compare (current rate)
11.326¢/kWh
Effective (current) · last reviewed
Estimate for comparison — confirm the current rate and all charges with Ameren Illinois before acting. Not advice.
Next scheduled reset: (typical schedule — confirm before acting) · Seasonal periods + annual June procurement. Every utility's reset calendar →
Of the 2 Illinois utilities we track, Ameren Illinois's Price to Compare is the highest — the range runs from 10.399¢ (ComEd) to 11.326¢ (Ameren Illinois). Compare all Illinois rates →
What it means: a Ameren Illinois customer on a 17¢/kWh third-party supplier rate pays about $590 more per year than the Price to Compare (11.326¢), based on ~860 kWh/month. The audit below checks your actual rate.
The worth-it line: for a switch to save at least $10/month at ~750 kWh, a supplier offer must be a fixed rate below 9.99¢/kWh — with no monthly fee and no cancellation fee. Offers between 9.99¢ and 11.326¢ technically "beat" the Price to Compare but save too little to justify contract risk. The full math, all utilities →
Ameren Illinois customer service & quick facts
The official ways to reach Ameren Illinois for outages, billing, and account help. RateWatchdog is independent and not affiliated with Ameren Illinois — these are the utility's own channels.
Verified · confirm on Ameren Illinois's siteHere to check if your rate is too high? Jump to the audit ↓
Is your supplier charging more?
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Where is this on my bill?
On your bill, find the supply rate in ¢/kWh. Your utility's standard rate is the “Price to Compare.” If your supplier charges more than that, you're overpaying.
Comparing suppliers against Ameren Illinois's Price to Compare?
Illinois's official comparison tool is Plug In Illinois, run by the ICC. Illinois's official comparison site is the ICC's Plug In Illinois (plugin.illinois.gov) — our guide explains how to use it, how private marketplaces differ, and the ComEd (PJM) vs Ameren (MISO) split most sales pitches get wrong.
How to use Plug In Illinois — the full guide →Is Ameren Illinois a monopoly? Can you switch?
For delivery, yes — it's a monopoly. Ameren Illinois is the only company that runs the poles and wires to homes in its territory, so you can't pick a different company to deliver your power. That part is a regulated monopoly: Ameren Illinois, owned by Ameren Corporation, can only charge what the ICC approves in a rate case.
The electricity itself, though, is open to competition. You can buy your supply from a third-party supplier, or do nothing and stay on Ameren Illinois's default rate — the Price to Compare the ICC oversees. Switching suppliers doesn't change who delivers your power or who you call during an outage; it only changes the supply line on your bill. And if a supplier is charging more than the Price to Compare, you can drop it and return to that regulated rate, usually within one or two billing cycles — no fee to the utility.
How often does Ameren Illinois's power go out?
Federal reliability data, reported by the utility to the U.S. government. SAIDI is the average total time a customer is without power in a year; SAIFI is the average number of outages.
In 2024, including major storms
3 hr 44 min
without power, across about 1.1 outages
What the average customer actually experienced.
On a typical day (storms excluded)
2 hr 1 min
without power, across about 0.9 outages
Normal operations, with major event days removed.
For Ameren Illinois, major storms drove roughly 46% of 2024's total outage time — the gap between the two numbers above is weather the utility couldn't fully control.
On normal-day reliability, Ameren Illinois is the least reliable of the 2 Illinois utilities we track — the range runs from 36 min (ComEd) to 2 hr 1 min (Ameren Illinois) of typical-day outage time per year.
Source: U.S. EIA Form EIA-861, 2024 reliability data (IEEE 1366 standard), for Ameren Illinois Company. eia.gov →
How often does Ameren Illinois disconnect customers for nonpayment?
Utilities report this to the federal government. It counts residential service disconnected for unpaid bills. A high rate isn't proof of wrongdoing — it's shaped by local poverty, climate, and how strong a state's shutoff-protection rules are, as much as by the utility itself.
Disconnections in 2024
72,296
times Ameren Illinois disconnected residential customers for nonpayment
Per 100 households
6.8
disconnections for every 100 residential customers it serves
That's the highest disconnection rate of the 2 Illinois utilities we track — the range runs from 2.6 per 100 (ComEd) to 6.8 per 100 (Ameren Illinois).
Counts disconnection events — one household can be shut off more than once. From Ameren Illinois's own filings to the U.S. EIA (Form EIA-112, Residential Utility Disconnections Survey), first collected for 2024. eia.gov →
Where your bill money goes: how Ameren Illinois earns its profit
Because Ameren Illinois is a regulated monopoly, its profit isn't set by competing for customers — it's set by regulators. The ICC authorizes a target return on equity (around 9.5% to 10.5% for U.S. electric utilities) on the money it sinks into poles, wires, substations, and meters. It's a target, not a guarantee — a utility can earn above or below it — but a low-risk regulated monopoly reliably lands close. You pay that return back, plus the investment itself, through the delivery charge on every bill.
Ameren Illinois is owned by Ameren. In 2024, Ameren reported about $1.2 billion in net income — its profit across all of the utilities it owns, not Ameren Illinois alone. Source: Ameren's annual report (SEC Form 10-K, fiscal year 2024). SEC EDGAR →
That authorized return is set by regulators on the utility's investment — independently of how reliable the service is or how many customers are disconnected, the two measures above.
Rate cases & increases
- 24-0238 effective
Ameren Illinois's 2024–2027 multi-year grid plan and rate plan. The ICC's Dec. 19, 2024 decision reduced the request about 7% to an overall increase of $309 million and set the return on equity at 8.715% (down from a requested 9.27%). Per-customer impact varies by usage.
Common questions about Ameren Illinois
- Why is my Ameren Illinois electric bill going up?
- Ameren Illinois is in the MISO grid — not PJM — so the PJM capacity auction that drove large bill increases for ComEd, PSE&G, Ohio Edison and others doesn't directly hit Ameren customers. Ameren's supply rate (11.326¢/kWh for the first 800 kWh, summer 2026) reflects MISO-area market conditions. Any Ameren increase is more likely driven by a separate multi-year distribution rate plan at the ICC (Docket 23-0082) — the delivery-side charge that Ameren earns a return on. Check your bill: the supply line and the delivery line are separate.
- Can I switch from Ameren Illinois to a cheaper supplier?
- Yes — Illinois is deregulated. Use the ICC's official Plug In Illinois site (plugin.illinois.gov) to see licensed Alternative Retail Electric Suppliers (ARES) offering below Ameren's current summer PTC of 11.326¢/kWh (first 800 kWh). The spread between the default and competitive offers is narrow — but worth checking. Fixed-rate ARES offers with no monthly fee and no cancellation fee are the cleanest comparison.
- What is the Ameren Illinois electricity rate per kWh?
- Ameren Illinois's default supply Price to Compare is 11.326¢/kWh for the first 800 kWh, summer 2026 (source: the ICC's Plug In Illinois). Delivery and distribution charges are additional — Ameren's all-in residential rate runs approximately 15–17¢/kWh. Verify the current BGS at ameren.com or the ICC's Plug In Illinois site (plugin.illinois.gov). Ameren Illinois sits in the MISO grid, not PJM, so its supply rate isn't directly tied to the PJM capacity market.
Why the PJM headlines don't apply to Ameren customers — the MISO difference
If you've heard that electricity rates are spiking because of the 'PJM capacity auction,' you've heard a story about a different grid. Ameren Illinois is not in PJM — it operates in MISO, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which covers the central US from Manitoba down to Louisiana.
MISO and PJM run separate capacity markets with their own auction results. The July 2024 PJM auction that cleared at $269.92/MW-day — roughly 9× the prior year — does not directly set Ameren Illinois supply costs. Ameren's supply rate (11.326¢/kWh for the first 800 kWh, summer 2026) reflects MISO-area market conditions and Ameren's own procurement — historically calmer than PJM's spike, though currently priced slightly above ComEd's summer PTC.
This distinction matters if a door-to-door or telephone electricity supplier uses the PJM capacity spike headline to pressure you into a contract. If you're an Ameren customer being told 'rates are about to explode because of PJM' — that's not your grid. It's a sales pitch, not a risk assessment.
Source: Ameren Illinois — BGS supply rate; RateWatchdog PJM/MISO comparison
Can Ameren Illinois customers switch to an Alternative Retail Electric Supplier (ARES)?
Yes — Illinois deregulated its electricity market in 1997. Ameren Illinois customers can choose a licensed Alternative Retail Electric Supplier (ARES) for the supply portion of their bill. The official comparison site is the ICC's Plug In Illinois at plugin.illinois.gov — run by the state regulator, with no stake in what you choose. (Private comparison marketplaces exist too; verify any offer you find there against the official site before signing.)
Ameren's summer 2026 benchmark is 11.326¢/kWh for the first 800 kWh — slightly above ComEd's 10.399¢ and still below most East Coast utilities. The spread between the default and competitive supplier offers remains narrow. Worth checking plugin.illinois.gov, and hold every offer to the fixed-rate, zero-fee standard.
Ameren's MISO positioning also means that even if ARES rates spike (following MISO markets), they're unlikely to mirror the PJM-driven volatility that hit Ohio, New Jersey, and Illinois's ComEd zone.
Source: Plug In Illinois — the ICC's official comparison site
Ameren Illinois service territory
Ameren Illinois (AIC) covers central and southern Illinois — roughly three-quarters of the state's land area, though far fewer customers than ComEd's dense northern territory.
- ▸ Core cities: Peoria, Springfield, Decatur, Champaign-Urbana, Bloomington-Normal, Rockford (southern portion), Quincy
- ▸ Stretches from the Iowa border to the Indiana line, south to the Kentucky border
- ▸ 1.2 million electric customers across roughly 43,700 square miles
- ▸ Sits in the MISO grid (Midcontinent Independent System Operator) — NOT PJM
What does a Ameren Illinois bill look like?
ESTIMATE — see note below.
| Bill component | At 750 kWh/month |
|---|---|
| Supply / generation (11.326¢/kWh) | $84.95 |
| Delivery, transmission & other riders | see note → |
⚠ Supply charge only — Ameren Illinois summer 2026 PTC 11.326¢/kWh for the first 800 kWh (source: ICC Plug In Illinois). Delivery charges (~4–6¢/kWh) are additional. Ameren is in MISO, not PJM — a separate market from the PJM capacity spike. Verify at plugin.illinois.gov.
Ameren Illinois rate alerts
Email alerts for Ameren Illinois are coming soon — we're setting them up with double opt-in and one-click unsubscribe, and we'll never sell your data. For now, this page and the Illinois hub track every active rate case.