State electricity profile · EIA monthly through May 2026
Illinois Electricity
As of May 2026, residential electricity in Illinois costs 23.85¢ per kWh (+28.4% vs May 2025). EIA publishes these figures monthly and this page follows them. Illinois's 2025 annual residential electricity rate is 17.69¢/kWh, 2.3% above the US average. Both figures point the same way: an above-average rate and only 17% of generation from renewables. The fuel-by-fuel and sector detail is below.
- 23.85¢
- May 2026 rate
- +28.4%
- year over year
- 17.69¢/kWh
- Residential rate
- +2.3%
- vs US average
- 17%
- Renewable
- 5.4M
- Customers
Verify with EIA → · Methodology
17.69¢/kWh residential, 13.07¢/kWh commercial
In the U.S. Energy Information Administration's 2025 annual-frequency retail-sales series, Illinois's residential average revenue per kWh is 17.69¢/kWh, with a commercial average of 13.07¢/kWh and an industrial average of 10.14¢/kWh; a separate EIA generation series for 2025 reports 17% of the state's generation from renewables.
- 2.3% above the US average vs national residential average
- 17% renewable generation
The verdict · 2025
Illinois's residential electricity runs 17.69¢/kWh - 2.3% above the 17.30¢/kWh national average, pricier than 68% of other states, with 17% of its power from renewables.
This is EIA state average revenue per kWh across 5.4M reported residential customers, a benchmark for comparing states, not the tariff on any single bill. Source: EIA retail-sales API, annual frequency.
Annual rate change
What changed in the 2025 annual EIA period
- Illinois's industrial average rose from 8.83¢/kWh to 10.14¢/kWh between the 2024 and 2025 annual-frequency EIA retail-sales periods, a change of +14.8%.
- Illinois's residential average rose from 15.87¢/kWh to 17.69¢/kWh between the 2024 and 2025 annual-frequency EIA retail-sales periods, a change of +11.5%.
- Illinois's commercial average rose from 11.81¢/kWh to 13.07¢/kWh between the 2024 and 2025 annual-frequency EIA retail-sales periods, a change of +10.7%.
Where Illinois's residential rate sits nationally
2025 average revenue per kWh across every reporting state
17.69¢/kWh 32nd affordability percentile More affordable than 32% of 50 other states
all reporting states, equal-width bands
Each bar spans 5¢/kWh. Taller bars contain more states; the dashed marker locates this state. Hover, focus or tap a bar for its exact count and share.
Source U.S. Energy Information Administration, retail-sales API · 2025 annual frequency
How Illinois compares
Average revenue per kWh, EIA retail-sales API. Pick a benchmark above to compare Illinois against the US average or a peer state.
What Illinois's Electricity Data Tells Us
Residential customers in Illinois pay 17.69¢/kWh in 2025, across 5.4M metered households, placing the state 2.3% above the national residential average of 17.30¢/kWh. Commercial rates sit at 13.07¢/kWh while industrial buyers pay 10.14¢/kWh. These sector averages describe recorded revenue per kWh; this dataset alone does not establish why they differ. Annual residential sales total 46.6M MWh on roughly $8.2B in utility revenue. Sales and revenue are reported retail-series measures and should not be treated as a local load forecast.
Households carry more of the load here than the headline suggests: Illinois ranks 17 of 51 residential but 13 industrial, the ordinary shape of a rate structure that treats industrial supply as the cheaper class. Nuclear carries the majority of Illinois's in-state generation at 50.0%, though not the whole grid: natural gas supplies 16.7% and coal a further 15.8%. It is the leading fuel in 4 states. Renewable fuels (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass) account for 17.3% of Illinois's electricity output. These shares describe in-state generation, not a utility-specific customer bill.
Looking back across EIA records, residential prices in Illinois moved from 12.54¢/kWh in 2016 to 17.69¢/kWh in 2025, a 41.1% shift over that window. States charging a similar rate include Wisconsin, Delaware, Ohio, a useful peer set for a sanity check. Nuclear output is close to fuel-cost-insensitive once a reactor is running, so the rate above reflects capital and maintenance recovery far more than any fuel market. That makes Illinois's figure unusually stable year to year and unusually sensitive to what happens at a single large plant. Above-average does not mean uniformly expensive. The figure blends every utility in Illinois, and in a state priced at this level the difference between its cheapest and dearest service territories usually matters more to a given bill than the state's rank does.
+2.3%
Near the US average vs the US residential average
32%
of states have higher rates — Above-average cost
17%
Low renewable share — below the 25% US mix
5.4M
residential customers served
Market Overview
Residential Revenue
$8.2B
Commercial Revenue
$6.1B
Residential Sales
46.6M MWh
Residential Customers
5.4M
Residential Price History
Illinois residential average revenue per kWh moved from 12.54¢/kWh in 2016 to 17.69¢/kWh in 2025 (41.1% over the window).
- Illinois residential avg
- 17.69¢/kWh 41.1% since 2016
- 2016 → 2025
- Illinois residential: 2016, 12.5¢
- Illinois residential: 2017, 13¢
- Illinois residential: 2018, 12.8¢
- Illinois residential: 2019, 13¢
- Illinois residential: 2020, 13¢
- Illinois residential: 2021, 13.2¢
- Illinois residential: 2022, 15.7¢
- Illinois residential: 2023, 15.7¢
- Illinois residential: 2024, 15.9¢
- Illinois residential: 2025, 17.7¢
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, retail-sales API · annual frequency. Illinois full trend →
Illinois Average Price by Sector and Year (¢/kWh)
The chart above tracks households only. In 2025, Illinois households paid 17.69¢/kWh while businesses paid 13.07¢/kWh, a 35.3% residential premium, a wider household-versus-business gap than most states. Every year EIA has published is below, so a single year can be read across all three sectors rather than assembled from three separate EIA queries.
| Year | Residential | Commercial | Industrial |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 17.69¢/kWh | 13.07¢/kWh | 10.14¢/kWh |
| 2024 | 15.87¢/kWh | 11.81¢/kWh | 8.83¢/kWh |
| 2023 | 15.71¢/kWh | 11.24¢/kWh | 8.20¢/kWh |
| 2022 | 15.65¢/kWh | 11.32¢/kWh | 8.57¢/kWh |
| 2021 | 13.18¢/kWh | 9.65¢/kWh | 7.30¢/kWh |
| 2020 | 13.04¢/kWh | 9.15¢/kWh | 6.70¢/kWh |
| 2019 | 13.03¢/kWh | 9.08¢/kWh | 6.52¢/kWh |
| 2018 | 12.77¢/kWh | 9.12¢/kWh | 6.80¢/kWh |
| 2017 | 12.95¢/kWh | 9.09¢/kWh | 6.47¢/kWh |
| 2016 | 12.54¢/kWh | 9.02¢/kWh | 6.51¢/kWh |
Average revenue per kilowatt-hour, U.S. Energy Information Administration annual-frequency retail-sales series. Revenue per kWh is what customers in each sector actually paid on average, not an advertised tariff rate. Years with no EIA figure for a sector show —.
Who generates Illinois's electricity
Illinois has 889 operable generating units on EIA's inventory totalling 47,861 MW of net summer capacity. The largest single plant is Braidwood Generation Station , a nuclear station operated by Constellation Nuclear , rated 2,332 MW.
Balancing authorities keep supply and demand matched on the grid; the largest here by capacity are PJM Interconnection, LLC and Midcontinent Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc..
Showing the 16 largest of 557 operable plants in Illinois by net summer capacity.
| Plant | Operator | Technology | County | MW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braidwood Generation Station | Constellation Nuclear | Nuclear | – | 2,332 |
| Byron Generating Station | Constellation Nuclear | Nuclear | – | 2,300 |
| LaSalle Generating Station | Constellation Nuclear | Nuclear | – | 2,264 |
| Quad Cities Generating Station | Constellation Nuclear | Nuclear | – | 1,819 |
| Dresden Generating Station | Constellation Nuclear | Nuclear | – | 1,797 |
| Prairie State Generating Station | Prairie State Generating Co LLC | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 1,630 |
| Powerton | Midwest Generations EME LLC | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 1,538 |
| CPV Three Rivers Energy Center | CPV Three Rivers, LLC | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 1,221 |
| Jackson Generation, LLC | Jackson Generation, LLC | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 1,186 |
| Baldwin Energy Complex | Dynegy Midwest Generation Inc | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 1,157 |
| Kendall County Generation Facility | Dynegy Kendall Energy LLC | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 1,140 |
| Kincaid Generation LLC | Dynegy Kincaid Generation | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 1,112 |
| Clinton Power Station | Constellation Nuclear | Nuclear | – | 1,079 |
| Aurora | Aurora Generation LLC | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | – | 990 |
| Lee Energy Facility | Lee County Generating Station | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | – | 677 |
| Lincoln Generating Facility | Lincoln Generating Facility LLC | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | – | 623 |
| Operating company | Plants | Net summer MW |
|---|---|---|
| Constellation Nuclear | 6 | 11,592 |
| Union Electric Co - (MO) | 7 | 2,052 |
| Invenergy Services LLC | 9 | 2,045 |
| Midwest Generations EME LLC | 2 | 1,710 |
| Prairie State Generating Co LLC | 1 | 1,630 |
| CPV Three Rivers, LLC | 1 | 1,221 |
| Jackson Generation, LLC | 1 | 1,186 |
| Dynegy Midwest Generation Inc | 1 | 1,157 |
| Dynegy Kendall Energy LLC | 1 | 1,140 |
| Dynegy Kincaid Generation | 1 | 1,112 |
Operable units only, from EIA's generator inventory as reported for 2026-05. Capacity is net summer rating, which is what a unit can reliably deliver in peak conditions rather than its nameplate figure. Ownership and operatorship can differ; the company shown is the one EIA records as operating the unit.
Energy Generation Mix (2025)
How Illinois generates its electricity, from the EIA generation series for 2025 (separate from the 2025 retail-sales price figures above). Renewable sources account for 17.3% of generation.
- Nuclear50.0%
- Natural Gas16.7%
- Coal15.8%
- Windrenewable12.8%
- Solarrenewable4.5%
- Other0.1%
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does electricity cost in Illinois? ▼
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Are electricity prices going up in Illinois? ▼
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Where does RateWatt's Illinois electricity data come from? ▼
States with Similar Electricity Prices
Other states led by nuclear
These grids also report nuclear as their largest generation share in the latest EIA mix — a different peer set from the price neighbors above.
Using Illinois's numbers
Illinois is mid-transition, which is the phase where prices are hardest to predict: it is paying to run the old fleet and to build the new one at the same time, and the rate above sits in the middle of that.
- Illinois sits 2.3% above the national average, see exactly where it lands among all 50 states. See the rankings
- Check the multi-year trend before you judge the rate, a low price rising fast can cost more over a decade than a steady one. Illinois price trend
- Compare Illinois side by side with the US average and peer states using the tool above, then estimate your own bill from your monthly kWh. Cost calculator
Figures are EIA state averages by sector, computed as revenue divided by sales, so delivery and taxes are inside them but not broken out. Your actual rate depends on your utility, plan, and usage, see our disclaimer.
Read with Illinois: understanding electricity rates
Where Illinois's figures come from
Every price and generation figure on this page is drawn from the EIA series below, and from nothing else.
Utilities serving Illinois
The 30 utilities that reported bundled residential service in Illinois to EIA Form 861 (2024), largest first. Entity prices below are Form 861 averages for that release, not the same survey as the 2025 retail-sales statewide average above, and not a household tariff. What an individual household pays depends on which of these serves its address.
| Utility | Ownership | Customers | Avg ¢/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth Edison Co | Investor Owned | 2.9M | 15.22¢ |
| Ameren Illinois Company | Investor Owned | 520.5K | 15.26¢ |
| MidAmerican Energy Co | Investor Owned | 73.6K | 9.99¢ |
| City of Springfield - (IL) | Municipal | 59.6K | 11.95¢ |
| City of Naperville - (IL) | Municipal | 56.1K | 12.98¢ |
| Corn Belt Energy Corporation | Cooperative | 34.7K | 15.76¢ |
| Sunrun Inc. | Behind the Meter | 31.7K | 15.06¢ |
| Southwestern Electric Coop Inc - (IL) | Cooperative | 24.8K | 13.68¢ |
| Southeastern IL Elec Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 22.7K | 14.47¢ |
| Norris Electric Coop | Cooperative | 18.1K | 15.08¢ |
| Jo-Carroll Energy, Inc | Cooperative | 17.2K | 19.79¢ |
| Tri-County Electric Coop, Inc (IL) | Cooperative | 16.2K | 16.04¢ |
| City of St Charles - (IL) | Municipal | 14.2K | 15.37¢ |
| Egyptian Electric Coop Assn | Cooperative | 13.7K | 15.53¢ |
| Wayne-White Counties Elec Coop | Cooperative | 12.0K | 16.58¢ |
Showing the 15 largest of 30 reporting utilities. The 2 serving 100.0K+ residential customers link to a full profile. Presence in EIA Form 861 is not evidence that a utility is available at a given address or that a customer may choose it.
Related
Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.
Every figure on RateWatt is rendered directly from official U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, no number is typed in by an editor. Statewide prices use the EIA retail-sales annual series (2025). Generation mix uses a separate EIA generation series (2025). Utility rows use Form EIA-861 (2024) and are not averaged into the statewide retail-sales figure. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2025.