guide9 min read

Budget Billing Didn't Save You From the June 1 Rate Hike — Ameren Settles Up in May or November

Ryan Cook•August 15, 2026•Updated Sep 14, 2026

Budget billing did not protect you from the June 1 rate increase. It postponed it. Ameren Illinois' Price to Compare went to 11.326¢ per kWh on June 1, 2026 and ComEd's to 10.399¢, both running through September 30 before they reset October 1. A level budget payment absorbed that increase all summer, and Ameren settles the difference "in either May or November, depending on when you originally signed up for the program." If yours is a November account, the summer of 2026 shows up on your bill this fall.

Your Ameren payment probably looked the same in July as it did in May. Same number, same due date, nothing alarming. The rate underneath it wasn't the same at all — and a lot of my neighbors in Belleville and Peoria have taken the flat payment as good news.

It isn't good news. It's a delay.

What to know	Figure	Source (date)
Ameren Illinois Price to Compare	11.326¢/kWh (0–800 kWh), June 1–Sept 30, 2026; resets Oct 1	plugin.illinois.gov (checked Sept 2026)
ComEd Price to Compare	10.399¢/kWh, June 1–Sept 30, 2026; resets Oct 1	plugin.illinois.gov (checked Sept 2026)
How Ameren sets your budget amount	"the previous 12 months of usage history"	Ameren Illinois budget billing page (Sept 2026)
When Ameren settles up	"either May or November, depending on when you originally signed up"	Ameren Illinois budget billing page (Sept 2026)
How often Ameren reviews it	Page says both "every four months" and "every six months"	Ameren Illinois budget billing page (Sept 2026)
Ameren year-end options	Rollover (spread over next 12 months) or Settlement (one-time payment or credit)	Ameren Illinois budget billing page (Sept 2026)
How ComEd sets and reviews it	Average of 12 months of past usage; account reviewed "every 3 months"	ComEd Budget Billing page (Sept 2026)
Estimated all-in summer price (supply + delivery, before fixed charges)	≈ 19¢/kWh Ameren, ≈ 17¢/kWh ComEd (est.)	plugin.illinois.gov PTC + utility delivery charges, June–Sept 2026

Budget billing spreads the bill, it doesn't shrink it

The Citizens Utility Board put this in writing years ago and it's still the cleanest explanation anyone has written: budget-billing plans "DON'T reduce the amount customers pay to heat and cool their homes." They spread payments across a plan year, usually twelve months.

Your meter still gets read. Your actual usage still gets priced at the actual rate. The only thing that changed is the size and timing of the checks you write.

I bring this up because I've sat at kitchen tables where somebody genuinely believed budget billing had protected them from a rate increase. It's an easy thing to believe. The payment didn't move, so the cost must not have moved either. That's not how the plan works, and finding out in November is a worse way to learn it than finding out in August.

Ameren sets your payment from last year, then settles up in May or November

Ameren's budget billing page (as of September 2026) says the monthly amount is based on "the previous 12 months of usage history." Think about what that means in the summer of 2026. A payment calculated in the spring was built largely out of months priced before the June increase. It was always going to run light.

Then comes the reckoning. Ameren states: "We will review, adjust or settle up your Budget Billing costs in either May or November, depending on when you originally signed up for the program."

You get two ways to handle the gap:

Rollover — "the end-of-year difference between the cost of energy used and the amount you paid will continuously roll over, as a charge or payment that will be divided across the next twelve months."
Settlement — "you'll settle up with a one-time payment or credit on your account once every 12 months."

Rollover softens the hit and stretches it. Settlement is one number, all at once. Neither one erases anything.

Ameren's own page contradicts itself on the review cycle

Here's something I didn't expect to find. Ameren's budget billing page states in one place that "we will review your usage every four months." Elsewhere on the same page it says "reviews and possible adjustments occur every six months after your enrollment."

Both sentences are live on the page. I'm not going to pick one and present it to you as fact.

CUB's fact sheet from August 2019 described Ameren reviewing the amount "every fourth and eighth months," adjusting when actual usage ran roughly three dollars off the estimate — which lines up better with the four-month version, though that document is old enough that I won't lean on it for current terms.

What matters for you is the part both versions agree on: your payment can be raised mid-plan. Budget billing is not a price you locked in. It's an estimate the utility is allowed to correct.

ComEd runs its own version — and reviews it every three months

ComEd's Budget Billing page (as of September 2026) says it estimates "your monthly budget billing amount by averaging 12 months of past usage." After the first few months, "we'll review your account every 3 months to keep your Budget Billing payments in line with your actual usage." And if you drop the plan, "you'll be charged your regular monthly amount and any past differences on your next bill."

CUB's 2019 sheet described the same plan as a twelve-month term where you "pay a pre-arranged amount each month based on your energy use during the prior 12-month budget cycle," adjusted "every six months." So the review cycle has tightened since then — which means a ComEd customer is more likely to see the payment move mid-summer than an Ameren customer. Either way, pull your current terms out of My Account rather than trusting a fact sheet or a blog post — including this one. The mechanism is what carries over: prior-year usage sets the payment, periodic reviews correct it, and the difference lands somewhere eventually.

The number that actually moved

Supply is only part of what you pay. Add per-kWh delivery and a summer-2026 Illinois bill lands at an estimated 19¢ per kWh all-in on Ameren (11.326¢ supply + 7.811¢ summer delivery) and roughly 17¢ on ComEd (10.399¢ + 6.333¢ delivery + a small energy-transition rider), before the fixed monthly customer and meter charges. Ameren's estimated all-in rate is up roughly 94% over five years. ComEd's supply price stepped up on June 1, 2025 (6.552¢ to 10.028¢ per the ICC's Price to Compare history), and its January 2026 price of 9.66¢ was 47% above January 2025.

On 1,000 kWh a month, small per-kWh moves stop being small. That's the pressure your level payment has been quietly absorbing since June.

The one piece of genuinely good news: rates step down October 1 when the summer season ends. If you want the fuller picture of what changed in June and why, we broke the summer rates down here, and the ComEd versus Ameren comparison is worth a look if you've ever wondered which side of the state got the worse deal. Current numbers live on the Ameren rates and ComEd rates pages.

Where solar actually fits — and where it doesn't

I'll be straight with you, because overselling this is how people end up unhappy.

Budget billing manages when you pay. It does nothing to the price per kWh. Solar works on the other side of that equation — it changes how many kilowatt-hours you buy from the utility in the first place, and on a lease, what you pay for the ones your roof produces.

A $0-down solar lease in Illinois carries a predictable rate as low as $0.10/kWh, with the full 25-year rate schedule set in the contract before you sign — predictable in a way a supply price that resets every June and October simply isn't. What it won't do is zero out a bill. Delivery charges and the fixed monthly customer charge stay with the utility no matter what your roof does. Any savings estimate depends on your roof, your usage, and your utility — they're estimates, not promises.

If you want to see what your own numbers look like, the lease cost breakdown walks through real monthly figures, and the savings calculator will run your bill.

What I'd do this week

Pull up your last Ameren or ComEd statement and find three things: your budget billing amount, your actual charges to date, and your settle-up month. The gap between the first two, multiplied out to your settle-up date, is your real exposure.

If that gap is bigger than you're comfortable with, call your utility now and ask to have the payment adjusted upward voluntarily. Paying $30 more a month for four months is a much easier conversation than a $120 settlement charge in November, and every utility I've dealt with would rather collect it steadily.

Questions about your bill, your rate, or whether solar makes sense on your roof? Call me at (618) 217-2001 or reach out here. No pressure, no pitch — I'll look at the actual bill with you.

Sources

Ameren Illinois — Budget Billing (page as of September 2026)
ComEd — Budget Billing (page as of September 2026)
CUB — Understanding Your Budget-Billing Plan fact sheet (August 2019)
Plug In Illinois — Ameren Illinois Price to Compare (June 1–Sept 30, 2026)
Plug In Illinois — ComEd Price to Compare (June 1–Sept 30, 2026)
ICC — Historical Price to Compare (2025–2026 rows)
ComEd — Guide to Billed Delivery Service Charges (bills from April 2026)

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Budget billing changes when you pay, not what you pay. The Citizens Utility Board says it plainly in its budget-billing fact sheet: these plans "DON'T reduce the amount customers pay to heat and cool their homes." They spread the payments across a plan year, usually twelve months. Your utility still reads your meter every month and still tracks what you actually used at the actual price. Ameren Illinois sets your monthly amount from "the previous 12 months of usage history," so the number is a projection built on the past, not a discount on the future. That distinction matters a lot in 2026, because Ameren's Price to Compare went to 11.326 cents per kWh and ComEd's to 10.399 cents on June 1. A flat monthly payment made that increase invisible for the summer. It did not make it go away.

Ameren's budget billing page states that "We will review, adjust or settle up your Budget Billing costs in either May or November, depending on when you originally signed up for the program." Which month applies to you depends on your enrollment date, so check your own bill rather than assuming. Ameren offers two ways to handle the gap between what you paid and what you used. Under Rollover, "the end-of-year difference between the cost of energy used and the amount you paid will continuously roll over, as a charge or payment that will be divided across the next twelve months." Under Settlement, "you'll settle up with a one-time payment or credit on your account once every 12 months." If you're a November account and you ran the air conditioning hard this summer at the higher June rates, the fall is when that shows up.

Ameren's own budget billing page gives two different answers, and I'd rather tell you that than guess. One line says "we will review your usage every four months." Another line on the same page says "reviews and possible adjustments occur every six months after your enrollment to help keep your payments consistent throughout the year." The Citizens Utility Board's budget-billing fact sheet, published August 2019, described Ameren reviewing the monthly amount "every fourth and eighth months," with an adjustment triggered when actual usage runs about three dollars above or below the estimate. The practical takeaway is the same either way: your payment is not locked for a year, and Ameren can raise it mid-plan to keep you from carrying a big balance into settlement. Look at your last statement or your online account for the review date that applies to your account.

The mechanics are similar, but the calendar is tighter. ComEd's Budget Billing page (as of September 2026) says it estimates "your monthly budget billing amount by averaging 12 months of past usage," and that after the first few months, "we'll review your account every 3 months to keep your Budget Billing payments in line with your actual usage." CUB's August 2019 fact sheet described a six-month adjustment cycle, so the review got more frequent, not less. If you leave the plan, ComEd says "you'll be charged your regular monthly amount and any past differences on your next bill." What hasn't changed is the underlying math. ComEd's supply price went to 10.399 cents per kWh on June 1, 2026 and runs through September 30. If your budget payment was built from a period before that increase, the difference is accumulating somewhere, and a quarterly review can raise your payment mid-plan to close the gap. A level payment is a schedule, not a shield.

Four things, and it takes about ten minutes. First, find your budget billing amount and your actual month-to-date charges — most Illinois bills print both, and the gap between them is your running balance. Second, find your settle-up month, May or November for Ameren accounts. Third, look at your supply rate and confirm whether you're on the utility default or an alternative supplier, because a variable supplier rate on top of an accruing budget balance is the combination that produces genuinely ugly fall bills. Fourth, pull your kWh usage for June and July and compare it to last year. If usage is flat but your projected settle-up is larger, price did that, not your thermostat. Estimates vary by household, so treat the numbers on your own statement as the real ones. Questions on any of it: (618) 217-2001.