How Much Is Your Electricity Really Costing You?
Upload your utility bill or enter your rate to see what you'll pay over the next 10-30 years — and how much a $0 down solar lease can save.
⚡Upload Your Utility Bill
Upload your Ameren or ComEd bill to see what electricity is costing you — and what it could cost over the next 15 years.
Or Enter Manually
How to find your rate on your bill:
- Find “Current Electricity Charges” (the total dollar amount for electricity this period)
- Find your total kWh used for the billing period
- Divide the charges by the kWh: $charges ÷ kWh = your $/kWh rate
- Example: $180 ÷ 1,100 kWh = $0.164/kWh (16.4¢)
How Do You Read an Ameren or ComEd Bill?
Illinois electric bills are more complex than a single per-kWh number. Understanding the parts helps explain why rates have climbed — and where solar actually helps.
Supply vs. Delivery: What's the Difference?
Every bill splits into two main charges. Supply is the cost of the electricity itself — Ameren and ComEd don't generate power, they buy it on the wholesale market and pass the cost through. Delivery is the cost of getting that power to your home — poles, wires, substations, and grid maintenance, set through rate cases approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission. Both portions have been rising, but for different reasons.
What Is the "Price to Compare"?
The "Price to Compare" is the supply rate your utility publishes each year — it's what you'd pay if you stuck with the default utility supply instead of shopping an alternate supplier. It's a useful reference point on your bill, but it's only the supply half of the story; delivery charges, customer charges, and meter charges are added on top, which is why your effective all-in rate usually runs higher than the published Price to Compare alone.
Why Illinois Rates Have Climbed
Two forces are driving the increases. On the delivery side, both utilities have had large infrastructure rate increases approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission in recent years. On the supply side, the regional capacity auctions that both utilities buy power through — MISO for Ameren territory, PJM for ComEd territory — have seen capacity prices spike well beyond prior years, driven in part by rising grid demand. Utility filings and industry reporting point to continued upward pressure on both sides of the bill in the near term, though exact future rates are projections, not guarantees.
How Solar Caps the Supply Portion
Solar doesn't touch the delivery charge — you're still connected to the grid and still pay a customer charge — but it directly offsets the supply portion of your bill, which is the part most exposed to wholesale and capacity-auction volatility. With a $0 down lease, your solar payment is fixed at a rate as low as $0.10/kWh for the term of the agreement, regardless of what the utility's supply rate does. Cash purchase and Solar for All work toward the same effect through ownership or program savings instead of a fixed payment. Upload your bill above for a rough side-by-side, or call (618) 217-2001 for a custom breakdown of your specific rate.