Price to Compare: the supply price an offer has to beat

The short answer

The Price to Compare is the price per kWh your utility charges for electricity supply on its default service, the supply a home gets when it has not picked a supplier. It is printed on the bill in Pennsylvania and published by the state commission in Illinois and New Jersey. A competitive supplier's price replaces only that line. The utility keeps delivering the power and keeps billing its delivery charges, the same whether you switch or not.

So the comparison is one number against one number: a supplier's supply price per kWh against your utility's Price to Compare. An offer saves money only if it stays below the Price to Compare, on the same basis (taxes and transmission in or out), for the whole contract. Your total bill, and the "average price" you get by dividing it by your kWh, are not the right yardstick, because they include delivery.

Different names, different contents

Only some states use the words "Price to Compare". Each choice state has its own name for the utility's default supply, its own reset dates and its own rule about what the figure includes. The table summarises what each state's official source says.

The differences matter for any comparison. A Pennsylvania figure carries a state tax, a New Jersey figure carries sales tax and transmission, and an Illinois figure leaves out an adjustment that default customers still pay. A supplier price quoted on a different basis can look cheaper or dearer than it is. Ohio's contract disclosure rule requires a supplier contract to state whether a fixed price includes transmission as well as generation, which is the item to look for.

The number to beat moves: Illinois as the record

The Illinois Commerce Commission publishes both utilities' Price to Compare as a monthly series going back to January 2017, and the series shows how far the target can travel. The utilities do not set it themselves: the Illinois Power Agency manages the purchase of default supply and the utilities pass the cost on without mark-up, according to the ICC's Price to Compare explainer.

ComEd Price to Compare (supply, residential)

Source: Illinois Commerce Commission, Plug In Illinois, historical Prices to Compare. The residential default-service price for supply and transmission (electric supply charge plus transmission services charge), as published by the Illinois Commerce Commission on Plug In Illinois. It excludes distribution charges and the purchased electricity adjustment, which changes monthly.

Show the numbers

Month	Price to Compare (¢/kWh)
January 2017	6.318¢
February 2017	6.318¢
March 2017	6.318¢
April 2017	6.318¢
May 2017	6.318¢
June 2017	6.892¢
July 2017	6.892¢
August 2017	6.892¢
September 2017	6.892¢
October 2017	7.149¢
November 2017	7.149¢
December 2017	7.149¢
January 2018	7.195¢
February 2018	7.195¢
March 2018	7.195¢
April 2018	7.195¢
May 2018	7.195¢
June 2018	7.358¢
July 2018	7.358¢
August 2018	7.358¢
September 2018	7.356¢
October 2018	7.292¢
November 2018	7.292¢
December 2018	7.292¢
January 2019	7.219¢
February 2019	7.219¢
March 2019	7.219¢
April 2019	7.219¢
May 2019	7.219¢
June 2019	6.725¢
July 2019	6.725¢
August 2019	6.725¢
September 2019	6.723¢
October 2019	7.224¢
November 2019	7.224¢
December 2019	7.224¢
January 2020	7.175¢
February 2020	7.175¢
March 2020	7.175¢
April 2020	7.175¢
May 2020	7.175¢
June 2020	6.473¢
July 2020	6.473¢
August 2020	6.473¢
September 2020	6.473¢
October 2020	7.067¢
November 2020	7.067¢
December 2020	7.067¢
January 2021	7.069¢
February 2021	7.069¢
March 2021	7.069¢
April 2021	7.069¢
May 2021	7.069¢
June 2021	6.776¢
July 2021	6.776¢
August 2021	6.776¢
September 2021	6.776¢
October 2021	7.777¢
November 2021	7.777¢
December 2021	7.777¢
January 2022	7.809¢
February 2022	7.809¢
March 2022	7.809¢
April 2022	7.809¢
May 2022	7.809¢
June 2022	11.041¢
July 2022	11.041¢
August 2022	11.041¢
September 2022	11.049¢
October 2022	9.765¢
November 2022	9.765¢
December 2022	9.765¢
January 2023	9.665¢
February 2023	9.665¢
March 2023	9.665¢
April 2023	9.665¢
May 2023	9.665¢
June 2023	6.809¢
July 2023	6.809¢
August 2023	6.809¢
September 2023	6.799¢
October 2023	6.872¢
November 2023	6.872¢
December 2023	6.872¢
January 2024	6.848¢
February 2024	6.848¢
March 2024	6.848¢
April 2024	6.848¢
May 2024	6.848¢
June 2024	6.900¢
July 2024	6.902¢
August 2024	6.850¢
September 2024	6.850¢
October 2024	6.612¢
November 2024	6.470¢
December 2024	6.470¢
January 2025	6.552¢
February 2025	6.552¢
March 2025	6.552¢
April 2025	6.552¢
May 2025	6.552¢
June 2025	10.028¢
July 2025	10.028¢
August 2025	10.028¢
September 2025	10.027¢
October 2025	9.689¢
November 2025	9.689¢
December 2025	9.689¢
January 2026	9.660¢
February 2026	9.660¢
March 2026	9.660¢
April 2026	9.660¢
May 2026	9.660¢
June 2026	10.399¢
July 2026	10.399¢
August 2026	10.399¢
September 2026	10.400¢
October 2026	10.103¢
November 2026	10.103¢

ComEd's residential Price to Compare was 6.318¢ per kWh in January 2017. It reached 11.049¢ per kWh in September 2022 and stood at 10.103¢ per kWh in November 2026, against 9.689¢ per kWh in the same month a year earlier. Ameren Illinois went from 6.519¢ per kWh in January 2017 to a high of 12.236¢ per kWh in October 2022, and from 8.402¢ per kWh a year ago to 10.441¢ per kWh in November 2026¹.

A worked example of timing. Take a one-year fixed supplier offer made to an Ameren Illinois home a year ago, priced anywhere between 8.402¢ per kWh and 10.441¢ per kWh. On the day it was offered it was above the Price to Compare and looked like a loss. By November 2026¹ the same price was below the Price to Compare. The reverse happens when default prices fall during a contract: the fixed offer that looked cheap ends up the dearer choice. A comparison made on one day is a comparison with that day's figure only.

What the published figure leaves out

In Illinois, both utilities' Price to Compare is the electric supply charge plus the transmission services charge. It does not include the purchased electricity adjustment, which the utility calculates each month to balance what it collected against what the supply actually cost (ComEd, Ameren Illinois). A default customer's real supply cost in a given month is the Price to Compare plus or minus that adjustment. The ICC publishes both:

Ameren's default supply is also not one flat number all year. Plug In Illinois explains that in the non-summer months, October to May, Ameren charges a lower supply price on use above a set monthly amount, so a home with electric heat or high winter use pays less per kWh than the headline figure on part of its consumption. A supplier's flat price has to be set against what that home would really pay, not only against the first block.

Pennsylvania and PAPowerSwitch

In Pennsylvania the Price to Compare is printed on the bill and shown on PAPowerSwitch, the Public Utility Commission's shopping site. Enter a ZIP code and it lists suppliers' current offers next to your utility's Price to Compare. PAPowerSwitch's bill guide defines the figure as the price per kWh the utility charges default-service customers for supply, Gross Receipts Tax included. The PUC-regulated utilities reset it on December 1 and June 1 each year.

Most Pennsylvania homes stay on it. The PUC counted 1,147,533 residential customers buying from a supplier on June 30, 2026, 21.7% of the total. The share was highest in PPL's area, at 32.0%, and lowest in Penn Power's, at 16.8%². The commission also runs a Standard Offer Program: a one-year fixed price set below the Price to Compare at enrollment, with no cancellation fee, through a supplier the utility assigns, where suppliers take part (PAPowerSwitch). The Pennsylvania retail choice guide covers each utility area.

Why your average price is not the Price to Compare

Federal statistics do not include any utility's Price to Compare. What EIA publishes, from its annual EIA-861 survey, is average revenue per kWh: what a group of customers paid in total divided by the kWh they used, split by service part. In 2025, Pennsylvania's default-service homes paid their utilities an average of 18.75¢ per kWh for supply and delivery together. Homes with a supplier paid their suppliers an average of 12.92¢ per kWh for supply alone and paid the utility 8.08¢ per kWh³ for delivery alone. These three figures cover different customers and different parts of a bill, so none of them can be added to another or read as a Price to Compare.

The same split at a single utility: ComEd's default-service homes paid an average of 17.71¢ per kWh for supply and delivery together in 2025, and homes with a supplier paid ComEd 8.89¢ per kWh³ for delivery alone. A home that divides its whole ComEd bill by its kWh and compares the result with a supplier's supply price is comparing two different things, and will always find the offer looks cheaper than it is.

The supply-only column is a record of the past, not an offer. It averages fixed and variable contracts signed at different times, across a year in which default prices were reset at least once. In Massachusetts, the Attorney General's Office reported in March 2026 that households on individual supplier contracts paid more over the past decade than they would have paid on Basic Service. That finding covers individual contracts in Massachusetts, not municipal aggregation programs or other states.

Checking an offer against your Price to Compare

1. Read your current Price to Compare on your bill or your state's shopping site, and note the date of the next reset.
2. Put both prices on the same basis. Check whether the offer includes the taxes and transmission that your state's figure includes. Illinois's commission suggests asking the supplier what the price includes and what the total would be for a given month's use.
3. Add any monthly fee to the offer, divided by your typical kWh. A fixed fee raises the effective price most in low-use months.
4. Match the term to the resets. A fixed price that ends before the next reset is a comparison with a known number; a longer one is a bet on where the Price to Compare goes next, as the Illinois example shows.
5. Treat a variable price as unknown. It is not comparable to the Price to Compare beyond the first month.
6. Write down when the contract ends and what happens then. In Pennsylvania, a fixed price can turn into a monthly variable price if you do nothing, according to PAPowerSwitch's contract summary page; returning to the utility's default service costs nothing.

The delivery vs supply charges guide shows where each part sits on a bill.

Where there is no Price to Compare

In states without retail choice, the utility sells both supply and delivery at prices set by the state commission, and there is nothing to compare: supply and delivery prices are both set in the utility's commission-approved tariff. EIA counted 15³ states, DC included, in 2025 where at least 1% of residential customers bought from a supplier, a community choice aggregator or a Texas retail provider.

Texas's competitive areas are the exception among choice markets. The delivery utilities there sell no electricity to homes, so there is no utility default price to beat. Retail plans on Power to Choose are compared with each other through the Electricity Facts Label required by 16 TAC §25.475, which shows the average price per kWh at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 kWh with delivery charges included. The retail choice overview links the official site for every state.