This time last year, Chicagoans had just one choice when it came to their electricity supplier: Commonwealth Edison. As of this week, they have four choices and could see more, thanks in part to a recent Illinois Commerce Commission decision that allows alternative electric suppliers to bill customers through ComEd.

The ruling makes it easier for alternative electricity suppliers to compete here because they don’t have the expense that comes with billing customers. Customers who choose to purchase their electricity through another supplier receive a single bill that includes the charges from the company that supplies the electricity and from ComEd for delivering it.

Illinois opened its residential electricity market to competition in 2002, but until last May — when Chicago-based BlueStar Energy announced it would serve residential customers in Illinois –  no competitors had entered the market.

After the ICC’s decision last month, Houston-based Champion Energy Services and Spark Energy announced their entrance into the residential market, with bills that would come through ComEd.

“Up until now, if you wanted to sell energy to a residential customer, you would have to bill them directly, which meant that the customer would either get two bills or we had to take the ComEd charges and send them one bill that way. That would have been an expensive proposition,” said Hal Poel, director of marketing for Spark Energy.

BlueStar bills its customers online, who receive a single bill from BlueStar.

While all three companies have rates that compare favorably with those of ComEd, very few residential customers have switched over.

“The jury is still out on whether residential competition is going to bring real value to consumers,” said David Kolata, executive director of Citizens Utility Board, a consumer advocacy group.

Kolata warned consumers to read the fine print before signing a long-term contract with an alternative electricity supplier. A lower price may not seem so low after adding in early termination fees, monthly maintenance fees and other possible charges.

“That having been said, there is a fair amount of head room right now between the ComEd price and the market price,” Kolata said.

ComEd serves 3.4 million residential customers, with only 600 having switched to alternative suppliers according to Illinois Commerce Commission’s most recent switching statistics through August 2010.

Alternatively, in Pennsylvania, where Peco Energy Co.’s territory opened to competition just three weeks ago, nearly 10 percent of the utility’s customers have already switched.

Jon Casadont, chief legal officer for BlueStar, said Pennsylvania utilities and commissioners made an effort through workshops and informational fairs to educate consumers about a fear that keeps many customers from switching.

“One of the biggest worries you hear from people is — ‘If I switch, and there’s an outage in my neighborhood, are the utilities going to switch my lights off?’ Of course, the answer to that is no. The utilities treat everyone the same, for better or for worse,” Casadont said.

That’s because ComEd doesn’t make its money off the electricity it supplies, which is simply passed through to customers at the rate at which they procure it. The money they make comes from the other portions of the bill, which consumers still pay even if they switch suppliers.

As consumers catch on, Casadont said, he imagines  a steady uptick in customers switching, particularly now that BlueStar isn’t the only other act in town.

“If you’ve never given any thought to it before, spent your whole life flipping the switch, getting the bill, sending it in. It’s really different. It’s a matter of recalibrating thought patterns on how you purchase your utilities,” he said.

Poel at Spark Energy agreed.

“It’s one of our biggest marketing challenges:  Wwhat do you mean you’re supplying electricity, but you’re still using ComEd’s lines, and I’m getting a ComEd bill?’ ” he said.

The company said Chicagoans can expect to see Spark Energy’s marketing efforts  in the coming weeks –  with radio and television spots, “tons” of billboards, social media campaigns and events aimed at ComEd customers.

“Electric energy is not exactly a fascinating subject, but we’re trying to make it fun and interesting,” said Poel.

jwernau@tribune.com

Compare electricity rates

Commonwealth Edison

Price: 7.6 cents per kwh *

Contract term: None

Early termination fee? No

Monthly fee? No

Billed through: ComEd

BlueStar Energy Solutions

Price: 6.8 cents per kwh (renewable energy option 7.2 cents per kwh)

Contract term: 12 months/fixed rate

Early termination fee? $10 per month remaining in contract.

Monthly fee? No.

Billed through: BlueStar

Champion Energy Services

Price: 6.8 cents per kwh (renewable energy option 7 cents per kwh)

Contract term: 12 months/fixed rate

Early termination fee? $10 per month remaining in contract.

Monthly fee?  $2.95 per month.

Billed through: ComEd

Spark Energy

Price: 6.9 cents per kwh

Contract term: 12 months/fixed rate

Early termination fee? No

Monthly fee? No

Billed through: ComEd

*  February 2011 electricity supply charges for residential customers without electric heating; ComEd prices change seasonally.