The tough economic climate of the past several years hit consumers hard across the country, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently reported that in Southern Illinois, the recession resulted in one benefit: lower electricity prices.

Because the Illinois public utility does not generate its own electricity and locked in its purchase prices before the financial crisis lowered the cost of power, privately-owned electricity providers can offer now buy power for less money than the public company and offer better deals to customers, according to The Post-Dispatch.

As a result of this competitive advantage, as well as favorable new Illinois Commerce Commission rules, independent electricity providers have built up their customer base significantly in the past few months. Tens of thousands of Chicagoland residents switched to private electricity companies earlier this year, and during the last several months, thousands of residents living downstate have switched providers, the source reports.

Brian Bowe, direct mass market manager for a privately-owned energy provider, told The Post-Dispatch his company has won 9,000 new customers since it began offering one-year, fixed-rate packages to downstate residents in July. Competing companies have also begun offering fixed one-year and two-year rate plans.

While Illinois's deregulated electricity market is beginning to pay off for residential consumers, newly formed commissions will soon investigate ways to increase the state's wind power production.