Residents in central and southern Illinois are poised to take advantage of electricity deregulation by switching to lower-cost private providers, the Springfield State Journal-Register reports.

Since Illinois deregulated its electricity market in 2002, most private electricity providers have focused on the Chicago metro area, where more than 35,000 residences have switched from the public utility to independent companies, according to the Journal-Register. But thanks to recent rule changes and an influx of competitive private companies downstate, more Illinois residents could soon see reductions on their monthly bills.

David Kolata, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board of Chicago, told the source that private companies offer more affordable rates than Illinois' state-run utilities. In part, this is because they can take advantage of low wholesale power costs and pass on savings to consumers, while the public companies are tied down by long-term contracts with power suppliers. Kolata said consumers also save thanks to competition between the private companies, which drives down prices.

The Journal-Register's comparisons of price-per-kilowatt-hour showed alternative providers beat the public utility's price in all three central and southern Illinois regions.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently reported similar findings regarding the electricity market in southern Illinois, though the Journal-Register said only 225 downstate customers have switched to a private provider, while the Post-Dispatch put that number at several thousand.