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Rock Falls Electric Utilities: your town-owned municipal utility

By James Pochez Updated 3 min read

Rock Falls Electric Utilities is a town-owned municipal electric department serving the City of Rock Falls, IL (Whiteside County). It is one of about 30 municipal electric departments in the state. Like rural co-ops, municipal utilities were excluded from the 1997 IL deregulation law, so residents do not pick a competitive supplier.

Town-owned Municipal utility
Rock Falls Whiteside County, NW Illinois
No retail choice Set by city council

Headquarters and contact

Street address
1109 Industrial Park Road
Rock Falls, IL 61071
Office hours
Monday to Friday, business hours. Closed weekends and federal holidays.
Fax
1-815-622-1149
Governance
Operated by the City of Rock Falls. Rates and policies are set by the elected city council, not by the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Call Rock Falls Electric

  • Customer service
    1-815-622-1145
    Billing, new accounts, account changes
  • Toll-free line
    1-877-885-7968
    Outside the local calling area
  • Outages
    1-815-622-1145
    Same line routes to on-call dispatch outside business hours.

Bring photo ID and a recent utility bill or lease to open a new account. Rock Falls Electric is electricity only: no gas service.

Activate or transfer your account

What to have ready

  • Full legal name and date of birth;
  • New service address (street, apt no., city, ZIP);
  • Previous address and account holder details;
  • Date you need service to start;
  • Phone number and email for outage alerts.

How to open the account

  1. Call 1-815-622-1145 at least 5 business days before your move;
  2. Confirm your address falls inside the City of Rock Falls service area;
  3. Pay any required deposit and connection fee;
  4. Schedule the meter activation date;
  5. Sign the service agreement (delivered by mail or in person).

Pay your bill

Auto-pay

Recurring bank-account transfer (ACH). The simplest option, set up by phone or in person.

Check by mail

Mail a check or money order to 1109 Industrial Park Road, Rock Falls, IL 61071.

Phone or online

Credit or debit card by phone via customer service, or through the city's online portal.

In person

Cash, check or card at the Industrial Park Road office during business hours. Drop-box for after-hours payments.

Why Rock Falls residents do not pick a supplier

The law

The 1997 Electric Service Customer Choice and Rate Relief Law opened residential retail competition for ComEd, Ameren Illinois and MidAmerican customers in 2002. Municipal electric departments and rural cooperatives were explicitly excluded.

Your supply rate is set by the elected Rock Falls city council, not by an ICC procurement or by an ARES auction.

What that means in practice

  • One bill, one provider: the city owns the wires AND the supply;
  • Rate changes go through a public city-council vote, not the ICC;
  • No Price-to-Compare, no Uniform Disclosure Statement;
  • Revenue stays in the city budget, not with shareholders;
  • If you move to ComEd or Ameren territory, you regain ARES choice.
Article reviewed by Cornelia Zavoianu, Selectra energy expert

Written by

James Pochez

U.S. lead, energy markets

Read more from James

Biography

Master's in Energy Strategies from the École des Mines de Paris and a university exchange at the University of Chicago. Two years with GE Renewables on the Commercial Leadership Program before joining Selectra in November 2014 to build CallMePower from scratch.

Expertise

U.S. energy markets Deregulation Renewable energy