From the Illinois Commerce Commission:
ICC 2025 Supplier Diversity Report shows robust investment from Illinois’ largest utilities
Springfield, IL – The Illinois Commerce Commission’s (ICC) Office of Diversity and Community Affairs’ (ODCA) 2025 Annual Report shows the state’s largest investor-owned utilities’ diverse spending remains robust at over $1.7 billion. The 2025 report, which covers data from the 2024 calendar year, found that Illinois’ six largest utilities averaged nearly 35 percent of their total spending with diverse suppliers, including minority, women, veteran, and small business enterprises, with some utilities reaching as high as 43 percent total diverse spend.
“Healthy supplier diversity investment from Illinois utility companies is good for business and Illinois’ overall economy,” said ICC Chairman Doug Scott. “These annual reports help us to spot trends and obstacles and identify opportunities for improvement and collaboration to ensure minority-owned businesses are able to compete in Illinois’ energy market.”
The report provides a summary and analysis of data from 10 years of reports submitted by Illinois’ ‘Big 6’ public utilities: Ameren Illinois, Aqua Illinois, Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), Illinois American Water, Nicor Gas Company, and Peoples Gas/North Shore Gas Company. Illinois law requires these six utilities to report their annual supplier diversity outreach and inclusion efforts to the ICC, as well as future procurement plan opportunities for the next year.
“While diverse spending dipped in 2024, the investment in diverse spending by the utilities remains strong. After nine years of steady growth, more important work remains to be done,” said ICC Director of Diversity and Community Affairs Jeanine V. Robinson. “Over the next year, our office will continue to offer assistance to expand their pool of diverse suppliers and increase spending with Illinois-based businesses.”
According to the report, opportunities exist for improvement in high spend categories with low supplier diversity population such as Fleet Services, Information Technology Outsourcing, and Software Maintenance.
ODCA brings together utilities, agencies, non-profit organizations, and diverse suppliers from across Illinois to foster relationships and mentoring programs that improve supplier diversity and inclusion efforts.
Diverse businesses interested in assistance and one-on-one support are encouraged to participate in the Office of Minority Economic Empowerment’s (OMEE) initiatives run through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). OMEE is committed to providing minority-, women-, persons with disabilities, and veteran-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs across the state with equitable access to opportunities and resources. Individuals and diverse businesses interested in upcoming energy programs born from the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) are encouraged to explore DCEO’s CEJA Implementation program.
In 2017, Illinois became the first state to mandate that suppliers of wind and solar energy report on efforts to diversify their supply chains. In 2019, OCDA began requiring diverse spending data for Illinois-headquartered businesses compared to total diverse spending. Illinois diverse spending for minority, women, and veteran businesses for the Big 6 currently ranges from approximately 13-30 percent. Collectively, almost 60 percent of the utilities’ diverse spend is with Illinois businesses.
Read the full 2025 Annual Supplier Diversity report on the ICC website here.
