Mission

After a series of local referendums showed overwhelming support for the creation of an advocate for utility customers, the Illinois General Assembly created CUB in 1983. The CUB Act gave the nonprofit, nonpartisan group the mission to fight for the rights of utility customers across Illinois—and since opening its doors in 1984, CUB has helped save Illinois consumers more than $20 billion by fighting rate hikes, winning rate cuts and refunds, and advocating for individual consumers.
At the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), CUB challenges rate hikes proposed by the major gas, electric and water utilities; in Springfield, it advocates for legislation that promotes affordable clean energy; and across Illinois it staffs hundreds of events to help educate consumers about energy efficiency and other ways they can cut their utility bills. CUB also features a consumer advocacy team that handles thousands of complaints and questions from utility customers who call the Consumer Hotline, at 1-800-669-5556.

Accomplishments

Since CUB opened its doors, the watchdog has saved Illinois consumers more than $20 billion by fighting proposed electricity, natural gas and telephone rate hikes. For every dollar CUB has raised during that time, it has yielded roughly $300 in savings—a dramatic return on investment that represents one more reason why the St. Louis Post-Dispatch praised CUB as the “gold standard” of consumer advocates.

CUB’s outreach and consumer advocacy departments work one-on-one with Illinois consumers, and have handled thousands of customer complaints and staffing thousands of events across the state. Consumers often reach out for help with alternative supplier rip-offs, utility billing issues and financial assistance. Over CUB’s history, the Consumer Advocacy Department has handled more than 200,000 inquiries and saved consumers more than $1.2 million. CUB’s outreach team runs statewide education campaigns on utility bills, cable issues, water privatization and affordable clean energy legislation.

Our legal team juggles multiple rate cases each year, often beating back increases by millions of dollars. We secured over $1 billion in refunds for Ameren and ComEd customers after an anti-consumer power auction was abolished in 2007. In 2022 alone, CUB’s legal team saved consumers $522.8 million by blocking utility rate hikes and securing refunds.

In Springfield, CUB’s legislative team has worked for energy legislation that protects the environment and consumers’ wallets. In 1997, we helped secure $6 billion in rate cuts through the electric restructuring law, and a decade later CUB successfully pushed for legislation that created Illinois’ Renewable and Energy Efficiency portfolio standards. In recent years, we’ve helped pass landmark legislation, including the Future Energy Jobs Act (2016) and the 2021 Climate & Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), making Illinois a national leader in consumer-friendly climate legislation. Watch our CEJA video series on Youtube to learn more.

CUB also blocks legislation that would be bad for consumers. Fending off the attempted ComEd/Illinois Power merger in 2003 saved consumers an estimated $2 billion. We saved consumers another $3 billion by blocking an Illinois Power rate deal in 1988.

Funding

The Illinois General Assembly created the Citizens Utility Board in 1983 to represent the interests of residential and small-business utility customers throughout the Land of Lincoln. The legislature created CUB as a membership-based organization. An initial $100,000 loan of “seed money” provided by the state was repaid by CUB on time and with interest.

CUB has two arms:

  • The Citizens Utility Board (CUB), was established as a 501(c)(4) organization. Because CUB works for legislation that benefits ratepayers, contributions to this arm are not tax deductible.
  • CUB’s Consumer Education and Research Fund – or CUB CERF, was established as a 501 (c)(3) organization to help educate consumers on energy efficiency,  clean energy and lowering utility bills. Contributions to this arm, including most digital donations, are tax-deductible.

CUB obtains its funding from:

  • Grassroots donations: CUB is funded by Illinois consumers through donations of as little as $10 a year. Watch our Power of CUB Celebration, a special celebration of our history, our mission and our supporters.
  • Grants: CUB regularly applies for grants to continue its consumer education and clean energy work. Our funders have included the Illinois Science and Energy Innovation Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the Energy Foundation and Energy Innovation.
  • Utility bill inserts: CUB is permitted by state law to include membership inserts in mass mailings from state agencies. CUB pays for the printing of the inserts and for any additional costs incurred by the agencies when they mail the flyers. The content of the inserts must be approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Who We Are

CUB’s team of consumer advocates, environmentalists, legal experts and researchers works everyday for Illinois consumers. Learn more about our staff.

CUB’s Board of Directors is elected by its members in each of Illinois’ Congressional Districts.

  • Robert Craig Neff, President, District 10
  • Candice Justice, Vice President, District 1
  • Philip DeMaertelaere, Secretary, District 5
  • L. Kristofer Thomsen, Treasurer, District 2
  • Thomas Sikes, District 7
  • Mardi Klevs, District 9
  • Steven Hall, District 16
  • Douglas Becknell, District 17

If you are interested in joining CUB’s team, see our job openings.

Highlights from 40 Years of Fighting for Illinois Consumers

1984
1984

After local referendums across Illinois showed overwhelming support for a utility consumer advocate, state legislators passed the CUB Act in 1983 and CUB opened its doors the next year. The nonprofit, nonpartisan group was given a clear mission: To fight for the rights of Illinois utility customers.

1985
1985

A year after opening, CUB won landmark reforms to Illinois utility laws, requiring state regulators to conduct audits of utility plant construction costs and to cut down on imprudent spending.  These reforms enabled the consumer group to set the stage for victories in the coming decades.

1987
1987

CUB and fellow advocates helped block a ComEd rate deal, saving consumers $1.9 billion. It was the first time ever that the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) rejected outright a ComEd rate hike.

1988
1988

 CUB and fellow advocates helped save customers an estimated $3 billion in an Illinois Power rate-hike fight.

1993
1993

Multiple ComEd rate cases settled for a $1.3 billion refund and $339 million rate cut, cutting consumer utility bills by 25 to 30 percent.

1994
1994

On its 10th anniversary, CUB helped win a five-year rate cut for SBC (now AT&T) customers, for a total savings of $465 million.

1997
1997

Under a new electric deregulation law, CUB helped negotiate a record rate decrease—including a 20 percent cut for ComEd and Illinois Power customers. The total customer benefit was $6.2 billion.

2002
2002

CUB helped win $224 million in phone credits for Ameritech (now AT&T) customers. This credit averaged $50 per line for all residential and small-business customers and was the largest in Illinois history.

2003
2003

CUB helped defeat anti-consumer legislation and saved ComEd-Illinois Power customers $2.6 billion.

2004
2004

CUB helped uncover an illegal profit-sharing deal between affiliates of Peoples Gas and Enron Corp., resulting in a record $100 million gas refund.

2007
2007

CUB helped lead the “rate-hike” rebellion of 2007, after an Ameren and ComEd power-pricing plan sent bills soaring. In response, state legislators killed the plan, ordered $1 billion in consumer refunds and created the Illinois Power Agency, charged with securing the lowest prices possible for consumers.

2013
2013

CUB and other consumer advocates helped win a $72 million refund for Nicor Gas customers.

2016
2016

As an active member of the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, CUB helped pass the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA), sweeping energy legislation that included a historic boost to money-saving efficiency standards.

2019
2019

CUB worked with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and other consumer advocates to pass the HEAT Act, one of the nation’s strongest laws against alternative gas and electric supplier rip-offs.

2021
2021

CUB helped pass the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). This historic energy legislation set a goal of 100 percent clean energy for Illinois, expanded efficiency standards that had already saved consumers billions of dollars and made low-cost solar power accessible to more Illinois residents.

2022
2022

CUB helped win a $38 million refund for customers in the wake of the ComEd corruption scandal. It also helped secure major tax-related refunds for electric customers ($434 million for ComEd customers, and $50.8 for Ameren Illinois customers) in a much quicker schedule than the utilities wanted.

2023
2023

CUB challenged a state-record $2.9 billion in electric and gas rate-hike requests from major Illinois utilities, helping to reduce them by a total of $1.6 billion. The landmark regulatory rulings also temporarily halted major capital projects planned by Peoples Gas, Ameren Illinois and ComEd, until those companies could answer questions about their affordability for consumers and their project management.