EVANSTON, January 17, 2012—A local contest has been so successful at recruiting households to cut their energy bills that its deadline has been extended through the end of February to give more families the chance to win the two top prizes of a year of free electricity, the City of Evanston and the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) announced Tuesday.

Evanston's "Big 7 Savers Challenge" has so far spurred 1,689 households to join CUB Energy Saver, a free online service that's been showing families how to cut their electric and natural gas bills by an average of $130 a year.

Unlike any other service of its kind in the nation, CUBEnergySaver.com links to a household's Commonwealth Edison account to track actual reductions in energy waste. It then rewards those reductions with points—two for every kilowatt-hour saved—that can be redeemed for shopping and restaurant discounts, such as "Lulu's Dim Sum & Then Some" restaurant in Evanston. Any Evanston business interested in promoting itself by offering CUB Energy Saver rewards should contact CUB Outreach Director Sarah Moskowitz, at 312-263-4282.

The Big 7 Savers Challenge pits Evanston's top seven employers—St. Francis Hospital, Rotary International, Northwestern University, NorthShore University HealthSystem, District 65, District 202 (Evanston Township High School), and the city—in a friendly energy-saving competition. The objective is to recruit the most CUBEnergySaver.com members and achieve the largest energy savings at home.

At the end of the competition, the winning employers will be awarded a plaque from Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl. Also, two families, one from each winning team, will be randomly picked to win a year of free power, up to $1,800.

CUB and the City of Evanston had first planned to end the challenge on Jan. 1, but CUB Executive Director David Kolata extended the deadline through Feb. 29. The winners will be announced at an Earth Week event in April. Evanston residents have saved a total of $43,805, 392,514 kWh and 80,539 pounds of carbon.

"Evanston is an energy efficiency leader, and since this community has worked so hard to save its residents money, we decided to extend the Big 7 Savers Challenge to give even more families the chance to win free electricity for a year," CUB Executive Director David Kolata said. "CUB Energy Saver is based on the idea that the cheapest kilowatt-hour is the one you don't use, and Evanston residents have used the free tool to give their bottom lines a big break."

Kolata stressed that anyone can join the Big 7 Savers Challenge, even if that person doesn't live in Evanston or doesn't work for one of the top seven employers. People who want to participate in the contest should go to this webpage, www.cubenergysaver.com/Evanston, and join a particular team.

"This competition is open to anyone who wants to save energy and money," Kolata said.

CUB Energy Saver, launched in June of 2010, is the result of a partnership between CUB and New York City-based Efficiency 2.0. It has shown consumers how to save $1.9 million and 4.4 million kWh of electricity.

CUB is Illinois' leading nonprofit utility watchdog organization. Created by the Illinois Legislature, CUB opened its doors in 1984 to represent the interests of residential and small-business utility customers. Since then, CUB has helped save consumers more than $10 billion by blocking rate hikes and securing refunds. For more information, call CUB's Consumer Hotline at 1-800-669-5556, or visit www.CitizensUtilityBoard.org.