Ivonne Rychwa, CUB’s Outreach Director
Guadalupe, a 92-year-old Waukegan resident, had no idea that attending a CUB event would result in her receiving a $1,500 refund. But that’s exactly what happened when experts from the consumer watchdog discovered Guadalupe was being overcharged by an alternative supplier she had no idea she was paying.
In late March, Gaudalupe and her daughter, Elizabeth, attended a CUB event in Waukegan–a bilingual home energy savings presentation in partnership with Clean Power Lake County. They wanted to learn about money-saving programs, including Community Solar.
The event was staffed by Outreach Director Ivonne Rychwa and Karen Tolentino, CUB Español’s Clean Energy Outreach and Communications Coordinator. While reviewing her ComEd bill, Ivonne and Karen made a discovery that is all-too-common at CUB events:
Guadalupe was overpaying with an alternative supplier, IGS Energy. Her 12.89 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) rate was about 30 percent higher than what ComEd was charging at the time. Guadalupe had no idea she was with an alternative supplier–and she and her daughter had no idea how she had been switched to that other supplier.
Even though data center energy demand has elevated ComEd’s power price over the last year, the utility is likely a customer’s best bet for electricity supply. In fact, since 2015, Illinois consumers have lost more than $2 billion to alternative electricity suppliers. CUB has often put out warnings about bad alternative supplier deals.
Karen Tolentino, CUB Español’s Clean Energy Outreach and Communications Coordinator
A quick review of Guadalupe’s bill found that she had overpaid by about $11.70 in that month alone. For a senior on a fixed income, a bad deal like this could be extremely damaging to her finances–and it is troubling that there might be many seniors in Illinois overpaying with alternative suppliers.
Ivonne helped Guadalupe and her daughter file a complaint with IGS Energy, requesting that the company cancel her supply service so she could go back to ComEd, as well as her gas utility. (During this process, Ivonne learned that Guadalupe also had IGS as her gas supplier.)
She also requested that Guadalupe get reimbursed for any overpayments. It took about two months, but IGS eventually agreed to give Guadalupe a $1,553 refund. This came only after Ivonne requested a recording of the “third party verification,” which is required by law to verify that a person willfully entered a new supplier deal. The company never provided the recording, but they did give Guadalupe a refund.
“I’m very, very grateful for what they’ve done for us,” Guadalupe’s daughter, Elizabeth, said of Ivonne and Karen. “It’s sad how [unscrupulous alternative suppliers] deceive the elderly, and even more so if we don’t speak English. That is what happened to my mom.”
The experience prompted another member of the family–another daughter of Guadalupe–to check her own bill and discover an alternative supplier. (She planned to cancel the supplier.)
“We are so glad we could help another consumer,” Karen said. “But we’re concerned that far too many people are in the same situation–not realizing that they’re overpaying on a bad alternative supplier deal. We urge people to pick up their electric and gas bills and see if they’re overpaying with a supplier. If you have any questions about alternative suppliers, please contact CUB (1-800-669-5556).”
Check out our tips on electricity suppliers for ComEd (Español) and Ameren (Español) customers, and gas suppliers for Nicor (Español) and Peoples/North Shore Gas (Español) customers. (Ameren Illinois does not have gas choice.) See CUB’s full website en Español.
