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Energy

CUB’s Holiday Lighting Guide

The pandemic may hang over this holiday season, but there’s still plenty of reason to get in the spirit and decorate your home. Americans spend about $233 million on holiday lights each year, according to Wired magazine, so CUB has tips to help you cut down on your electricity costs. Switch to…...

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Clearway: CUB’s evaluation of a new community solar offer

This is an evaluation of Clearway’s community solar offering. (If you are not already familiar with community solar, we recommend reading our Introduction to Community Solar first.) How will signing up for the Clearway community solar offer affect my electric bill? Clearway will look at your energy usage history to determine…...

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CUB-Northwestern partnership yields new outreach materials 

A class of Northwestern undergraduate students worked with CUB over the spring semester to fill gaps in the utility watchdog’s outreach efforts. Although COVID-19 and Illinois’ stay-at-home order caused the student teams to rethink aspects of their projects, CUB now has new and improved outreach materials, as well as new…...

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Chicago City Council supports CEJA, “puts us on the right path” to a clean energy future

In a boost to the fight for clean, affordable energy, the Chicago City Council unanimously passed a resolution today supporting the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA).  CEJA puts Illinois “on the right path” to a clean energy future, said Ald. George Cardenas, as he introduced the resolution. Cardenas is chairman…...

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Home Heating quiz winner no stranger to energy efficiency 

Congrats to Joel of Evanston! He was randomly selected to win a free CUB energy efficiency kit out of more than 1,000 people who took CUB’s Home Heating Quiz. Joel has won two LED light bulbs, a Kill A Watt electricity-usage monitor, a smart power strip, and an insulated CUB…...

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Breaking: New ComEd, Ameren power prices

Do you know what you’re paying for electricity this month? Read CUB’s special energy pricing guides for Ameren and ComEd customers. (It includes the gas prices for October.) Also, give us your best energy efficiency tip and we’ll share it in this blog.    ...

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Take action for Efficiency!

Watching daily developments in Washington, it’s easy to get discouraged. But as a nonpartisan group that works to lower utility bills, we want to alert you about good legislation on Capitol Hill—and give you a chance to take action. Just last week, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee recommended that…...

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The day in the life of a CUB outreach staffer…

By Annabelle Roser As solar energy becomes more accessible to everyday consumers, the financial incentives of owning solar panels can be hard to pass up. The benefits of subsidizing or eliminating your energy bills through net-metering can be especially enticing to retirees or those on fixed incomes. Recently, I met…...

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What is the Future Energy Jobs Act? CUB analyzes Illinois’ biggest energy legislation in years

The Illinois General Assembly has passed the Future Energy Jobs Act, one of the most significant pieces of energy legislation in the past 20 years. CUB members should know about this new law. What is it?  The Future Energy Jobs Act (Senate Bill 2814) is a compromise bill that was…...

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Budget cuts = higher utility bills

BREAKING: An initial budget plan from the White House calls for costly cuts that will lead to higher utility bills. (ACT NOW!) These are among a long list of programs targeted for elimination: Energy Star: Provides assistance for energy efficiency programs. Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): Assists low-income families with heating…...

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