(800) 669-5556

Energy

CUB’s Earth Day Giveaway has a winner!

Congratulations to Sarah, the winner of CUB’s Earth Day Giveaway! She’s just won $25 off her next utility bill as well as an energy efficiency kit: an LED, a smart power strip, and a Kill A Watt. Runner-up winners were Nancy and Mary-Jo. Each will receive an LED bulb. Congrats! Sarah,…...

Read more

Brutal April: Ameren, ComEd ask for $481 M in electric rate hikes

We knew these rate-hike requests were coming, but they still hurt. In April, ComEd and Ameren have asked for a total of $481 million in rate hikes, which would take effect in January 2015. Here’s CUB’s statement: “This month, Ameren and ComEd have filed for $481 million in electric rate hikes—about…...

Read more

Exelon’s ‘radioactive’ bailout plan?

The electricity market has been very good to ComEd-parent Exelon over the last decade, helping the company reap more than $21 billion in profits thanks to high power prices and its fleet of nuclear power plants. But times have changed: Wholesale prices have fallen, thanks to a surge in natural…...

Read more

“She’s phenomenal!”

We received a call recently from a consumer ecstatic over the savings she discovered after speaking with one of our staffers at a utility bill clinic in Elmhurst. Theresia, of Wood Dale, learned how to shave $53.10 per month off her bills, thanks to guidance from CUB Environmental Outreach Coordinator Laura Goldberg.…...

Read more

Chicago Power Deal

The City of Chicago recently negotiated a new rate with Integrys Energy to fulfill the last 12 months of a 28-month municipal aggregation deal.  The bad news for consumers: rates are going up.  The less-bad news: rates are going up across the board for electricity in June, regardless of your supplier–and most…...

Read more

Big vote: 3 things you should know about electric aggregation

On Tuesday residents in some 80 communities or counties will vote on whether they want local leaders to negotiate their power prices with ComEd or Ameren competitors. (See this great chart the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) put together.) The referendum will look something like this: Shall the (Name of county/municipality)…...

Read more

Sign of things to come? Supplier wants out of community power deal

In an unsettling development in the electric market, an alternative power supplier wants to renegotiate the low price it secured for a Chicago suburb through July of 2015. Crain’s Chicago Business reporter Steve Daniels broke the news recently: Nordic Energy Services says the “polar vortex” winter jacked up its market…...

Read more

City inks new electric deal as customers brace for higher summer bills

After an absolutely lousy winter of high utility bills, consumers over the weekend got hit with headlines like this: “Chicago electric bills to rise up to 18% in June…” But here’s the silver lining: While electric rates are going up 14 to 18 percent under a new deal the City of…...

Read more

We’re #1!

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently named Illinois the top state for LEED certification—the most widely recognized green building rating system—in 2013! The USGBC ranks states based on LEED-certified buildings per capita.  With 171 green building projects certified in 2013 and 29,415,284 square feet of energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly space, Illinois…...

Read more

Ask FERC to investigate winter energy prices

What’s going on with energy prices this winter? That’s a question CUB wants answered, and we’re asking for your help.  Send a message to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to investigate the root causes behind this winter’s electric and natural gas price spikes. Power and gas prices skyrocketed in…...

Read more