UPDATE: Early this morning, the Illinois Senate passed comprehensive clean energy legislation (Senate Bill 18) and sent it to the state House of Representatives. (The vote was 39-16-2.) That came after days of negotiations and two hearings by the Senate Committee on Energy and Public Utilities. While there is broad agreement…...
General Assembly passes historic energy efficiency standards
On the last day of the General Assembly’s veto session, legislators passed Senate Bill 2814, a measure that will spark lower utility bills by establishing historic energy efficiency standards for Illinois’ biggest electric utilities. On Thursday evening, the Illinois House passed the measure, also called the “Future Energy Jobs Bill,” 63-38,…...
Tell legislators: Strong energy efficiency standards
Any day now, the Illinois General Assembly could be voting on major energy legislation. In Illinois we have a historic opportunity through this legislation to require utilities to dramatically expand their investments in energy efficiency, lowering our utility bills by at least $4 billion and helping to create tens of…...
Results of quick poll on Exelon Bill
Nearly 1,900 people responded to our informal survey about a push by Illinois’ biggest energy company, ComEd-parent Exelon, to raise electric bills by up to $1.6 billion–and eight out of 10 said NO to the idea. Exelon says keeping its nuclear plants open will fight climate change—and they need economic help. Opponents…...
Breaking: ‘Slam dunk’ for electric customers at the Supreme Court
It’s never easy taking on big energy companies, but then there are days like this. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling in support of an important efficiency program called Demand Response. Read CUB’s statement. Demand Response is any program in which power grid operators pay electricity users to…...
Big Exelon announcement opens the door for Illinois Clean Jobs Bill
Ending months of speculation about the fate of its Quad Cities and Byron nuclear power plants, ComEd-parent Exelon announced today that it would put off a decision about those plants for another year. As consumers brace for higher power bills due to recent electricity auctions, this development provides a unique opportunity to…...
Editorial roundup: the battle to protect electric customers in Springfield
Springfield is abuzz with two very different pieces of energy legislation, one that could help electric customers and another that could hurt them. One is the Illinois Clean Jobs bill (House Bill 2607/Senate Bill 1485), which would increase energy efficiency and renewable energy standards in Illinois. A CUB analysis found that the…...
- 1
- 2