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CUB Director: Consumer protections never go out of date

AT&T has made no secret of the fact that the company wants to strip the Illinois Telecom Act of consumer protections and completely deregulate traditional home phone service. In the company’s perfect world, it would no longer have to fulfill the “obligation to serve” requirement— and would be able to abandon…...

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Save home phone service before it’s too late!

The Illinois Telecommunications Act—legislation that protects your rights and keeps telephone rates down— is up for review at the end of the month, and legislators must determine to renew it as is, or change it. Unlike CUB and other consumer advocacy groups, Big Telecom companies like AT&T and Frontier hope…...

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Congrats to CUB’s “Green in 2015 Giveaway” winners!

By Samantha Vercellino Congratulations to Valeri DeCastris of Rockford and John Ivory of Arlington Heights! Both are the lucky winners of a $100 top prize for participating in CUB’s “Green in 2015 Giveaway.” “I’m just so thrilled to have won, especially since I have been a CUB member and huge supporter…...

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Another Ameren rate hike?

Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, Ameren drops this bombshell: a $110 million rate-hike request to ostensibly pay for upgrades to the power grid. CUB Executive Director David Kolata had this to say: If done right, Ameren’s power grid improvements have the potential to benefit all its…...

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BREAKING NEWS: Verizon, Sprint to pay $158 million in ‘cramming’ settlement

Federal and state officials announced Tuesday that Verizon will pay $90 million and Sprint $68 million in fines and customer refunds to settle government probes into “cramming.” “This settlement is another major victory for consumers,” said Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who helped reach the deal. Attorney General Madigan and other…...

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Safety first: Tips to prevent electrical hazards

With air conditioners and ceiling fans powered on, summer is a time of high electricity use.  But amidst all that buzzing and whirring, it might be easy to overlook some electrical safety risks. Follow these electrical safety tips to keep your home hazard-free: Check outlets for loose plugs that could cause shocks or…...

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CUB saves consumer from $1,887 mistake

By Samantha Vercellino Nobody likes to receive the monthly power bill, but that rings especially true for Kay Uhrin—whose April statement said she owed $2,230.54! Stunned, the Rockford-area resident immediately called ComEd who claimed she had used 18,223 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in 29 days. (That’s more than triple her…...

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Big refund for Major Energy customers

When CUB conducted a review of the worst alternative electric deals in spring of 2014, we smelled something fishy.  For example, we encountered several customers on plans charging up to six times the utility’s rates! And what company were those particular customers with?  Major Energy. Those customer may receive justice this week.…...

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New power prices in Illinois

Summer is around the corner, bringing with it warm days, sunshine, flowers, and…new electric rates. ComEd customers can breathe a little easier starting June 1, as the utility’s price to compare will drop to 7.04¢/kWh through Sept. 30. That’s a decrease of about 7 percent from the current rate (7.572¢/kWh).  Ameren…...

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CUB Action Network members give good advice!

Last week, CUB alerted consumers to the latest cons and rip-offs in Illinois.  We then asked you to share if you’ve heard about any other scams. Hundreds of CUB Action Network members spoke up, and we wanted to share some of the most common responses. Home Repair scams “Hail Storm has brought…...

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