Right now, a bill sailing through the General Assembly would lock in yearly, automatic electric rate hikes for two more years–through 2019. And CUB says: Not so fast! The increases, made possible by the General Assembly’s “smart grid law” in 2011, are to pay for new digital electric meters and…...
Energy saving tips to eat up this Thanksgiving
By Samantha Vercellino Thanksgiving is fast approaching and many Americans are gearing up to cook a traditional holiday feast that will leave family and friends in a food coma. But gathering around the table can be a pricey affair, especially when total U.S. spending on Thanksgiving dinner is $2.4 billion. So, before heading…...
Don’t cut that cord yet: Why we still need landlines
The Illinois Telecommunications Act—important legislation that protects your rights and keeps telephone rates low—is up for review in 2015. We are gearing up for a big legislative battle as we expect companies like AT&T and Frontier to attempt to completely deregulate local phone service. If Big Telecom has its way, companies would be free from the…...
Deceptive Billing: 3 Tips to Protect Yourself
Imagine you’ve just signed up for Broadband Internet Service for $34.99 per month. You’re pretty content with the deal, and soon spend your days in a quiet reverie of Pinterest, Netflix documentaries, and cat videos… …until you get your first month’s bill: $94.95! That’s what happened to Jeremy Zielinski of New York…...
A less expensive winter?
By Samantha Vercellino The weather may be bitter cold now, but experts are predicting milder overall temperatures this winter, bringing Midwesterners out of their temporary hibernation, and hopefully, giving us a break on our bills. How big a break? Chicago utility Peoples Gas, which charged the highest gas rates in the state…...
Thank you!
With the Holidays around the corner, we wanted to take the time to reach out to you–loyal CUB supporters– and say thank you. At CUB, we’re always in the trenches—battling utility greed and unnecessary rate hikes. Whether you’ve signed a petition, completed a survey, participated in a contest, used free tools (like…...
Bracing for winter? CUB is!
At CUB we’re preparing for another busy winter. Are you ready? In the first half of 2014, CUB’s crew handled 2,507 complaints/inquiries from gas and electric customers reeling from polar vortex price spikes. That’s a 79 percent increase from the previous year. Despite this week’s burst of winter, the cold season isn’t…...
A new utility for CUB?
The White House has come out in support of reclassifying broadband Internet as a utility. That would be a win for “net neutrality,” enabling the Federal Communications Commission to prohibit Internet Service Providers from blocking, throttling or prioritizing Web services in exchange for payment. Net neutrality is the idea that…...
Special Report: Is your community power deal still best for you?
Once, municipal aggregation—when community leaders negotiate power prices on behalf of residents–was a sure bet for electricity savings. Not any more. “Although it’s still possible to save money with electric competition, the era of easy savings is over in Illinois,” CUB Executive Director David Kolata says in CUB’s special report today. Kolata advises consumers…...
