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…...
Proof: Internet access providers slowing speeds
Net neutrality is the idea that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Verizon and Comcast cannot discriminate against certain web traffic. In other words, ISPs can’t slow down traffic for companies that refuse to pay up. Finally, proof has emerged that not only is such “Pay-to-Play Internet” a possibility, it’s already happening. A recent…...
Don’t say the “P” word
by Samantha Vercellino The weather is about to change–and not in a good way. Painful memories of last winter will resurface this week as the Midwest welcomes back the “polar vortex” which was triggered by Super Typhoon Nuri, the National Weather Service says. The Artic outbreak will bring below-average temperatures for…...
