When Delores met James, a salesman from Illinois Gas & Electric, she says she was a bit confused by his offer, but he insisted it was a good deal. She wanted to take notes, but James never gave her pen back after borrowing it to write on her bill. And what…...
CUB General Counsel Report by Julie Soderna
CUB Executive Director David Kolata has asked me to prepare a General Counsel’s Report to outline for our most generous supporters the work we’ve been doing in 2018: Senior Attorney Kelly Turner and I are pleased that so far this year we’ve helped cut Nicor’s proposed rate hike by $115 million and…...
CUB comes face-to-face with a sketchy alternative supplier
CUB warns consumers that alternative supplier plans can cost you a lot more than what you’d pay with your regulated utility. At a recent event, CUB’s Outreach Assistant Anairis Boror had an interesting encounter with people who seemed to be representing an alternative supplier. Anairis was working CUB’s table at…...
Special Report: Are green plans really green?
A lot of alternative electricity suppliers like to pitch “green plans.” “We make sure all your home’s energy … comes from 100% clean wind and solar power,” proclaims one supplier’s website. But let’s go beyond the marketing pitches. Signing up for a “green” or “renewable energy” plan does NOT mean…...
Grim statistic: Record losses for supplier customers
The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) recently reported that over the past year, customers of alternative electric suppliers lost a record $227.6 million, compared with what they would have paid with the regulated utilities, ComEd or Ameren. The electric market is in need of reform—but energy giants, like Exelon and Vistra,…...
ICC report shows record losses with alternative electric suppliers
CUB warns consumers that enrolling with an alternative supplier could lead to paying higher electric and gas bills. In fact, losses at the hands of electric suppliers reached a record high of $227.6 million over the past year, according to the 2018 annual report of the Illinois Commerce Commission’s Office…...
Low supplier rates don’t guarantee big savings
Consumers sometimes enroll with alternative suppliers because the rates appear lower than the regulated utility, but be careful that such plans could have an additional monthly fee. Every week, I update fact sheets listing alternative supplier prices, compared with the the rates of regulated utilities. By my count, about a…...
What this millennial learned about alternative electric suppliers
As someone who still lives at home with her parents (for now), I never paid too much attention to electric bills…until I came to CUB. My name is Jennifer, CUB’s new Communications Assistant and a millennial utility-expert-in-training. I didn’t even know Illinoisans could choose a supplier other than ComEd, but…...
