With new ComEd and Ameren Illinois rate-hike requests on the table, CUB’s legal team is now challenging $414.1 million in higher rates before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). (Send a message urging the ICC to say NO to the electric rate hikes!) Here’s a summary of all our battles: ICC…...
Consumer Coalition launches campaign to eliminate gas utility surcharge
A coalition of consumer, environmental, and community advocates along with legislative champions have announced legislation to end a gas utility surcharge contributing to higher heating bills across the state. (Take action against this surcharge!) The coalition, which includes CUB, pointed to numerous examples of rapidly rising bills from one end…...
Illinois gas utilities ring in the new year with higher rates
Illinois’ major gas utilities are kicking off 2021 by raising the price per therm for January. This across-the-board increase is on track with predictions made by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) at the beginning of this heating season. The price per therm you’re paying for natural gas in January, also…...
New Power Prices for Ameren, ComEd Customers
As of October 1, ComEd and Ameren are updating their electricity supply prices to reflect non-summer pricing. According to the companies, these are the new Ameren and ComEd prices through May 2021: Ameren (for people living in Ameren’s geographic service territory) Usage of 0 to 800 kilowatt-hours (kWh): 4.542 cents per kWh*…...
CUB review: Many community power deals no longer money savers
There was a time when municipal aggregation–electricity deals that local leaders negotiate for residents of a community–secured savings for consumers, but a new CUB review has found that most deals are no longer beating the utility rate. As of July 31, just 78 of the 555 total active municipal aggregation deals in…...
Gov. Pritzker calls for energy legislation to put gas surcharge on the chopping block
CUB has long called on Springfield to end a special surcharge that allows natural gas utilities to quickly raise customer bills to pay for infrastructure developments. This time, Springfield gave us some good news. In a 13-page document released last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office outlined eight principles that will…...
Demand response: a win for you, the environment, and the grid
Demand response programs are opportunities for consumers to take an active role in lowering their electric bills, reducing stress on the electric grid, and cutting pollution. Sounds like a good deal. But what are “demand response” programs? At their core, all demand response programs incentivize consumers to shift their electricity…...
