Commonwealth Edison customers face a second consecutive summer of high bills, largely due to soaring energy demand sparked by new and proposed data centers, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) said Thursday. CUB urged ComEd to work with customers struggling to afford their bills this summer and called on the Illinois…...
CUB alerts Ameren customers of new summer power price: 11.326¢ per kWh
Ameren Illinois customers face a second consecutive summer of high bills, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) said Thursday, spreading the word about the utility’s June 1 electricity price. CUB urged Ameren to work with customers struggling to afford their bills to keep them connected in the hot summer, issued a…...
ICJC News Release: New Poll shows Illinois voters back POWER Act by overwhelming margins
A new statewide poll of likely 2026 voters shows the POWER Act (SB4016/HB5513) enjoys broad, bipartisan support across Illinois, according to a news release from the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition. Nearly 70 percent of voters support legislation to hold data centers accountable after hearing just a brief description of the…...
Making data centers pay their fair share
A data center is a facility that houses computer systems used for storing, processing and distributing digital information. They use a tremendous amount of electricity–the largest facilities can consume as much energy as 100,000 households a year (a mid-sized city)! Across the United States, data center electricity use has more than doubled…...
The devil is in the details: Analyzing PJM’s policy proposals on data centers
After months of suspense, the PJM Interconnection Board has proposed a series of policy changes on how to manage data center energy demand–a challenge that, if left unchecked, could in a few years spark catastrophic blackouts and price spikes for the 67 million customers who live in the nation’s largest…...
CUB statement: Capacity market prices reflect need for data center reform
The following is a statement from CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz on the results of PJM Interconnection’s 2027-28 capacity auction, announced Wednesday, Dec. 17 (Read the full statement here.) After a third straight auction marked by unacceptably high prices, it is painfully obvious that our capacity market is breaking under…...
Heading into 2026, CUB names biggest threats to utility bills
Based on its experience combatting high utility costs over the past year, the consumer watchdog Citizens Utility Board (CUB) of Illinois has issued its list of what looks to be major threats to utility affordability in 2026. “As consumers struggle with high prices across the board for everyday necessities like…...
Data center distress: CUB, NRDC experts warn PJM states could get hit with forced blackouts, $163B in electricity capacity costs
Record new demand from data centers is driving up energy costs and concerns about reliable power supply. Preliminary utility forecasts in PJM Interconnection, the largest power grid operator in the country, show that data centers could require more than 50 gigawatts of peak electricity capacity by 2030 — enough to…...
