With increasingly cold winters and hotter summers, Illinois consumers face the prospect of higher and higher gas and electric bills. It’s likely to get worse, according to the latest climate report by the United Nations, but we still have time to act. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change…...
Crain’s Chicago Business: City of Chicago, Illinois AG call for far higher ComEd bribery rebate
The Illinois attorney general’s office and the city of Chicago yesterday urged the Illinois Commerce Commission to more than double the refund Commonwealth Edison should make to ratepayers over its admitted bribery scheme. In testimony filed with the ICC, the state’s chief consumer advocate, the city and the Citizens Utility…...
2021 Year in Review: Fighting for historic legislation, beating back millions in higher rates
Amid an ongoing pandemic and skyrocketing energy prices, CUB in 2021 sued a scandal-plagued utility, beat back millions of dollars in rate hikes and helped pass historic energy legislation. “I am proud of how our staff battled through yet another difficult year, but consumers deserve the credit,” CUB Executive David…...
General Assembly passes historic energy bill: Now begins the hard work of implementation
The General Assembly has passed landmark energy legislation that consumer and environmental advocates have worked for years to achieve. The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act puts Illinois on a path to 100 percent clean energy while implementing the strongest utility ethics reforms and energy efficiency provisions in state history. And…...
Updates on CUB’s fight to rein in alternative suppliers behaving badly
When CUB helped pass historic consumer protections against alternative supplier rip-offs, the watchdog made it clear that the hard work was just beginning. “We look forward to working with the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) and Attorney General (Kwame) Raoul to help enforce these new rules and build a better market…...
Washington Post: Nearly 1% of all Illinois residences were cut off for nonpayment in October 2020
In a special report from Peoria, Washington Post reporter Greg Jaffe uncovered grim statistics about shut-offs in that Central Illinois city. It indicates, as one researcher said, that our social safety net is in “grave need of repair.” Jaffe reports: As the pandemic dragged on month after month, hundreds struggled…...
