Citizens Utility Board

CUB statement on Ameren Illinois’ $48 million electric reconciliation rate hike

Jim Chilsen — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:03:36 +0000

The following is a statement from CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz: We’re glad state regulators reduced wasteful and inappropriate spending and shaved about $11 million off of Ameren Illinois’ electric rate-hike request. But the utility still received an increase of about $48 million, and we’re concerned about customers being unable to afford their utility bills among so many cost increases for other necessities such as food and healthcare. Under state regulatory law, Ameren is allowed to petition state regulators for extra money if it goes beyond what it has budgeted for capital projects. CUB supports ending this reconciliation benefit for utilities. If Ameren blows through its budget in a given year, customers shouldn’t have to pay the excess. Background: On Thursday, Dec. 18, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) granted Ameren Illinois a rate hike of about $48 million as part of an 8-month “reconciliation” case (Docket 25-0382). Last year, Ameren won a $308.6 million increase, spread out through 2027. However, a provision in state regulatory law allows Ameren to petition the ICC to recover extra expenses in yearly “reconciliation” cases, if they go over-budget on capital expenditures. In its reconciliation case, Ameren pushed for another $59.6 million. (CUB opposes utilities having this reconciliation benefit.) Over the course of the case, consumer advocates, including CUB and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, uncovered at least $14 million in wasteful spending in Ameren’s reconciliation proposal. A history of Ameren Illinois rate hikes in recent years: 2023: The ICC rejected Ameren’s first attempt at a four-year rate plan in 2023–in part because the utility didn’t do enough to show how the plan would be affordable or beneficial to customers. The utility got a smaller rate hike ($56 million) than it wanted. 2024: Ameren proposed a new plan last year, and the ICC approved a $308.6 million increase, spread out through 2027. 2025: The ICC approved an additional $48 million rate hike, as part of an 8-month reconciliation rate case. The rate hike will take effect before the end of the year.

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CUB statement on ComEd’s $243M reconciliation rate hike

Jim Chilsen — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 23:40:13 +0000

The following is a statement from CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz: We are pleased that state regulators knocked $25 million off of ComEd’s rate hike by weeding out wasteful and inappropriate spending–especially costs connected to fixing the utility’s error-prone billing system. ComEd customers shouldn’t have to pay for the utility’s incompetence. However, ComEd still received a $243 million rate hike, and we remain concerned about customers being able to afford their utility bills at a time of escalating costs for healthcare, groceries and other necessities. Under state regulatory law, ComEd is allowed to petition state regulators for extra money if it goes beyond what it has budgeted for capital projects. CUB supports ending this reconciliation benefit for utilities. If ComEd blows through its budget in a given year, customers shouldn’t have to pay the excess. Background: On Thursday, Dec. 18, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) granted ComEd a rate hike of about $243 million as part of the utility’s 8-month “reconciliation” case (Docket 25-0383). That’s about $25 million lower than the $268.5 million ComEd sought. ComEd has already won a $606 million, multi-year rate hike last year, but a provision in state regulatory law allows ComEd to petition the ICC to recover extra expenses in yearly “reconciliation” cases, if they go over-budget on capital expenditures. Roughly $200 million of ComEd’s proposed $268.5 million reconciliation increase was to make up for higher rates that were approved earlier, but had not yet been put in place. The rest of the proposed increase was to recover excess spending for ComEd going over-budget on capital projects. (CUB opposes utilities having this reconciliation benefit.) Among $25.4 in reductions that consumer advocates supported and the ICC approved: Most overrun costs related to fixing billing problems that have plagued ComEd customers since February of 2024. (Customers have complained about problems–billing delays, overcharges and other errors–since the utility launched its new billing system.) Millions of dollars to recover extra costs for infrastructure upgrades the ICC deemed unnecessary for a $73 million data center. For future reconciliation cases, the ICC also ordered ComEd to include cost-benefit analyses of grid plan projects to make it easier to evaluate the impact of ComEd’s plans for improving the grid. A history of ComEd’s recent rate hikes: 2023: The ICC rejected ComEd’s first attempt at a multi-year rate plan, in part because the utility didn’t do enough to show how the plan would be affordable or beneficial to customers. The utility received a $500 million rate hike, which was about $1 billion lower than it wanted. 2024: ComEd proposed a new plan last year, and the ICC approved a multi-year $606 million rate plan, spread out through 2027. 2025: ICC approved an additional $243 million rate hike, as part of an 8-month reconciliation rate case. The rate hike will take effect before the end of the year. Also, in January 2026, ComEd will launch a discount program for lower-income customers. The program will provide monthly discounts to qualifying customers designed to reduce energy bills to 3 to 6 percent of household income. Read CUB’s Q&A on the ComEd program.

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CUB statement: Capacity market prices reflect need for data center reform

Jim Chilsen — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 23:03:56 +0000

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 the weight of data center demand and a dysfunctional interconnection queue. Even worse, since the auction results fell below the reliability requirement, consumers are getting the worst of all worlds: paying more money for reduced electric reliability, while existing generators get a windfall. These results ramp up the urgency for decisive action from both PJM Interconnection and individual states, such as Illinois, to rein in runaway data center-related energy demand and protect customers from future price spikes. Data center companies are among the wealthiest in the world, and it is simply unconscionable that customers should pay unbearably high power costs to foot the bill for data center energy guzzling. This is a historic moment that requires action and leadership from PJM and the states in defense of electric customers. What’s good for reliability is good for affordability: Data centers must be held accountable for their own costs. Without real reforms, in just a few years 67 million electric customers in the PJM footprint could face rolling blackouts and an escalation of power bills that make the current price spikes seem tame. While there is a long list of actions that are required, these reforms are at the top of the list: PJM should extend the lower price cap to protect customers, and eliminate any price floor. PJM and states should require data centers to bring their own new clean energy. States should require that data centers operate under maximum energy efficiency and assign data centers into a special rate class to make sure those facilities, and not everyday customers, are paying for data center-related upgrades to the distribution system. –CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz Background: On Wednesday, Dec. 17, PJM Interconnection, a “Regional Transmission Organization,” announced the results of an auction to determine the price for reserve power, or “capacity.” PJM is the largest grid operator in the country, serving 67 million customers across all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia (including Commonwealth Edison’s 4.2 million customers). The auction (technically referred to as the “Base Residual Auction”) was held Dec. 4-10. It set a capacity price of $333.44 per Megawatt-day, which will be in effect from June 1, 2027 through May 31, 2028. Capacity costs are payments consumers make to power generators–the companies that own power plants. These costs are a key component (roughly 20 percent) of the price ComEd customers pay for electricity. ComEd has not yet announced how this will impact its supply price in June of 2027. Like last year, the capacity cost hit a price cap negotiated by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. The price is more than 11 times higher than what the price was for 2024-2025. That price cap is set to go away after this auction, when a status quo, higher price cap is reinstated. Capacity auction prices in recent […]

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Consumers for a Better Grid’s 2025 Year In Review

Elizabeth — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 19:13:49 +0000

It’s time for another annual reflection from CUB’s Consumers for a Better Grid Campaign. With millions of customers dealing with electricity price spikes, 2025 was a busy year advocating for consumers at PJM Interconnection and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). As part of that mission, the campaign held four media briefings, presented at or attended eight conferences, intervened in at least 10 legal cases, and was quoted by at least 25 different media outlets. Here’s more detail on what we tackled this year… Consumer education Many people have never heard of PJM Interconnection, but it manages the nation’s largest power grid–from northern Illinois all the way to the East Coast–and it has a major impact on electric reliability and affordability for 67 million customers across the country. So educating consumers about PJM is important. More and more grassroots groups and organizations across the PJM region have been reaching out for information and ways to engage with everyday consumers about this issue. To respond to this surge in interest, we recorded our PJM 101 briefing, which to date has over 1,000 views! In order to help make PJM material more accessible, Karen Tolentino, the Clean Energy Outreach and Communications Coordinator for CUB Español, re-recorded the video in Spanish. Legislative victories After years of effort, Maryland was the first state to pass a bill requiring utilities to report the votes they take at PJM–and Delaware and New Jersey soon followed. Campaign Manager Clara Summers has testified on the bill for the last two years—it was exciting to see it pass! Hopefully we’ll see more states pass this pro-consumer legislation. In Illinois, the CUB team was instrumental in passing the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act. This sweeping energy legislation will help counteract high prices from PJM by bringing more batteries online and promoting energy efficiency, among other strong provisions. Litigation We intervened in at least 10 legal dockets at FERC, the Department of Energy, and in the courts on issues ranging from capacity market management, improving transmission planning, and protecting the ability of FERC to impose penalties on bad actors. There were a number of topics we worked on this year, but here are some of the biggest… Decoding the broken capacity market—past, present, and future Past and present: If you were plugged in last summer, you may remember that PJM’s capacity market produced record-high prices that would start to hit in June of this year. We worked to ensure consumers were prepared for the upcoming price spike (if you need more information and tips about spiking power prices, please visit our Help Center). In two Facebook Lives, Clara and Annie Warnock, Bilingual Consumer Rights Specialist, gave out important consumer information about the price spikes at the beginning and end of the summer. Future: Unfortunately, high prices will continue for several years. In July, the results of the 2026-27 capacity auction were announced–and once again the auction resulted in a record-high price. Clara was ready to break it down for the public, and Sarah talked through the results on WBEZ. In our statement, we wrote, “While we are relieved that the […]

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CUB Q&A: The Low-Income Discount (LID) Program for ComEd customers

Elizabeth — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 18:17:52 +0000

Following the introduction of low-income discount programs for Illinois’ major gas utilities and private water companies, Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) will be rolling out its own discount program in January of 2026. This program is required under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) and will provide monthly electric-bill discounts for eligible customers. Who is eligible for these electric-bill discounts? Customers of ComEd whose incomes are at or below 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL). Customers who receive Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) benefits (for households that are at or below 60 percent of the state median income) will be automatically enrolled in this discount program, so a good first step is to confirm if you qualify for LIHEAP. LIHEAP also qualifies you for your gas utility’s LID (for customers of Peoples, North Shore, Nicor, and Ameren Illinois). Stacking these three benefits can provide significant financial support for your utility bills. Important: If you earn too much to qualify for LIHEAP, you might still qualify for the LID program. Please review the eligibility requirements below and explore applying. How does the LID work? The LID program is a five-tiered system with a percentage-based discount associated with each tier. The amount of the discount will depend on the household’s income. ComEd has not yet announced the discount percentages that will be available for each tier. However, this information should become available as the program gets implemented in January. How do I know what Tier I’m in? Use the chart below to estimate your household income level for the past 30 days and your tier in the LID program. The chart can help you estimate eligibility, and the application process will confirm it. (A more comprehensive chart is linked here.) Number of people in Household Tier 1:0-50% FPL Tier 2:51-100% FPL Tier 3:101-150% FPL Tier 4:151-200% FPL Tier 5:201-300% FPL 1 Up to $652 $653 to $1,304 $1,305 to $1,956 $1,957 to $2,608 $2,609 to $3,913 2 Up to $881 $882 to $1,763 $1,764 to $2,644 $2,645 to $3,525 $3,526 to $5,288 3 Up to $1,110 $1,111 to $2,221 $2,222 to $3,331 $3,332 to $4,442 $4,443 to $6,663 4 Up to $1,340 $1,341 to $2,679 $2,680 to $4,019 $4,020 to $5,358 $5,359 to $8,038 5 Up to $1,569 $1,570 to $3,138 $3,139 to $4,706 $4,707 to $6,275 $6,276 to $9,413 6 Up to $1,798 $1,799 to $3,596 $3,597 to $5,394 $5,395 to $7,192 $7,193 to $10,788 7 Up to $2,027 $2,028 to $4,054 $4,055 to $6,081 $6,082 to $8,108 $8,109 to $12,163 8 Up to $2,256 $2,257 to $4,513 $4,514 to $6,769 $6,770 to $9,025 $9,026 to $13,538 How do I apply? There are two ways to apply, if you think your household qualifies (at or below 300 percent of the FPL): Tiers 1-4: Eligible households with income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for LIHEAP benefits and, additionally, will automatically receive the ComEd LID. To receive an LID discount, those households must apply for LIHEAP through their local Community Action Agency. To get more information on how to locate a household’s Community […]

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CUB Q&A: The Low-Income Discount Rate (LIDR) Program for gas customers | Citizens Utility Board

Jim Chilsen — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 16:44:20 +0000

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Heading into 2026, CUB names biggest threats to utility bills

Jim Chilsen — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 17:18:11 +0000

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 groceries and health care, escalating utility costs just make their lives more difficult,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said. “We think it’s important to identify the biggest culprits for rising energy bills, so consumers can be empowered to work for solutions.” Runaway Data Center Energy Demand. Unprecedented energy demand connected to data centers was the primary cause of a 45-50 percent spike in electricity prices for Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois customers in the summer of 2025. Elevated prices will remain a problem in 2026, and customers face even higher bills and rolling blackouts in the years to come if decisive action isn’t taken in Springfield and at PJM Interconnection, the power grid operator for northern Illinois and all or part of a dozen other states. CUB has written about state and regional reforms that could rein in data centers. Rate-hike-hungry utilities. Major electric and gas utilities—ComEd, Ameren Illinois, Nicor Gas, Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas—have pushed for billions of dollars in rate hikes on the “delivery” section of bills in recent years. Under utility regulation, gas and electric companies earn a return on their infrastructure investments, incentivizing them to spend aggressively and push for rate hikes. The current Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) has shown more sensitivity toward customer affordability in recent years, and consumer advocates have helped slash rate-hike requests significantly. But for far too many customers, any rate hike is difficult. Bad alternative supplier deals. Many Illinois consumers are allowed to choose a company other than their utility to supply them with electricity or gas, but the market is littered with bad deals. For example, CUB’s review of state data in 2025 found that Illinois electricity customers have lost more than $2.1 billion to alternative suppliers over the last 10 years. The utility’s supply price is likely your best bet. Also, consider a community solar offer. Volatile energy markets. After a period of relative stability, Illinois consumers have been hit by skyrocketing gas prices in recent years. Analysts have predicted that prices could grow more volatile as increasing volumes of fuel are exported through liquefied natural gas facilities. In December, eight of Illinois’ nine utilities are charging supply prices that are higher than last December, by a range of 10 percent to 63 percent, according to a CUB review. Escalating water bills. Illinois American and Aqua Illinois—the state’s two biggest private water utilities—have spent more than $411 million buying up public water systems since 2013. And under state law, they can charge customers for 100 percent of those acquisition costs. CUB is working for a legislative reform that would require shareholders, and not everyday consumers, to shoulder the majority of those costs. Learn more about this issue at CUBWaterTracker.com. (Note: The parent companies of Aqua and Illinois American have announced plans to merge.) Inefficient homes. The federal […]

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Tough times for northern Illinois gas customers: supply prices up 15-56%, Nicor hits customers with rate hike, Peoples Gas plans one in 2026

Jim Chilsen — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 16:57:02 +0000

A new analysis by consumer advocates Thursday shows that December supply prices charged by northern Illinois gas utilities are about 15 percent to 56 percent higher than they were at the same time last year – a surge that highlights misleading claims by at least one utility that low fuel costs would offset a record rate hike it proposed. (Read the full Thursday, Dec. 12 news release from the Citizens Utility Board and Illinois PIRG.) The findings from a “state of the Illinois gas market” review come as Nicor Gas just hit customers with their fifth delivery rate hike in less than a decade, and Peoples Gas announced plans to push for a new hike in 2026, just three years after receiving the largest gas increase in Illinois history. At a time when consumers are paying inflated costs for necessities such as groceries and healthcare, consumer advocates warn that the combination of escalating heating gas prices and serial rate-hike proposals by the region’s gas utilities are likely to exacerbate hardships for Illinois households this winter. “This amounts to a double-whammy for gas customers—the volatile market is hitting them with price spikes on one part of the bill, while utilities continue their aggressive spending to jack up rates on another part of the bill,” said Sarah Moskowitz, executive director of the nonprofit utility watchdog Citizens Utility Board (CUB). “While gas utilities enjoy excessive profits, we have serious concerns about the well-being of heating customers this winter.” The price spike exposes a misleading forecast Peoples Gas publicized in 2023 when, in an effort to pacify concerns about the record-breaking $402 million rate hike the utility had proposed, company officials claimed that lower gas supply prices would defray the increase it sought on the delivery side of bills. Although state regulators cut the rate hike significantly, Peoples Gas still eventually received a record $306 million delivery increase, which began to hit customers in December 2023–and the purportedly low gas prices were only temporary. Nationally, gas prices recently hit a three year high. Analysts predict prices will rise higher and grow more volatile as increasing volumes of fuel are exported through liquefied natural gas facilities. The U.S. is expected to nearly double gas exports over the next five years. “Gas utilities took advantage of a decade of relatively low gas prices to spend excessively, driving up delivery rates and utility profits,” said Illinois PIRG Director Abe Scarr. “Because of that, modest increases in the cost of gas hit customers much harder. As gas prices look to rise even higher and grow more volatile, gas utility customers are vulnerable to spiking home heating bills. That’s why it’s important to invest in energy efficiency, rein in rate hikes and transition to safer, cleaner energy to heat our homes.” Major charges on gas bills are divided among supply and delivery fees. The utilities pass supply costs–the price for buying the actual fuel–onto customers, with no markup. Delivery charges cover the utilities’ cost of delivering gas to homes through their pipe network–plus a profit. Under utility regulation, the gas companies earn a return on their infrastructure investments, incentivizing them […]

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CUB: ComEd taking advantage of ongoing billing problems to push for million in higher delivery rates

Jim Chilsen — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 15:39:52 +0000

Nearly two years after Commonwealth Edison botched its launch of a new billing system, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) said it hopes to block Illinois’ biggest electric utility from making customers, and not shareholders, cover nearly $50 million in spending to fix the ongoing problems. (Read the full version of CUB’s news release from Wednesday, Dec. 10.) The utility watchdog made its argument as it challenges ComEd’s push to increase delivery rates by a total of $268.5 million by the end of the year. The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) last year approved a four-year rate plan for ComEd, but a provision in state regulatory law allows ComEd to petition (Docket 25-0383) the ICC for higher rates in yearly “reconciliation” cases. A portion of the increase is to make up for higher rates that were approved earlier but had not yet been put in place–however, tens of millions more are to recover excess spending for ComEd going over budget on capital expenditures. CUB filed testimony arguing that tucked away in ComEd’s reconciliation rate-hike plan is an attempt by the utility to improperly win millions of dollars a year in higher rates in connection to problems–billing delays, overcharges and other errors–ComEd customers have experienced since the utility launched its new system in February of 2024. According to the testimony, the improper charges include: $9.3 million a year in higher rates to recover $49 million in spending to fix the billing system, about which CUB is still hearing consumer complaints. “It’s ridiculous for ComEd to try to raise our rates in connection with billing problems the utility giant created itself,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said. ”Customers shouldn’t pay higher rates for ComEd’s incompetence.” CUB argued the billing problems also came into play in two instances where ComEd is seeking performance bonus payment, under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), that the utility has not earned, including: A $5.8 million incentive payment for reducing disconnections in certain lower-income ZIP codes. Under an order approving these performance incentive metrics, the ICC adopted a requirement proposed by CUB that the utility cannot collect this bonus for simply delaying disconnections. CUB argued the disconnection reductions were not due to improved affordability or customer assistance but to the fact that ComEd’s error-prone billing system prevented it from disconnecting customers for nonpayment for most of 2024. A $3.5 million incentive payment ComEd argues it deserves for hitting a performance-metric target for customer service. CUB argued ComEd cannot claim this bonus because, amid the billing-system problems, the utility lost the data necessary to prove its claimed improvement. “Shame on ComEd,” Moskowitz said. “The utility shouldn’t benefit from its own failures.” ComEd has had a number of run-ins with the ICC since its corruption scandal erupted in 2020. In 2022, state regulators ordered ComEd to pay a $38 million fine in connection with the scandal. (ComEd was fined $200 million by federal authorities in 2020, after admitting to a bribery scheme to pass legislation that implemented a “formula rate” system and hundreds of millions of dollars in rate hikes over a decade.) In December of 2023, under a new, […]

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Update for ComEd customers: Bigger CEJA credit on the way

Jim Chilsen — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 15:31:48 +0000

As we’ve reported before, in a year of spiking electricity prices, Commonwealth Edison bills have included a per kilowatt-hour (kWh) credit made possible by the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). This credit has given ComEd customers some relief in a tough year, and it will get even higher for a few months in 2026. Here’s a summary: The credit will be an estimated average of roughly $13 a month, around January through May of 2026, but the actual amount will depend on the customer’s usage. (CUB is working on getting an actual per-kWh amount for the credit from ComEd and to nail down the exact timeline of the credit.) The credit, for both residential and commercial customers, will be included in an existing line item on bills: the Carbon Free Energy Resource Adjustment (CFERA). Note: In ComEd tariffs, it’s called the Carbon-Free Resource Adjustment. More Background: CEJA created a line item on ComEd bills called the Carbon Free Energy Resource Adjustment (CFERA), which was designed to support carbon-free energy produced by Illinois nuclear power plants. But under a provision pushed by consumer advocates, this adjustment becomes a bill credit when energy prices go above a certain level, like we’re seeing now with the PJM capacity market. The credit is getting bigger in January, thanks to Inflation Reduction Act production tax credits that were issued to nuclear generators. Under CEJA, a tax windfall like this must be shared with utility customers. The IRA was gutted last summer by the reconciliation bill, but some benefits from that legislation still linger, and this is an example. Bottom line: CUB is still waiting to hear more details from ComEd as to the exact timeline and the amount of the credit. What we know right now is that ComEd estimates the credit will be a rough average of $13 a month, around January through May. That is good news, as we work for long-term solutions to high electricity prices. As CUB told the media: “We’ve got a lot of work to do to bring down energy bills for consumers, but it’s good news that at a time of elevated power prices, Illinois’ strong energy policy is once again giving some relief to consumers. CEJA provides some protection as we work for long-term energy affordability solutions.”

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