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…...
CUB statement on ComEd’s $243M reconciliation rate hike
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…...
CUB: ComEd taking advantage of ongoing billing problems to push for million in higher delivery rates
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…...
Update on Ameren’s gas rate-hike request
Since we first reported on Ameren Illinois’ gas rate-hike request in January, the utility has adjusted its rate hike. Here’s a quick review: Ameren’s Rate-hike Request: The company has adjusted the amount from about $134.4 million to $131.1 million. It’s not unusual for a rate-hike total to be adjusted as…...
This Week: CUB Urges Ameren Customers to Attend ICC Forums in Springfield, East St. Louis to Protest Utility’s Push for 4th Gas Rate Hike in Recent Years
The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) is urging Ameren Illinois gas customers to attend Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) public forums in Springfield on Wednesday and East St. Louis on Thursday to protest their utility’s proposal for a fourth excessive gas rate hike in less than a decade. Consumer advocates argue that…...
Op-Ed: Frustrated–even ‘heartbroken’–Nicor customers wonder when enough is enough
By Sarah Moskowitz, Executive Director, Citizens Utility Board Nicor Gas usually delivers the heat, but at a recent Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) public forum in Joliet the utility was the one on the hot seat–over escalating bills. One Nicor customer walked to the microphone and directly addressed the utility bigwigs who…...
CUB News Release: 104% increase in Peoples Gas price in April exposes how utility misled customers on record rate hike
A spike in April’s heating fuel price shows that Peoples Gas drastically understated the fallout customers would experience from a record-breaking rate hike the company imposed last year, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) warned Thursday. (Read CUB’s news release here, and here’s the Chicago Tribune’s coverage of the issue.) Peoples…...
CUB statement on Ameren’s proposed $134 million gas rate hike
Ameren Illinois has proposed a $134.4 million gas rate hike in 2025. The following is a statement from CUB. CUB will challenge Ameren’s Illinois’ proposed gas rate hike. Ameren has already won $111 million in gas rate hikes since 2021, helping to plunge too many consumers across Illinois into crisis…...
BREAKING: ICC grants Aqua Illinois $11.6 million rate-hike
The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) on Thursday cut Aqua Illinois’ rate-hike request by about 40 percent, granting the water utility an $11.6 million increase. CUB called the ICC’s Final Order a step toward reining in a utility that was the subject of intense criticism for high rates and poor water quality from customers who…...
News release: CUB urges ICC to cut ComEd rate hike
As CUB prepared to argue that state regulators should cut Commonwealth Edison’s $678 million rate-hike request, the consumer group has identified hundreds of millions of dollars in excessive spending proposed by Illinois’ largest electric utility. (Read the full CUB news release from Tuesday, Nov. 19.) “We urge the Illinois Commerce Commission…...
