The times are a’changing. When electric competition began in northern Illinois, it seemed like a sure bet for savings. ComEd’s price at the time was high and electric customers could easily find deals by shopping the market of unregulated suppliers. But the era of easy savings is over, for now, in…...
Give your AC a helping hand during heat waves
Twenty years ago, I was struggling through the infamous 1995 heatwave…by cuddling with frozen vegetables. As a cub reporter for The Associated Press in Milwaukee, I spent my days (July 11-27, 1995) helping to record a heart-breaking toll: 85 heat-related deaths in Milwaukee, another 465 in Chicago. My nights were…...
CUB files brief before U.S. Supreme Court
Today, CUB took the fight for money-saving energy efficiency programs all the way to the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court. Our legal team filed a brief this morning in a Supreme Court case that could have a significant impact on your utility bills. The case revolves around something called “Demand Response” (DR)– when power…...
Storm safety tips
As the storms roll in, so does the risk of lightning, downed power lines, flooding and other electrical hazards. Follow these tips to protect yourself (and share with your neighbors too!): Downed power lines. The human body is a natural conductor of electricity, so downed power lines present a major…...
Big Mistake: Spark Energy sends erroneous letters to suburban consumers
CUB wants to set the record straight about erroneous information Spark Energy has mailed to some Chicago-area residents. The Journal & Topics Newspapers reported that Buffalo Grove put out a news release about the alternative electricity supplier’s “false aggregation notice.” And Arlington Heights resident and CUB Litigation Director Julie Soderna…...
2,400+ respond to CUB’s Clean Power Plan survey
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is set to issue final rules this summer on the Clean Power Plan— the plan to cut carbon emissions from power plants 30 percent by 2030. In anticipation of this historic decision, we are asking CUB Action Network members: Do you support the Clean Power Plan? If you haven’t completed…...
Already?
Well that didn’t take long. The fight may have been won, but the battle for net neutrality is far from over. The historic net neutrality standards set by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) aren’t even a month old and one big company (Time Warner) has already been accused of violating them. It’s clear we…...
