A Genoa resident received a $500 refund after being overcharged for months by an alternative electric and gas supplier, thanks to CUB’s Bilingual Consumer Rights Specialist Annie Warnock. When Gayle filed a complaint with Residents Energy, he was paying 15.53 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for electricity — more than double…...
Sources for CUB’s Guide to Fighting Robocalls
You can order CUB’s Guide to Fighting Robocalls here. Below is a list of the sources the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) researched to write the guide: “Apple.” Detect and block spam phone calls – Apple Support. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207099. AT&T. “Block Robocalls and other Unwanted Calls.” https://www.att.com/help/robocalling.html. Blanco, Octavio. “Robocalls Decline, but…...
Memes, graphic novellas, Instagram, oh my! — Northwestern students help CUB rethink its educational tools
Who knew that memes, social media and graphic novellas could be used to break down and simplify utility concepts like capacity markets and legislation like the Clean Energy Jobs Act? Thanks to a partnership with PhD and Masters students in the “Introduction to Design in Learning Sciences” course at Northwestern…...
Nexamp and Clearway: Two new community solar offers available to Illinois consumers
In this article, we’ll break down the terms and conditions of two community solar offers advertised by Nexamp and Clearway. Let’s start with the basics What is “community solar”? Community solar is an exciting new program in Illinois that can help reduce your electric bill while supporting the development of new solar…...
Consumer alert: AT&T phasing out low-income internet program
AT&T is phasing out its Access program after four years of offering discounted high-speed Internet and Wi-Fi service to eligible consumers. AT&T will no longer be taking Access applications after April 2020. However, people who sign up between now and April 2020 are still eligible for a year of Access…...
CUB’s new Deputy Director: Fighting energy rip-offs frustrating game of “ whack-a-mole”
Typically, Sarah Moskowitz would be at one of CUB’s popular utility-bill clinics helping consumers avoid bad deals from alternative suppliers. But last week, the watchdog group’s new deputy director was sitting alongside some of those companies at an Alternative Supplier Policy Session hosted by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). Sarah,…...