Note to ComEd customers (3/3/2024): The utility’s switch to a new billing system was rocky, blocking millions of customers from paying their bills online for more than a week and erroneously notifying people they owed $9,999.99. The new billing system was supposed to be working on Feb. 19. On Feb.…...
Springfield Alert: Your action needed to stop “Right of First Refusal” proposals pushed by electric utilities
Remember last year’s big consumer victory, when Gov. J.B. Pritzker vetoed Ameren Illinois’ “Right of First Refusal” proposal? The plan would have needlessly raised costs for electric customers by giving Ameren a monopoly over transmission projects in its territory, and, thus, eliminating a competitive bidding process. It would have been…...
New electric rates for ComEd and Ameren customers in 2024
State regulators last December issued a series of orders that significantly reduced the record rate hikes ComEd and Ameren Illinois wanted, while also rejecting their plans to upgrade the power grid, ruling that they violated several provisions of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). Below is our breakdown of…...
Q&A on ICC electric rulings and how they impact customers
The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) on Dec. 14 issued a series of orders that significantly reduced the record rate hikes Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois wanted while also rejecting their plans to upgrade the power grid, ruling that they violated several provisions of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). …...
CUB applauds ICC for standing up for ComEd, Ameren customers, holding utilities accountable in unprecedented regulatory rulings
The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) on Thursday ruled on record ComEd and Ameren Illinois electric rate-hike requests. In the rulings, the ICC rejected the multi-year grid plans proposed by Ameren and ComEd for lacking any proof of their affordability, slashed the excessive shareholder profit rates pushed by the companies and…...
As ComEd and Ameren charge new winter rates, CUB issues statewide warning on alternative supplier rip-offs
As of October, ComEd and Ameren Illinois are charging new electricity supply rates, and customers should know what they are to avoid bad deals peddled by alternative electricity suppliers, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) said Thursday in a statewide consumer warning. The non-summer prices, through May 2024, are listed on…...
CUB alerts Ameren, ComEd customers to new power prices
As of October 1, ComEd and Ameren Illinois are charging new supply rates, and customers should know what they are to avoid bad deals from alternative electricity suppliers. The non-summer prices, through May 2024, are listed on the Illinois Commerce Commission’s electric choice website, PlugInIllinois.org: Ameren Illinois 8.107 cents per…...
ICC stats: IL consumers have lost $1.6B with alternative suppliers since 2015, but Ameren customers saved last year
Illinois consumers have lost about $1.6 billion total to alternative suppliers since 2015–but Ameren customers, for a change, saw some savings last year, according to a review of annual reports from the Illinois Commerce Commission’s Office of Retail Market Development (ORMD). Under Illinois law, ComEd, Ameren and MidAmerican customers are…...
CUB review: Most municipal aggregation offers saving money, but changes on horizon
Out of 485 active community power (“municipal aggregation”) offers, about 300 (62 percent) beat or at least matched the utilities’ summer supply rates, according to a CUB review of plans. But more than half (183) of those offers expire over the next year–many of them this December. This comparison covers…...
