CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- There are warnings to be wary of people trying to get you to sign with an alternative electricity supplier this summer.
The Citizens Utility Board, or CUB issued a consumer alert Tuesday for people to beware of alternative electricity suppliers looking to ripoff customers this summer.
CUB is issuing a consumer alert because "conditions are ripe for electric ripoffs this summer," according to CUB spokesman Jim Chilsen.
He said those conditions include ComEd’s electric rates being all but unbeatable this summer.
"ComEd’s power price of 6.725 cents per kilowatt hour - that’s nearly nine percent lower than last summer. And also, it’s going to be really hard for alternative suppliers to beat that rate," Chilsen said.
Chilsen also points out state lawmakers approved a measure - Home Energy Affordability and Transparency (HEAT) Act - that would require alternative suppliers put ComEd’s price on their marketing materials and bills, gets rid of exit fees and forbids automatic renewal of contracts that switch from a low fixed rate to a high variable rate. The act is expected to be signed by Governor Pritzker and would take affect beginning Jan. 1.
According to CUB, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who led the charge for stronger consumer protections in this year’s legislative session, said Illinois residents have lost more than $600 million with alternative electricity suppliers since 2015.
“The HEAT Act is a sorely needed crackdown on alternative suppliers, and we thank Attorney General Raoul for his leadership in getting those consumer protections passed,” CUB Executive Director David Kolata said in a statement. “But this summer, before those improvements take effect, consumers have to protect themselves.”