Customers of ComEd and Ameren Illinois have lost more than $2 billion over the past 10 years to alternative electricity suppliers — businesses known for ringing people’s doorbells and promising great deals, according to an analysis of state data by the nonprofit Citizens Utility Board.
CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz called Illinois “a buyer-beware market.”
The offers are legal, but often they don’t deliver long-term savings, according to the consumer watchdog, which is calling for better consumer protections.
In the past year, consumers who used alternative suppliers for electricity overpaid by $258 million, the analysis found.
A Sun-Times investigation last year found that decades after Illinois deregulated electricity and natural gas markets, consumers continue to complain about alternative suppliers. Some said they didn’t realize their accounts had been switched until their bills shot up. Other consumers willingly signed up for an alternative supplier’s deal but complained that their bills rose higher than expected after the introductory rate ended.
ComEd and Ameren deliver electricity over their lines and issue monthly bills, but since the mid-1990s, Illinoisans have been free to choose another company to supply their electricity.
Some alternative suppliers were a good deal when electric utilities were locked into expensive contracts, but that hasn’t been the case for at least 10 years, CUB said.
As of May 31, about 1.18 million Illinois households were using an alternative supplier for electricity, a14% year-over-year decline , according to the latest report from the Illinois Commerce Commission’s Office of Retail Market Development. About 20% of ComEd’s residential customers had an alternative supplier.
ComEd customers who used an alternative supplier on average paid about 2.74 cents per kilowatt-hour more than the utility’s supply price, the ICC report found. The highest alternative supplier rate in ComEd’s service territory was 39 cents per kilowatt-hour at the end of last year. For comparison, ComEd’s current price is about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The 2024 Sun-Times investigation also found some alternative suppliers pitching “clean electricity” had rates that were roughly double what ComEd was charging — the promised “green energy” sometimes came from the company purchasing renewable energy certificates for power that was generated years earlier in another state.
For consumers who want to help the environment, CUB recommends Illinois’ community solar program, in which customers buy shares in a solar farm and get a credit toward their electricity bill.
The state Legislature adopted some consumer protections in 2019, when it passed the Home Energy Affordability and Transparency Act.
CUB is backing new legislation, House Bill 1284, that would require suppliers to get a customer’s signature if they want to increase their rate at the time of renewal. It also would ban commission-based pay for sales representatives to help lessen high-pressure sales tactics.
Here are some tips from CUB to keep in mind.
- Check your electricity and gas bills every month to make sure you haven’t unwittingly signed up with a more expensive alternative supplier. You can find this in the “supply” section of your bills.
- If you’re on a municipal aggregation deal — when your town negotiates a price with the utility — don’t assume it’s cheaper than the utility’s current supply rate.
- Don’t succumb to high-pressure tactics on your doorstep, at a street fair or over the phone. Don’t show your current utility bill to a salesperson. Some consumers have complained of unethical sellers using their utility account numbers to switch them to an alternative supplier without their consent.
- If you’re considering an alternative supplier, read the fine print. Is the low price an introductory rate that will shoot up after a certain period? Are there hidden monthly fees? Does the contract allow the supplier to change its rate due to market conditions?
- If you want to leave an alternative supplier, by law you can depart without paying an exit fee but switching can take up to two months. If you run into a problem, file a complaint with the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Illinois attorney general’s office.
- Consider signing up for ComEd Peak Time Savings, which provides a bill credit if you’re able to reduce your energy usage for a number of hours on certain days.