Tell Your Illinois State Legislators That You Support the Utility Transparency Act

Over the years, utilities have made it acceptable to recover some of their costs from ratepayers that should be charged to their shareholders! They routinely charge ratepayers for the cost of a range of lobbying activities without the ratepayers knowledge.

The act would stop utilities from charging ratepayers for:

• Hiring outside lawyers and witnesses to raise rates

• Paying for memberships in trade associations to lobby against the interests of ratepayers

• Purchasing insurance to protect shareholders from potential losses

• Buying goodwill advertising to enhance the utilities image, to the financial benefit of shareholders

The Utility Transparency Bill would also,

• Require at least one Public Hearing on utility rate increase requests

• Makes Intervenor Compensation Fund (ICF) money non-recoverable from ratepayers going forward in future rate cases

• Connecticut, Colorado, and Maine have passed similar legislation. If enacted, for the average year, this bill would save ratepayers across Illinois approximately $40 million.

Please add your personal support to the Utility Transparency Act.