Secretive charges exposes Big Energy companies

Posted on January 31, 2022
What better way for consumer groups to make their case against Big Energy than to bring out a woman who is struggling to keep up with her payments to keep warm? (Photo Courtesy of Senator Cristina Castro’s Facebook)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD-What better way for consumer groups to make their case against Big Energy than to bring out a woman who is struggling to keep up with her payments to keep warm?

AARP, Citizens Utility Board, and other groups hosted an online news conference Monday featuring Donna Carpenter, who lives in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.

“These high bills are stressful,” she said. “We have to be in our homes cold or decide which days we are going to cook for our families.”

The problem, say bill sponsors State Sen. Cristina Castro (D-Elgin) and State Rep. Joyce Mason (D-Gurnee), is that energy companies were granted the ability to impose surcharges to make safety-related repairs; yet the surcharges continue long after those repairs are finished.

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