Lawmakers target hidden fees, predatory sales tactics with electric
supply legislation
[March 05, 2026]
By Maggie Dougherty and Nikoel Hytrek
CHICAGO — When Illinoisians look to power their homes, they are faced
with what can be an intimidating landscape of energy providers. That
includes the major energy utilities — Commonwealth Edison, Ameren
Illinois, Nicor Gas and Peoples Gas — but also smaller, alternative
suppliers.
Lawmakers are looking to further regulate the latter, charging that a
2019 law aimed at reigning in predatory sales tactics is falling short.
Utilities are not allowed to mark up the supply price of energy they
deliver, instead making their money by charging customers for energy
delivery. State regulators also heavily scrutinize those expenditures in
a formal review process.
But Illinois also allows consumers to buy their energy from other
less-regulated third-party companies known as alternative retail energy
suppliers.
Those alternative suppliers are not restrained by the same pricing
limitations as the utilities. Rep. Kimberly Du Buclet, D-Chicago, said a
bill she’s sponsoring aims to change that. House Bill 4313 would cap
excessive pricing, prohibiting alternative suppliers from charging
residential and small commercial customers more than 25% above utility
supply prices.
Du Buclet said the issue of alternate suppliers came onto her radar
particularly via complaints from seniors, who may be more at risk of
signing up from aggressive door-to-door or telemarketing campaigns.
“For far too long, many consumers have believed that they were signing
up for savings only to find themselves locked into higher rates,
confusing terms (and) automatic renewals that they clearly did not
understand or agree to,” Du Buclet said. “This is not what consumer
choice should look like.”
Bills doubled or tripled
Retail suppliers can sometimes charge double or triple the utility rate,
which might mean paying $40-$200 more per month, depending on energy
usage.
A 2025 analysis of annual state reports conducted by the Citizens
Utility Board, a consumer watchdog group, found that residential
customers of ComEd and Ameren had lost a combined total of more than $2
billion in business to alternative electricity suppliers since 2015.
There are over 50 registered electric suppliers in the ComEd service
territory alone, according to CUB Director of Governmental Affairs Bryan
McDaniel.
The bill would require alternate suppliers to report rates and how
pricing compares to utility rates, while also prohibiting suppliers from
automatically renewing customers into higher cost contracts without
clear written consent and explanation of those costs.
It also targets aggressive sales tactics by prohibiting commission-based
compensation for sales agents.
“Salespeople should not be rewarded simply for closing a deal,
regardless of whether that deal is actually in the consumer’s best
interest,” Du Buclet said. “If a company is offering a strong product at
a fair price, it should be able to compete honestly; it should not have
to rely on high pressure sales tactics or misleading pitches to get
customers to sign on.”
Senior, green consumers at risk
Philippe Largent, state director of AARP Illinois, said seniors are
often hit hardest by rising utility costs.
“A surprise increase in an energy bill doesn’t just cause frustration,
it forces hard choices, like cutting back on groceries, delaying
medications,” Largent said. “Energy choices should never come with a
financial risk.”
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Rep. Kimberly Du Buclet, D-Chicago, joined consumer advocates to
issue a public warning about alternative electric and gas supplier
sales tactics and prices. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Maggie
Dougherty)
Some alternate suppliers offer high-priced plans that are advertised as
“green” or environmentally friendly. Customers might be willing to pay
more to use renewable energy sources, but McDaniel said the claims are
often misleading.
Though they may be marketed as “green,” he said, the companies often
don’t send renewably sourced energy to the consumer’s home. They may put
energy from renewables on the grid somewhere, or they may just be
purchasing renewable energy certificates, essentially an investment in
renewable sources.
“They like to try to charge a premium for that clean energy, when a lot
of times clean energy ought to be cheaper,” McDaniel said. “So, we just
tell people, you know, really look closely.”
Du Buclet said while lawmakers passed the Home Energy Affordability and
Transparency Act, or HEAT Act, in 2019, there are still gaps to be
filled regarding alternative suppliers.
“At its core, this bill is about accountability,” Du Buclet said. “It’s
about saying that in Illinois, consumer choice must be real, consumer
choice must be informed, and consumer choice must be fair.”
Company expenses
Another new bill called the Utility Transparency Act would prevent
utility companies charging customers for expenses related to the
utility’s advertising, insurance, legal costs and trade association
dues. Connecticut, Colorado and Maine have passed similar laws.
Under Illinois law, utilities are currently allowed to charge customers
for those costs.
“The Utility Transparency Act is commonsense legislation that would end
the practice of utilities making consumers pay for a long list of
expenses that should otherwise be paid for by shareholders,” said State
Rep. Theresa Mah, D-Chicago, at a February news conference announcing
the bill.
“We are in an affordability crisis, and the last thing that any of my
constituents need is to pay higher utility bills for expenses that
simply advance the agendas of Illinois utilities and increase their
political power,” Mah, who is sponsoring the bill in the House, said.
State Sen. Suzy Glowiak Hilton, D-Western Springs, who is sponsoring the
bill in the Senate, said her constituents have told her their bills have
gotten unreasonably expensive.
“What we should be doing is delivering energy to homes and businesses,
not asking people to pay for extra things that don’t do that,” she said
at the same news conference.
The Citizens Utility Board estimated the bill could, in an average year,
save Illinois ratepayers $40 million based on utility rate-hike cases
from 2023 to 2025.
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