The Citizens Utility Board, a consumer advocacy group, is urging Gov. James Thompson to sign a bill that would allow its literature to be inserted in state government mailings. Formerly, the group sent its messages to potential members through inserts in utility bills.
The organization, which took partial credit for the defeat earlier this month of a $660 million rate increase sought by Commonwealth Edison, has suffered losses of money and members since public utilities won the right in court to refuse to include the group`s mailings in their bills, CUB representatives said at a press conference Sunday in the Loop.
A new membership recruitment measure approved by the Illinois General Assembly in June is awaiting Thompson`s action, said CUB Executive Director Susan Stewart.
CUB had solicited funds and members through utility-bill inserts since it was created by the General Assembly in 1983. ”It was considered a balancing act,” Stewart said. ”The utility consumer pays every cent of a utility company`s legal bills when they take on a rate case. We didn`t want the ratepayer contributing to Edison without having a well-funded advocate for their rights.
”We`ve lost in excess of $600,000 in revenue. That means 10 or 12 rate cases we have been unable to work on,” Stewart said. The ability to send literature in driver`s license renewals and other state agency mailings of 50,000 or more, she said, ”is vital to the continued existence of our organization.”
The organization has budgeted $1 million for the current fiscal year, but ”had we had the inserts available to us, we would have had $1 1/2 million,” she said.
The bill requires CUB to assume the costs of printing, delivery and extra postage for the literature, representatives said. But Stewart said those costs would be less than that of a targeted direct-mail campaign to attract more members. About 150,000 people throughout the state belong to the organization.
