2007-03-16 02:16:52 -

CHICAGO, March 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "We applaud Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan for taking the fight to roll back the ComEd and Ameren rate hikes all the way to Washington, D.C. The attorney general's complaint is a bombshell that reinforces what we've been saying all along, that the auction was rigged to get the highest price for ComEd and Ameren, not the lowest price for consumers.

It's abundantly clear that the auction and the rate hikes it produced must be scrapped. It's time for a new, statewide energy plan

that puts the needs of consumers ahead of the desires of the big utilities for windfall profits.

ComEd and Ameren need to realize this problem is not going away. We call on the utilities to work with lawmakers and consumer groups to fashion a new plan that will benefit consumers and not just their corporate bottom line."

CUB is a nonprofit statewide utility watchdog organization created by the state legislature to represent the interests of residential and small-business utility customers. For more information on the organization's efforts to protect consumers, call the CUB Consumer Hotline at 1-800-669-5556 or visit http://www.citizensutilityboard.org/ .

Source: Citizens Utility Board