Illinois Citizens Utility Board To Sell out Citizens?

Thanks to Michael Maranda for passing this along.

Turns out the the Illinois Citizens Utility Board and AT&T are proposing that residential phone rate regulation be eliminated. I really couldn't believe it when Michael told me about this -- how is it possible that a group that is supposed to be standing up for the best interests of Illinois residents would be actively supporting a proposal that is all but guaranteed to lead to rate increases down the road. In fact, if folks didn't believe that rates were going to increase, why would this end to consumer protections be proposed in return for a "cap or freeze phone rates for four years." You can read the Crain's story here. It is ironic that CUB, which was founded in 1984 (the same year that AT&T was broken up) is today facing much the same conglomerate and is so fearful of a race to the bottom in terms of consumer protections that they would cut such a deal.