Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/author/bob-chiarito/)
Bob Chiarito is a Chicago-based freelancer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Reuters, Block Club Chicago, NME, Vice, Chicago Magazine and more.
Black families in Chicago lost an estimated $4 billion due to predatory contract buying, a Duke University’s Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity study found. Artist in residence Bruce Orenstein spoke to surviving victims.
Critics say deregulation has allowed energy resellers to dupe consumers into paying an estimated $600 million extra in recent years rather than lowering bills.