Chicago and north shore gas customers can expect higher home heating costs starting next month after the Illinois Commerce Commission approved a rate hike for two area gas providers.
Despite pleas by watchdog and citizens groups, the ICC today approved the increases sought by Peoples Energy and North Shore Gas.
Both companies are subsidiaries of the Integrys Energy Group.
Early estimates indicate that Peoples Energy customers will pay about $4 more a month, or $48 a year, while north suburban residents will pay an extra $5.50 a month, or $66 a year.
The increases will take effect Jan. 28 and will be reflected on customers’ bills beginning mid-February, officials say.
The utilities didn’t have a concrete figure on how much money they would earn from the hikes, but it is believed to be in the tens of millions.
Peoples Energy officials said the increases were necessary to offset higher delivery and maintenance costs.
“It was a hard decision for us to seek this increase…but there are numerous factors that continue to drive up our overall costs,” spokeswoman Bonnie Johnson said.
“Like any other business, we have to be able to charge rates that reflect the extra costs of doing business today, and not the costs that was four years earlier. Even if the economy was a little bit better than it is, there never is a good time that customers want to see an increase,” she said.
Johnson added that those average increases could be less if citizens conserve energy, by, for example, setting their thermostats to 68 degrees during the day.
Opponents of the hike vowed to fight on. On its Web site, the nonprofit Citizen Utility Board vowed to appeal the board’s decision and called for both utilities to do their own cost cutting.
“While the companies got less than what they asked for, they still got more than what they need or deserve,” the board said in a news release.
“It’s the worst possible time for a rate hike, as Chicago-area consumers struggle to make ends meet in an ailing economy. The companies should tighten their belts just as their customers have been forced to. We look forward to fighting the rate hikes on appeal.”
The board also derided Peoples Energy’s “infrastructure cost recovery” charge slated to begin in April 2011, which would charge customers to pay for pipe-replacement costs.
Read the original article from Tribune News Services.
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