Nicor Gas rate hike could raise Illinois heating bills this winter

Welcome back, 722. Heating your home might cost you a lot more this winter. The winter months are getting closer, and so we're thinking about this here. Illinois regulators recently approved an $82 million rate hike for Nicor Gas. Yeah, it could add about $2 a month to the average bill, $2.21. We are hoping to get a clearer picture on how much costs could go up for families here. We are joined by Jim Chilson with CUB, the Citizens Utility Board. Jim, always good to see you. thank you for joining us this morning so with this latest rate hike how much more can customers expect to pay this winter and then in the early earlier cooler months of 2027 yeah you know it could have been a lot worse the company was asking for a 221 million dollar rate hike they got about 82 i know that's cold comfort to people who are dealing with an affordability crisis but this will this rate hike which was the result of the settlement will increase bills by about two dollars and twenty one cents a month thankfully that's on the delivery side of bill of the bill thankfully on the supply side of the bill the market has been relatively stable it can change in an instant but it's been relatively stable and Nicor's price for gas this month is actually about 15 percent lower than what it was last October. So there is some reasons for hope. This was a step in the right direction. But I need to be I don't want to sound like Pollyanna. We fully intend to be back at the Illinois Commerce Commission next year or the year after fighting a Nicor rate hike. They've increased rates by about by six times by about nine hundred and eighty million dollars. They've increased charges on our gas bills, delivery charges by about 150 percent so this is a company that is known for reckless spending we fully expect to be fighting them again but we were able to cut that rate hike through the work of the attorney general and consumer advocates we reached a settlement to cut that rate hike by 63 percent this is a big deal they actually agreed to reduce their monthly customer charge by about more than six dollars a month that's how they get us is they increase these fixed charges even if you live in the most energy-efficient home in the world, you can't reduce that monthly customer charge through energy efficiency. So reducing that by $6 a month was a step in the right direction. Okay, so step in the right direction. I can't help but think, though, as just a person going about your daily life, as you mentioned, prices everywhere are going up. So $2 here, $3 here, $6 here, it feels like death by 1,000 paper cuts. So can you talk a little bit about why NICOR said they needed this increase and do you think that that was reasonable? Yeah, well, I'll let NICOR try to defend themselves, but we would say it's not reasonable. They always say, every gas utility says we absolutely need this rate hike to maintain our system. Everybody on the face of the earth agrees with NICOR that they need to maintain their system, but they shouldn't do it in a way that bankrupts their customers- they're asking they were asking in this rate hike for a profit rate for shareholders of about ten point three five percent that's absolutely outrageous that would be among the highest of any gas utility in the state they ended up getting about nine point four eight percent that's still higher than what we wanted them uh than what we thought they deserved but um that would that meant tens of millions of dollars off the rate hike so again step in the right direction but in September I just checked the statistics on the ICC site more than 200,000 NICOR customers are behind on their bills by about 53 million dollars that's just not even in going into the heating season that was in September so people are definitely struggling like you said death by a thousand paper cuts any rate hike is going to be too high for a lot of people so while this is a step in the right direction we fully realize that we've got a lot more work to do to rein in this gas company. All right. Especially if you are among those families and households that are contributing to that $53 million figure that you mentioned behind on their payments. What are some simple ways as we head into the cooler months that folks can save on their heating bills? Yeah, thank you. Good question. One thing people shouldn't think that, you know, they have to do something really expensive to cut their gas bills, like replace their windows. you know that can be a good thing obviously for cutting gas bills but you don't need to replace all your windows you can do simple things like just weatherizing your windows and doors to keep that cold air out in the warm air in during the winter thankfully we've had a mild uh fall so far that's good uh for our gas bills but um you know it will get colder and i think simple things like just weatherizing your windows and doors can be great just bumping your your thermostat down just a few degrees can also be helpful but we always want to tell people energy efficiency is about keeping your home safe and warm it's never about taking risks so you know you have to consult with your doctor and other people to find out what the appropriate temperature is for your home but just knocking it down a few degrees where your home is still comfortable can make a big difference but i think first step is weatherizing those windows and doors jim i know we gotta go i'm getting the wrap from my producer, but I can't help but ask you, you answered in that question, you were mentioning about NICOR shareholders. So who is NICOR trying to make happy? The actual customers that need to heat their homes and stay safe during the winter or shareholders? Can you explain that? Well, this is the constant conflict when you have a for-profit utility offering service to consumers and everybody needs heat to survive. This company has made more than 20, its parent company, Southern, has made more than $20 billion in profits since 2017 during the same time that they've increased rates six times. So that is the big problem is too often the customers take a backseat to the company's profit motive. That's unfortunate. Very unfortunate. Okay, Jim, thank you for breaking that down for us. Always good to talk to you.