Higher gas bills could be in the pipeline for Chicago-area customers next year after Nicor filed for a $321 million rate increase Tuesday with the Illinois Commerce Commission.
If approved, the rate hike would raise the average residential gas bill by $9.28 per month beginning in January 2024, Nicor spokeswoman Jennifer Golz said Wednesday.
Naperville-based Nicor Gas, which is owned by Atlanta-based Southern Co., has 2.3 million customers in suburban Chicago and across northern Illinois.
In November 2021, the ICC granted Nicor a $240 million rate increase to modernize its distribution, transmission and storage infrastructure. That increase added about $3.70 per month to the typical residential customer bill, Golz said.
Peoples Gas and co-owned North Shore Gas may be seeking a rate increase as well, after submitting a waiver request with the ICC to file for it electronically. The requests are on the ICC public utility meeting agenda for Thursday, which is published on the agency’s website.
David Schwartz, a spokesman for Peoples and North Shore Gas, would not confirm if a rate increase request is in the offing.
Related: “Gas bills will increase 48%? Suburban households could be facing a tough winter (10/4/2021)”.
Leave a Reply