CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) -- Your natural gas bill could go up another $8 a month under the latest proposal from Peoples Gas, and dozens of elected leaders have now joined an effort to block it.
The Citizens Utility Board on Tuesday released a letter signed by 38 elected leaders calling on members of the Illinois Commerce Commission to reject Peoples Gas' $144 million rate increase, which the utility says it needs to pay for its mandated program of replacing old lead pipes that Peoples Gas says are unsafe.
"They don't need a rate increase," said North side Ald. Maria Hadden (49th Ward), who joined CUB representatives and others at City Hall Tuesday morning to call on regulators to reject the rate increase. "They're sending hundreds of millions in profit to their parent company which doesn't even reside in Illinois."
Northwest side state Senate Democrat Graciela Guzman (20th District) echoed that sentiment: "Something is profoundly wrong when one in five Peoples Gas customers is already in debt to the utility."
CUB's Jim Chilsen pointed out that state regulators have already granted $499 million dollars in rate increases to Peoples Gas to cover costs related to the pipe replacement program: "This profit-hungry utility has put its customers through financial hell. Peoples Gas customers are fed up with being an ATM."
A Peoples Gas spokesperson released a statement which in part says the utility fully understands concerns about affordability, but postponing what it calls essential infrastructure work is not a solution.
The Illinois Commerce Commission is expected to make a ruling on the rate request in November.
Advocates say $144M request is unnecessary; utility cites safety
Advocates say $144M request is unnecessary; utility cites safety
