CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Dozens of people protested outside of Peoples Gas headquarters Monday morning in downtown Chicago, where they called on the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) to reject a proposed rate hike that would mean an increase on individual gas bills of about $12 per month.
The rate hike, which Peoples Gas proposed in January, would help fund a pipe replacement program that could reportedly cost more than $8 billion by the time it wraps up in 2040.
Englewood resident Valerie Carol said she's already having a hard time making ends meet.
“They need to make it make sense,” Carol said. “I have to choose whether we’re going to have heat or whether I have to get my brother’s medicine.”
A spokesperson for Peoples Gas, David Schwartz, attended the protest and defended the company’s need to maintain its profit margin. He said the pipes under Chicago’s streets date back to the 1800s and need to be modernized.
“Failure to invest in infrastructure leads to the kind of thing that happened in Texas two winters ago: During a harsh winter storm, there was no heat and more than 240 people lost their lives,” Schwartz said.
When Peoples Gas first proposed its rate raise, it said there would likely not be an increase to individual bills due to a forecasted decline in the price of natural gas. The utility said the hike would offset the end of a $15-per-month surcharge slated to expire.
Chicagoan Virginia Sims said that, with her disability, she often falls behind on paying her gas bill, and Sims added that she could benefit if Peoples Gas would pass the savings her way.
“My gas [will] be turned off every year because I can’t pay the $5 or $6 allowance,” Sims said.
The ICC is expected to rule on the proposal this upcoming November or December.
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