Although the mailers did not identify who paid for them, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 helped bankroll the campaign, Local 150 officials told WTTW News.
Peoples Gas
Natural gas is fueling a fight between consumer advocates, a powerful utility company and the state. Amid competing advertising campaigns, accusations of mismanagement and state decarbonization efforts, the Illinois Commerce Commission is starting a process that will shape how the state regulates the increasingly controversial industry.
While similar measures are already in place in New York City, Los Angeles and dozens of smaller cities, it is unclear whether the push for Chicago to join those cities will succeed, even with the backing of Mayor Brandon Johnson.
There is a battle over a multi-billion dollar, decades-long project to upgrade Chicago’s aging natural gas pipelines.
Chicago utility Peoples Gas is requesting a multimillion-dollar bump to its already record-high rate increase approved by regulators last month. Consumer and environmental advocates have pushed back strongly against the request.
Regulators at the Illinois Commerce Commission unanimously approved rate hikes for four major natural gas utilities, but the little-known regulatory body’s decision was perhaps more notable for what it rejected. The board flexed its regulatory muscle, slashing the utilities’ requested rate increases by as much as 50 percent.
Utility customers throughout Illinois will likely see higher natural gas bills beginning in January after staff at the state’s utility regulatory agency recommended rate increases for four gas companies.
The Illinois Commerce Commission is considering several rate hikes, including two sought by the utilities Peoples Gas and Ameren Illinois, who say they are needed to fund infrastructure improvements.
Your gas bill could be about $12 per month higher next year — that’s the average increase per customer Peoples Gas estimates if it succeeds in raising rates. It’s the first time in nine years the utility company has asked for a rate hike.
‘Unprecedented’ number of rate cases pending before Illinois Commerce Commission
Millions of Illinoisans could see higher energy bills next year, but the size of those increases will be determined by a state agency that has recently had its oversight powers expanded.
Utilities companies like ComEd and Peoples Gas make money by delivering energy. The rates they’re seeking to hike are for distribution, including infrastructure like pipes and transmission lines, and the profit they can tack on to those costs.
As the price of natural gas rises, it’s prompting some consumer and environmental advocates to call for homes to go all-electric.
The cost for natural gas is set to reach levels not seen since the polar vortex in 2014. Crain’s Chicago Business reporter Danny Ecker has details on that story and more.
A committee of Chicago City Council members on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution calling on state lawmakers to take action on Peoples Gas rates, calling out the company for its multibillion-dollar System Modernization Program.
Peoples Gas, the private utility company that delivers natural gas to the entire city, is in the midst of a massive infrastructure upgrade – and consumers are paying for it.
An alderman is raising the alarm on the skyrocketing cost of natural gas prices in the city.
