Suburban Nicor Gas files record rate hike

Happy New Year! Are you sitting down?

Suburban Gas utility Nicor Gas is filing a record rate hike request, its fourth in six years.  If approved, the average Nicor customer will see their monthly bill increase by more than $9.

Nicor once had steady rates – increasing by 28% over 37 years. But starting in 2018, Nicor raised rates three times in four years, for a total increase of 77%. With its new request, Nicor is remarkably on track to more than double its rates in just 6 years.

After rates increased by only 28% over 37 years (1982-2018), rates spiked by 77% in four years.Photo by Staff | TPIN

Nicor isn’t the only utility we expect to file rate hikes this week – Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas, and Ameren Gas have all made initial filings with utility regulators indicating a rate filing is on its way. And electric utilities ComEd and Ameren Electric will be filing “multi-year rate plans” by January 20th.

Along with increases in gas and electricity prices,  Illinois utility customers could soon be paying a lot more on their monthly utility bills.