heating-affordability crisis Archives | Citizens Utility Board

CUB Q&A: What is the Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance (CABO)?

Jim Chilsen — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 18:23:58 +0000

The Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance (CABO) is a proposed Chicago ordinance that is supported by a coalition of more than 50 consumer, community, environmental, environmental justice, and faith organizations, including CUB, because it will lower utility costs, improve public health, create jobs and reduce pollution. (Read the news release from the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, and watch the news conference announcing CABO.) What does CABO do? The ordinance would set an indoor emissions standard in newly built commercial and residential buildings/homes and major building additions.* That accounts for about 0.5 percent of Chicago buildings. This emission standard would require zero-to-low-emission energy systems in new construction, a key first step in a necessary, long-term transition away from dirty, expensive fossil fuels like gas. *To be specific, the ordinance would include additions that increase the conditioned floor area of an existing building by the greater of 10,000 square feet or 25 percent of the pre-addition conditioned floor area. Why is CABO beneficial to Chicagoans? There are many good reasons to support CABO, but as a consumer advocate, CUB is most concerned about how this measure is the right move for our bottom lines. It’s the first step to gaining some independence from a gas system that is costing us a fortune and making climate change worse. Multiple studies show that alternatives to gas-heated buildings, such as electric buildings, are cheaper to build and maintain. RMI’s analysis found that all-electric households saved money in every scenario assessed. An NRDC study estimated that Chicagoans can save between $15,000 – $20,000 over a 20-year period. The current gas system is unaffordable, and getting worse. Consistently, about 1 in 5 customers are behind on their gas bills–and in some neighborhoods 40-50 percent are in chronic debt–and that was before the gas utility received a state-record $300 million gas hike. CABO is about good planning. Because consumers like to save money, electric heat pumps (an alternative to gas heat), are beginning to outsell gas furnaces. So while it won’t happen overnight, the long-term transition away from gas is already happening, and we need to manage it thoughtfully to make sure all consumers can save money on their heating bills. Instead of sinking more of our money into an expensive, unsustainable gas system, we should start planning for how we can help all households have access to cheaper and cleaner ways to heat our homes. CABO would be a first step in that process. What are other benefits to CABO? It would protect our health: Burning fossil fuels like methane gas in our homes produces dangerous air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, fine particulate matter and cancer-causing benzene. It would protect our climate: Fossil fuel use in commercial and residential buildings accounts for more than two-thirds of Chicago’s climate pollution. It would create jobs: Moving to cleaner, more efficient homes and buildings will create thousands of union jobs. For example, there is rising demand for heat pump technology, which requires more trained technicians. Do other communities have ordinances like CABO? Yes, 50 other municipalities have passed similar policies, including Los Angeles and New York. Are […]

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We like headlines like this: “Regulators order Peoples Gas to repay $7.2 million to customers”

Jim Chilsen — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 11:22:18 +0000

The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) has announced that Peoples Gas has agreed to give about $7.2 million back to its customers in connection with a review of the 2015 costs of the utility’s troubled pipeline-replacement program. This is the result of a settlement involving the utility and the staff of the ICC, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and CUB. “Peoples Gas has agreed to give $7 million back to customers in the face of strong allegations of mismanagement and imprudence related to the 2015 costs of its pipe-replacement program,” CUB Communications Director Jim Chilsen said. An ICC news release broke down the $7.2 million: $3.5 million will be applied as a one-time credit on customers’ bills (Peoples Gas told the Chicago Sun-Times that the average refund will be $4 and appear on bills within the next 90 days.); $3.5 million will be applied to a ‘Reconnection Fund’ for eligible low-income residential customers; $270,112 will be returned to customers through a small reduction in a special surcharge on Peoples Gas bills that helps pay for the pipe-replacement program. Peoples Gas is in the middle of a pipeline-replacement program slated to last until 2035-2040. A 2013 state law allows gas utilities to impose a surcharge on customers to recover the costs of replacing aging natural gas pipeline infrastructure, upgrading systems and moving customer meters outside of homes for easier inspections. Under the law, state regulators conduct an after-the-fact yearly review of the company’s costs related to this work, and can issue refunds if they identify imprudent spending. The settlement is the result of this process for 2015 costs. These yearly prudence reviews are behind because of delays after an ICC-ordered audit in 2015 uncovered widespread mismanagement in the program. Since then, the projected costs of the program have risen from $4.5 billion to as high as nearly $11 billion. “CUB’s legal team will continue to work hard to uncover Peoples Gas’ waste and mismanagement in the yearly reconciliation cases to secure the most significant consumer benefits possible,” Chilsen said. But consumer advocates believe a lot more needs to be done, or the program could help double gas bills over the next 20 years. “This is a program that’s out of control,” CUB Executive Director David Kolata told Fox Chicago’s Mike Flannery. That’s why CUB, AARP Illinois and Illinois PIRG have pushed for House Bill 3044, which would rein in the utility’s out-of-control spending before it sparks a heating-affordability crisis in Chicago. A Chicago City Council committee recently passed a resolution calling on state leaders to act.

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CUB’s Bryan McDaniel speaks at news conference before Peoples Gas hearing

Jennifer — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 19:57:16 +0000

Just before a City Council committee passed a resolution asking the Illinois General Assembly to rein in reckless spending by Peoples Gas, CUB’s Bryan McDaniel stood with consumer advocates to talk about problems with the utility’s pipeline-replacement program. Peoples Gas is legally obligated to replace hazardous pipes, and the company is supposed to do it in a cost-effective manner. But consumer advocates argue that the utility has exploited the pipe-replacement program as a blank check to increase profits. The program has an overly aggressive spending pace, is over budget, and has not been meeting its goals. And they warn the program could double gas bills in years to come, hitting seniors and people on a fixed income especially hard. While the company argues that safety is the motivation behind the program, Bryan says money is the real motivation. (Just last year, Peoples Gas made a record $132 million in profits.) Listen to his comments: Read more here.

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The heating-affordability crisis

Jim Chilsen — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 19:01:06 +0000

By Bryan McDaniel CUB’s Director of Governmental Affairs CUB has been working with other consumer advocates to reform the Peoples Gas pipeline-replacement program–the utility’s mismanaged project that threatens to spark what Crain’s Chicago Business called a “heating-affordability crisis.” Last week I came face-to-face with the heating-affordability crisis. I met with a consumer, I’ll call her Mrs. Cruz, who showed me her bill and asked why in the world it was $41.79 without her even using a therm of natural gas!? “I can’t afford this,” the Chicagoan said. Peoples Gas is in the process of replacing nearly 2,000 miles of aging Chicago gas mains–work that everyone agrees is necessary. But where we disagree is how the utility is recklessly charging customers for the program. Mrs. Cruz hadn’t used a therm of gas in the month—there was even a bill note that said “the service for your account is showing zero energy use.” Yet, she was paying a customer charge of $32.38. And the special surcharge created to give the program an extra boost was a big chunk of her bill: $6.19. Add some taxes and her bill is $41.79,. and that’s without a therm used. It hadn’t been cold yet, so the Peoples Gas customer hadn’t run her heater. Her water heater is off—she said “firefighters” turned it off after smelling gas. She heats water to bathe on her electric stove. The Peoples Gas program’s cost estimates have skyrocketed from $2.6 billion to as high as $11 billion, and an analysis by Attorney General Lisa Madigan found that the program could double gas bills over the next 20 years if nothing is done to fix it. We’ve fought for reforms that would bring some price controls to the program, but that legislation has stalled. We’re not giving up, and we will need your help in the future to give decision-makers a strong message to fix the pipeline-replacement program.

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