Illinois Commerce Commission Archives | Citizens Utility Board

CUB Q&A: The Low-Income Discount Rate (LIDR) Program for gas customers | Citizens Utility Board

Jim Chilsen — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 16:44:20 +0000

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Regulatory opinion favors cutting Ameren gas rate hike by $44 million, half the reduction consumers are due, watchdogs say

Elizabeth — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 15:51:53 +0000

A $128.8 million gas rate hike proposed by Ameren Illinois would shrink by about one-third, under a recommendation pending before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). But consumer advocates said Thursday that state regulators should cut much deeper when they issue a final ruling on the threat of another stinging increase in heating bills that comes as Ameren profits have been booming. [Sign CUB’s petition against the Ameren rate hike.] Gas affordability has become such a concern that on Nov. 1, weeks before the ICC’s final ruling in the rate case, several advocacy groups plan to hold a forum to discuss a decade of chronic gas rate hikes from Ameren and the future of gas utilities in Illinois. After a summer when Ameren customers also dealt with skyrocketing electricity prices, the utility’s proposed increase in heating bills would be its fourth in seven years, exacerbating a pattern that has caused its gas delivery rates to spiral by $202 million, or 50 percent, during that period. It would also generate another lucrative cash infusion for both Ameren’s gas segment and the utility’s parent company, which have recorded staggering profit increases of 112 percent and 45 percent, respectively, over the same period. In the latest development in the gas rate case, an opinion, known as a “Proposed Order,” that was submitted to the ICC late last week by administrative law judges advises the ICC to trim $43.7 million from Ameren’s hefty rate hike. Consumer and environmental advocates have collectively urged the ICC to wield a much sharper axe to Ameren’s haul, arguing that it should be slashed by the maximum the law permits, roughly $82 million, at least. “The regulatory judges’ Proposed Order reinforces that Ameren’s rate hike is significantly inflated and must be cut, but it still falls short of giving consumers their just due,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said. “By accounting for only about half the unwarranted costs Ameren has proposed, we hope this opinion is a catalyst for the ICC to police even harder against the excesses still embedded in this rate hike. With winter looming and the fallout from rising energy prices already afflicting households across Illinois, consumers are depending on state regulators to act as the strongest possible bulwark against Ameren’s profiteering.” “We applaud the recommendation to cut Ameren’s proposed rate hike by more than $40 million,” said Illinois PIRG Director Abe Scarr. “But utility regulators at the Illinois Commerce Commission can do more to limit the impact of Ameren fourth rate hike since 2018.” “The proposed order takes some steps to hold Ameren accountable to reduce costs for consumers, but we urge the Commission to adopt more affordable and effective approaches that could drive costs down even further,” said Curt Stokes, Senior Attorney for Environmental Defense Fund. “Going forward, regulators should prioritize proven, practical solutions like the zonal electrification pilot—not waste funds on ineffective efforts like Ameren’s renewable natural gas proposal.” Ameren, which has 816,000 gas customers in Central and Southern Illinois, originally proposed a $134 million rate hike in January — a sum that has been pared slightly to $128.8 million in its current filing with the […]

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Grim milestone: CUB review of state data finds ComEd, Ameren residential customers have lost more than $2B to alternative power suppliers over last decade

Elizabeth — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 20:33:05 +0000

Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois residential customers have lost a combined total of more than $258 million over the last year and more than $2 billion since 2015 to alternative electricity suppliers, according to a CUB review of annual state reports. The watchdog called for state passage of additional consumer protections and warned residential consumers across Illinois to beware of rip-offs peddled by alternative suppliers door-to-door, via mail and over the phone. “The numbers show that going with an alternative supplier can be a risky, financially painful gamble,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said. “This is a buyer-beware market. There are more reliable ways to save money, including energy efficiency.” While ComEd and Ameren bill customers for delivering electricity over the power lines they own, under Illinois law, those customers can choose another company—an alternative supplier–to supply the actual electricity. The Illinois Commerce Commission’s Office of Retail Market Development (ORMD), which focuses on electricity competition, recently released its 2025 annual report, covering June 1, 2024 through May 31, 2025. Some findings: As of May 2025, about 1.18 million Illinois households were with an alternative supplier—about a 14 percent decrease from the year before. About 20 percent of ComEd residential customers are with an alternative supplier, and about 43 percent of Ameren customers. ComEd customers who were with an alternative supplier on average paid about 2.74 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) more, compared with ComEd’s supply price. Ameren customers who were with an alternative supplier on average paid about 1.78 cents per kWh more, compared with Ameren’s supply rate. The highest alternative supplier rates the ICC found were a 39 cents per kWh variable rate (a rate that can change monthly) in ComEd territory, and a 29 cents per kWh variable rate in Ameren territory. Both prices were about four to six times the utility supply prices at the time. In the early days of competition—2011 to 2014—Illinoisans often saved money with alternative suppliers, mainly because utilities were locked into higher-priced electricity contracts. But after those contracts ended, suppliers had a harder time beating utility prices, according to CUB’s review of ORMD reports. Total Losses, ComEd customers Total Losses, Ameren customers June 2015-May 2016 $115.2 million (lost) $10.6 million (lost) June 2016-May 2017 $152.1 million (lost) $45.9 million (lost) June 2017-May 2018 $138.2 million (lost) $89.3 million (lost) June 2018-May 2019 $124.2 million (lost) $121.9 million (lost) June 2019-May 2020 $144.5 million (lost) $107.4 million (lost) June 2020-May 2021 $240.2 million (lost) $167.2 million (lost) June 2021-May 2022 $112.2 million (lost) $24.0 million (lost) June 2022-May 2023 $82.7 million (lost) $66.3 million (saved) June 2023-May 2024 $175.7 million (lost) $122.5 million (lost) June 2024-May 2025 $171.6 million (lost) $86.6 million (lost) Totals: $1.46 billion (lost) $709.1 million (lost) Grand Total: $2.17 billion (lost) Illinois passed landmark consumer protections in 2019, with the Home Energy Affordability and Transparency (HEAT) Act. But now CUB calls on Illinois legislators to build off the HEAT Act and pass additional common-sense reforms in House Bill 1284. The bill would require a customer signature if a supplier wants to increase an offer’s rate at the time of renewal. It […]

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Illinois Future of Gas: Electrification Meeting Pt. I – November 4, 2024

Elizabeth — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 16:49:12 +0000

By: Scott Allen, Energy Policy Specialist Today’s Future of Gas workshop began with an announcement: between now and Dec. 6, 2024, the ICC will be accepting decarbonization pilot project ideas from interested stakeholders. It wasn’t immediately clear how these pilots could be put into effect–or indeed if they ever would be– but ICC staff suggested that it could materialize as part of the gas utilities’ long-term infrastructure plans that are due by the summer of 2025. If you’re interested in learning more about the pilot development process or submitting a project idea, visit the ICC’s updated website. The remainder of the workshop focused on electrification as a decarbonization pathway. Iain Walker, from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, spoke about residential electrification and Nik Sawe, from Energy Innovation, covered industrial electrification. Both presentations were thorough, and I would encourage people to watch them. The Lawrence Berkeley slides covered concerns that CUB often hears from homeowners. Residential Electrification In my time at CUB, I’ve seen a lot of visual aids meant to help everyday consumers understand a pathway to a decarbonized, electrified home. Many of the visuals look nice, but often they say either way too much, or not enough. Iain Walker’s visual comes pretty close to being just right, including steps for everybody involved in the home electrification process, from residents to contractors to policymakers. Most of these concepts are as straightforward as they seem. However, I’d like to draw attention to a couple that might require an adjustment in how we choose and use our appliances. The second step of the outline above–”Low power electrification…”–is where Walker asked us to think about power vs. energy. What’s the difference? Power refers to the amount of energy an appliance requires to run, while energy refers to the amount of electricity an appliance uses over time. (We pay for energy on our monthly electric bills.) Now consider power requirements for gas vs. electric appliances. As the graph below shows, electric appliances are less power intensive compared to gas appliances. That is especially true for water- and space-heating appliances. Now think about this: Even though an electric range/oven requires a significant amount of power, it is used for shorter periods of time. On the other hand, space heating/cooling appliances are used for much longer periods of time–but electric versions are far less power intensive. And power intensity is further reduced for heat pump technology (air warming/cooling, water heaters and clothes dryers). These concepts lead to the points Iain made in step 6: “Use integrated appliances,,,: One of the major problems many people encounter is inadequate electric service. Roughly half of the houses in the U.S. have 200 amp service, which is likely enough amperage to accommodate an electrified home plus EV charging. But older homes and/or homes that are also served by gas, may only have 100 amp service, making full electrification difficult. So what can we do about that? Increasing amperage can range from moderately expensive to really expensive (as in, this-job-is-worth-more-than-my-house expensive). It may even require a prohibitively expensive upgrade to the ComEd/Ameren-side of your electric service. Iain offered some alternatives, appliance integration […]

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Peoples Gas Customers Face Onslaught of Record-Breaking Rate Hikes Under Disputed Pipe-Replacement Program, Report Finds

Elizabeth — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 15:30:59 +0000

A controversial proposal by Peoples Gas to continue overhauling its network of underground pipes would leave Chicagoans inundated by recurring rounds of record-breaking rate hikes over the next 15 years, a landmark report released Tuesday found. Meanwhile Peoples customers would continue to incur charges associated with the pipe-replacement program for another 75 years – or more than six decades after the utility currently estimates it will finish revamping its system of gas mains, according to the report. (The study can be found at PeoplesGasBoondoggle.org.) The study was conducted by the industry research firm Groundwork Data on behalf of the Citizens Utility Board (CUB). The analysis comes as the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) is probing Peoples’ management of its program to install new mains throughout its service territory. “Peoples Gas customers are already suffering, but this report gives grim new details on just how devastating the utility’s reckless spending will be on its customers if state regulators don’t rein in the utility,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said. “We urge state regulators to review these findings and take steps to hold Peoples Gas accountable and put wise safeguards on their spending. The state of Illinois must begin to plan for a thoughtful, managed transition to cleaner, more affordable heat, instead of pouring billions more dollars into a methane gas system that is dirty, expensive and hazardous to the climate.” The report finds that the pipe project – known as the System Modernization Program (SMP) – could inflict unprecedented costs on consumers, beyond the rapid increase in heating bills they have already experienced over the last decade. Those projected impacts include: An unsustainable barrage of rate hikes. Completion of the SMP would cause rates for the utility’s more than 800,000 customers to escalate at an annual rate of nearly 7 percent, or nearly 50 percent higher than the record-setting pace that those fixed monthly heating costs have surged during the past decade. Those seismic increases would show up on customer bills in the form of delivery charges that would double from the current annual average of $1,206 to $2,424 by 2040. A 75-year legacy of costs for consumers. While Peoples currently projects that the SMP could conclude by 2040, the report found that its customers would incur residual costs for financing the project until the year 2100, or another 60 years after the physical work is purportedly finished. Risks of spiraling costs as Peoples Gas sheds customers. As rate increases attributed to the SMP multiply, and cleaner heating sources compete for market share, Peoples is vulnerable to customer attrition. Those defections would leave a shrinking number of Peoples ratepayers to digest the soaring cost of the SMP, an imbalance that could send costs skyrocketing for those who remain captive to the utility’s system. For instance, the researchers estimated that a 2 percent annual decline in the current volume of Peoples customers would cause delivery charges on average bills to soar by 188 percent, to $3,437 a year, by 2050. Higher-than-estimated program price tag. While cost estimates for the entire scope of the SMP have soared exponentially – from $2 billion at its […]

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What are the Illinois Commerce Commission’s Future of Gas Proceedings?

Elizabeth — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 20:21:18 +0000

In 2023, four gas utilities–Ameren Illinois, Nicor Gas, North Shore Gas and Peoples Gas–pushed for rate hikes before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). Environmental and consumer advocates who challenged the rate increases also requested that the ICC order a process to study how Illinois will manage its shift away from gas use in buildings. The ICC’s Final Order initiated a series of public workshops to “explore issues tied to decarbonization of the gas system…” Phase One kicked off a seven-meeting series in the spring of 2024. The purpose of Phase One was to determine the scope of the issues to be studied. During this phase, participants were asked to suggest topics to be studied in Phase Two. At the invitation of the facilitator, presentations were given by various stakeholders, each laying out justification for whatever concerns they had relating to the future of gas. At the end of Phase One, the facilitator drafted a report summarizing the entire process, and listing the 12 topics and dozens of subtopics related to the methane gas distribution system identified during the Phase One workshops. Phase Two kicked off on Aug. 28. It will consist of three “subphases”: A, expected to continue until February 2025, will be a continuation of Phase One to get a better understanding of the pathways to decarbonization and the technology that will aid it. In B, expected to be held from March to June 2025, working groups will study feasibility, economic impacts and implementation. Subphase C, scheduled for July to October 2025, will focus on legislative and regulatory solutions. At the end of these proceedings, the facilitator, along with ICC staff, will draft a final report, summarizing, categorizing, linking and compiling all of the findings from each phase and subphase. We expect this report to make recommendations to lawmakers and relevant regulatory agencies. It’s safe to say that lawmakers will lean heavily on this report to inform their decisions on legislation concerning the long-term transition to cleaner and more affordable heat for buildings. It’s a big deal that the contents of this report will be determined by Future of Gas participants–and that’s why CUB is involved. Stay tuned for more updates from CUB’s ICC Future of Gas series at www.citizensutilityboard.org/FOG.

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CUB Urges ICC to Cut Ameren Rate-Hike Request

Elizabeth — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 15:04:29 +0000

The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) pushed back on a recommendation by state regulatory judges that the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) grant Ameren Illinois an electric rate hike of $315 million, saying the judges had overlooked key examples of overspending by the utility. The Proposed Order, submitted on Oct. 8 by three ICC Administrative Law Judges, granted the utility more than 90 percent of the $334 million Ameren had requested. On Tuesday, CUB planned to file a brief asking the ICC to take a stronger stance to protect customers from unnecessary Ameren spending. “The Proposed Order is disappointing, given the fact that CUB had identified roughly $100 million in overcharges in the utility’s original request,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said. “We urge the five-member ICC to hold Ameren accountable, remove wasteful spending and slash Ameren’s rate hike.” Take action: Sign CUB’s petition against reckless electric utility spending. File a public comment with the ICC. The ICC is scheduled to make a final ruling on the case (Docket 24-0238) before the end of the year. The five commissioners can follow the proposed order or adjust the rate hike up or down, as they see fit. This is the latest development in a dramatic series of events dating back to last December, when the ICC slashed the company’s proposed rate-hike request and rejected the utility’s plan for updating the power grid. Commissioners said Ameren had failed to prove that the plan would be affordable for consumers. Earlier this year, Ameren refiled its grid plan as well as a multi-year plan for raising rates. After some adjustments over the course of the case, Ameren is now proposing to raise rates by $334 million through 2027. In August, CUB filed testimony identifying about $100 million in overcharges in Ameren’s proposed rate hike. CUB identified hundreds of millions of dollars in wasteful or improper spending proposed by Ameren, with a portion to be recovered through the current rate-hike request, and the rest recovered over decades to come. A summary of key parts of CUB’s testimony: The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) requires a showing of cost-effectiveness for each project included in Ameren’s grid plan. But Ameren only applied cost-benefit analysis to projects representing roughly one-fifth of total costs, CUB argued. The watchdog proposed to require Ameren to calculate benefits for every project it can and compare that to costs. Projects would only be approved if benefits exceed costs, or if they’re strictly legally or practically required. CEJA requires that delivery service rates be affordable. But Ameren misled about its huge rate-hike request by comparing delivery service rate increases to total electric bills, or even total household energy costs (including volatile heating gas costs). CUB argued that by dividing the relevant number by a larger category of costs, the utility made its proposed rate hike look smaller than it actually was and tried to skirt CEJA. CUB proposed that the ICC compare apples to apples and, if delivery service rates under the proposed grid plans would grow too fast relative to forecasted inflation, decrease Ameren’s rate hike accordingly to slow the rate of spending. CUB urged regulators to make utility shareholders, not customers, foot Ameren’s […]

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ICC Judges Recommend 43% Cut to Aqua IL’s Proposed Rate Hike, CUB Says Aqua Increase Would Still Be Too High

Elizabeth — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 18:38:58 +0000

State regulatory judges have recommended that the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) approve a lower rate hike for Aqua Illinois: $10.9 million. However, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) said Wednesday that the increase would still be too high for the company, which was sharply criticized by customers for high rates and poor water quality at ICC public forums over the summer. The Proposed Order, submitted Tuesday by two ICC Administrative Law Judges, reduced Aqua’s proposed $19.2 million rate hike by about 43 percent, to $10.9 million. The five-member ICC is set to make a final ruling on the rate-hike request no later than Nov. 21. In its Final Order, the ICC could follow the judges’ recommendation or make key changes. “This is a step in the right direction for long-suffering Aqua customers, but we believe the evidence submitted by consumer advocates calls for an even greater reduction for customers who have for years faced high bills and poor water quality,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said. “We urge state regulators to go further in slashing this unjust and unreasonable rate hike.” Take action: CUB petition: Tell the ICC to say no to Aqua Illinois. File a comment with the ICC In January, Aqua, which serves about 273,000 customers in central and northern Illinois, filed its rate-hike request with the ICC (Docket 24-0044), estimating that it would increase the average residential wastewater and water bill (4,000 gallons) by $29.91 per month. Moskowitz called a rate hike that high unprecedented in her 24 years at CUB. In May, CUB joined with the Village of University Park to submit testimony that called out the company for seeking an excessive increase in its return on equity (ROE), or profit rate for shareholders–from an already high 9.6 percent to 10.8 percent. CUB also argued that Aqua improperly tried to force customers to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses connected to the rate case as well as executive bonuses for reaching financial goals that only benefit shareholders. Aqua customers who attended ICC public forums over the summer angrily complained of high bills and poor water quality—with one woman toting a jar of cloudy brown-orange water she said came from her home. In recent years, there have been several examples of service problems-–including a water outage in Lake County in 2023 and unacceptable levels of lead in drinking water in University Park in 2019. “This is about poor versus rich,” University Park Village Manager Elizabeth Scott said at a public forum in Bourbonnais. In Crystal Lake, a customer urged the ICC to require Aqua to first address ongoing problems, including water quality and poor customer service, before allowing the company to raise rates. “Aqua’s proposed rate increase could significantly worsen the financial strain on our working class community,” she said. “We can’t afford the bills we have now.” A major reason for the rising bills are state laws that allow Aqua to hit customers with a “Qualifying Infrastructure Plant” surcharge as well as employ an aggressive strategy to buy up municipal systems. The Illinois General Assembly in 2013 passed a law that allowed Aqua to buy up depreciated water and wastewater systems across the state and charge their customers […]

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Correction: CUB WatchBlog Update | Citizens Utility Board

Elizabeth — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 17:32:09 +0000

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CUB identifies millions in overcharges, wasteful spending in utility grid plans

Elizabeth — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 15:22:01 +0000

As Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois push to raise rates to upgrade the power grid, CUB has filed expert testimony and briefs, identifying overcharges and wasteful spending in the companies’ proposed plans. Take action: Sign our petition urging the ICC to rein in Ameren and ComEd. File a public comment with the ICC about the new ComEd and Ameren grid plans. You can also call the ICC, at 1-800-524-0795. In a positive development last December, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) rejected the grid plans and slashed the rate hikes proposed by ComEd and Ameren, arguing that the companies had not proven that their plans would be affordable to consumers, as mandated by the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). The companies in March of this year came back with new plans–and rate-hike proposals. ComEd, the largest electric utility in the state, is pushing for a $1.1 billion increase in delivery rates (ICC Docket No. 24-0181) and Ameren Illinois wants a $334 million delivery rate hike (ICC Docket No. 24-0238). Some background: The rate-hike requests originally were meant to be spread out over four years. However, after the ICC rejected the grid pans last December, only partial rate hikes took effect in the new year. The utilities’ new rate-hike requests–$1.1 billion for ComEd and $321 million for Ameren–are connected to their new grid plans. These increases would take effect after the ICC issues a final ruling in December, and would be spread out over the remaining three years, through 2027. In expert testimony filed this past summer, CUB found about $89 million in overcharges proposed by ComEd and about $101 million proposed by Ameren Illinois. CUB also filed briefs in August and September. To give you an idea of the scope of these cases, the utilities have proposed billions of dollars in spending, with a portion to be recovered through the current rate-hike requests, and the rest recovered over decades to come. A summary of CUB’s arguments across both utilities: The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) requires a showing of cost-effectiveness for each project included in the companies’ grid plans. But ComEd and Ameren only applied cost-benefit analysis to projects representing roughly one-fourth and one-fifth of total costs, respectively. CUB proposes to instead require the utilities to calculate benefits for every project it can and compare them to costs. Projects would only be approved if benefits exceed costs, or if they’re strictly legally or practically required. CEJA requires that delivery service rates be affordable. But Ameren and ComEd mislead about their huge rate-hike requests by comparing delivery service rate increases to total electric bills, or even total household energy costs (including volatile heating gas costs). By dividing the relevant number by a larger category of costs, the utilities make their proposed rate hikes look smaller than they actually are and try to skirt CEJA. CUB proposes that the ICC compare apples to apples and, if delivery service rates under the proposed grid plans would grow too fast relative to forecasted inflation, decrease the utilities’ rate hikes accordingly to slow the rate of spending. Urges regulators to make utility shareholders, […]

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