{"id":35245,"date":"2022-09-01T13:20:20","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T18:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/?p=35245"},"modified":"2022-09-06T13:50:20","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T18:50:20","slug":"september2022gasprices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/blog\/2022\/09\/01\/september2022gasprices\/","title":{"rendered":"September gas prices are out, prepare for winter heating season now"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re officially one month from winter heating season. Based on future prices, we\u2019re looking at a painful winter, especially as <\/span>1 in 6 Americans<\/span><\/a> are struggling to keep up with their utility bills.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

About 80 percent of Illinois homes heat with natural gas, and the past winter was their most expensive winter since the cold season of 2008-09, with many customers paying hundreds of dollars more to heat their homes. This month\u2019s supply prices are up anywhere from <\/span>147 percent to 377 percent higher<\/span><\/a> than they were in September 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gas utilities file new supply prices\u2013 called the Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA)\u2013 each month. Below are the prices for September.<\/span><\/p>\n

September Gas Prices<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Ameren Illinois<\/strong><\/td>\n86.23 cents per therm (up about 30 percent from September 2021)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Consumers Gas<\/strong><\/td>\n$1.06 per therm <\/span>(up about 46\u00a0<\/em>percent from last September<\/em>)<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Illinois Gas<\/strong><\/td>\n87.36 cents per therm <\/span>(up about 118\u00a0<\/em>percent from last September<\/em>)<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Liberty Utilities<\/strong><\/td>\n$1.15 per therm <\/span>(up about 149\u00a0<\/em>percent from last September<\/em>)<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MidAmerican Energy<\/strong><\/td>\n$1.08 per therm <\/span>(up about 31\u00a0<\/em>percent from last September<\/em>)<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mt. Carmel<\/strong><\/td>\n88.77 <\/span>cents per therm (up about 49\u00a0<\/em>percent from last September<\/em><\/span><\/i>)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nicor Gas<\/strong><\/td>\n$1.24 <\/span>per therm (up about 134\u00a0<\/em>percent from last September<\/em><\/span><\/i>)<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
North Shore Gas<\/strong><\/td>\n92.65 cents\u00a0<\/i><\/em>per therm <\/span>(up about 60\u00a0<\/em>percent from last September<\/em>)<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Peoples Gas<\/strong><\/td>\n$1.05\u00a0<\/i><\/em>per therm <\/span>(up about 58\u00a0<\/em>percent from last September<\/em>)<\/span><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Your utility is determined by where you live, so you cannot switch from one utility to another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Under Illinois law, gas utilities are not allowed to profit off supply prices\u2014they pass those costs from gas producers and marketers onto customers with no markup. State regulators (and CUB) annually review the utilities\u2019 gas-management procedures to ensure the companies did a reasonable job with their gas purchases, given market conditions, to hold down costs for consumers as much as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gas supply price spikes are a recurring theme in the fossil fuel industry, and this one was first sparked by extreme weather in February of 2021 and then propped up by other developments, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that have combined to cause ongoing pain for Illinois consumers. (Now, the elevated gas prices are causing electricity prices to skyrocket also<\/b><\/a>\u2013because gas is often used to generate electricity.)<\/p>\n

But the gas utilities hide behind supply and demand excuses. There\u2019s more to this story in Illinois: Aggressive spending and rampant rate hikes by Peoples Gas, Nicor Gas and Ameren Illinois also have contributed to skyrocketing gas bills.<\/span><\/p>\n

While utilities cannot profit off gas supply, they have increased and profited off another part of the bill: Delivery, what they charge to deliver gas to homes. CUB is working to eliminate the \u201cQualified Infrastructure Plant\u201d surcharge from Ameren, Nicor and Peoples Gas bills <\/span>(Take Action!)<\/span><\/a> The charge, which was created by a law the General Assembly passed in 2013, allows gas utilities to sidestep the traditional regulatory process and rake in revenue more quickly, leading to rapidly rising heating bills.<\/span><\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong><\/span> Please <\/span>visit <\/span>CUBHelpCenter.com<\/span><\/a> for information on high energy prices, efficiency tips, consumer rights against disconnection, and information about financial assistance programs. <\/span>If you are having difficulty affording your energy bills, watch <\/span>CUB\u2019s video <\/span><\/a>on three actions you can take.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re officially one month from winter heating season. Based on future prices, we\u2019re looking at a painful winter, especially as 1 in 6 Americans are struggling to keep up with their utility bills.\u00a0 About 80 percent of Illinois homes heat with natural gas, and the past winter was their most expensive winter since the cold season of 2008-09, with many customers paying hundreds of dollars more to heat their homes. This month\u2019s supply prices are up anywhere from 147 percent to 377 percent higher than they were in September 2020.\u00a0 Gas utilities file new supply prices\u2013 called the Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA)\u2013 each month. Below are the prices for September. September Gas Prices Ameren Illinois 86.23 cents per therm (up about 30 percent from September 2021) Consumers Gas $1.06 per therm (up about 46\u00a0percent from last September) Illinois Gas 87.36 cents per therm (up about 118\u00a0percent from last September) Liberty Utilities $1.15 per therm (up about 149\u00a0percent from last September) MidAmerican Energy $1.08 per therm (up about 31\u00a0percent from last September) Mt. Carmel 88.77 cents per therm (up about 49\u00a0percent from last September) Nicor Gas $1.24 per therm (up about 134\u00a0percent from last September) North Shore Gas 92.65 cents\u00a0per therm (up about 60\u00a0percent from last September) Peoples Gas $1.05\u00a0per therm (up about 58\u00a0percent from last September) Your utility is determined by where you live, so you cannot switch from one utility to another.\u00a0 Under Illinois law, gas utilities are not allowed to profit off supply prices\u2014they pass those costs from gas producers and marketers onto customers with no markup. State regulators (and CUB) annually review the utilities\u2019 gas-management procedures to ensure the companies did a reasonable job with their gas purchases, given market conditions, to hold down costs for consumers as much as possible. Gas supply price spikes are a recurring theme in the fossil fuel industry, and this one was first sparked by extreme weather in February of 2021 and then propped up by other developments, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that have combined to cause ongoing pain for Illinois consumers. (Now, the elevated gas prices are causing electricity prices to skyrocket also\u2013because gas is often used to generate electricity.) But the gas utilities hide behind supply and demand excuses. There\u2019s more to this story in Illinois: Aggressive spending and rampant rate hikes by Peoples Gas, Nicor Gas and Ameren Illinois also have contributed to skyrocketing gas bills. While utilities cannot profit off gas supply, they have increased and profited off another part of the bill: Delivery, what they charge to deliver gas to homes. CUB is working to eliminate the \u201cQualified Infrastructure Plant\u201d surcharge from Ameren, Nicor and Peoples Gas bills (Take Action!) The charge, which was created by a law the General Assembly passed in 2013, allows gas utilities to sidestep the traditional regulatory process and rake in revenue more quickly, leading to rapidly rising heating bills. NOTE: Please visit CUBHelpCenter.com for information on high energy prices, efficiency tips, consumer rights against disconnection, and information about financial assistance programs. If you are having difficulty affording your energy bills, watch CUB\u2019s video on three actions you can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[302,1052,330,97,98,296,298,69],"tags":[91,184,436,451,1367,95],"class_list":["post-35245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ameren","category-gas-utilities","category-midamerican","category-natural-gas-2","category-nicor","category-nicor-gas","category-peoples-gas","category-updates","tag-energy","tag-gas","tag-gas-bills","tag-heat","tag-heating-bills","tag-natural-gas"],"cp_meta_data":{"classic-editor-remember":["classic-editor"],"_wp_page_template":["default"],"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":[""],"_wpsp_is_facebook_share":["off"],"_wpsp_is_twitter_share":["off"],"_wpsp_is_linkedin_share":["off"],"_wpsp_is_pinterest_share":["off"],"_wpb_vc_js_status":["false"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["90"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["3"],"borntogive_page_header_show_hide":["2"],"borntogive_pages_title_show":["1"],"borntogive_pages_Choose_slider_display":["2"],"borntogive_pages_select_revolution_from_list":["3"],"borntogive_pages_slider_pagination":["yes"],"borntogive_pages_slider_auto_slide":["yes"],"borntogive_pages_slider_direction_arrows":["yes"],"borntogive_pages_slider_effects":["fade"],"borntogive_pages_body_bg_wide":["0"],"borntogive_pages_body_bg_repeat":["repeat"],"borntogive_pages_content_bg_wide":["0"],"borntogive_pages_content_bg_repeat":["repeat"],"borntogive_pages_social_show":["1"],"borntogive_strict_no_sidebar":["0"],"borntogive_sidebar_columns_layout":["3"],"borntogive_gallery_slider_pagination":["yes"],"borntogive_gallery_slider_auto_slide":["yes"],"borntogive_gallery_slider_direction_arrows":["yes"],"borntogive_gallery_slider_effects":["fade"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["69"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["Natural gas customers in northern Illinois could pay the highest prices in more than a decade, with most paying more than $1 dollar per therm, according to preliminary gas price data filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission."],"_wp_old_slug":["may2022gasprices","june2022gasprices__trashed"],"_dp_original":["34722"],"_edit_lock":["1667933607:1"],"_edit_last":["5"],"_yoast_wpseo_wordproof_timestamp":[""]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35245"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35303,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35245\/revisions\/35303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizensutilityboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}