Ameren Illinois residential customers will see an average $3.65 increase on their natural gas bills in January following a recent decision by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), which significantly reduced the rate hike requests from two of the state’s largest utilities.
Ameren, serving about 816,000 customers in central and southern Illinois, initially held off on projecting the new costs until it could fully review the ICC’s order, according to Brad Kloeppel, Ameren’s senior director of gas operations and technical services.
The ICC’s November 19th ruling came after an 11-month process evaluating testimony and documents from Ameren, Nicor, consumer advocacy groups, and environmental organizations. The commission ultimately approved a $73 million rate increase for Ameren and a $168 million increase for Nicor—both more than 40 percent lower than the utilities had requested.
Nicor, the state’s largest natural gas utility serving 2.3 million customers in northern Illinois and the Chicago suburbs, estimated that a typical residential customer will see a monthly increase of less than $4.25.
Both utilities can propose new rate hikes each January, though in recent years they have done so every other year. Any rate hike request is reviewed by the ICC over 11 months, with decisions announced in November and any approved increases taking effect the following January. This means the earliest customers could see another rate increase is January 2027, or January 2028 if the companies maintain the alternate-year schedule.
Consumer advocates argue that even the reduced increases are burdensome. “While we’re pleased regulators lowered the size of these rate hikes, they are still the fifth increase for Nicor since 2017 and the fourth increase for Ameren since 2018,” said Abe Scarr, policy director for Illinois PIRG. “Without intervention, gas bills will continue to rise.”
Utilities like Ameren and Nicor earn profits from infrastructure investments for energy delivery, not from the actual price of gas, which is passed directly to customers.
Despite rising delivery rates, Kloeppel noted that Ameren works proactively to reduce natural gas supply costs for its customers. “Ameren Illinois doesn’t control the market price of natural gas, and even though we pass those costs onto customers with no markup, we’re still taking a strategic look into how we can provide our customers with lower, more stable supply rates,” he said.
Kloeppel explained that Ameren’s investment in twelve underground storage fields across Illinois allows the company to purchase roughly 60% of its winter supply during the lower-priced summer months, helping deliver reliable and affordable heat in the winter. This approach has reduced the cost of natural gas supply to customers by 30% over the past five years and helped shield them from sharp price spikes during winter storms.
Still, groups like the Citizens Utility Board argue that even a smaller increase, such as the $3.65 monthly hike compared to the $9.09 Ameren originally requested, is too much for consumers.