If you are a Peoples Gas customer, it can be more than $5 extra a month. So, what is that charge for?
Peoples Gas alerted customers of this new $5.27 monthly charge in a "bill message" when statements were sent out, but the I-Team is getting calls from people asking what's going on. ABC7 found that the fee is to help those in desperate need, but some customers are asking why they are now paying more.
Richard Sandoval and his wife, Diana, say inflation and rising energy costs are making the bills harder to pay. So, when he spotted this charge on his bill, he called the I-Team.
"My recent bill from Peoples Gas that I got, I noticed there was a low-income discount adjustment added on to my bill," Sandoval said.
That "low-income discount adjustment" charge goes to help fund a program which helps natural gas customers whose incomes are at or below 300% of the federal poverty level. Those who qualify could get a 5% to 83% monthly bill credit. Sandoval says he understands that people need help but wonders why consumers like him are paying more for the program.
"You have no option. If you pay your bill, you have to pay this $5 that they're putting on your bill. You can't get out of it or anything like that. So, I don't think it's fair to the customer," Sandoval said.
The low-income discount rate program was created recently by the Illinois Commerce Commission in response to the Illinois Public Utilities Act. The state legislation helped fuel the new plan to get consumers assistance on rising energy bills. Supervising Attorney Dan Schneider of Legal Action Chicago helped the ICC design it.
"We're talking about chipping in $5 to protect hundreds of thousands of our neighbors from not being able to heat their homes, not being able to cook food for their children. And we're talking about doing it forever for everyone. It is a price to pay, but I absolutely, absolutely think it's a price worth paying," Schneider said.
"But some people say they didn't have a choice whether to pay that price," ABC7 Consumer Investigator Jason Knowles pointed out.
"Well, everyone absolutely has a choice," Schneider responded.
Schneider says that "choice" is in the voting booth. Under the law created by state legislators, utilities are permitted to recover the costs through customer charges. He says the plan could evolve and eventually require utilities to pay more and customers to pay less.
"We want to make it more effective if there are shortcomings, and we want to make it as fair as possible. And so, at the first opportunity to go back in front of the commission and say, 'Hey, we think these changes need to be made,' I mean, you can bet I'm going to be there," Schneider said.
Peoples Gas says it advocated for an approach that would put less burden on customers who don't receive discounts.
Current costs for natural gas customers are $0.79 a month for Nicor, $0.85 a month for Northshore gas, and that $5.27 for Peoples gas consumers. Peoples Gas said their charge is higher because its customer base is the City of Chicago, which has more people with lower incomes. The utility also says it has a smaller service territory than others, so the costs for the program are shared with a smaller number of customers.
"If you do the math, $5.27 times12 months for the year, $63.24 a year, right? What do you think of that?" Knowles said.
"Well, that that would go for another bill that I might be short on, too," Sandoval said.
This new fee and the assistance plan will also eventually expand to electric bills.
Information about Low Income Discount Rate Program: Home - Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies
Information about Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): Utility Bill Assistance - Utility Bill Assistance