Despite hike in delivery rate, Ameren contends natural-gas bills will ... - The News-Gazette
Despite hike in delivery rate, Ameren contends natural-gas bills will be lower | Politics | news-gazette.com
CHAMPAIGN — Ameren Illinois says its natural-gas customers will see lower bills for this winter heating season, despite an increase in the delivery rate kicking in later this month or early December.
Because of a reduction in natural-gas supply prices compared with last year, the average residential customer can expect their natural-gas bill this winter to be about $20 lower, according to Tucker Kennedy, the utility’s director of communications.
That’s factoring in the $35.2 million delivery rate increase that the Illinois Commerce Commission approved Thursday, he said.
The impact of the rise in the delivery rate on individual customers, expected to vary based on usage and service category, was still unknown Friday.
“We won’t know specifics until we’ve had a chance to analyze the final order,” Ameren spokeswoman Marcelyn Love said. “Commissioners made a number of changes to previous proposed orders.”
The commerce commission said it plans to issue an estimated bill impact for average residential customers after Ameren submits its compliance filing.
“What matters most to our customers is their total monthly bill amount,” Kennedy said.
Ameren’s natural-gas supply prices have been falling throughout the year, as the market corrected from two years of much higher pricing.
The cost per therm for this month is $0.3976, which is a little less than half of the November 2022 rate of $0.8075.
Jim Chilsen, spokesman for the Citizens Utility Board, said the argument that overall bills will be lower despite a higher delivery charge is misleading, and “nobody believes that supply prices are going to remain low.”
“We hear utilities say that all the time, and we say that’s misleading,” he said. “It is definitely good news that market gas prices are down right now, but we all know how volatile gas market prices are. And when those prices go up again in the future, the impact of this increase will be even worse.”
Even with lower supply prices, CUB contends the status quo still isn’t affordable for a lot of natural-gas consumers.
“A tremendous number of people are having a hard time paying their bills as it is,” Chilsen said.
In addition to allowing a natural-gas delivery rate hike that was about half the amount Ameren requested, the commerce commission also established a new low-income discount rate for eligible customers with incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level.
Customers already enrolled in Illinois’ Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program will automatically qualify for the low-income discount rate.