Heating bills set to rise next year in northern suburbs

By Steve Daniels, Crain’s Chicago Business, Nov. 9, 2020

Most of the northern suburbs would see their natural gas bills rise by $4.25 per month on average under a proposed rate hike from North Shore Gas.

The utility, which serves nearly 165,000 customers in more than 50 suburbs from Winnetka up to the Wisconsin border, filed for the 8.5 percent increase in its delivery rates last week with the Illinois Commerce Commission. The ICC will have 11 months to rule on the $7.6 million request, which means higher rates will go into effect for the winter of 2021-22…

North Shore Gas customers are struggling…Some 31,162 households in September were hit with late-payment fees—21 percent of the total in the territory, according to an ICC filing last month. In the 60085 ZIP code covering Waukegan alone, 9,558 households were assessed late fees. That’s 56 percent of the total there….

Through the first six months of 2020, North Shore posted net income of $11.4 million, up 16 percent from $9.8 million in the same period the year before.

Read a full version of the Crain’s Chicago Business story.