Advocates protest Peoples Gas for rate relief, take issue with use of consumers' money
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Peoples Gas customers demanding rate relief protested Thursday morning in front of the utility's downtown office.
The Illinois Public Interest Research Group and other organizations are seeking to educate the public about where their money is actually going.
"Peoples Gas is bankrupting customers," said Jim Chilsen, communications director for the Citizens Utitlity Board Illinois. "About one in five Chicago gas customers are having a hard time affording their bills."
These complaints follow a $300 million rate hike that Peoples Gas won last year—the largest in the state's history. The hike was fueled mainly by the company's Safety Modernization Program to replace nearly 2,000 miles of dangerous, old, deteriorating natural gas pipes.
"A program that started with a $1 billion budget is now what? 10 to 15 million dollars," said Al Hollenbeck, state president of AARP Illinois
Thanks to the work of Illinois PIRG and others, the state actually paused spending on the program in January until an investigation could determine if it was worth it. The first round of expert reports in that investigation suggested the safety program is flawed and should be reined in.
"It is not keeping us safe like it's supposed to do," said Abe Scarr, state director of Illinois PIRG. "It's causing an affordability crisis."
Peoples Gas disagrees that the Safety Modernization Program is mismanaged. They say the original project estimate, under different ownership, was wrong.
"At the end of last year, prior to work being paused, our modernization work across the city was on schedule and on budget," said Peoples Gas spokesman David Schwartz.
Schwartz also said Peoples Gas is open to revisions.
"We also have recently provided state regulars with potential changes to consider in terms of how we approach this work going forward," he said.
In the meantime, sidewalk protesters on Thursday announced they are launching an awareness campaign.
"People aren't really aware of the issue," said Damarian Miller of Illinois PIRG. "They can definitely understand it once you explain to them, but I don't think they're aware that that's the main reason why their bills are increasing so much every year."
The investigation into the costly program should wrap up early next year.