Illinois’ “Big Four” gas utilities–Ameren, Nicor, North Shore, and Peoples—continue to spend more than $1 billion each year on gas system infrastructure even as the state pledges to achieve 100% clean energy by 2050 and customers across the state struggle to pay already unaffordable gas bills. The Future of Gas in Illinois, a new report from BDC and Groundwork Data, finds that without regulatory intervention, unchecked spending on the gas system could triple the gas delivery charges on customer bills in the next decade. This business-as-usual investment in the gas system puts customers, utilities and their investors, and even taxpayers at risk as unrecovered gas system assets are projected to reach $80B by 2050—all of which are at risk of becoming stranded as customers flee the expensive gas system for cost-effective and climate friendly electric alternatives to gas. Only a managed transition that centers neighborhood-scale decarbonization can avert the inequitable and unevenly distributed effects of an otherwise unmanaged transition off the gas system.
Read the full report for a deep dive into the future of the gas system in Illinois.