Chicago gas is under threat. ComEd and Nicor Gas, are extreme examples of ordering more shutoffs in 2022 compared with 2021. ComEd canceled service for 225,827 accounts in Chicago through October of last year, up 26% from the same 10 months in the prior year. This will have a negative effect on the Chicagoans and all their families.
How it affects the state of Illinois and Chicago’s Gas
Illinois is one of many states where shutoffs resumed in 2021 after the expiration of COVID-related
moratoriums. In March 2021 families urged the state utility regulatory body, the Illinois Commerce
Commission, to extend the moratorium.
Chicago gas is under threat. People can’t see it now but it will have major repercussions for the city and the state and the people within.
Over the same period, Nicor Gas, which serves most Chicago suburbs, stopped service to 24,022 customers, nearly a 38% increase from 2021. Peoples Gas, the Chicago provider, increased shutoffs by 14.7%, to 14,859, said the report, “Powerless in The US Report.”
Chicago is not the only one that got affected by this also 10 other states in the same way that it is affecting the one and only windy city. To see this happening here in Chicago we wonder what else will happen to the electrical, the same people that own these gas companies.
The Effects of Their Doing
Seven utility parent companies, operating in nine states and D.C., perpetrated nearly
70% of the shutoffs that were documented in 2022. They increased disconnections collectively
by more than 22% over the same period in 2021: Exelon Corp. (31% increase),
Southern Company (5% increase), DTE Energy (16% increase), Ameren Corp (10%
increase), First Energy Corp. (20% increase), PPL Corp. (139% increase), and
American Electric Power Co Inc (7% increase).
By Agustin Perez
Sources:
Biological Diversity: Powerless in the US Report
ABC 7: Chicago-area utility suppliers among national leaders in shutoffs for nonpayment: report –
NBC Chicago: Utility Shutoffs for Nonpayment Soar Across Illinois and Chicago Area: Report-
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