April 01--Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas customers will receive a refund on their gas bills starting this month.
The credit will appear on each bill from April through December, with a total average refund of $29.50 for Peoples Gas customers and $23 for North Shore Gas customers, said Integrys Energy Group, which owns both companies.
It may seem odd, but the refund is a result of the unusually cold winter. The gas companies charge customers a distribution cost based on the amount of gas they use. In cold winter months, the charge to deliver the gas rises but the company's costs remain relatively stable. So customers receive a refund.
Conversely, after a warmer-than-usual winter, the companies are allowed to collect more in the subsequent months, a spokeswoman said.
The companies, along with the Illinois Commerce Commission, pushed for the "volume balancing adjustment" over the past seven years. The Illinois attorney general objected to the process, but it was affirmed by the Illinois Supreme Court this year, Integrys said.
By the end of this year, Peoples Gas will have refunded almost $50 million and North Shore Gas will have refunded almost $9.2 million to customers under the adjustment since its inception in 2008, Integrys said.
Peoples Gas has 831,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers. North Shore Gas has 159,000 customers.
ehirst@tribpub.com
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