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Retail Gas Market Report Filed With Legislature
In Illinois, the Office of Retail Market Development (ORMD) at the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) file the Annual Report on the Development of Natural Gas Markets in Illinois – Submitted Pursuant to Section 19-130 of the Illinois Public Utilities Act.
Excerpts from the Executive Summary:
Market Participation
“Statewide, the number of alternative gas suppliers (AGS) certified by the ICC to serve retail customers decreased from 48 AGS in 2023 to 44 certified AGS in 2024. The number of customers choosing to receive their gas supply from an AGS decreased from 2023 to 2024. Similarly, the amount of gas supplied to the market by AGS decreased in 2024 when compared to 2023. Table 1 summarizes the quantity of annual AGS customers and their yearly usage by utility territory and market. Table 2 shows an increase of less than 1% in the quantity of gas supplied by AGS compared to the overall amount of gas used by all customers.
Market Competitiveness
Overall, the gas supply markets in the Nicor Gas, Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas, and Ameren Illinois territories are more competitive compared to last year. Table 3 summarizes the market competitiveness in each utility territory with HHI values broken out by LVT, SVT – Non-Residential, and SVT – Residential.
Consumer Offers
Consumer resources are available on the ICC website and, as of August 2025, there were a total of 74 offers by AGS posted. There were 24 offers posted by AGS in the North Shore Gas territory and in the Peoples Gas territory, and 26 different offers posted in the Nicor Gas territory. A majority of these offers are for fixed rates, typically for one year.
Large Volume Transportation (LVT) Market
Many gas suppliers and marketers can meet the needs of retail customers who choose to transport their own gas rather than purchasing gas directly from their LDC under bundled tariffs.
In 2024, 48 LVT suppliers were active in the Nicor Gas, Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas, and Ameren Illinois territories. These suppliers served more than 29 ,000 Illinois large commercial and industrial customers and provided 73% of the market’s supply.
LVT Customer Switching
For the purposes of this report, gas utilities provided data on each LVT supplier for the 2024 calendar year. Details depicted below show activity in terms of number of customers switched and related gas usage in therms over the last six years.
Figure 2 shows one clear trend among all four utility territories: a small percentage of the large customers consume the majority of natural gas for that class of customers. As a result, suppliers only need to contract with a small number of customers to capture a significant portion of the market. Depending on the utility territory, in 2024, gas suppliers provided service to 6-15% of the large volume customers while providing 68-87% of the total therms consumed by all large volume customers.
The percentage of customers served by an AGS in the Nicor, Peoples Gas, and Ameren territories remained the same in 2024 from 2023. In the North Shore territory, the percentage of customers served by an AGS increased from 2023 to 2024. For a second year in a row, all four utility territories saw an increase in the percentage of therms served by an AGS.
Small Volume Transportation (SVT) Market
In 2024, there were 44 active SVT suppliers5 in the Nicor Gas, Peoples Gas, and North Shore Gas territories. These suppliers served more than 190,000 residential customers and more than 55,000 small commercial customers.
Residential Market
The graph shows that the percentage of switched residential customers and therms in all three territories are lower compared to the overall SVT market. The percentage of usage supplied by AGS has slightly decreased for all three utility territories when compared to the previous year. Further, the percentage of customers served by AGS has slightly decreased for all three utility territories.
When compared to the same month in 2024, the number of suppliers posting offers increased in the Nicor Gas territory but has remained the same in the Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas territories. Additionally, the Nicor Gas and Peoples Gas territories saw an increase in the number of offers available. The number of offers available remained the same in the North Shore Gas territory.
Summary and Recommendations
This is the eleventh report from the Office of Retail Market Development (ORMD) pursuant to the updated Section 19-130 of the Public Utilities Act. Findings for 2024 within this report include:
- 44 AGS are certified by the ICC to serve the natural gas market;
- Active AGS counts were 48 for the LVT market and 44 for the SVT market;
- AGS suppliers serve more than 29,000 LVT customers in Illinois which is 8.28% of the eligible customers;
- AGS across all four utility areas service 6-15% of LVT customers while providing 68-87% of the total therms consumed by LVTs;
- SVT suppliers serve more than 190,000 residential and more than 55,000 small non-residential customers, representing 6.16% of eligible residential customers and more than 19.15% of small non-residential customers; and
- The Nicor Gas and Peoples Gas utility territories saw a decrease in the quantity of residential customers being served by AGS, and the North Shore Gas territory saw a slight increase in the quantity of residential customers being served by an AGS.
