By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – As the mercury goes down, the costs go up.

Citizens Utility Board executive director David Kolata told a Facebook Live audience Thursday, “Our natural gas heating system is increasingly unaffordable. It really isn’t sustainable on environmental grounds, but it isn’t sustainable on economic grounds, either. It is driving large parts of the area, particularly in the city of Chicago, into what we would call structural energy poverty, where they simply cannot afford to pay their bills.”

Help is available, though. “Look into energy efficiency programs. There are a lot of low-cost or no-cost options out there that you can improve the efficiency of your house. That saves a lot of money. Also, there is public assistance available through LIHEAP,” Kolata added. “It isn’t as much as it should be. People need more help. We need our federal government to provide more assistance.

Kolata says the delivery costs – non-energy costs – have been rising for years, now the second half of the one-two punch is a jump in the price of the natural gas itself.

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Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]