What Is Driving The  Demand?

 ⚡ Who’s Really Driving Illinois’ Soaring Utility Costs?

Contrary to popular belief, Illinois already has some "tiered pricing" options.  But these are focused on time-of-use - charging more or less depending on when you run appliances.  

For families, that doesn't solve the crisis.  Heating in January or cooling in July can't be shifted to off-peak hours.  Cooking dinner at 6pm isn't optional.  These plans assume flexibility that low-income households simply don't have.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), commercial electricity use is projected to rise 2.6% annually, and industrial use by 2.1%. Residential growth, meanwhile, is expected to increase by only 0.7%. This mismatch highlights a critical truth: families aren’t the ones straining the grid — yet they’re paying the price as if they were.

🏢 Business Demand Is Surging

Meanwhile, commercial and industrial users - data centers, manufacturers, warehouses - continue to expand, driving overall demand and higher costs.  Unlike families, they do have flexibility in scheduling heavy loads.

• Data centers power our streaming, cloud storage, and AI tools 24/7. Making their usage predictable.

• Manufacturing plants and logistics hubs expand operations to keep up with global demand.

• Warehouses, retail chains, and offices add steady, round-the-clock loads to the grid.

These sectors don’t just use more energy — they can also pass higher costs along to customers. When rates climb, businesses fold those costs into the price of goods and services.

🏠 Families Use Energy Differently

Household consumption looks nothing like this. Families use electricity and gas in seasonal, survival-based cycles:

• Heating in freezing winters.

• Cooling in brutal summers.

• Everyday essentials like cooking, light, and basic connectivity.

Residential use isn’t discretionary or growth-driven. It’s about dignity and safety. Yet when bills rise, families don’t have the ability to raise their income to offset costs. They are forced instead to cut back on food, medicine, or rent.

Take Jennifer, a single mother in Chicago. She receives just $568 per month in SSI. Already enrolled in a payment plan with ComEd, she saw an extra $30 added each month on top of her regular bill. In July 2025, her bill totaled $297 — more than half of her entire monthly income. “I can’t stop using electricity,” she explained. “But I also can’t afford food when I pay the bill.” Jennifer’s story is not unique. It is a snapshot of the impossible choices families across Illinois are facing.

⚖️ The Case for Two-Tier Pricing

Illinois’ current utility structure charges families and businesses under the same market pressures. The result: households are subsidizing the rapid growth of commercial and industrial demand.

A two-tier pricing system offers a fairer solution:

1. Businesses pay their true share. Energy-intensive growth like data centers should not be balanced on the backs of families.

2. Households are shielded. Families gain protection from volatility they did not create.

3. Planning aligns with reality. Utilities can build capacity with clear distinctions between essential household use and large-scale business growth.

🔎 Addressing the Critics

Utilities argue that “infrastructure costs are shared equally, and businesses should not be penalized.” But equal treatment in pricing is not the same as fair treatment.

• Families do not run 24/7 operations that push the grid to its limits.

• Families cannot pass along costs when prices spike.

• Families are not the growth engine driving increased demand.

It is unjust to ask households like Jennifer’s to shoulder the costs of industries that consume exponentially more energy.

✝️ Grounded in Justice

For the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, this is not only an economic issue — it is a matter of justice.

“Charity is the Samaritan who pours oil on the wounds of the traveler who has been attacked. But it is justice’s role to prevent the attack.”
— Blessed Frédéric Ozanam

“Access to energy is essential for human development. The poor should not bear the cost of progress that benefits the few.”
— Pope Francis, Laudato Si’

Every day, Vincentians across Illinois help neighbors pay bills to keep the lights on and the heat running. But charity alone cannot solve systemic injustice. Families need relief at the structural level.

✍️ The Path Forward

Illinois has a choice:

• Continue forcing families to absorb the cost of business expansion, or

• Protect households by requiring businesses to carry their fair share.

Families cannot keep subsidizing industrial growth. Two-tier pricing is the just and necessary step forward.

That is why the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, together with friends, neighbors, and people of goodwill across Illinois, is raising its voice. We call on the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Governor, and local leaders to act now.

👉 Add your voice. Sign the petition. Stand with Jennifer — and with families across Illinois — to demand fair utility pricing.

Illinois needs a system that distinguishes between essential residential consumpiton and business-driven demand growth.  This is the real two-tier model: one that protects families, while ensuring large-scale commercial users pay their fair share.