With winter approaching, there is a good chance Illinoisans will be paying more to heat their homes. The problem is sharply higher costs for natural gas, used to heat a majority of homes in the state. Nicor, the utility serving a large portion of Illinois, estimated its average residential customer will pay almost $450 more for natural gas supplies this winter, almost double the cost of a year ago. Peoples Gas said it does not have an estimate yet, but the utility acknowledged bills will jump sharply.

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