Nicor Gas agrees 
to $64M settlement

CHICAGO – Nicor Gas has agreed to refund customers $64 million in a decade-old accounting scandal. But a utility watchdog group says that’s not enough.

The proposed settlement with staff of the Illinois Commerce Commission was disclosed Monday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. It was first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business.

The Citizens Utility Board and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan plan to continue fighting the case. They argue that consumers deserve a much larger refund from Nicor.

The utility says it admits no wrongdoing in the proposed settlement with the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Nicor is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based AGL Resources Inc.

The Citizens Utility Board says Nicor overcharged residential customers by $300 million in a gas-pricing plan called performance-based regulation.