Nicor Gas hotel supply: Customer Select, transportation and 2026 rebates

Which Nicor Gas hotel accounts belong in this guide?

Nicor Gas is Northern Illinois Gas Company, doing business as Nicor Gas Company. It is a natural gas distribution utility, rather than an electric utility. Its official community listing supports account checks in northern Illinois locations such as Rosemont, Schaumburg, and Oak Brook. These hotel and business-travel markets justify editorial coverage; they do not establish a verified ranking by hotel rooms.

Confirm the actual gas bill, service address, account number, and legal customer. A Chicago-region hotel can have a different gas utility, and its electric delivery company is a separate account. Do not apply electric PLC tags, PJM capacity auctions, or electric demand schedules to a Nicor gas procurement simply because the property also buys electricity.

Use the hotel energy markets hub to list fuels and gas end uses separately. For multiple buildings, check whether gas accounts and supplier agreements cover every service location.

How do Rate 4, Customer Select and transportation differ?

The current business rates and riders page describes Rate 4 general service for the stated commercial and industrial customer profile, including annual use below 800,000 therms. It describes Rate 74 as transportation for a similar profile, with gas bought from another source and storage options under utility terms. Actual eligibility, service commitments, and charges require the applicable rate and rider review.

Transportation service is the utility’s delivery of customer-purchased gas under specified supply, balancing, storage, and service conditions. It is distinct from purchasing gas commodity from the utility.

Customer Select is another supplier-choice arrangement with its own utility charges and procedures. Establish the account’s existing service and proposed destination before comparing it with a Rate 74 transportation proposal. The utility’s other large and seasonal options have distinct conditions that cannot be inferred from room count.

What remains on the utility bill after choosing a supplier?

The business Customer Select explanation identifies a Customer Select charge and a transportation service credit. It explains that the Customer Select charge recovers pipeline-related daily-balancing costs and can change monthly. The utility’s delivery service remains part of the total cost even when commodity is purchased from a supplier.

Reconstruct one actual bill before looking at a commodity price. Tie the service dates, measured volume, thermal adjustment, billed therms, taxes, and supplier identity to the account. A lower commodity component does not by itself demonstrate a lower complete hotel bill.

Why do therms and MMBtu need reconciliation?

The EIA energy-unit explanation defines a therm as 100,000 Btu and one MMBtu as one million Btu. Therefore one therm is 0.1 MMBtu. A hotel offer in dollars per therm cannot be compared directly with a commodity reference in dollars per MMBtu without converting both units and aligning cost coverage.

Assume solely for illustration that a hotel purchases 100,000 therms over a year. That is 10,000 MMBtu, because 100,000 × 0.1 = 10,000. An assumed complete commodity price of $0.50 per therm would be $5.00 per MMBtu and produce $50,000 of commodity cost at that volume. These are invented arithmetic inputs, not live Nicor or supplier prices, and exclude utility delivery and other omitted components.

After conversion, check the delivery point, basis, transportation, fuel retention, and balancing coverage. A wholesale reference at one trading point is not automatically a delivered hotel price. The supplier should state the pricing formula and included costs in writing, including any amounts that can vary after a headline price has been fixed.

How should a hotel compare fixed and indexed gas arrangements?

Build the forecast from actual monthly therm history, then document changes to space heating, hot-water equipment, laundry, and kitchen operations. Weather and occupancy can affect different loads. Do not use one occupied-room calculation to predict every winter heating therm or assume summer gas consumption disappears when space heating stops.

Compare at least two operating scenarios. One retains current equipment and service schedules. Another reflects a documented heat-pump conversion, outsourced laundry, extended season, or added kitchen, with engineering estimates labeled separately. Apply each offer’s volume tolerance, minimum charges, and material-change provisions to both scenarios.

A fixed commodity arrangement should state exactly which costs are fixed. An indexed arrangement should identify the index, reset date, delivery point, basis, markup, and reconciliation. For transportation service, require a clear allocation of nominations, balancing, storage management, and operational notices. A hotel manager should know which counterparty handles a mismatch between forecast and actual gas use.

What are the current Customer Select timing and return rules?

The business Customer Select page describes a fourteen-day waiting period before account activation, followed by service after the next meter reading. Confirm the received enrollment and actual effective date rather than scheduling the change from the supplier contract’s signature alone. The outgoing supplier’s notice and termination provisions remain a separate commercial issue.

The page also explains that, after returning to Nicor supply, a customer has 120 days to select another supplier or remains on Nicor service for one year. That restriction should be included when comparing a temporary return to utility supply with a direct supplier-to-supplier change. Ask Nicor to confirm applicability to the hotel’s actual service arrangement before proceeding.

1. Identify existing service, account numbers, and the authorized legal entity.
2. Review the outgoing agreement’s end date and any exit payment.
3. Confirm the proposed Customer Select or transportation destination and timing.
4. Obtain utility acceptance and the actual start record.
5. Reconcile commodity, utility charges, credits, and dates on the first bill.

What changes when an existing transportation customer moves programs?

Nicor’s transportation-to-Customer Select document describes that specific transition, including termination of traditional transportation service after verification and a beginning meter-read date at least fourteen calendar days after Nicor receives enrollment notification. That document’s scope is existing transportation customers; it should not be turned into a rule for every possible gas transaction.

The document also discusses gas-in-storage treatment and changes effective May 1, 2023. Request the hotel’s actual storage balance, applicable transfer method, and any charges before changing groups or returning to sales service. Stored gas is an account and contractual issue, not merely an assumed reduction in the next commodity bill.

For an ownership transfer, specify responsibility for the service account, stored gas, supplier assignment, and final reconciliation. Ask whether the buyer needs a new agreement or counterparty consent. A delivery service change does not automatically release the seller from a signed gas supply obligation.

Which 2026 gas efficiency rebates can a hotel investigate?

The commercial rebate page identifies qualifying 2026 installations between January 1 and December 31, with applications due within ninety days of installation or January 31, 2027, whichever comes first. It describes active commercial Nicor customers and measure requirements. A hotel must still satisfy equipment, installation, documentation, and funding conditions for its actual project.

Domestic hot-water, steam-trap, and other gas-saving opportunities should be matched with the appropriate current application. Confirm whether a project uses a prescriptive rebate, custom incentive, or another pathway before starting work. Keep equipment specifications, invoices, installation date, account information, and any required approval in the capital file.

If the hotel electrifies a gas load, update both the gas contract forecast and the separate electric account analysis. Reduced therms can affect minimum-volume commitments or storage decisions even while electric demand grows. The Con Edison hotel guide, PSE&G hotel guide, and National Grid Massachusetts hotel guide provide comparisons for portfolios with other fuel and utility arrangements.

Broker compensation: Request written disclosure of any supplier-paid gas adder or direct fee, its therm or other billing units, calculation, and renewal or termination treatment. Include it consistently in the compared commodity scope and retain the disclosure with the contract, service-transition records, and storage reconciliation where applicable.