GOV SIGNS BILL TO SPARE 2 NUCLEAR PLANTS
Gov signs massive energy bill that spares 2 nuclear plants
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday signed a massive energy bill, hailed as a way to save thousands of jobs while capping energy rates — just as ComEd announced it would pack on a $ 2 per month delivery rate increase.
The bill Rauner signed into law will immediately reduce monthly payments per customer by $ 1.18 next year. But ComEd also announced on Wednesday that it would add an annual delivery rate increase beginning in January, as part of its Smart Grid program to modernize ComEd’s infrastructure.
Delivery rates aside, there will still be savings based on the passage of the bill.
In 2017, customers will see dips in their bills based on savings from the change in energy efficiency program spending, according to an analysis conducted by the Illinois Commerce Commission. After five years, the analysis shows, rates would go up by 8 cents per customer per month, based on that reduced spending level.
But a separate analysis by the Citizens Utility Board factors in the impact of energy efficiency. By 2022, when the commission’s report shows a small bump, customers will already see bill savings due to energy efficiency efforts, which should equate to a savings of about $ 2 per customer a month, according to CUB.
The Illinois Commerce Commission study was used in negotiations with Rauner’s administration. And the governor and his staff helped ensure a rate cap increase of 25 cents a month for residential customers of ComEd and Ameren for 13 years. It also limits increases on commercial customers to a 1.3 percent increase over last year’s rates.
ComEd will present annual numbers each year to the Illinois Commerce Commission, which may cause the costs to fluctuate, but the rate impact will be capped at 25 cents, per the agreement.
The bill was a rare bipartisan success during the fall veto session — as a budget war rages on.
“Could we have a few more days like these please? This is good,” Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno said at Riverdale High School in Port Byron, alongside Rauner on Wednesday at one of two bill- signing events.
Rauner said the bill was “tough” to pass, with “a lot of fighting going on and a lot of different points of view.” But he said it’s a sign that bipartisan compromise can be attained when partisan differences are put aside.
“I refused to gamble on thousands of good- paying jobs. I refused to gamble on the future of the communities in the Quad Cities in central Illinois, and I refused to gamble on the energy diversity options for the people of Illinois,” Rauner said. “That’s why I fought to make this bill happen.”
The controversial part of the bill includes subsidies of more than $ 200 million a year to keep the Clinton and Quad Cities Exelon nuclear plants open, while also saving 1,500 jobs for those who operated the plants. It would implement a zero emission credit program for those nuclear power plants, while keeping those open.
Utilities would get $ 235 million annually from customers for the nuclear power plant subsidy, which rewards the companies for not emitting greenhouse gases. It would allow ComEd to spend $ 400 million a year on energy efficiency, which is about $ 160 million more than it currently spends.
The bill also allows large industrial energy users not to have to pay for energy efficiency programs anymore, a rate cut of almost $ 500 million, which was asked for by Rauner.
Besides the plants, it’s being called the “biggest clean energy breakthrough in the state’s history” by environmental and consumer groups. Those advocates say 70 percent of the bill is focused on renewable energy efforts, and that it will bring $ 12 billion to $ 15 billion in renewable energy capital investment to the state.
The complexity of the large bill, which has evolved over two years, has led to its fair share of opponents, such as the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association.
“Illinois manufacturers have lost nearly 10,000 good, highpaying jobs in the past year while our neighboring states are growing. Building a guaranteed electric rate hike into state law and reversing twenty years of deregulation is not the answer to get our economy booming again,” the group said in a statement.