23
Jun

Waiting on official veto of Illinois Smart Grid plan

categories Blog, Public Policy and Regulation

 
7 Comments

As of today, it still appears likely that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn will veto the so-called “ComEd bill” supported by Ameren and ComEd. Following passage in the state Senate, the Illinois House approved the proposal in a 67-47 vote, but that was four votes shy of a veto-proof majority. Governor Quinn has consistently said he will not support any proposal that “would guarantee profits for Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison Co. at the expense of customers.” The governor, a Democrat, officially has until late August to sign or veto the bill.

Here are the basics on the bill, officially referred to as SB 1652 (House Amendments 1, 2 and 3). It would allow Ameren and ComEd to automatically increase customers’ rates by 2.5 percent annually to pay for improvements to the state’s electric grid, which includes everything from basic repairs to poles and lines to cutting-edge technology, along with some hotly contested ancillary expenses. This would translate into an average bill increase for Ameren customers by $3.40 a month for 10 years, while ComEd would face a flat $3 monthly increase.

In turn, the companies would be required to invest a total of $3.2 billion over 10 years on a new power grid, new meters and new automatic technology. The measure also requires ComEd to create 2,000 new jobs and Ameren to create 450 jobs through the plan. If they do not meet those goals, they will be subject to fines.

In reference to the expected veto, a spokesperson for the governor indicated that Quinn believes there are more preferable ways to encourage greater investment on grid upgrades, but no specifics were offered.

Despite the legislative support, the Illinois Commerce Commission, as chaired by Doug Scott, voiced concern that the bill would erode regulatory oversight of the utilities’ spending, and open the door for the utilities to recover costs that typically are not passed on to customers.

There are a couple issues at play here given the likely veto that will come from Quinn: 1) an apparent resistance to deviate from standard rate increase proceedings to financially support smart grid (e.g. a rejection of this automatic rate increase proposal) and 2) major uncertainties about the future of the ComEd and Ameren smart grid projects if their funding plans are rejected.

By Will McNamara

Leave Comments
  1. Patricia Ewanski
    June 23, 2011 at 11:42 am

    Will, Thank you for keeping us to-to-date on this. It will be interesting to see how updates to a smart grid will take place…what will work and what won’t work in terms of furthering the realization of the smart grid. Thank you again!

  2. Scott
    June 23, 2011 at 2:08 pm

    Will,

    Senate President Cullerton filed a “motion to reconsider” on the bill, which means the bill has not been release and sent to the Governor. http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=1652&GAID=11&GA=97&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=57620&SessionID=84

    So Governor Quinn can not veto the bill until President Cullerton either withdraws the motion – or gets the Senate to vote on SB1652 again.

  3. Will McNamara
    June 24, 2011 at 10:12 am

    Patricia, thanks for your comment!

  4. Will McNamara
    June 24, 2011 at 10:19 am

    Scott, thanks for this update! You are correct–this motion from Senate President John Cullerton apparently occurred after I wrote this blog. My understanding of the current status of SB 1652 is that, by putting it on hold, all sides have more time to negotiate potential changes and the motion also prevents Quinn from immediately vetoing the measure. Upon further negotiation, the Illinois Legislature would then have 30 days to send the bill to Quinn, who would have 60 days to sign it or veto it. So it may be awhile before we see further activity on this measure, but I will continue to monitor developments. Thanks again for your contribution!

  5. Pingback: Illinois Smart Grid bill remains in limbo; New benefits calculations under scrutiny | Smart Grid Sherpa

  6. Pingback: Illinois Gov. rejects Smart Grid bill | Smart Grid Sherpa

  7. George
    September 3, 2012 at 5:25 pm

    Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, has got it right. There is no shortage of energy in america, many green energy projects can not come online or get canceled because of the antiquated and overburdened long haul power transmission lines. the smart Grid/AMI and smart meters is all about exploiting the hapless rate payer at the worst economic downturn of the country. another way of the plutocrats to push the little guy deeper into economic desperation, by giving them less energy to run their lives while you charge them more for the dribble they get to use.

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