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Skeptical governor won't be rushed to sign electric-rate relief bill

Posted August 03, 2007 11:00 pm

Adriana Colindres

Rejecting pleas from lawmakers, a utility company executive and the Illinois attorney general, Gov. Rod Blagojevich did not act Friday on the $1 billion electric-rate relief plan that awaits his signature.

At a public appearance in Quincy Friday afternoon, the Democratic governor spoke briefly about the electric-rate legislation. He did not say if or when he would sign the bill into law.

"I met someone not too long ago in southern Illinois who told me that his electric bill went from $100 a month to $300 a month when Ameren decided to raise rates," Blagojevich said in audio posted on the Web site of Illinois Information Service Radio, an arm of state government.

"Now, the agreement that was passed provides for about $12 in relief to the average Ameren customer. So that means that that fellow, who's paying $200 more for his electric bill, at best might only end up paying $188 more, and so the question is: Is that the best possible deal we can get for people?"

When asked later how the governor arrived at those figures, Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said, "It's based on averages, based on the legislation that was sent to us."

But Shelley Epstein, a spokesman for the Ameren Illinois utilities, said he is "not quite sure what the governor is talking about."

"His math is not right," Epstein added. "People who had the largest increases will get the most relief."

Ameren has said that all of its residential customers will see a minimum credit of $100 in 2007, which breaks down to a little more than $8 a month.

Epstein said the customers who are in line for $100 credits saw their power bills go up by just $150 annually. A customer whose bill increased by $200 a month should see "substantially more" in relief, he said.

State lawmakers have been hearing for months from angry constituents about their power bills, which skyrocketed this year - sometimes doubling and tripling - because of the expiration of a long-standing rate freeze.

The $1 billion rate-relief plan surfaced after months of negotiating among various parties, including lawmakers, utility company officials and Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office. Blagojevich's office didn't participate in the talks.

One component of the rate-relief agreement will reduce the size of the rate increases that customers experience for the next few years, even though they still will be paying more than in 2006.

On Thursday, legislators, Ameren Illinois president Scott Cisel and Madigan's office publicly called on the governor to sign the legislation into law by the end of the day Friday. After that, they said, a five-year contract between Ameren Illinois and Ameren Energy Generating to buy power at locked-in prices would expire.

Part of the electric-rate relief deal called for long-term contracts - one between Ameren Illinois and Ameren Energy Generating, and the other between Commonwealth Edison and power generator Exelon. The idea behind the contracts is to try to keep future electricity costs as low as possible for consumers, Madigan has said.

The ComEd/Exelon contract has a later deadline: Sept. 3.

The governor's office maintains that consumers won't be harmed if he takes time to review thoroughly the complicated electricity legislation.

"There is nothing magic about any particular date" except for the 60-day period the governor may use to decide on any piece of legislation once it reaches his desk, Marty Cohen, Blagojevich's director of consumer affairs, said Thursday.

But Madigan spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler said Friday the governor's decision not to sign the legislation means "consumers will have to pay a higher price for electricity during the next five years." Since the Ameren contract was finalized, the market price of electricity has increased steadily, she added.

Adriana Colindres can be reached at (217) 782-6292 or adriana.colindres@sj-r.com.

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