Say 'no' to electric rate freeze, 'yes' to relief package

Pantagraph Editorial Board
May 31, 2007

The initial boost in electric bills that followed the end of the rate freeze in January was felt most by those who heated their homes with electricity.

But the number of people in that category is small compared to those who rely on electricity to cool their homes in summer.

People need relief - from the heat and from the hit on their billfolds.

But they don't need an extended rate freeze.

Reinstituting the rate freeze would be a short-term, short-sighted solution, at best.

And it wouldn't even be much of a solution, considering the inevitable lawsuits that would delay its implementation.

Instead, the Legislature should reject the idea of a renewed rate freeze and accept the proposal from Ameren and Commonwealth Edison for a reported $500 million in rate relief.

Details of the rate-relief package haven't been fully revealed as negotiations continue between the utilities and legislative leaders.

The amount of the latest proposal, after an initial offer of only $150 million in rate relief, calls into question whether the utilities are as close to bankruptcy without a rate hike as they want people to believe. It also raises the issue of whether a better deal could be arranged.

But there isn't time to play any more games and risk losing the latest offer. The end of the legislative session and beginning of full-scale air-conditioning season are too close.

The Legislature should have addressed this issue long ago, not months after the new rates took effect.

Even if the rate-relief package is accepted, the Legislature's work isn't over. Lawmakers need to look for longer-term solutions, including a review of whether to re-institute limited regulation or find a different avenue, instead of the so-called reverse auction method, for determining prices paid by electric distributors to electric generators.

When the rate freeze was instituted as part of a deregulation plan, the expectation was that competition would materialize by the time the freeze ended. That hasn't happened, at least for residential and small-scale commercial customers.

And it never will materialize as long as the Legislature talks about rate freezes and taxes on electricity producers.

Illinois needs reliable, reasonably priced and adequate electricity service to maintain and help its economy grow.

Playing political games will not accomplish that; neither will one person - Senate President Emil Jones - blocking action on a compromise.

This is what happens when our elected officials don't do their jobs. Unfortunately, Illinois residents are the ones who must pay the price for legislative inaction.

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