May 30, 2007 11:29 pm US/Central
State House Passes Electric Rate Freeze
New Plan Would Evaluate Utility Regulation Policies
CBS 2's Mike Flannery and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) ―
State leaders voted Wednesday night to freeze ComEd rates, which could lead to a big relief for customers when summer cooling bills kick in. The measure rolls back rates to last year's level and freezes them for another three years.
As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, with the electric rate roll-back measure now headed to the State Senate floor for final action, consumer advocates were jubilant.
"Certainly today was a great step forward," said David Kolata, executive director of the Consumer Energy Board. "The fact of the matter is there's been an outpouring of opposition to these rate hikes across the state and for good reason."
A House committee on Wednesday approved 5-4 along partisan lines a sweeping plan to roll back rates to 2006 levels, freeze them for a year and charge energy producers a tax to pay for the price reductions.
The plan also would fire the Illinois Commerce Commission members who approved the higher rates and create a new Illinois Power Authority to oversee power buying and eventually power production.
The utilities complained it would destroy the industry, and ComEd President Frank Clark called the idea "pure lunacy."
Executives of ComEd warn the bill could bankrupt their company and, they said, they would cancel rate relief programs that have been offered to the poor.
"I think what customers need to know is the rate freeze is really not the answer here," said Robert McDonald, senior vice president of ComEd. "At the end of the day, whether we fight it in court, or end up in bankruptcy court, the customers are not going to see the benefits of what they think they are going to see."
"What they said is if you pass a freeze bill, they will pull their $500 million off the table," said Sen. Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete). "So what I said, and what we were agreeing to, was let's give our customers and our constituents relief now, and let Lisa Madigan, the attorney general, continue to work on her case."
But the bill's sponsor says it could be a good way for lawmakers to force the utilities to offer a larger rate relief package for consumers.
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