Last-minute Exelon subsidy plan goes to Illinois House floor

SPRINGFIELD - An Illinois House committee has endorsed a late-hour compromise on a monstrous energy plan originally designed to keep two unprofitable nuclear plants open.

The Energy Committee approved the deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually to Exelon Corp. on a 9-1 vote Wednesday night. It's readied for a House floor vote Thursday - the last day of the fall legislative session.

The plan provides about $235 million a year to Exelon for the carbon-free nuclear power it generates - similar to subsidies wind- and solar-energy industries get.

Critics call it a multibillion-dollar "bailout" to keep unnecessary nuclear plants in Clinton and the Quad Cities open.

The agreed-to deal caps possible rate increases for power customers. And it reduces rebates for efficient solar-energy programs.