County board wants to hear from CUB on ComEd proposal
Kane County Board members pledged Monday to hear from opponents of a $2.6 billion infrastructure plan by ComEd before deciding if the board should endorse the plan.
ComEd staff appeared before the county board’s Legislative Committee for a second round of questions that revealed most concerns by county board members relate back to the financial impact on consumers.
The immediate impact would be an electric bill that costs about $3 more per month for the average customer. ComEd also has pending requests for a $326 million rate increase and a $35 million request for money to finance pilot programs that would help low-income residents pay their electric bills. All combined, the impact to consumers would add about $5.25 to an average monthly bill. State lawmakers are reviewing all the proposals in the current legislative session.
Several Legislative Committee members said they want a better feel for how the plan will raise electricity bills for their specific constituents. Board member Cristina Castro said she wants to hear from the Citizens Utility Board and the Illinois attorney general’s office on why they oppose the plan. She said she wants to know what to tell her constituents when they complain about their bills going up.
“I’m very sensitive to utility costs right now,” Castro said. “It’s a tough economy. You’re asking people to pay more money here. A lot of people are getting foreclosed on, and you’ve got to take care of your senior citizens in this.”
Legislative Committee members all favored at least the idea of the infrastructure upgrades. Those upgrades would create a “smart grid” with “smart meters” to provide better information to consumers about their electricity usage and how to decrease bills. The plan would also create what ComEd officials described as 2,000 mostly-permanent jobs in Illinois. That’s perhaps the most appealing part of the plan to county board members.
“We’re talking about job creation in Illinois,” Committee Chairman Jesse Vazquez said. “We ought to take a position on this through the Kane County Board because the plan will have a great impact on Illinois.”
ComEd will likely take its pitch to the full county board via the Committee of the Whole next. Opponents of the plan are expected to speak at that time as well before the board takes a position. It’s also possible the county’s lobbying firm, Raucci & Sullivan Strategies, LLC could chime in. The firm represents both the county’s and ComEd’s interests in Springfield. The firm was supposed to be eliminated from the county payroll in the last round of budget talks. County finance reports from March 2 show the firm has submitted seven invoices to the county this year totaling $14,417.