ComEd customers will get $4.80 bribery scandal refunds in April
The average household ratepayer in northern Illinois will get a $4.80 credit on their electric bill next April in recompense for ComEd's nine-year-long bribery scheme.
The Illinois Commerce Commission unanimously approved ComEd's $31 million offer to settle the issue of how much ratepayers should be refunded for the scheme, aimed at currying favor with then-House Speaker Michael Madigan. ComEd is adding another $7 million under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission jurisdiction, so the total refund is $38 million.
Multiple laws Madigan shepherded through the legislature from 2011 to 2016 resulted in hundreds of millions of additional revenue to ComEd. They included the formula-rate authority that allowed ComEd to increase delivery rates with minimal oversight by the ICC. That authority expires after this year.