Legislation to regulate municipal power agencies on hold, but conversations continue

In an attempt to regulate Illinois’ municipal power agencies, a few of which have come under recent scrutiny by suburban residents for their coal-dense electric portfolios, one legislative proposal would require the organizations to regularly conduct transparent energy planning.

While most people in northern Illinois are ComEd customers, residents of several towns get their electricity from the local agencies, including Naperville, Batavia, St. Charles and Geneva. As a result of long-term contracts the agencies have with major coal plants, the towns get as much as 100% of their electricity from the emission-dirty power source.

That’s a stark contrast from the state’s overall electricity generation, which amounted to 52% nuclear, 21% coal and 14% renewables such as wind and solar in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Advocates say the bill would open the door for ratepayers to have more of a say in their energy supply, but with crucial deadlines in the state legislature already passed, sponsor Rep. Janet Yang Rohr of Naperville says the bill does not have a future this session — in part because the legislation has already made strides.

“This particular bill has been very helpful in making sure that all the stakeholders are coming to the table,” Rohr said. “For now, at least with my bill, that dialogue and that exchange of information is going at a good pace so at this point we don’t need to move my bill forward.”

Rohr added the bill’s language, which is also included in a companion Senate bill, can be moved “if we feel like we need to be more direct.”

Despite not gaining substantial traction in Springfield, the bill has prompted towns such as Batavia to consider its contents, namely its requirement that municipal utilities file integrated resource plans with the state every three years.

The process would involve assessing demand and supply resources to meet electricity needs at the lowest cost, while meeting reliability requirements, evaluating how energy markets and prices are going to evolve and managing that risk moving forward. Most states require the practice, including Illinois, but that mandate does not extend to electric cooperatives, municipal power agencies or municipal utilities like Batavia.

Batavia City Council voted earlier this month to formally oppose the legislation, citing concerns over loss of local control as well as the cost of putting together the extensive plan.

In a follow-up discussion this week, council members expressed support for pursuing a plan to address potential changes to their power supply — on their own terms.

“I think we need to plan for things in the future and we need to think about, ‘Are our rates at the right point to be able to handle the infrastructure changes we’re going to have, to handle the plant shutdown, to handle the costs we’re going to have for things in the future as we change over from the power supply that we have now to basically an open market?’ How are we going handle that?” council member Alan Wolff said. “There’s a lot of questions that are still out there, and I think we all have to be willing to realize that that’s going to be stuff we’re going to have to answer. I just feel like for me, with the other stuff that we opposed before, it was being forced to be told when we had to do that (and) how we had to do that.”

The council’s full April 9 discussion can be found at youtube.com/@BATV1017.

Batavia’s power supplier, the Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency, gets 100% of its power from the Prairie State Energy Campus coal plant in southwestern Illinois. Because Batavia is locked into an agreement with the agency until 2056, its hands are tied in several ways until the contract runs its course or the plant closes.

For Batavia resident Susan Russo, transparency is key in tackling the complex issue.

In addition to integrated resource planning, Yang Rohr’s legislation also broached the topic of transparency. The bill would require at least four public meetings before and after the submission of an integrated resource plan to collect comments. It would also limit the reasons for which a municipal utility or power agency would be allowed to hold closed meetings.

“Because of the public involvement, this transparency issue is really coming to a forefront,” said Russo, a retired attorney and clean-energy advocate. “Right now, both (Illinois Municipal Energy Agency) and (Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency) conduct most of their decision-making processes behind closed doors.”

For many residents, the legislation is only the latest development in what has been a yearslong concern with their towns’ energy portfolios. And for municipalities who get their power from the Illinois Municipal Energy Agency, including St. Charles and Naperville, a pivotal contract renewal with the supplier approaches.

The municipalities, which are already locked into a contract until 2035, have until next year to respond to a 10- to 15-year contract extension with the agency. Community activists who are concerned the contract could be signed at anytime are urging their city councils to slow down and carefully consider the extension.

“What we're looking for is a plan that will take us away from 80% coal sooner than 2050 or even 2035. We want to see that change, and we want to be involved in the decision making,” St. Charles resident Debi Mader said. “It's the public power, and as a resident here, I want to have a space. I want to at least be informed of what the plans are, and it's very hard to see plans right now.”

• Jenny Whidden is a climate change and environment writer working with the Daily Herald through a partnership with Report For America supported by The Nature Conservancy. To help support her work with a tax-deductible donation, see dailyherald.com/rfa.