* I’m hearing the electric utility rate relief negotiations produced about a billion dollars over four years with people getting actual refund checks. Some sort of Illinois Power Authority language, which would allow the state to build power plants, is also close to fruition, but could turn out to be a snag…
After meeting privately for about three hours Thursday to discuss Illinois’ problem with soaring electricity rates, top utility company executives and Democratic legislative leaders said little other than that they made “substantial progress.”
The sketchy description nonetheless caused some lawmakers and others who have closely monitored the electricity issue to express guarded optimism that a resolution is just around the corner.
* Officially, all anyone would say yesterday is this…
“We made substantial progress,” said House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.
“Substantial progress has been made, and we’re encouraged by that,” Ameren Illinois President Scott Cisel said.
“We made substantial progress to get the issues resolved,” said Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago.
That sentiment has been uttered for months as lawmakers work to convince the utilities to compensate Ameren and ComEd customers to make up for the power rate hikes that began Jan. 1.
“I look for negotiations to keep on going,” state Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, said March 30. “I am all for them.”
* Crain’s…
Neither Mr. Madigan nor Mr. Jones would elaborate much, but sources close to the matter said the utilities offered about $1 billion in rate relief, twice as much as had been on the table previously.
Some of that money reportedly would come from Exelon, and some from ComEd, its wholly owned Chicago-area subsidiary.
Talks to finalize the deal may continue later Thursday, sources said.
The lack of a deal has been a key factor in preventing lawmakers from concentrating on a second series of disputes over a fiscal 2008 state budget. If the utility matter indeed is completed, odds will increase of a deal on the budget deal, too.