Lawmakers, labor, low-income advocates,
community leaders, and local energy businesses voice support for
proposed legislation
Exelon Generation and ComEd announced today the pending filing
in Springfield of the Next Generation Energy Plan, a bill with
strong bipartisan, labor, and community support that would drive
Illinois’ clean energy future while saving and creating jobs and
strengthening the state’s economy.
The bill grew out of discussions between Exelon Generation,
ComEd, the Clean Jobs Coalition, and other stakeholders in the year
since all three entities supported separate energy legislation in
Springfield in early 2015. The bill introduced today contains
significant parts of all three original bills, as well as new
elements reflecting concerns and objectives expressed by these
stakeholders and others that emerged in the course of more than
eight months of ongoing discussions.
One key new element in the Next Generation Energy Plan is the
shift to a Zero Emission Standard – a targeted and innovative
solution that is focused specifically on at-risk nuclear plants.
The Zero Emission Standard addresses stakeholder concerns by
requiring full review of plants’ costs by state regulators and by
ensuring that only those plants that can demonstrate that revenues
are insufficient to cover their costs and operating risk will be
entitled to receive compensation. Other key new elements include a
near doubling of energy efficiency programs in northern Illinois,
$140 million in new funding for solar development, and a new solar
rebate to incent solar generation in a smarter way than current
policies.
While not all issues have been resolved in the course of
discussions, these new provisions reflect the clear response of
Exelon Generation and ComEd leaders to the concerns and desires of
environmental stakeholders and consumer advocates, resulting in a
strong package of benefits for Illinois consumers to be considered
by the General Assembly this spring.
The Next Generation Energy Plan includes provisions that:
- Nearly double energy efficiency
programs, creating $4.1 billion in energy savings, or the
equivalent of taking 18 million cars off the road
- Commit $1 billion of funding for
low-income assistance, mostly through energy efficiency
- Jumpstart solar energy in Illinois with
rebates and more than $140 million per year in new funding for
solar development
- Strengthen and expand the Renewable
Portfolio Standards to provide stable, predictable funding for
renewable development
- Introduce a Zero Emission Standard that
will make Illinois one of the first states to recognize the
zero-carbon benefits of nuclear power. By keeping the state’s
at-risk, zero-carbon nuclear facilities operating, the Zero
Emission Standard creates economic and environmental benefits
outweighing its costs by a factor of 8 to 1. The Zero Emission
Standard:
- Saves 4,200 jobs in Illinois
- Prevents large increases in electric
rates
- Preserves over $1.2 billion in economic
activity annually
- Prevents a dramatic increase in carbon
emissions
- Reduce the fixed customer charge for
energy delivery by 50% and create more equitable rates, giving
customers more control over their bills
- Create thousands of new clean energy
jobs through energy efficiency programs, energy innovation, and
renewable energy
- Enhance the reliability and security of
the power grid
“In a time when social services are at risk, helping Illinois
residents with their energy bills is more important than ever,”
said Reverend Walter Turner, Pastor, New Spiritual Light Missionary
Baptist Church. “I support this legislation because of its $1B in
programs for low-income communities and provisions to jumpstart
solar and green jobs in a smart, sustainable way in our state.
“Thousands of people across Illinois are gainfully employed at
our state’s six nuclear energy facilities, but those jobs are at
risk,” said Dean Apple, President, International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers Local 15. “While also providing for new clean
jobs through energy efficiency and new funding for solar, this
legislation would rescue our struggling nuclear plants from being
shut down and protect the jobs and other economic benefits that
they generate for Illinois, including the large role they have
played in Illinois holding the national record for the lowest
percentage increase in electricity rates since 1997.”
“We are excited to see progress on much needed legislation
resulting from months of discussion between many stakeholders who
are committed to implementing policy that will lead to significant
development of solar power in Illinois,” said Brent Anderson,
Wanxiang New Energy, a solar company in Rockford. “We believe the
legislation contains several innovative solutions and we applaud
the intent to move forward on the development of a more robust
renewable portfolio standard in Illinois.”
“I don’t want Illinois electricity prices to go up and I want to
see Illinois build upon our clean energy leadership. I’m backing
the Next Generation Energy Plan because it will provide
opportunities for consumers to save on their energy bills, protect
and create good-paying jobs, and boost our economy,” said Senator
Donne Trotter. “It also will deliver a cleaner, greener and more
secure energy future for Illinois while providing significant
funding for struggling families and ensuring the continued
operation of our nuclear fleet.”
“An exciting new part of this bill is an innovative Zero
Emission Standard that will create a level playing field for all
clean energy sources to compete. This bill directly addresses two
concerns about the previously introduced low carbon portfolio
standard, namely that the LCPS was not targeted at the challenged
plants and that there was not sufficient transparency around
plants’ costs. The program introduced in today’s bill only
compensates financially challenged plants after a full and complete
review of costs by the experts at the Illinois Commerce Commission
and the Illinois Power Agency,” said Joe Dominguez, executive vice
president, Governmental and Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy,
Exelon. “The Zero Emission Standard will preserve Illinois’ at-risk
nuclear energy facilities, which serve as economic engines for the
state and communities in which they operate, maintain the
reliability of the grid, and avoid substantial amounts of carbon
emissions.”
“We’ve listened and responded to key environmental and consumer
advocates to develop comprehensive legislation that incorporates
policy solutions that will benefit all of our customers, while
creating innovative pathways to a sustainable future,” said Fidel
Marquez, senior vice president, government and external affairs,
ComEd. “This plan delivers significant energy efficiency, a major
expansion of solar power, a more secure grid, and important
programs for our most vulnerable customers and communities.”
“The livelihoods, the social programs, and the overall
well-being of my community and many other communities, where
nuclear power plants have been a good neighbor, are secured for the
future by this legislation and its Zero Emission Standard,” said
Clinton Administrator Tim Followell. “Our families and our way of
life will be devastated if the Illinois General Assembly fails to
act and act now on this important legislation.”
The group today said it would work with the General Assembly to
file a bill that could be passed before the end of this spring
session, to generate immediate benefits for Illinois families and
preserve clean energy jobs. The group estimates the legislation
would have a modest impact of 25 cents per month on the average
ComEd residential customer bill, while providing for the economic,
environmental, and societal impacts detailed above.
For more information, visit www.comed.com/energyplan or
www.nuclearpowersillinois.com.
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based
Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation’s leading competitive
energy provider, with approximately 10 million customers. ComEd
provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across
northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population. For
more information visit ComEd.com, and connect with the company on
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), now including the Pepco Holdings
utilities, is the nation’s leading competitive energy provider,
with 2015 revenues of approximately $34.5 billion. Headquartered in
Chicago, Exelon does business in 48 states, the District of
Columbia and Canada. Exelon is one of the largest competitive U.S.
power generators, with more than 32,700 megawatts of owned capacity
comprising one of the nation’s cleanest and lowest-cost power
generation fleets. The company’s Constellation business unit
provides energy products and services to approximately 2 million
residential, public sector and business customers, including more
than two-thirds of the Fortune 100. Exelon’s six utilities deliver
electricity and natural gas to approximately 10 million customers
in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, New
Jersey and Pennsylvania through its Atlantic City Electric, BGE,
ComEd, Delmarva Power, PECO and Pepco subsidiaries. Follow Exelon
on Twitter @Exelon.
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ComEdAnnette Martinez312-394-7917orExelon
GenerationKrista Lopykinski630-657-3602
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