By: Diane Benjamin
One day residents are told they have to opt out of electric aggregation 40% rate increases by May 7th. Now WGLT is reporting via the Ecology Action Center (EAC) residents should wait and maybe opt out later: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-04-29/ecology-action-centers-advice-wait-and-see-about-electric-rates
Meanwhile Corn Belt Electric customers won’t have the huge increases – unless the State of Illinois takes away their rights.
Illinois Country Living has this story in their latest magazine: https://icl.coop/advocating-for-rural-illinois/
This magazine is created by Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives and mailed to Corn Belt customers.
Current Springfield bills according to the story:
For example, House Bill 3779 and Senate Bill 2473 would take local control away from cooperatives, instead giving oversight authority of power generation resources to the Illinois Power Agency and rate-setting authority for distributed generation to the Illinois Commerce Commission. These bills would deny cooperatives the flexibility to plan for sustainability in the long-term future and ultimately increase consumer-members’ rates.
Anther quote:
Cooperative leaders also advocated for rural Illinois by opposing House Bill 3322, which forces electric cooperatives to implement one-size-fits-all solar net-metering policies, eliminating transparency, denying consumer-members a say and giving control to the Illinois Commerce Commission. Cooperatives and municipal utilities have put in place net-metering policies that ensure consumer-members who self-generate receive reasonable value for excess electricity, while at the same time keeping scales balanced for consumer-members who do not.
The only reason Illinois would consider any bills regulating coops is to increase the cost to consumers.
Go back to the WGLT story. EAC wants Ameren customers to subscribe to a community solar program. EAC wants you to stay in aggregation and pay 40% more.
People can’t wait to leave Illinois – for good reason.
The higher the rates, the higher the associated taxes and fees to Gov. Prickster’s broken State of Hellinois. Not to mention the fact that old jelly belly is a big fan of feudalism as long as his oversized posterior sits in the castle. Provided for those who ask, “But it makes no sense why would they do this?”
The party who governs for citizens isn’t the democrats