New Energy Future News

Illinois Passes Comprehensive Energy Reform Legislation

SPRINGFIELD, IL—With the clock winding down on the 2009 legislative session, the Illinois General Assembly stepped up by passing bold, comprehensive energy reform legislation Sunday night.   

The legislation—Senate Bill 1918—was the product of months of negotiations led by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office involving consumer groups, environmental groups, utilities, and industry associations.  The legislation does the following:  

Establishes bold new energy efficiency targets for Illinois natural gas utilities, resulting in a cumulative reduction of 8.6% of natural gas use by 2020;  

Creates an on-bill financing program for energy efficiency upgrades by utility customers;

Develops a “Percentage of Income Payment Program” (or “PIPP”) program for low-income utility customers;

Increases transparency and helps protect consumer interests through reforms aimed at relations between utilities and the Illinois Commerce Commission; 

Allows incremental bad debt adjustments annually to ensure customers pay the exact amount of bad debt a utility incurs. 

“The bold energy reforms contained in Senate Bill 1918 will help put Illinois on the path to a more sustainable energy future,” said Environment Illinois’s Brian Granahan, who testified before a House committee in favor of the bill.  “Most importantly, these reforms put our cleanest and cheapest energy resource—energy efficiency—ahead of simply procuring new supply to meet our energy demand.” 

Senate Bill 1918 began as a series of separate bills on discrete topics and evolved into a combined negotiation with all concepts being incorporated into a larger bill.  Led by Susan Hedman of the Illinois Attorney General’s office, the negotiations began in earnest in March and carried forward until mid-May, by which point there were no known opponents of the bill. 

Sponsored by Representative Bob Flider (D-Decatur), the bill passed by a 117-0-1 margin in the House on Thursday.  The bill moved to the Senate, where led by sponsor Senator Kimberly Lightford (D-Westchester), it passed by a 47-11 margin on Sunday night.  

With an unprecedented list of supporters—from Environment Illinois, Citizens Utility Board, and AARP to the Illinois Energy Association, Commonwealth Edison, and Ameren Illinois Utilities—the bill now moves to Governor Quinn’s desk, where the Governor is expected to sign the bill into law.    

The bill means great things for both Illinois consumers and Illinois’s environment.  According to an analysis by Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, the natural gas efficiency standards alone from this legislation will save Illinois ratepayers over $10 billion off utility bills and reduce CO₂ emissions by 53.27 million tons by 2030.