Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) on Wednesday signed into law the Future Energy Jobs Bill, an energy subsidy package intended to stave off closures at Exelon’s Quad Cities Generating Station and the Clinton Power Station.
“The Future Energy Jobs bill protects taxpayers, ratepayers, and the good-paying jobs at the Clinton and Quad Cities’ plants,” Rauner said in a statement Wednesday. “This bill ensures we don’t gamble with thousands of good paying jobs and gamble with our energy diversity. Thank you to those who negotiated in good faith to help make this bill a reality, and most importantly, thank you to the people of Quad Cities and Clinton for your persistence, your patience and hard work.”
The bill, which will take effect June 1, was introduced in the Illinois General Assembly during its fall veto session. It establishes a zero-emission standard similar to the energy subsidies recently adopted in New York state. The subsidy for the two plants could amount to $235 million per year, according to the Chicago Tribune. The package is set to expire in 2030.
Critics of the bill, including the Illinois Manufacturers Association and state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, have said the package is an unnecessary bailout that will put billions of dollars into the pockets of a profitable company. Exelon, citing economic hardship, last summer announced that without significant financial assistance it would shutter Clinton in June 2017 and Quad Cities in June 2018, estimating the plants had lost about $800 million in the previous six years. The company failed last spring to push a corresponding energy package through the General Assembly.
“This historic legislation will protect the state’s primary source of clean energy while saving thousands of good jobs at our plants and providing millions of dollars in low-income assistance, as well as job training in communities that need it most,” Exelon President and CEO Chris Crane said in a statement Wednesday. “We appreciate the leadership of Governor Rauner and legislative leaders for their roles in positioning Illinois to be a national leader in clean energy, job growth and economic development.”
The bill’s approval was set up last week by an agreement between Exelon and Rauner that included capping energy rate increases for businesses at 1.3 percent, compared to 2015 rates. According to the Chicago Tribune, the new legislation will cost customers of Exelon subsidiary ComEd anywhere from an extra 25 cents to $4.54 more a month.
This is the second major piece of state legislation that Exelon has successfully lobbied for. In New York, the company won approval for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard, which is projected to pay upstate nuclear power plant operators nearly $8 billion in energy subsidies over the program’s lifetime. Exelon stands to collect on all subsidies, as it has reached an agreement to purchase New York’s third upstate nuclear power plant, the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant, from Entergy for $110 million. The New York Public Service Commission, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have approved the deal, which still requires authorization from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Department of Justice.
