By Greg Halbleib

BLOOMINGTON – State Representative Dan Brady said a bill that passed a House committee to help Exelon keep its nuclear power plants in Clinton and the Quad Cities open is not in its final form, but the company is optimistic enough to put its closing plans on hold.

“The companies have said if they can get something they would extend the period in which they said they would close those two plants,” Brady told WJBC’s Patti Penn. “They’re holding and waiting for the Illinois General Assembly and hopefully there are positive results for everybody involved that we can come up with.”

Exelon had announced plans to close the Clinton plant in June 2017.

Exelon agreed to eliminate its request for demand-based rates to help refine the bill to something that will benefit the company as well as protect consumers from large rate increases.

Brady said the bill to help Exelon keep its nuclear power plants open had become bloated.

“It’s something that blossomed into about a 400-page bill when we’re trying to have a measure that deals solely with giving help to the companies that’s needed,” Brady said.

Brady said the current bill that passed out of committee was pared down enough to focus on what it might take to keep the plants open.