By Cole Lauterbach/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – An environmental group will ask the state to reconsider allowing power company Ameren to have lower standards in complying with Illinois’ new green-energy initiative.
The Future Energy Jobs Act that went into effect in June required the Illinois Commerce Commission to approve the state’s two major power companies’ plans to become more energy efficient and lower utility costs. Ameren’s plan was approved with lower standards than ComEd because Ameren’s mostly rural customers couldn’t be served efficiently enough to still make a profit.
The Environmental Defense Fund will request that the ICC rehear the proposal in October.
Christie Hicks, EDF Manager of Clean Energy Regulatory Implementation, said Ameren isn’t doing enough to meet the new law’s green energy standards.
“Ameren’s customers are going to lose out on benefits that Ameren promised just last December,” she said. “They were already behind [ComEd] in their commitments and then they come to the ICC and say, ‘We can’t meet these targets after all. We need to have them lowered.'”
Ameren officials said they are still committed to lowering their customers’ costs by 16 percent by 2030.
“Ameren Illinois’ energy efficiency programs are ranked among the most effective in the United States,” said Richard J. Mark, chairman and president of Ameren Illinois. “The plan approved by the ICC will give us an opportunity to build on this success while providing needed energy efficiency assistance to our moderate-to-low income customers.”
If the commission declines to rehear the issue, the EDF can then file suit with the court of appeals.
