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Share costs of smart grid
September 18, 2011, Chicago—Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn made good last week on his promise to veto “smart grid” legislation that would have led to a decade of energy rate increases for consumers.
Northwest Herald Editorial The smart grid system would allow for installation of “smart meters” that would gauge energy use by measuring its consumption several times a second. The meters would communicate their readings to the power grid, allowing companies to increase or decrease power generation accordingly.
You can read the full version of this editorial on The Northwest Herald'swebsite.
The upgrade would improve Illinois’ environment, business climate, and reduce the long-term burden on the state’s power consumers, who would save 10 percent on their bills in the first year and 15 percent the second year, according to ComEd.
But the governor made the right call in vetoing the measure, which put too much of the upfront burden on consumers to fund the $2.6 billion capital project. The hope is that this veto is not the end of the project, but a start of new discussions on how the utilities and consumers should share the cost, as well as the scope of the work. The way Illinois’ utilities produce electricty, monitor its comsumption, and deliver it to homes all are in need of improvement. The widespread outages throughout the summer are indication enough of that. What is needed is a plan that calls for utilities to shoulder some of the burden to implement the smart grid. It also should require improvements in the state’s power delivery system, which, as we all learned the hard way after this summer’s derecho windstorm, is susceptible to prolonged outages. The smart grid plan has the potential to save consumers money. Utilities ComEd and downstate Ameren estimate that it would save ComEd customers $2.8 billion over 20 years. It is worth resurrecting. Instead of seeking to round up four more votes in the Illinois House and five more in the Senate to override Quinn’s veto, the utilities should work to come up with a plan that calls for them to accept a fairer share of the risk inherent in such a large project. It also should reflect the reality that improved infrastructure should be part of any multibillion-dollar upgrade to the system. Tweet |