Power Politics

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I really don’t get this whole electric rate freeze thing. This SJ-R article raises more questions for me than it answers. The way I understand it, the state froze electric rates 10 years ago and now that freeze is going to expire. The utilities want top take advantage of this and dramatically raise rates. State officials and lawmakers (and consumers) want no such thing to happen. State officials and lawmakers (and consumers) want to extend the freeze. The utilities don’t want it extended.

OK, I got all that. And count me in as not wanting to pay a ton more for electricity (even though I will anyway because I’m a CWLP customer and am unaffected by this whole debate). But how can rates be frozen indefinitely without the utilities getting to a point where they are losing money? Are they losing money now? The utilities say they are. But Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan says the electric companies are making “record profits”. So which is it?

The problem seems to be that a deregulation measure passed 10 years ago has failed to generate competition among the utilities so they still hold monopolies in most areas, therefore the need for regulation. How was all this handled before the 1997 deregulation took effect? How ‘bout we go back to that.