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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Wednesday, August 15, 2007 1:03 AM CDT
Blagojevich's review could delay electric bill rebates to consumers

By MIKE RIOPELL, JG/T-C Springfield Bureau
editorial@jg-tc.com

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s delay in acting on a plan to send Ameren and ComEd customers rebates for their power bills could mean that the money might not go out as early as planned.

When lawmakers approved rate relief legislation last month, the utilities said customers could start seeing the refunds beginning with their September bills.

But that assumed quick action from Blagojevich, who says he needs to review the plan thoroughly before making a decision.

Obviously, if Blagojevich vetoes the relief package, refunds won’t go out.

If the governor does eventually approve it but waits several more weeks to do so, some customers might not get refunds until October, said Ameren spokesman Shelley Epstein.

Ameren has said it can start sending refund checks two weeks after Blagojevich approves the plan. If he doesn’t do that until the beginning of September, people who get their power bills early in the month likely wouldn’t get refund checks until early October.

Epstein said the total amount a customer would be refunded for the year won’t change. A bulk of it would just come at a different time.

When asked if credits to ComEd customers’ bills could be delayed, a company spokeswoman said only that they respect Blagojevich’s right to review the legislation.

Epstein said Ameren could soon offer a feature on its Web site to show individual customers how much they’ll eventually get back.

“So folks will be able to know that,” he said.

Still, the rate package won’t be a done deal until Blagojevich acts.

Lawmakers and others called on him to do so before Aug. 3. A critical Ameren contract expired that day, meaning future rates could go up further. Now, Ameren customers will pay $16 million more over the next five years, according to the attorney general’s office.

Ameren Illinois President Scott Cisel said the new contract expires again Friday, at which point a new price could be negotiated again. That means future rates could go higher or lower, depending on the market.

“It certainly could, or stay the same,” Cisel said.

Mike Riopell can be reached at mike.riopell@lee.net or (217) 789-0865.

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