Environmentalists worry that aggregation will hurt
renewables
Nov 8 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Julie Wernau
Chicago Tribune
The exodus of customers from Commonwealth Edison has
environmental groups clamoring to change a law that requires
ComEd customers to pay for renewable energy development.
By law, 25 percent of Illinois' electricity must come from
wind, solar and other renewable resources by 2025. But the
customer base expected to help pay for energy from those sources
is shrinking dramatically as a result of aggregation.
When the first long-term renewable contracts were signed in
2010, ComEd supplied 99 percent of the residential customers in
the Chicago region. ComEd expects that figure to drop to 28
percent by mid-2013.
With fewer customers, ComEd says it may have to cut back the
amount of power from the wind and solar farms it committed to
under long-term contracts. Otherwise, the utility claims, bills
could spike by more than 2 percent, which is disallowed under
the law. What's more, the dwindling customer base would shoulder
a larger share of the cost burden.
Alternative suppliers pay into a separate fund established in
2010 to pay for long-term renewable energy contracts. The state
has borrowed from that fund, and as a result, the agency that
procures electricity has not tapped it to add renewable power to
its purchases.
On Wednesday, the agency said the state has paid back its
borrowings, and that it intends to use that money in the coming
year as a cushion so that developers can be made whole if ComEd
cuts back on its commitments under the long-term contracts. But
wind and solar power developers are leery. They say the risk of
additional state borrowings dampens future wind and solar
development because no one wants to enter into a contract with
no guarantee there will be money in the fund.
jwernau@tribune.com
Twitter @littlewern