Press Release: Nov 14, 2006 (12:37 pm)


More than 300 gather in Springfield to keep the lights on

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Members and supporters of Consumers Organized for Reliable Electricity (CORE), joined by representatives from Save Our (Electric) Service (SOS) and a variety of other organizations, rallied at the Old State Capitol today, urging legislators to keep the lights on.

CORE, SOS, and others, are working to protect Illinois consumers against legislation that would threaten Illinois utilities with bankruptcy and could dramatically affect reliable electricity. The recently completed Illinois Auction followed a ten-year freeze on electric rates that now need to better reflect today’s costs. It is a long-planned, rigorously reviewed process designed to ensure competition and achieve the lowest market price available.

“We are on the right track and electric restructuring is working, but we’re concerned” said David Vite, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and a member of CORE’s Advisory Committee, “If the legislation to extend the rate freeze goes through, it will send competitors running for better markets and force utilities into a buy high, sell low scenario, virtually undoing all the gains of the ten-year freeze.

“Just like the local supermarket doesn’t buy a gallon of milk for $4 and sell it for $1, utilities in Illinois can’t sell power for less than it costs without facing a catastrophic financial situation,” said Michael Gonzalez, executive vice president of Primera Engineering and member of the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA).

“It’s remarkable that we have to take a stand to keep the legislature from forcing our utilities into bankruptcy, but that’s what we’re here to do.” After an exhaustive regulatory and legal process, the Illinois Auction was deemed fair by the energy experts at the ICC. Competitive prices for electricity have been set and the contracts to buy power are legally binding. A rate-freeze extension will legislatively guarantee that utilities in Illinois will lose millions of dollars per day, starting in January of 2007. A reliable supply of electricity can’t possibly be sustained in that kind of environment.

CORE is a coalition of business, labor, community and energy groups that support the preservation of reliable electricity, the transition of the industry to competition and energy decisions made by the experts at the ICC. CORE’s Advisory Committee members represent more than 100,000 businesses and more than 1 million individuals statewide.

Save Our (Electric) Service (SOS) is a grassroots organization led by dozens of African American churches and hundreds of parishioners who want to “Keep the lights on” in Illinois.

Speakers at today’s rally included:

• Senator Steven J. Rauschenberger
• Nancy Biondo, ComEd annuitant
• Michael Gonzalez, executive vice president of Primera Engineering and member of Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA)
• Greg Baise, president and CEO, Illinois Manufactures Association
• David Vite, president and CEO, Illinois Retail Merchants Association
• Doug Whitley, president and CEO, Illinois State Chamber of Commerce

For more information, visit the CORE Web site at www./.