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Biden administration moves to protect Alaska wilderness; opening statements and first witness in NY trial; SCOTUS hears Starbucks case, with implications for unions on the line; rural North Carolina town gets pathway to home ownership.

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The Senate moves forward with a foreign aid package. A North Carolina judge overturns an aged law penalizing released felons. And child protection groups call a Texas immigration policy traumatic for kids.

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Wyoming needs more educators who can teach kids trade skills, a proposal to open 40-thousand acres of an Ohio forest to fracking has environmental advocates alarmed and rural communities lure bicyclists with state-of-the-art bike trail systems.

Sparks Fly Over Plan for Automatic Utility Bill Increases

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Thursday, May 19, 2011   

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The debate swirling around House Bill 14 has been churned up this week by word of an amendment to the energy bill - an amendment Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says she hasn't seen yet. The legislation has been promoted by ComEd as a way to improve the state's energy grid.

Madigan is staunchly against the bill, on the grounds that it's not in the best interest of consumers.

"Essentially, ComEd is using the subterfuge of modernizing the electrical grid to hide the real purpose of the bill, which is to guarantee ComEd consistently high profits. That's the real problem."

The bill would eliminate utility rate reviews and allow electric and natural gas companies to impose automatic rate increases for 10 years. Supporters say those increases are needed to pay for upgrades to the energy grid and encourage customers to use less energy.

ComEd currently has cases before the Illinois Commerce Commission seeking to increase customer bills. However, Scott Musser, AARP Illinois associate state director, says the timing is all wrong for the many Illinois residents living on fixed incomes.

"You've got these things going on that are raising electric bills - and we're see the same sort of stuff on the natural gas side - and then you put this talk of these new investments on top of it, which is going to further increase the electric bills."

Bryan McDaniel, senior policy analyst with the Citizens Utility Board, says the premise of the bill in terms of updating the electric grid is okay with his organization, but they want to see more details and a proven track record for the technology, first - as well as specific benchmarks for quality - before a company is rewarded with rate hikes.

"We've got to be careful, when we're setting up a formula, to make sure the incentive and metrics are appropriate and to make sure these companies are going to help customers cut their bills, like they say smart grids are supposed to do."

An AARP survey found that 86 percent of those age 50 and above are concerned about rising utility bills, and nearly 80 percent do not believe elected officials are doing enough to lower utility costs.

The full text of the bill is available at http://ht.ly/4XLGr.


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