Gov. Jim Edgar voiced concern Tuesday over a bill passed by the legislature designed to open the electric power industry to competition. Concern is fine; pulling the plug on electricity deregulation is not.
The governor’s caution is understandable. The bill, which was almost a year in the making and runs to 250 pages, represents a complicated balancing act between the financial future of the state’s electric utilities and the interests of their customers.
Edgar says he is balking at signing the bill, which passed the Senate overwhelmingly in the fall veto session after having earlier gained House approval, because he’s looking out for those consumer interests.
But what he must not overlook is that consumers ultimately are best served by a deregulated environment that encourages competition. And if he doesn’t sign this bill into law, the chances of deregulation coming to pass any time soon are slim to none.
The governor says that under terms of the bill, utilities can cash in by selling assets without approval of the Illinois Commerce Commission; he fears they may take advantage of that immediately in January, while customers have to wait six months before they see a reduction in their electric bills.
He also expressed concern that if the courts reject the law, the utilities would still get the benefit of those asset sales while consumers would wind up with no breaks on their bills.
Those concerns are not negligible, but neither are they so compelling that they ought to scuttle the bill. The utilities must appreciate that they would be courting popular and legislative retribution of the most vehement sort if they tried to pull such a hustle.
The governor ought to be able to patch the holes in the bill through an amendatory veto, and the legislature–and the utilities–ought to be happy to go along. Illinois deserves an open electric power market–but not an electric power boondoggle.
