Batavia to ask state for financial relief in energy bill

BATAVIA – The city of Batavia will ask the state of Illinois for financial relief to deal with effects of the Clean Energy Jobs Act.

City officials say electric rates in Batavia could increase as much as 15% because of the energy legislation, which is expected to be approved by the Illinois General Assembly next month.

The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) is comprehensive energy package, designed to promote renewable power sources and move Illinois away from electrical generation using fossil fuels by 2030.

The bill would result in the closure that year of the coal-fired Prairie State electric plant, of which Batavia is a part-owner. Bonds issued by the city to finance its share in the plant will not be paid off until 2042.

The downstate Prairie State facility, one of just 11 coal plants in Illinois, is located roughly halfway between Mt. Vernon and St. Louis, Mo.

The city purchased a share of the Prairie State plant in 2007, in what has become widely regarded as a bad arrangement for Batavia.

Attempts by the city to get out of its deal with Prairie State have failed.

During a lengthy committee-level discussion on April 27, the Batavia City Council decided that it will revise a letter its plans to send to state lawmakers, to ask directly for financial assistance to cope with the legislation’s ramifications.

The act would impose a coal extraction fee, among others, that the city administration says would further drive up electrical rates in Batavia.

Several members of the public urged the council to support the bill and to start working on a plan to manage the city’s bonded indebtedness.

Resident Susan Russo called the initial draft of the letter vague, both in its commitment to clean energy and what the city wants lawmakers to include in the bill to help Batavia.

“Make your conditions clear,” said Russo, who told aldermen they should be concerned about potential lawsuits resulting from Prairie State’s ash-belching smokestacks.

Andrew Greenhagen, chairman of the Batavia Environmental Commission, said the city’s continued reliance on coal is a bad strategy for attracting new industrial customers.

“There are companies with renewable energy policies and they will avoid Batavia if we don’t have options for them,” Greenhagen said.

Alex Zelles, also member of the environmental commission, urged aldermen to support the legislation and take action to move Batavia away from coal-fired electrical generation.

“We don’t have time to kick the can down the road,” Zelles said. “We have to challenge ourselves to do the right thing.”

Batavian Terry Allen also expressed support for the legislation and for closing the Prairie State plant.

“We need to act right away,” Allen said. “We don’t have 30 years. We don’t have time to waste. We need to start now.”

Batavia owns and operates its own electrical utility, selling power to residential, commercial and industrial customers in the community.

The current draft of the city’s letter to the state does make clear that a major problem for Batavia will be paying off the Prairie State bonds for another 12 years after the plant has been closed.

“The city of Batavia accepts its proportional responsibility to share in the long-term statewide costs of transitioning to renewable energy and is willing to do so in a reasonable manner after its Prairie State bond obligations are fully satisfied,” the letter reads. “We request your assistance in crafting language to temporarily exempt the city of Batavia, and all other similarly situated municipal and cooperative utilities, from new regulations, fees and taxes until such time that everyone’s Prairie State bonds are satisfied.”

The city of Geneva also is a part-owner in the Prairie State plant.

Several Batavia aldermen expressed worries about the effect the legislation will have on residential, commercial and industrial ratepayers.

“There are a lot of people who can’t afford it,” 5th Ward Alderman Mark Uher said. “This could have a dramatic effect on home sales and other effects that we haven’t even thought about.”