Transparency needed in electricity co-ops

There is a lack of government transparency affecting more than 1 million Illinoisans who get their electricity from rural electric cooperatives or a municipal utility. The Illinois Joint Municipal Electric Power Act allowed for the formation of Illinois Municipal Electric Agency, a not-for-profit agency, to provide a method for its municipal government members to jointly own and operate facilities that generate and distribute electrical power and energy produced by coal.

Municipal ownership of these utilities and cooperatives creates a situation under which IMEA (and by extension the Prairie State coal power plant) serves as a proxy for services provided by the government in the context of the greater good.

As such, the IMEA and related entities should be bound by the same transparency rules applied to government entities. Unlike ComEd or Peoples Gas, the IMEA does not face oversight from professional energy experts at the Illinois Commerce Commission.

This dynamic has allowed local governments to commit to long-term contracts on behalf of their citizens without input or debate from them, increasingly despite the health and environmental risks to the citizens they are bound to serve. IMEA is currently encouraging contracts through 2050; contracts which far exceed the government representatives’ terms in office and new federal regulations limiting CO2 emissions.

The League of Women Voters believes that democratic government depends upon informed and active participation at all levels of government. T he League further believes that governmental bodies must protect the citizen’s right to know by giving adequate notice of proposed actions, holding open meetings and making public records accessible. Illinois municipalities that are currently considering contract extensions with IMEA are encouraged to ensure that there is adequate government transparency in the process and that any subsequent or future contracts provide for openness, transparency and protect their citizens’ right to know.

Becky Simon, President

League of Women Voters of Illinois