The audit of Chicago-based Exelonâs finances, commissioned in January by the Democratic governorâs administration, largely supports the companyâs claims that its Byron and Dresden nuclear plants are increasingly unable to compete in energy markets, at least in the near term. Exelon is threatening to close both plants this fall unless the governor and state lawmakers approve another cash infusion from ratepayers.
Synapse Energy Economics concluded that keeping Byron and Dresden open would cost dramatically less than the $235 million-a-year bailout negotiated in 2016 by former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner â a deal that prompted Exelon to back down from its plans to close two other nuclear plants outside the Quad Cities and Clinton.
Exelon's six Illinois nuclear plants provided more than half of the electricity generated in the state in 2019, with Byron and Dresden responsible for about a fifth of the total, according to federal records.
From this past January…
The Pritzker administration has hired an outside firm to scrutinize Exelon’s claims that some of its Illinois nuclear plants are losing money.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency early this month finalized a $215,000 emergency contract with Cambridge, Mass.-based Synapse Energy Economics. The firm, which has done work in the past for consumer advocates like the Illinois attorney general’s office and the Citizens Utility Board, will report back on the financial condition of the nukes by April 1.
It’s tasked with auditing the company’s plants, assessing costs and revenues given now and projecting over the next five years, according to the emergency purchase statement. Among the qualifications the Pritzker administration specified for the role was that the firm chosen could not have done work for Exelon in the past. That disqualified a fair number of bidders.
Maryland lawmakers override GOP governor’s vetoes to enact police reform measures
Lawmakers in Maryland enacted a slate of police reform measures on Saturday by overriding Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of the bills, bringing changes to the state that include limits to no-knock warrants, body camera requirements and a repeal of the state’s police Bill of Rights.
The Democratic speaker of Maryland’s House of Delegates, Adrienne Jones, said that as a result of the state’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly overriding Hogan’s veto of three police reform bills, “Maryland is leading the country in transforming our broken policing system.”