News
Editorial: Rising utility rates in northern Illinois are no different from tax increases.
Utilities will seek to hold the ICC confirmations hostage to their energy agenda in the spring session. That likely includes, for example, another run at the monopoly that downstate electric utility Ameren seeks for all future high-voltage lines in its service territory — an anti-competitive policy that only will further increase electricity rates in central and southern Illinois and likely open the door in the future to the same policy for ComEd in the Chicago area.
SCOTUS Won’t Take up Texas Appeal of ROFR Law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 11 declined to take up an appeal of a lower court’s ruling that a Texas law giving incumbent transmission companies the right of first refusal (ROFR) to build new transmission lines was unconstitutional.
Iowa ROFR Law Overturned, Throwing Multiple MISO LRTP Projects into Uncertainty
An Iowa court has formally struck down the state’s right of first refusal (ROFR) law, deciding the procedure used to pass the bill is unconstitutional.
Price for huge Xcel transmission line more than doubles to $1.14B
The price of a massive Xcel Energy transmission line across southwest and central Minnesota - which would connect more wind and solar farms - has more than doubled to $1.14 billion.
Editorial: State lawmakers should sustain Gov. Pritzker’s veto of this unwarranted gift to a utility
Illinois’ track record with energy legislation is, shall we say, checkered.
Michael Madigan, for decades the state’s most powerful politician, mayors and governors notwithstanding, is awaiting trial on multiple felony counts in large part due to his relationship with Commonwealth Edison, the state’s largest utility and at one time most politically potent company. ComEd’s former CEO, Anne Pramaggiore, is awaiting sentencing after being convicted along with three others in May of bribing Madigan with no-work jobs for cronies, among other things, for supporting highly lucrative legislation in Springfield.
Illinois watchdog group and national coalition raise alarm over proposed amendment to House Bill 3445: 'Crony capitalism at its worst'
Jim Chilsen, spokesman for the Citizens Utility Board of Illinois, told the Prairie State Wire, "We have grave concerns that Ameren is trying to slip a rate-hike proposal through at the last minute. Amendment 4 to House Bill 3445 would give Ameren a monopoly over transmission projects, at potentially higher, more lucrative prices for the company. This proposal will likely raise costs and is bad for consumers.”
Gov. Pritzker Vetoes Legislation
The Governor has issued an Amendatory Veto due to the right of first refusal language inserted by Senate Amendment 4 that will raise costs for rate payers by giving incumbent utility providers in the MISO region a monopoly over new transmission lines.
Citing ‘crony capitalism,’ Iowa Supreme Court blasts late-night legislative logrolling
Calling the [ROFR] legislation “quintessentially crony capitalism,” the court described the bill as a “protectionist” maneuver that had to be approved in the dark of night so that lawmakers would remain unaware of what they were voting on.
Promoting Cost Effective Grid Modernization
Over the past year, electricity customers have faced unprecedented increases in their monthly bills because of skyrocketing fuel costs. Often overlooked is the cost each customer pays for transmission, the bulk transport of energy from electrical power plants to distribution substations.
How ROFR Laws Increase Electric Transmission Costs in Midwestern States
The best research suggests that ROFR laws are costing consumers in some Midwestern states over $1.25 billion.
Right of First Refusal Laws Benefit Utilities, Not Consumers
States should end Right of First Refusal laws if they want to lower energy prices for struggling consumers.
2 new Oklahoma Senate bills could mean 20% increase in electricity bill
If passed, the bills will eliminate competition between utility companies, which could mean a 20% increase in your electricity bill.
Last Session’s Rejection of Transmission Monopoly (ROFR) Legislation Likely Saves Wisconsin Consumers Millions, Maybe Billions of Dollars
Electricity rates are on the rise in Wisconsin. Thankfully, last session the Legislature rejected the proposed Right of First Refusal (ROFR) legislation. Doing so helped control the rise of energy costs for constituents in future years. - Memo from the ROFR coalition of which AFEP is a part.
Inflation Reduction Act could raise prices on clean energy, warns Bank of America
The Inflation Reduction Act is the largest clean energy spending package in U.S. history, but analysts at Bank of America warn it may not live up to its nom de guerre.
The problem, say BofA analysts, is that transmission “does not play a prominent role” in the spending law – and without additional capacity, renewable energy development may accelerate in areas where it cannot be efficiently brought to market, “which could lead to even more price volatility in those markets as load balancing challenges intensify.”
‘What is true for alcohol and milk’ must be true for transmission, 5th Circuit says in NextEra decision
A Texas law giving incumbent utilities the sole right to build transmission lines connecting to their systems likely violates the U.S. Constitution’s dormant Commerce Clause, which bars states from restricting interstate commerce, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said in an opinion Tuesday.
August 31, 2022
Wisconsin bill would grant utilities a monopoly on building transmission
Wisconsin is the latest Midwest state legislature to consider legislation that would give incumbent utilities the right to build long-range transmission projects without competition from outside bidders.
SB838/AB892 would give incumbent utilities the “right of first refusal” (ROFR) for planned transmission projects that connect existing transmission infrastructure also owned by incumbent utilities.
The measure’s primary backer, the American Transmission Company, once opposed such bills when it sought to compete for projects in the outside territory.
February 16, 2022
Governor Gretchen Whitmer Enacted A Law Expected To Inflate Electric Bills In Michigan, Now Some In Wisconsin Want To Follow Her Lead
The highest inflation rate since 1982 is eating into household income and contributing to President Joe Biden’s plummeting approval rating. With the cost of living rising faster than it has in nearly four decades, the last thing most lawmakers want to do is impose new policies that will further inflate prices, particularly home and business heating and cooling costs. Yet that is expected to be the result of a bill recently enacted by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D).
February 9, 2022
Bipartisan energy bill would block competition on new transmission lines
A bipartisan bill introduced in late January by Wisconsin lawmakers would block competition for development of new transmission lines. The bill comes as federal energy regulators are considering policy reforms that would update existing infrastructure and accelerate the transition to clean energy.
"By passing this bill, we would similarly be protecting Wisconsin’s access to reliable power by ensuring that the expansion of our state’s electric grid would be overseen by Wisconsin rather than the federal government or other states that don’t have Wisconsin’s best interests in mind," bill author Rep. Tyler Vorpagel, R-Plymouth, said at a public hearing Thursday during an Assembly Committee on Energy and Utilities meeting.
February 7, 2022
With billions at stake, Wisconsin lawmakers seek to block power line competition
With billions of dollars worth of projects in the works, Wisconsin lawmakers have introduced a bill that would block competition on long-distance power lines.
The bipartisan bill, opposed by both consumer advocates and the free-market group Americans for Prosperity, comes as the Biden administration launches a major “grid modernization” effort to deliver clean energy.
Sponsored by Sen. Julian Bradley, R-Franklin, and Sen. Brad Pfaff, D-La Crosse, the bill would give “incumbent” transmission owners the exclusive right to build any transmission project approved by the Midwest grid operator, known as MISO.
January 22, 2022
8 states, DC urge FERC to reject EEI, Eversource call to drop competition for transmission projects
Utility regulators, attorneys general, and ratepayer advocates from eight states and the District of Columbia are urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reject calls to give incumbent utilities the right of first refusal (ROFR) to build transmission lines in their service territories that offer regional benefits.
Disagreeing with the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), a trade group for investor-owned utilities, the state officials also said an independent monitor is needed to help oversee transmission planning for separate regions, which they said would help keep costs lower, according to comments filed Friday at FERC.
November 29, 2021
New York PSC opposes plan to give utilities right of first refusal for transmission upgrades
The New York Public Service Commission (NYPSC) is leading a protest asking federal regulators to reject a proposal that would give incumbent utilities a path to building certain transmission upgrades planned by third-party transmission developers.
The state grid operator's right of first refusal (ROFR) proposal, which could give utilities a new income stream, would lead to unfair rate hikes, would fail to balance consumer and shareholder interests, and thwart the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's efforts to inject competition into the transmission process, the NYPSC said in a Tuesday filing at the commission.
November 4, 2021
Right of First Refusal Laws for Electric Transmission are Anti-Competitive in Interstate Commerce
The benefits of competition in building and operating new electric transmission projects is increasingly apparent. A recent study by the Brattle Group found that the winning bids in competitive transmission projects were 40 percent below the initial cost estimate for the project.
According to data from the Energy Information Agency, annual spending on the electric transmission system by major U.S. utilities has grown from $15 billion in 2005 to nearly $40 billion annually, with the majority of these costs coming from new investments. Various studies place the cost of transmission investment in the range of hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars to meet decarbonization goals over the next two decades. Transmission competition could save tens to hundreds of billions of dollars over this period.
June 24, 2021
To Catalyze Transmission Development, End the Utility Protection Racket
Interstate transmission development is fragmented by local utility service territories. Parochial interests are impeding large-scale transmission projects, which in turn is slowing wind and solar deployment. The combination of discriminatory state laws and FERC transmission planning rules shields utilities from competition within their local service territories and induces them to focus on developing small-scale local projects. These protectionist policies reinforce an anachronistic utility-by-utility approach to transmission planning that is failing to develop the regional transmission necessary to effectively decarbonize the power sector and mitigate the impacts of extreme weather.
February 25, 2021