(The Center Square) – Energy price increases are expected for a large portion of Illinois’ population.
PJM Interconnection announced its capacity auction this week, and the price came at the cap of nearly $330 per MW-day. That’s up from the previous auction of $270 per MW-day. The grid operator said to expect a year-over-year increase of 1.5% to 5% in some customers’ bills.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker blamed PJM.
“It’s the fact that PJM isn’t bringing on the generation that it should in the territory,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference in Chicago. “I am deeply concerned about why that is because it seems to me it should have happened already. They are pleading to do it, but haven’t done it yet.”
Before last week’s capacity auction, PJM had said “Supply is decreasing due primarily to state and federal decarbonization policies and some economics.”
“The fact is that PJM has been processing hundreds of these projects through our study processes and will continue to do so,” PJM said in a statement to The Center Square. “These resources are welcome additions to the grid but are currently having their own challenges in constructing like supply chain, state permitting and financing.”
Pritzker also went on to blame President Donald Trump for stepping away from subsidizing such energy projects like wind and solar.
“Everybody is wondering again the chaos and confusion that the Trump administration has brought to so many areas is now been brought home to your electric bill,” he said.
Asked about expanding nuclear generation in Illinois, Pritzker said he’s for it.
“I’ve been its greatest ally trying to get that done,” he said. “We have to do it in a safe fashion. And we were able to do that for [small modular reactors], we need to do it for large scale nuclear as well.”
Last year, Pritzker approved lifting Illinois’ nuclear moratorium to allow small modular reactors.
State Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, introduced a new measure impacting SMRs.
“Small modular reactors represent one of the most promising solutions to Illinois’ growing energy reliability challenges,” said Rezin. “However, we won’t realize their full potential if critical projects are stuck in endless permitting delays. My legislation ensures state agencies act in a timely manner so we can move forward with safe, clean nuclear energy.”
Rezin said her Senate Bill 2681 would require all applicable state agencies to take final action on a permit application for an SMR within 150 days of it being deemed complete. If no action is taken within that timeframe, and no valid extension is granted, the application would be considered approved, the senator said.
Some are pushing for the moratorium to be lifted even further. Rezin has Senate Bill 1527, which would remove “provisions prohibiting the construction of new nuclear power reactors with a nameplate capacity of more than 300 megawatts of electricity.” That measure has bipartisan support.
Legislators are scheduled to return to session for six days in October.
