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Here’s the latest on the New Jersey auction that Exelon/ComEd and Ameren want to bring to Illinois:

State reviews auction of electric power
Friday, March 17, 2006
BY TOM JOHNSON
Star-Ledger Staff

Worried about rising electricity bills, the state yesterday decided to re-examine how New Jersey’s utilities purchase the electrical power they sell to light the homes and businesses of more than 3 million customers.

The state Board of Public Utilities will review its annual auction in which the four electric utilities lock up long-term contracts worth about $7 billion to supply power to customers. The move comes one month after the latest auction saw a 55 percent jump in electricity prices.

The huge increase led to an outpouring of criticism from consumers and industry advocates who questioned whether the auction, a secretive process conducted among suppliers and utilities through an online purchasing system, is yielding competitive prices.

Let’s not repeat the mistakes of New Jersey. Vote for HB 5766, the Electric Consumer Protection Act. When even Exelon CEO John Rowe admits that “making a market system that works here [in Illinois] is still a problem” and New Jersey is rethinking the whole scheme, why should we move ahead with a flawed auction scheme? (Wall Street Journal, 2/28/2006