* I have some objections to this Tribune editorial, but it’s generally on the right track…

Gov. Pat Quinn slammed down a rubber stamper with a dramatic thud Monday as he followed through on his pledge to veto the so-called smart grid bill, which would upgrade the electricity distribution system in Illinois.

Now what? Apart from talking tough — and stamping tough — the governor has no real Plan B. […]

The bill needs a stronger answer for the prolonged power outages that hit more than a million customers in northern Illinois this summer — they’re still angry. An aggressive program to replace cable, upgrade circuits and bury the most vulnerable lines should be part of the deal. ComEd might win more support if it revived the idea of a fund to ease the impact of future rate hikes on the elderly and poor.

The storm-related service problems have made ComEd an easy target, and opponents of the bill looked like they had fun bashing it on Monday. But as the governor should know, this legislation is not “a nightmare for the consumers of Illinois,” as he described it. It is not “legalized pickpocketing,” or a bet on “unproven smart technology,” as Attorney General Lisa Madigan declared at the press conference.

The General Assembly passed a largely solid framework. High-tech upgrades to the power grid will save consumers money over time and make Illinois more attractive for business. The governor gave his veto stamper a good workout on Monday. Now it’s time to push for a genuine electricity upgrade.

I don’t think the bill’s framework was “largely solid.” What we saw over the summer is that the basic structure of the current “Dumb Grid” isn’t nearly up to par. The company needs to be pushed into upgrading its entire network from the ground up, not just the technological improvements produced by a “Smart Grid.” Yes, that would cost money. Lots of it. But these far too frequent outages are also costing money as well, and they’re hurting our state’s competitiveness. We have an opportunity here to squeeze this company to be the best in a whole lot of aspects. For instance, their customer service is horrible, and not just for individual consumers…

For the third year in a row, business customers have placed Commonwealth Edison second-to-last in customer satisfaction among its Midwest peers.

According to a J.D. Power and Associates study — based on interviews with representatives of more than 17,000 U.S. businesses that spend between $500 and $50,000 monthly on electricity — ComEd tied for second-to-last place with the state’s other major utility Ameren Illinois. Both received a score of 607 on a 1,000 point scale.

And guess which company tied for last place in the Midwest? If you said “Ameren,” you’d be correct.

* Gov. Pat Quinn has had months to come up with an alternative plan. Instead, he just issued a veto and walked away, promising to come up with something down the road.

That’s absolutely unacceptable. Yesterday was simply one more in a series of high-profile feel-good media pops for a governor who all too often governs by press release. Vetoing the ComEd bill was easy. Proposing real solutions is difficult. So, it’s no surprise which avenue this governor took.

Maybe one day Pat Quinn will grow up and start to actually lead, but I’m not holding my breath.

…Adding… The SJ-R editorial board is still steaming about Tenaska…

If a newspaper editorial page could have a face, ours would be blue from telling the story of Commonwealth Edison’s relentless effort to prevent construction of a clean coal power plant in Taylorville. […]

A group called the STOP Coalition, heavily backed by Exelon, quickly set about sounding the alarm of economic doom if that happened. Using worst-case-scenario predictions, it said the Tenaska deal would lead to massive increases in power rates for nonresidential users, forcing tens of thousands of jobs out of Illinois. ComEd succeeded in stopping Tenaska’s bill in January. Then it asked the Illinois Commerce Commission for its own $396 million rate hike. (Eventually, it was granted $155 million.)

The Tenaska bill limited Tenaska to a 2 percent increase on residential rates spread over 30 years . The bill vetoed by Quinn this week would have meant 9 percent increases on average for ComEd customers.

This episode was a lesson for us. It said ComEd would do anything necessary to protect its bottom line and keep competition away, no matter how much hyperbole and alarmism was necessary.

* Roundup…

* ComEd Customer Service - User Reviews, Ratings and Comments

* Sen. Don Harmon statement on governor’s ComEd veto: “By vetoing this bill, the Governor paves the way for common sense legislation that can allow for electric grid modernization, while providing true safeguards for Illinois’ consumers. I stand with the Governor in his efforts to create jobs, protect the environment and maintain key consumer protections. The lack of adequate protections in these key areas is the reason I voted no on the ‘ComEd bill’ and today support the Governor’s veto. To be effective, any legislation to modernize the electric grid should contain lower profit margins for utility companies, key protections for those who can least afford rate increases, dedicated revenues for storm response measures, environmental safeguards, and clear evidence that ratepayers will realize future savings from smart meters.”

Unless a trailer bill can be passed to address these specific concerns, I urge legislators to support the veto. I look forward to working with the General Assembly to advance these goals.”

* Gov. Quinn vetoes ComEd rate-hike bill, override battle to come: Bob Pierson, business manager of IBEW Local 9 and chairman of the union’s International Executive Council, said he is disappointed and that the IBEW will continue to try to pass the bill in the upcoming veto session. “There are no jobs now,” he told the Sun-Times. “This would have meant at least 1,500 jobs for our members, more jobs for the utility company, more income for the state and given the state an actual, reliable [electrical] system.”

* Quinn vetoes electric rate hike bill: “If they want to try and override the veto, be my guest. Because we’ll, I think, show them as we did 30 years ago that the people of Illinois are mightier than Commonwealth Edison,” said Quinn, who helped form the Citizens Utility Board nearly 30 years ago.

* Quinn vetoes ComEd rate hike: In December 2008, the ICC ordered the state’s two largest utilities — ComEd and Ameren — to participate in a series of workshops with consumer advocates, government officials and other policymakers to discuss issues surrounding smart grid. The idea was to develop a strategic plan to guide deployment of smart grid in Illinois and to recommend policies the commission could adopt. The resulting 356-page report, released in October 2010, was meant to guide utilities as they moved forward with requests for smart-grid technology. But the utilities never came forward with a detailed proposal, said Scott, instead choosing to fight for legislation that would provide a means to pay for the smart grid without clearly defining what consumers would be paying for.

* ‘Smart Grid’ Might Invade Privacy: ComEd released a statement denying that personal data would be collected: “The parties that negotiated the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act (SB1652) ensured that customer data information protections were embedded in the legislation. The legislation says that electric utilities shall comply with the consumer privacy requirements of the Personal Information Protection Act and it prohibits selling of individual customer-specific data. ”

* Quinn vetoes electricity rate-hike plan: “To be effective, any legislation to modernize the electric grid should contain lower profit margins for utility companies, key protections for those who can least afford rate increases, dedicated revenues for storm response measures, environmental safeguards, and clear evidence that ratepayers will realize future savings from smart meters,” said state Sen. Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat.

* Quinn vetoes Ameren rate hike proposal

* Quinn vetoes Ameren $625 million rate hike bill in Illinois

* With Quinn veto, ComEd’s focus on rate hike bill turns to lawmakers