Today’s quotable
Thursday, Sep 9, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Some over the top hyperbole from the Tribune editorial board on the climate/energy bill…
Getting Illinois on a path to clean energy is a laudable goal, but not if the compromises empty the wallets of households and businesses.
Even with the recent change in leadership, they still have a bad habit of writing editorials as if they were drafting campaign TV ads.
* But, taken literally, that overheated rhetoric means even this hotly disputed estimate from Crain’s would fall well within their demand…
AARP Illinois estimates the energy bill state lawmakers are inching toward finally passing will cost the average household $15 more a month on their electric bill. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration says it’s between $4 and $5. Who’s right?
A Crain’s analysis shows the reality is between the two, although people can have legitimate differences over what increases are due to the bill and what might have happened without it. […]
A $363 million [delivery] rate hike would amount to about $2.77 more per month [above almost $5] for the average household and about $3.83 for the typical single-family home.
The Pritzker administration believes it’s unfair to include ComEd’s likely future rate hikes among the bill’s effects. The bill requires the ICC to audit ComEd’s past investments and eliminate those it determines shouldn’t have been made to recalibrate the rate base on which to set future profits. The ICC also would have leeway now to set a new return on equity. […]
“There are assumptions here that have no basis in fact,” Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh says in an email. “We don’t know what the base will be. The audit, followed by the multi-year rate plan, are designed to only spend money on the things that are needed, instead of what formula rates have been. It is a bit reckless to try to decipher what the ICC will do in terms of rate base several years down the road, after getting more information than they have ever had upon which to make grid decisions.”
- Ok - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 5:49 am:
Steve Daniels still works at Crain’s?
- PublicServant - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 6:35 am:
Are they figuring in what the AC bills will be going forward, if nothing is done about climate change?
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 7:44 am:
What PublicServant said.
As a resident of southern Illinois, the A/C gets turned on in mid May and stays on until October.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 7:46 am:
“Are they figuring in what the AC bills will be going forward, if nothing is done about climate change?”
Of course they aren’t. Nor are they figuring in what it’s going to cost to repeatedly be cleaning up or rebuilding from what used to be “500 year floods” or “100 year floods” and are now just “floods.”
I’m in an area where everyone who could afford it spent big on waterproofing after the May 2020 rains. The deficient local infrastructure didn’t improve of course, turns out Deep Tunnel isn’t deep enough, so we’re basically pushing the water into the basements of our neighbors who couldn’t afford it. Maybe when they get done pandering to the retirees that make up 90% of their subscriber base the deep thinking big brains at the Trib editorial board answer whether that empties any wallets, dropping thousands trying to protect houses from “record breaking” rains that happen every couple years now.
- Cheryl44 - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 7:51 am:
Isn’t over the top hyperbole what they do?
- Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 8:19 am:
“Getting Illinois on a path to clean energy is a laudable goal, but not if the compromises empty the wallets of households and businesses.”
Sounds like the same garbage people used to spout about recycling, “It costs more to recycle than to mine or harvest new, so why bother?”
Uh… because ensuring that our planet survives as long as possible is… a good thing….
- Moe Berg - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 9:00 am:
To @Larry Bowa Jr.’s point re: the Trib ed board, they also don’t seem to read their own reporters’ reporting on issues like global warming and climate disruption (btw, more accurate terminology to use than “climate change” which sounds somewhat genteel and possibly pleasant).
I’m glad the Trib ed board’s under new management. It’s improved, on a relative basis. But, they are understaffed and without the time or resources to always think through their opinions, and still have some of the old bad habits of just hitting the OUTRAGE button, choosing clanging bells and sirens instead of illumination.
Do better Chris Jones.
- Norseman - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 9:29 am:
The cost of repairing the building is too much: the building collapses.
We have trouble funding infrastructure: the bridge collapses.
Homes are burning, flooding and blowing apart because of the effects of climate change. Peoples lives are ruined and more money is spent on mitigation and repair.
The cost of climate change will be borne by those who can ill afford it so those better able to pay can save their money. This is what the Trib and it’s ilk are advocating. If they win, our future will see worsening disasters, more lives lost and political instability. It’s not a world I want for my grandchildren.
- Billy Bong - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 9:58 am:
=== a bad habit of writing editorials as if they were drafting campaign TV ads. ===
That’s a feature, not a bug.
McQueary once lamented publicly that she could do a better job of Comms for Rauner than his campaign team.
The primary purpose of 5he Editorial board, for awhile now, has been to generate sound bites for the GOP.
- Peace, Love and Guitars - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 6:30 pm:
What do you expect when the Theater Critic is head of the Editorial Board
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 9, 21 @ 6:32 pm:
===when the Theater Critic===
Promoting a theater critic is fine by me. Just don’t get all melodramatic.