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ComEd Bills Remain Stable, Making Now the Time to Invest in Grid Modernization
Monday, May 20, 2013 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] ComEd’s residential electricity bills remain stable and are a good value for customers. While other household costs have risen since 1997, ComEd’s rates have gone down by 23 percent when adjusted for inflation. Electricity rates in Chicago are well below the average rate among the top U.S. cities. Even accounting for recent filings related to a change in delivery costs, customer bills will be the same or lower than they were a year earlier for the foreseeable future, while electric service and reliability continue to improve. ComEd customer bills have been and will remain flat until January 2015, making this the right time to invest in our system. Electric grid modernization creates efficiencies and savings opportunities that will lead to significant benefits for our customers, ultimately producing benefits that will more than double the cost of these investments. Smart meters will create efficiencies within ComEd and will provide customers with greater control over their energy use and costs, driving long-term savings. Through grid modernization, ComEd also has deployed more than 600 smart switches, avoiding about 100,000 outages; reduced storm restoration times by 15 percent; awarded contracts worth $118 million; and created more than 2,400 full-time equivalent jobs in Illinois. With supply prices still low, now is the time to move forward with grid modernization. Members of the General Assembly should approve Senate Bill 9 to get the Smart Grid back on track. 
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Credit unions serve as not-for-profit cooperatives; Banks elect Subchapter S to avoid taxes
Monday, May 20, 2013 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Credit unions were first exempted from federal income tax in 1917 because of their unique structure as not-for-profit financial cooperatives. Contrary to what some banks may suggest, credit unions pay property, payroll, and sales taxes. Yet while banks decry the credit union tax exemption, nearly 40 percent of banks in Illinois elect Subchapter S status under the Internal Revenue Code to avoid federal income taxation. That’s $58 million in diverted tax dollars. These for-profit Sub-S banks also pay dividends and fees — not to customers, but to directors/investors/stockholders who may or may not be depositors — to the tune of nearly $1.1 billion. This is far in excess of the estimated federal income tax credit unions would pay. In contrast, credit unions return net revenue to their members. The banker argument against the credit union tax exemption is simply disingenuous. If banks really believed that credit unions operate with an unfair competitive advantage, they would restructure their institutions to credit union charters. None would, however, because doing so would expose them to becoming democratically controlled, locally-owned financial cooperatives governed by their very own volunteer members that put people before profits — all the virtues that define the credit union difference.
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