* After yesterday’s votes to override the governor’s veto of the “Smart Grid” bill and pass the companion legislation, AARP Illinois issued the angriest press release I’ve ever seen from that group…

“The General Assembly just sent a clear message to their constituents: Corporate interests and campaign cash trump the needs of Illinois consumers.

“Today, lawmakers voted to override the Governor’s veto of Senate Bill 1652 – guaranteeing higher electric rates for consumers and higher profits for ComEd and Ameren.

“At a time when consumers are struggling to make ends meet, with prices on the rise for everything from gas to groceries, taxes increasing, and home values declining, it is appalling that Illinois lawmakers would chose to further burden consumers with a law that amounts to nothing more than corporate greed.

“Under the guise of improved infrastructure, ComEd and Ameren successfully convinced the General Assembly to gut Illinois’ utility ratemaking process – a process that exists to balance the interests of consumers with that of the utility companies. This veto override has effectively silenced the voice of the consumer and tied the hands of the Illinois Commerce Commission – all while guaranteeing higher profits for two of the state’s largest monopolies.”

* Fine print…

ComEd has said the bill will raise average household electric bills by about $3 per month to finance installation of “smart meters” throughout Northern Illinois and make $1.3 billion in improvements to traditional grid equipment.

But the bill’s actual cost to ratepayers may well be higher because the guaranteed return on equity ComEd will reap rises with Treasury bond yields, which currently are at historic lows.

* Tidbit…

Forty-four states already have some kind of smart grid system in place.

* The governor is in a pickle here…

State legislators essentially have boxed Quinn into a corner. After the governor vetoed the original smart grid bill, a so-called trailer bill was introduced this week that called for ComEd to make concessions. By passing that bill, legislators knew that if the governor vetoed it or signed it with suggested changes, the legislature could ignore his advice or nix the trailer bill altogether, leaving him again with the original bill, which is now veto-proof.

* The votes were close in the Senate, but the veto override and the trailer bill flew through the House…

The House voted 74-42 to override, with no debate.

House override motion and vote..

Thanks to BlueRoomStream.com for the video.

* More criticism…

Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon, rejected the idea that this is a jobs bill. He said it adds a new burden in a state that already hits businesses with high taxes, fees and workers’ compensation costs. “One of the last good things we’ve got going in this state for businesses is affordable power,” he said.

* Not everybody was upset, of course. Earlier this week, several mayors penned an op-ed opposing the ComEd “Smart Grid” bill…

Our communities, working through the Northwest Municipal Conference, have proposed legislative recommendations to address ComEd’s communication and transparency issues. These recommendations would help ComEd better partner with our communities during storm and non-storm related outages and must be adopted as a condition of any legislation to upgrade the electric grid.

Therefore, we as mayors have no option but to urge the members of the General Assembly to uphold the Governor’s veto of Senate Bill 1652 unless the bill is amended, via additional legislation, to directly address these shortfalls by including the language proposed by local governments. Until ComEd is held accountable for providing reliable power and effective communications on good days and bad, they don’t deserve the automatic rate increases and guaranteed profits in Senate Bill 1652. Unless this critical amendment is adopted, legislators should scrap Senate Bill 1652 and rewrite the bill so that smart grid technological advances don’t come at the expense of consumer safety and well-being.

* But things have a way of changing when a big company is determined to pass a bill…

Now, after a series of meetings, those suburbs say they’ve struck a deal with ComEd to develop enforceable protocols to address storm outages in the entire territory. The details will be filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission within 45 days if the smart grid legislation becomes law, according to ComEd.

The Tribune recently reported that while a law exists to reimburse consumers affected by extreme outages, the utility has never paid under the law.

Separately, ComEd previously announced that it has established a Storm Response Process Improvement Task Force to develop and implement improvements in its storm restoration process and reliability performance.

The announcement is here.

* And one legislator who voted against the utilities was upbeat…

And even critics, like Senator Dave Syverson, who voted against the bill twice, see a positive side to the upgrade.

“Its going to be a better system a more modern system to eliminate many of the outages and under the new system ComEd will know the power outages occur rather than someone having to call them and let them know electricity is out” says Syverson.

* Roundup…

* Legislators override Quinn’s veto on smart-grid bill

* Chuck Sweeny: Electric rates going up, thanks to Illinois Legislature

* Illinois Senate overrides Gov. Quinn’s veto of ComEd rate-hike bill

* Legislators Overturn Quinn’s “Smart Grid” Veto