FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Amanda Pankau, Prairie Rivers Network, apankau@prairierivers.org, 217-840-3057
Scott Allen, Citizens Utility Board, sallen@citizensutilityboard.org, 217-303-2373
Community Engagement Event in Mascoutah Spurs Dialogue on
Transparency for Municipal Utilities and Rural Electric Cooperatives
MASCOUTAH, IL. – Last night, the Citizens Utility Board, Prairie Rivers Network, Sierra Club Illinois, Greater Highland Area Concerned Citizens, Faith in Place, StraightUp Solar, and Wind Solar USA met in Mascoutah with community members of surrounding municipal utility communities and rural electric cooperatives to discuss concerns about the lack of transparency when it comes to their municipal utility and rural electric cooperatives. Wednesday night’s discussion is the first in a series of listening sessions the groups intend to hold across the state with communities and rural areas served by these publicly owned utilities.
Over one million Illinoisans get their electricity from rural electric cooperatives or municipal utilities, including several area communities like Mascoutah, Highland, Freeburg, Breese, Red Bud, Carlyle and Waterloo and rural areas served by Clinton County Electric Cooperative, Southwestern Electric Cooperative, and Monroe County Electric Cooperative. All these municipal utilities contract with the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA) for 100% of their electricty.
“The decisions about the power supply of these publicly owned utilities should be democratically made by the people through their elected city council and co-op boards,” said Scott Allen, Environmental Outreach Coordinator with the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), a nonprofit consumer watchdog. “But these councils and boards have been forced into signing long-term contracts for electricity, and that’s a problem for transparency and public decision-making.”
Residents from several of these public-power utilities shared how they often have trouble getting information on how their electricity rates are set and why they fluctuate. Many said they want to go solar, but face constantly changing or vague policies about how they would be compensated for the solar energy they produce. This community conversation event helped shine a light on the challenges and opportunities related to municipal and rural electric cooperative electric utilities, especially at a time when the transition to clean energy is accelerating and opportunities abound.
“I work with rural and coal communities across the state that are capitalizing on huge financial opportunities to plan for and implement projects to address the transition to clean energy,” said Amanda Pankau, Director of Energy and Community Resiliency at Prairie Rivers Network. “Unfortunately, the municipal utility and rural electric cooperative owners are doubling down on their investment in coal and passing up opportunities, without real engagement or direction from the people they serve.”
The event organizers and community participants discussed potential policy ideas that the state could adopt to help increase transparency, increase fair access to solar, and require publicly owned utilities to plan better for the future. The event organizers encouraged community members to reach out to their organizations to stay in touch about proposed solutions and potential policy.
Kay Ahaus, of Greater Highland Area Concerned Citizens, shared the opportunities for schools and churches to install solar by taking advantage of opportunities resulting from recent state and federal legislation. “There has never been a more prudent time for them to build green and save money as well. Some schools in Troy and Mascoutah have already installed solar. Highland is planning to eventually put solar on all their schools,” Ahaus said. Several churches in Lebanon, Columbia, and Carbondale have or will soon have solar.
Prairie Rivers Network
At Prairie Rivers Network (PRN), we protect water, heal land, and inspire change. Using the creative power of science, law, and collective action, we protect and restore our rivers, return healthy soils and diverse wildlife to our lands, and transform how we care for the earth and for each other. PRN is the Illinois affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation.
Citizens Utility Board
The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) is Illinois’ leading nonprofit utility watchdog group. Created by the Illinois Legislature, CUB opened its doors in 1984 to represent the interests of residential and small-business utility customers. Since then, CUB has saved consumers more than $20 billion by helping to block rate hikes and secure refunds. For more information, call CUB’s Consumer Hotline at 1-800-669-5556 or visit CUB’s award-winning website, www.CitizensUtilityBoard.org.
