Cutting the Bill for Commonwealth Edison's Nuclear Power Plants: Important Gains for Illinois Public Utility Customers

Edison (Edison) agreed to pay its Illi-nois customers $1.3 billion, the largest refund issued by any public utility in United States history. The company also agreed to reduce its electricity rates by $339 million per year. This refund and rate reduction settled a decade-long series of cases with consumer advocates over the billions of dollars Edison spent constructing five nuclear power plants. They provide much-needed relief to Edison customers , who historically have paid some of the highest electricity rates in the country. But more importantly, the decade of litigation has dramatically changed Illinois public utility law. Because of the litigation and reforms to the Illinois Public Utilities Act, Edison and other Illinois utility companies will be far less likely to build more giant nuclear power plants-which up until recently, proved to be a financial boon to utility company investors but a bust for utility customers. Instead, utility companies will have a strong incentive to meet future growth in electricity demand through energy-efficiency programs, smaller-scale power production, and other alternatives. These options are less costly to consumers and less harmful to the environment. Edison has 12 nuclear power plants in operation-more than any other investor-owned utility in the country-and they account for the majority of electricity generated by the utility company. The recent litigation involved five of the last six plants Edison built. Edison sought permission to build these plants in the early 1970's and started operating them during the 1980's. The nuclear power plants in