Proposed Default Service Plan Returning To 100% Hedging

The Illinois Power Agency has filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission a proposed electricity default service procurement plan that, at Commonwealth Edison, returns to 100% hedging for energy needs

Generally, the IPA's proposed plan would maintain the use of block energy and capacity purchases for default service, as procured in prior plans

However, departing from the hedging for the current delivery year, IPA proposes, for the 2027-28 term, that ComEd energy supply would be hedged at 106% for on-peak July and August needs, and 100% for all other times, consistent with a schedule anticipated in last year's plan

The return to full hedging at ComEd is proposed due to the end of the Carbon Mitigation Credits purchased by ComEd after the 2026-2027 Delivery Year, which had served to reduce volatility, and had resulted in only 30-50% of default service needs being hedged since the IPA's 2024 procurement plan

Otherwise, the 2027-28 plan generally continues the same procurement schedule and term lengths, proposing to hold two annual energy procurements (spring and fall), with purchases for the upcoming delivery year plus the next two delivery years (3 years total)

In 2027, the IPA is not proposing to undertake a Long-Term Clean Energy Procurement (LTCEP) under new subsection (b-10) of Section 16-111.5 of the PUA.

LTCEP allows the procurement of capacity on behalf of all customers, not only default service customers, to meet resource adequacy needs

The IPA's proposed plan does set forth guiding principles for any LTCEP, including a, "competitively neutral cost allocation".

"Any future [LTCEP] proposal should explain how costs and responsibilities would be allocated among affected customers and LSEs, including ARES [alternative retail electric suppliers], while accounting for existing supply arrangements to the extent practicable," the plan states

In comments on a draft IPA plan (prior to the formally proposed plan now being filed with the ICC), the Illinois Competitive Energy Association (ICEA) had urged that any future LTCEP include an option for retail supplier "self-procurement".

ICEA also stressed that the IPA should not recommend an LTCEP procurement unless and until the IPA resolves the precise product to be procured, and identifies the values that retail supplier customers would receive for their required payments.

ICC Docket 26-0718