Tenaska Taylorville Proponents, Opponents Gear Up for Final Push

In just about a week's time, Illinois alternative retail electric suppliers should know one way or another whether a new mandate that requires them to purchase the output of the Tenaska Taylorville Energy Center, with no cap on their obligations, will be enacted, or will fail.

Costs from the coal plant to mass market customers on default service would be subject to a 2% rate impact cap.

The House passed the Tenaska sourcing agreements bill (SB2485) in November, but the Senate delayed a vote until January. The new legislative session begins January 12; if the bill is not passed before then, it would need to undergo the entire legislative process again, a process that Tenaska has intimated it is not willing to pursue.

The STOP Coalition renewed its opposition to the plan citing the plant's 21.3¢ per kilowatt-hour price, and costs of $504,000 per year for every job the plant creates.

Tenaska countered that new baseload is needed, evidenced by Exelon CEO John Rowe informing investors in a July earnings call that EPA regulations will force the retirements of significant baseload, and that the, "upside to Exelon is unmistakable" (7/23).