Tenaska Sourcing Agreement Bill Fails as Illinois Senate Ends Session

The Tenaska Taylorville Energy Center sourcing agreement bill failed another vote in the Illinois Senate early this morning, as the Senate concluded its 2010 lame duck session.

SB2485 failed by a vote of 33-18, ending its prospects for passage in the 2010 session.

A new session convenes at noon today. The bill would have to undergo the complete legislative process again, which Tenaska has previously said it is unwilling to pursue.

The bill would have compelled the state's distribution utilities and competitive retail electric suppliers to sign contracts for the output from the Taylorville plant. However, costs to be paid by mass market default service customers would have been capped at a 2% impact, while costs borne by competitive suppliers would not have been capped, skewing the competitive retail market.