Gill-Backed Law to Reduce Home Energy Costs

State Rep. Mary Gill, D-Chicago, passed key legislation to reduce home energy bills, providing both short and long-term relief to Illinois families as they faced rising energy costs.

“Families across our state are worried every time they receive their energy bills, and that should never be the case,” said Gill.

“The energy cost reduction that this Act provides will give families peace of mind. Starting immediately, families will receive relief on their home energy bills, and it will continue to provide long-term relief far into the future.”

Illinois families have faced rising energy costs as capacity costs continue to rise, and there is an increased demand from data centers.

It is estimated that these power demands have resulted in $9.5 billion in increased energy costs. The Clean and Reliable Grid Act (CRGA) was created to help counteract these rising energy costs.

Beginning this year, utility customers in Northern Illinois will receive a monthly Carbon Mitigation Credit, which will reduce home energy costs by up to $11 every month. Alongside providing customer savings, the CRGA will include major innovations to generate and store energy, and bring down costs even further, including:

Capturing clean energy: By capturing and redistributing energy already being produced, including from home solar panels, ComEd customers can see immediate relief on monthly costs
Increasing battery storage: By building out our grid to increse the state’s battery storage, power systems will become more reliable and affordable to power millions of Illinois homes.
Investing in energy efficiency programs: This law will directly expand energy efficiency programs for residents, lowering electricity prices by reducing overall demand.

The law is estimated to create up to 115,000 jobs, counteracting job insecurity and layoffs caused by the federal budget bill, which included 50,000 manufacturing jobs projected to be lost in Illinois. As the year progresses, CRGA will play a significant role in meeting the state’s energy needs, strengthening reliability and helping manage untenable costs for customers for both short- and long-term relief.

“This relief package puts Illinois residents first,” said Gill. “It’s about putting money back into the pockets of the people. My colleagues and I will continue to fight to make Illinois affordable for all its residents, and today was just the beginning.”

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Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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