Governor Bruce Rauner recently released a statement regarding State Bill 2814, or the Future Energy Jobs Bill.
The Future Energy Jobs Bill is a State Bill that guarantees that energy prices for the average residential home cannot increase more than $0.25. It also guarantees that energy prices for commercial and industrial users cannot increase by more than 1.3% over the next ten years. Additionally, the Bill guarantees that plants remain open for 10 years. By exempting the Bill from prevailing wage, the cost of the Bill was reduced and billions of dollars in special interest giveaways was eliminated.
Governor Rauner stated, “For months our administration has been very clear that any energy legislation should follow the guiding principles of protecting jobs, ratepayers, and taxpayers. After dozens of hours of good faith negotiations, we have reached an agreement that aligns with those principles. This legislation will save thousands of jobs. It protects ratepayers, through guaranteed caps, from large rate increases in years to come. It also ensures taxpayers are not on the hook to keep the power plants open and online. We thank the rank-and-file legislators and stakeholders for their perseverance and commitment to seeing this through. This process shows that when all parties are willing to negotiate in good faith, we can find agreement and move our state forward.”