 In a disconnection-warning letter dated Oct. 29, Southwestern Electric
Cooperative Inc. told the state it is behind on its accounts.
“As a not-for-profit utility, Southwestern … relies on its members to pay their
bill so we, in turn, can pay our bills and provide power to 22,000 homes,
hospitals, schools, businesses and industries throughout the state of Illinois,”
cooperative CEO Kerry Sloan wrote in the letter, a copy of which was posted
Thursday on the Capitol Fax blog site.
“Your violation of our service agreement compromises our ability to provide that
service and jeopardized the welfare of our membership and the general public,”
Sloan wrote.
The letter says Southwestern has already exceeded its policies for disconnection
for lack of payment and will begin disconnections if it does not receive payment
by Dec. 1.
Southwestern spokesman Joe Richardson said he could not reveal details of the
state’s accounts because Southwestern treats the state as it would any member of
the cooperative and provides the same account privacy as it would to an
individual.
Spokespeople for the state agencies said they would try to gather information on
the state’s accounts with Southwestern and get back to Illinois News Network,
but most had not as of late Thursday afternoon.
An IDNR spokesman said that department has accounts with Southwestern for
Horseshoe Lake State Park, Carlyle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area and Ramsey
Lake State Recreation Area. As of Nov. 1, the IDNR bill was at roughly $6,300.
The state’s transparency and accountability portal showed payments to
Southwestern in fiscal year 2015 for electrical service for the Illinois
Department of Transportation, about $175,000; Department of Natural Resources,
about $18,200; Central Management Services, about $4,200; and Department of
Corrections, about $260.
In Springfield, the state now owes City Water, Light and Power about $2.9
million for two accounts for the Capitol complex, according to the utility. CWLP
says that while disconnect notices are being sent, it has no plans to cut off
the Capitol.
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 Illinois is in its fifth month of fiscal year 2016 without a
budget as Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who have
supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly remain at
impasse.
Although many routine bills are going unpaid for lack of spending
authority, the state is reportedly spending at a clip to put it $4
billion to $5 billion into the red for the fiscal year as it pays
for primary and secondary education, programs it is obligated to
fund by way of consent decrees and court orders, and spending
mandated in continuing appropriations.
Counseling vendor
Meanwhile, a company that provides substance abuse and related
counseling at state prisons said it’s pulled the plugs on three
contracts valued at about $1 million.
The Wells Center has terminated counseling contracts at the Logan
Correctional Center, Dixon Springs Impact Incarceration Program and
Du Quoin Impact Incarceration Program, said the center’s executive
director, Bruce Carter.
The center has retained one contract at Logan and several with the
state’s Department of Juvenile Justice, as those are funded by
either federal money or state funds paid out by way of consent
decree, Carter said.
Another vendor, Westcare, is providing the services in the contracts
surrendered by Wells Center, an IDOC spokeswoman said.
The Wells Center has been doing business with the state since 1991
and will continue to, but it has to pay particular attention to how
any contract is funded simply because the center cannot support
services with long-delayed payments and no certainty about when
those payments might arrive, Carter said.
The lack of payment is pushing the Wells Center to the edge, he
said.
“Because of delayed payments and cutbacks we’ve had to make, it
would not take much for us to go out of business now,” Carter said.
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