Legislators criticize Illinois’ utility policies as ‘unsustainable’
[August 16, 2025]
By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s law banning utility shutoffs
during extreme heat and cold is sparking concerns over rising electric
bills across Illinois.
Signed a few years ago, the law prohibits utility companies from
disconnecting residential electric and gas service when temperatures
reach 90°F or above, or drop to freezing and below, aiming to protect
vulnerable residents during dangerous weather.
State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, said that while the measure was
well-intentioned, it may have unintended consequences.
“Somebody’s got to eat that cost,” Halbrook told The Center Square. “If
utility companies aren’t turning off power to customers who don’t pay
their bills, those costs show up somewhere, usually in surcharges on
everyone else’s bills.”
Halbrook explained that recent utility bills include extra charges
required by state laws and programs like the Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program and the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. These added
fees raise the overall cost consumers pay on their electric bills,
according to Halbrook.
“The last Ameren bill I looked at had six or eight items on it that the
state mandated—whether it’s a sales tax, some other kind of tax, or the
LIHEAP program, or all the things required through CEJA,” said Halbrook.
Between July 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024, about 333,786 households in
Illinois got help through LIHEAP or the Percentage of Income Payment
Plan. That’s more than the 324,336 households helped in the previous
year.
A Pekin restaurant shared their electric bill on social media and is
being widely shared by Illinoisans and state lawmakers.
State Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, called Illinois’ energy policy
“unsustainable” for small businesses and households alike
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“They’re [Hacienda Cantina and Grill] just outside my district, but
their post got a lot of attention. I don’t know how small businesses or
people on fixed incomes are going to survive,” said Hauter. “They’ll end
up running their homes hotter or colder in the winter just to cope.”
Hacienda Cantina and Grill’s electric bill shows they owe nearly $5,000
to Ameren for their July power usage.
Republicans in the Illinois General Assembly have been pushing for a
special session to address rising energy costs and concerns about the
state’s grid reliability. When asked whether energy companies might seek
a taxpayer-funded bailout to lower rates, Hauter said it’s “a
potential,” but not the solution.
“The solution is more and better sources of electricity, and the first
thing that should come to mind for clean, reliable and affordable energy
is nuclear power. If a climate change activist opposes nuclear power,
they’re not serious about solutions, they’re virtue-signaling and
seeking control through crisis,” said Hauter. “That’s why I supported
the recent bipartisan bill eliminating the moratorium on small nuclear
power plants.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently said he supports lifting the moratorium on
new nuclear power plants.
“We already got rid of it on small modular nuclear. We can do that on
large nuclear. It’s going to be an important part of a transition to
renewable energy everywhere,” Pritzker said. |
