Residents and businesses will pay 5 percent more for electricity beginning Feb. 1, the City Council decided this week.
“We have several major electrical projects coming up in the next three to five years–building a new substation, burying downtown power lines and running a high-powered line to Fermilab,” said Public Utilities Committee Chairman James Volk. “We are going to need capital to fund these projects.”
Officials also expect to pay more to Commonwealth Edison for wholesale electricity when the city’s eight-year agreement with ComEd expires in 2007.
The increase will generate about $6.7 million next year, which will fund upcoming capital improvements to the power grid as well as a long-term project to build a power plant in Downstate Washington County. Aldermen Monday approved paying $381,459 to the Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency, which includes Batavia, Geneva and Rochelle, to help finance the project. Batavia will receive 50 megawatts of power from the plant when it’s finished in about five years.
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