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* Dan Mihalopoulos and Dave McKinney at WBEZ…
The 2011 “Smart Grid” law was passed over the objections of the then-governor and baked in rate increases for ComEd for years.
Since that law passed, revenues from the company’s state-approved delivery rates have jumped from a little over $2 billion in 2012 to nearly $2.7 billion last year, the state commerce commission documents show. That increase was about 2-1/2 times the roughly 12% rate of inflation during the same period.
The state-sanctioned “net operating income” reaped by ComEd rose even faster, from about $500 million a year at the time the bribery scheme in Springfield began to $739 million last year, according to the state documents and court records. […]
By approving FEJA, Illinois lawmakers enabled Exelon to collect more than $2.3 billion from ComEd’s ratepayers. Records show the legislation yielded more than $935 million in the first four years after the Springfield decision. The cost of the 2016 law appears as a line item on monthly ComEd bills as “Zero Emission Standard,” under the “taxes and fees” section. […]
The sentencing guidelines for ComEd’s misdeeds called for a fine of $240 million or as much as $480 million, according to the agreement in the case. That range in the guidelines gave ComEd credit for cooperating with the investigation.
Anybody want to try to do the math here?
Also, Exelon’s stock rose by 3 percent last Friday, but has since come back down.
* Meanwhile, buried in the story is this nugget…
A source close to the investigation said the clout-heavy lawyer referred to in the settlement with ComEd was Victor Reyes, once a top aide and political operative for former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.
From ComEd’s deferred prosecution agreement…
In or around 2011, ComEd agreed to retain Law Firm A, and entered into a contract pursuant to which ComEd agreed to provide Law Firm A with a minimum of 850 hours of attorney work per year. This contract was entered into with Law Firm A, in part, with the intent to influence and reward Public Official A in connection with Public Official A’s official duties and because personnel and agents of ComEd understood that giving this contract to Law Firm A was important to Public Official A. In 2016, Law Firm A’s contract was up for renewal. As part of renewal discussions, personnel within ComEd sought to reduce the hours of legal work they provided to Law Firm A from the 850 hours specified in the 2011 retention agreement because ComEd paid only for hours worked and there was not enough appropriate legal work to give to Law Firm A to fill 850 annual hours.
Thereafter, an attorney associated with Law Firm A [Lawyer A] complained to Individual A about ComEd’s effort to reduce the amount of work provided to Law Firm A. On or about January 20, 2016, Individual A contacted CEO-1 and wrote, “I am sure you know how valuable [Lawyer A] is to our Friend [Public Official A],” and then went on to write, “I know the drill and so do you. If you do not get involve [sic] and resolve this issue of 850 hours for his law firm per year then he will go to our Friend [Public Official A]. Our Friend [Public Official A] will call me and then I will call you. Is this a drill we must go through?” CEO-1 replied in writing, “Sorry. No one informed me. I am on this.” Thereafter, CEO-1 tasked a ComEd employee, who was assigned as a “project manager” to assist with the project of obtaining legislative approval of FEJA, to ensure that Law Firm A’s contract was renewed. The project manager had no oversight authority over ComEd’s legal department and was not otherwise involved in deciding what legal professionals the legal department retained. The project manager was assigned the task of ensuring Law Firm A’s contract was renewed because the work provided to Law Firm A was, in part, designed to influence and reward Public Official A in connection with Public Official A’s official duties, including the promotion and passage of FEJA. ComEd agreed in or around June 2016 to renew Law Firm A’s contract with substantially reduced annual hours.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jul 24, 20 @ 1:58 pm
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Victor Reyes brings bad news with him. Not surprised to hear he’s in the middle of scandal and corruption.
Victor needs to be kept out of and away from government.
Comment by TGIF...nope Friday, Jul 24, 20 @ 2:12 pm
I knew it was Victor Reyes all along.
==Victor needs to be kept out of and away from government.==
Obviously you’re not a golfer.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Friday, Jul 24, 20 @ 2:19 pm
Gotta give credit to WBEZ, Cap Fax and the Reader on keeping up with what is going on in the mess in Springfield.
Comment by Back to the Future Friday, Jul 24, 20 @ 2:33 pm
This is Reyes’ MO - complain/threaten to complain directly or indirectly to get business. Remember the tapes from his convo with Danny Solis? He whined/ complained to Solis not finding enough work for him.
Comment by Shytown Friday, Jul 24, 20 @ 2:35 pm
WBEZ has no tabloid sensationalism. Very intellectual and fact based coverage. Tribune should learn from WBEZ.
Comment by Frumpy white guy Friday, Jul 24, 20 @ 2:42 pm
It was truly amazing, to me, when you think about this whole “business” and Madigan;
As the post Rich has is mind-numbing when you think how well ComEd, in the end, still made out…
… when I saw the $200 million they had to pay, and the $200+ million they *aren’t* paying…
… and it’s not even as huge, not even equivalent to… Madigan and how this is going…
Perspective, Madigan has overshadowed every single aspect of this whole story that if you removed Madigan (you can’t) the whole business would be one of the biggest political stories in 20+ years… but Madigan overshadows so much, even ComEd making out on everything… “because Madigan”
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Jul 24, 20 @ 3:53 pm
Reporters should further probe the fictional wall between ComEd and Exelon. If ComEd admitted to corruption surrounding a bill to help the nukes, it’s essentially admitted the separation between the companies is a distinction without difference.
Comment by Senator Clay Davis Friday, Jul 24, 20 @ 3:54 pm
And yet we hear nothing but cricket, except for a couple, from the Democrat side of the aisle, since Madigan is involved. Why aren’t they calling for him to step aside like they have done in the past year when other colleagues were swept up in investigations??
Comment by Iowa City Friday, Jul 24, 20 @ 4:11 pm