When a 10-year cap on electricity rates expired in 2006, the fruits of deregulation were supposed to flourish - meaning new competition would lower consumers' bills.
That didn't happen, and clouty ComEd bore the brunt of Chicagoans' ire.
Now state House speaker Michael Madigan wants lawmakers to consider a return to the good ol' days of "folding unregulated power plants back into the utilities, a move that would make the prices the plants charge subject to state regulation," Crain's reports.
The political gamesmanship and economic theories may be complicated, but the bottom line is how much you will pay for electricity in the future - and how much providers like ComEd will profit.
"There's sort of a fundamental distrust (of competitive electricity markets) building," energy consultant Robert Zabors told Crain's.
As Crain's points out, ComEd - and its parent, Exelon - no longer has former state senate president Emil Jones covering its back.
And Gov. Pat Quinn made his bones in part by taking on the utilities.
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So it could be dark days ahead for ComEd - which would surely brighten the days of the rest of us.
