Illinois Business Journal Illinois Business Journal
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Electric deregulation results bombard Illinois consumers
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By ALAN J. ORTBALS

   On Sept. 5, a plan formulated nearly 10 years ago to deregulate the electric industry in Illinois came crashing down on consumers' heads. While Ameren president Scott Cisel had been predicting a price increase of 35 percent, the reverse auction produced prices considerably higher, jumping from 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour to more than 10 cents/kwh.
   What went wrong?
   According to Leigh Morris, spokesman for Ameren, consumers are just now seeing the true cost of electricity. Morris said prices had not only been frozen for the past nine years but, in the case of Ameren, actually rolled back by 20 percent. Ameren and its customers were protected somewhat from increasing costs of electric because Ameren had [continue]

 On Jan. 2, AmerenIP electric rates will leapfrog those of all surrounding states to become the 10th highest in the U.S. at nearly 10.6 cents per kilowatt hour.
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Union pension funds have been used to finance multiple projects in SW Illinois.		 . Union financing builds Southwestern Illinois
By ALAN J. ORTBALS

   What do the Gateway Distribution Center in Pontoon Beach, the Sanford Brown College in Collinsville and the Ramada Inn in Fairview Heights have in common? They've all been financed with union pension fund dollars.
   Many unions - particularly in the construction trades - put their pension funds to work in real estate development with two goals in mind, according to Barry McAnarney, executive director [continue]

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Illinois state pension funding gap nears $46 billion, parties differ on remedy
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By KERRY L. SMITH

   Although Illinois Democrats claim the state's pension systems today are more secure than they were three years ago when Gov. Rod Blagojevich took office, Republicans argue the future of the pension systems - and the increasing liability of the state taxpayer - is becoming less secure with each passing fiscal year.
   What neither political party will dispute is the vast complexity of the system itself. There are 658,000 members of the state [continue]

According to data from the Governor's Office on Management and Budget, the gap between Illinois' pension systems assets and its liabilities continues to widen each year.