For more than 80 years, electric cooperatives have provided safe, affordable, and reliable electricity to their consumers throughout rural Illinois.  The 25 not-for-profit electric cooperatives, each owned and democratically controlled by their members, provide service to approximately 600,000 primarily rural Illinoisans located in 90 of the state’s 102 counties, including you! 

Prairie State Energy Campus is wholly owned by not-for-profit electric cooperatives and municipalities in Illinois and other midwestern states, providing affordable and reliable electricity.  Under the comprehensive Illinois legislative energy proposal, Prairie State would be required to close by 2035.  Prairie State is state-of-the-art and highly efficient, and today is only 10 years into its expected 30-plus year life.  We oppose legislation that reduces grid reliability, creates a dependency on energy from neighboring states, exports good-paying energy jobs and tax base across state lines, and increases our rates by 20% to 25%.  By 2035, cooperatives will still have $188 million in long-term debt owed on the Prairie State Energy Campus. That debt, coupled with the cost of replacement energy and capacity, could result in increased costs to our consumer-members.

Menard Electric Cooperative is committed to keeping energy affordable and reliable while we invest in a cleaner energy future, but we cannot let policy get ahead of technology. Let’s work towards improving and expanding that technology before we reliably power the grid with no carbon emissions.

Help send the message to Governor Pritzker and State Legislators that any proposed energy legislation must provide a delayed effective date for power plants owned by not-for-profit entities, in order to allow us to operate as currently permitted and allow us to pay off the debt on these facilities. 

Visit https://voicesforcooperativepower.com/illinois/  to send a letter.