Elmhurst Aldermen Consider Hiring Outside Expert to Assess Power Grid

Frustration bubbled up from many sides during a special Elmhurst City Council Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night. The meeting was aimed at sparking a discussion about

While aldermen floated the idea of the city hiring its own experts to assess Elmhurst's power grid, state legislators in attendance said they need input now, since time is running short in Springfield.

Part of the rationale for the meeting was to discuss Gov. Pat Quinn's veto of Senate Bill 1652, which would have allowed ComEd to begin implementing a upgrade to the state's power system. But aldermen stressed the need to see improvements in electrical reliability immediately.

Aldermen repeatedly expressed distrust for any numbers generated by ComEd, and they asked city staff to consider hiring an independent electrical expert to evaluate the city's power grid. In August, the City Council to Gov. Quinn urging him to veto the bill, saying the Smart Grid plan was "nothing but a Trojan Horse for ComEd to manipulate rate increases without having to go through the Illinois Commerce Commission for 10 years."

The suggestion to hire an independent expert met with frustration from members of a subcommittee of the city's stormwater task force, who said they believe their expertise was not being called upon. This group of more than 40 residents was created to suggest solutions following the damaging floods in 2010, and one of the subgroups was tasked with reviewing the number and frequency of power outages following storm events. Jeff Byrd from the ComEd subcommittee told aldermen that his group had no direction and no idea what the city wanted from them.

“You have resources available to you that you are not using,” Byrd said, noting that some of the subcommittee members were electrical engineers.

Byrd also chided aldermen for what seemed like reflexive distrust of any information coming from ComEd, saying that city officials and residents needed more information about the Smart Grid and other potential upgrades the utility was proposing.

Task force members were not the only ones in the room asking aldermen for more input on potential fixes to the grid. State Reps. Chris Nybo (R-41st, Elmhurst) and Dennis Reboletti (R-46th, Elmhurst), and state Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-24th, Westmont) were all in attendance to gather ideas for specific fixes to SB1652. Reboletti explained that the legislature has a chance to craft a trailer bill, which would propose changes that might result in the governor's signature.

“We need to know what you want and what you think the solutions are,” Dillard told the council.

Nybo asked aldermen to support the concept of the Smart Grid. He said SB1652 called for $1.1 billion in upgrades to the grid, including about $10 million directed to Elmhurst.

“The solution to the lack of reliability is improved infrastructure,” he said.

The legislators cautioned the council that time was running out in the General Assembly's session, and that they might not get another opportunity at the state level to fix the electrical grid anytime soon.

Third Ward Alderman Danee Polomsky also announced a new web site, www.powerelmhurst.com, which has been established to gather residents signatures “to let both ComEd and our state legislators know that we need the commitment of consistent and reliable power.”