While Exelon threatens to shutter as many as three Illinois nuclear plants without additional revenue from the state, it recently won lucrative concessions for an endangered nuke in New York state.

Chicago-based Exelon finalized a deal Feb. 13 with the electric utility serving Rochester, N.Y., that will require ratepayers in that city to pay more for electricity to keep open Exelon's Ginna plant on the shores of Lake Ontario. Exelon threatened to close the 583-megawatt plant because it's losing money.

New York utility regulators determined Rochester's power grid would be compromised if the plant were closed immediately and so directed Exelon and Rochester Gas & Electric to negotiate a power-purchase contract to keep the facility open. The deal, which runs through September 2018, provides Exelon $17.5 million a month in fixed revenue from Rochester ratepayers plus a portion of revenues from selling electricity from the plant into New York's wholesale power market.

The average Rochester household will see rates rise 4.2 percent, or about $3.89 per month, due to the deal, the Rochester utility estimated.

NEW YORK PLANS

The New York deal could be a sign of what's to come in Illinois. Exelon is expected soon to unveil proposed state legislation that would hike electricity rates throughout the state to provide more money to its six Illinois nuclear plants. The Legislature is expected to consider that and other energy-related proposals this spring.

But in other ways, the New York arrangement is different from the situation in Illinois. Exelon's New York pact lasts only slightly longer than three years because Rochester Gas & Electric is planning to pursue transmission improvements that would allow the plant to close without jeopardizing reliability.

In Illinois, the state's largest electric utility, Commonwealth Edison, is owned by Exelon, which also owns a separate unit that includes the nuclear plants. ComEd isn't likely to be pursuing alternative plans that would allow Exelon's uncompetitive power plants to close; instead, ComEd will be expected to lobby aggressively for Exelon's forthcoming state financial rescue.

In New York, the Rochester utility is owned by Spanish energy giant Iberdrola and so has no reason to help Exelon. In fact, building new transmission lines to import power from outside Rochester presumably would boost profits at Rochester Gas & Electric. Ultimately, the utility would have to prove to the state that its plan was more cost-effective than paying higher-than-market prices to Exelon.

In a statement, ComEd said it has a “long history of participating in policy issues for the benefit of our customers, such as our support of policies promoting grid modernization, energy efficiency and renewables. We will continue to be actively engaged in the debate on all energy issues during this legislative session.”

An Exelon spokesman declined to comment.

EXELON'S ILLINOIS ISSUES

Another difference between New York and Illinois is the rationale for subsidizing Exelon's nuclear plants. In New York, the argument was mainly about ensuring the local power grid functions.

In Illinois, Exelon is arguing that the state won't be able to meet proposed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards on cutting carbon emissions from power plants if any of its carbon-free nuclear plants close. There's been little mention of that issue in New York, which already is part of a regional carbon emissions trading platform aimed at cutting emissions tied to climate change.

ComEd will get a chance soon to weigh in on an alternative to subsidizing existing nuclear plants with the expected introduction today in the state Senate and House of legislation that would significantly increase requirements in state law to use more renewable energy and become more efficient in consuming electricity. Some proponents are arguing that that's a better way to meet federal carbon-reduction goals than paying more to keep uncompetitive nukes open.