Dear Council members,

I want to point out some of the misconceptions about the 20-year IMEA contract extension that won't start for ten years. (Nobody signs a contract that won't start for ten years!)

1. That all suppliers use coal. This is partially true, but 80% of IMEA’s supply comes from coal. Many alternative electricity suppliers use a combination of sources for energy, with nuclear and natural gas as bridge fuels until substantial storage comes on line for the renewables – solar, wind and hydro. On average, the alternative suppliers use 15% coal. That difference in magnitude is huge. The U.S. average coal use for electricity generation is 15%. The Illinois average is 15%. Winnetka buys the dirtiest electricity in the state.

2. That the environmental and health costs are hard to quantify, therefore they can be ignored. This is not true. Coal use aggravates the climate crisis, and causes flooding, wildfires, and drought. A longer heat wave will see more usage of air conditioners. Air pollution has a toxic health impact, including death. All of these disasters have a cost that can be captured. In a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Science, 460,000 Americans had their lives  cut short from soot pollution made by burning coal for electricity alone. This casualty rate has slowed dramatically as coal plants have shut down due to more cost effective means of electricity generation.

3. That the electricity being reliable has something to do with IMEA. That is not true. Our reliability has to do with the Village doing a good job maintaining the delivery system, and PJM making sure its supply can meet our demands. PJM is the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland wholesale grid that pools the supply for all or parts of 13 states from Illinois to the eastern half of the US, and the District of Columbia.

4. That the IMEA cost will be lower than its competitors for the next 20 years after 2035. It is likely not true. Especially knowing that we’ll still be stuck with the decommissioning cost of the power plants. The Village bundled the costs so that things like the coal plants construction debt fee is not itemized. Our fees are lumped into residential and customer charge categories, neither one is broken out in our bill. The IMEA debt cost lumped into the 2 categories are excluded when comparing electric rates. IMEA has created funds for us to pay towards decommissioning the coal plants. We would like transparency in the billing to include line items for IMEA: supply rate and charge, debt fee, operating cost, and decommissioning fee.

5. IMEA’s outstanding bond debt will be paid off in 2035. This is the bond debt that was used to purchase Prairie State and Trimble County Unit 2. This is true.

The Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), Public Act 102-0662 allows the Prairie State to stay open until 2045. By 2038, PSEC must shut down one of its two generators if it is unable to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45%.Trimble County coal plant is scheduled to shut down one unit in 2045, with a full retirement in 2050. After 2035, we will still be saddled with the decommissioning fee for cleaning up both coal power plant sites even if we go with an alternative supplier. Additionally, the coal plants will need to be replaced by other capital investments, and we will be picking up that cost. After paying for all that, Winnetka does not own anything, and there is no way out of the contract if the performance fails or the rates skyrocket. The current contract is a bad contract. This is unfortunately true.

6. That renewable energy is more expensive. This is not true. Many states, like Texas, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota have their prices come down after rolling out solar and wind energy. 

7. Other towns have negotiated 2+ years of fixed rates with alternative suppliers. For example, Rockford had re-negotiated their fixed rate with MC Squared from 7.79 cents/kwh down to 7.25 cents/kwh in February 2025 for 2 years. Should the variable rate drop below 7.25 cents/kwh, residents can opt out and go with the lower rate. This is true. Why don't we negotiate a fixed ceiling rate with an alternative supplier and allow residents to opt out of that rate as well?

8. IMEA owns 15% of Prairie State coal plant and 12% of Trimble County coal plant in Kentucky, and that energy supplies IMEA’s 32 communities. Being a small village, Winnetka only uses a fraction of the Prairie State and Trimble County coal supply, but it represents 80% of our fuel source. Prairie State coal plant is the largest direct emitter of greenhouse gases, co-pollutants, and coal-ash in Illinois, and in the top ten in the USA. It is true that 80% of IMEA power source is coal. 

9. There is much self-congratulating about our own power plants being a backup system and rarely used, while getting a $1m credit/rate discount from IMEA as a backup system to satisfy the PJM capacity requirements. We have not looked into how much it would bring in if we actually use the power plant on the open market. Plus, any negotiation with an alternative supplier should include our power plant asset. Alternative suppliers could bid Winnetka's local generation into the capacity market just like IMEA does. There is nothing special nor unique that IMEA is doing for Winnetka. This is true.

10. It is true that St. Charles wants to work with Winnetka so that our combined power needs would get both communities better fixed rates. They were turned down. Why?

11. The Council held several study sessions to present a one-sided approach to the contract extension. It has hired a consultant, Mark Pruitt, just to strengthen its pro-IMEA position. Mark was originally brought in by Winnetka Future Energy Coalition simply to educate community members how our electric grid works in the PJM network. The Council has used that to suggest that it hired an independent consultant that was originally presenting an opposing view. That is not true. 

12. The Council has disregarded all the community members' input, some of which were from green energy experts. It has not engaged directly with any alternative suppliers to make serious cost benefit comparisons. The Village Council is supposed to represent the Village, not IMEA, as stated in the last meeting. IMEA did not elect the Council members, we the residents did. That is true.

Best,
Ivy Sundell
Winnetka resident