News Stories

The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) issued an Order approving the results of the IPA’s Fall 2024 Block Energy Procurement. The IPA’s Block Energy Procurement brings block energy under contract to meet the supply requirements of eligible retail customers (residential and small commercial customers of ComEd and Ameren Illinois who have not elected to take service from a competitive supplier). The results of the IPA’s block energy procurement event, in part, determine the supply charges that eligible retail customers pay through utility bills.

The IPA’s preliminary analysis is that the Fall 2024 Block Energy Procurement will result in lower energy prices for eligible retail customers relative to results from prior procurement events.

The Illinois Commerce Commission approved the results of the IPA’s 2024 Fall Capacity Procurement for Ameren Illinois. Capacity is a component of the cost of electricity that compensates generators for availability during high demand times. The IPA procures capacity for the eligible retail customers of Ameren Illinois to provide a financial hedge against price volatility seen in recent auctions run by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (“MISO”). MISO’s capacity market design has changed significantly over the past several years, including shifting to a seasonal rather than annual product, and the use of a sloped demand curve for calculating capacity prices in MISO-administered auctions (beginning in 2025).

The Fall Capacity Procurement procured more capacity for Summer and Fall seasons for the 2025-2026 and the 2026-2027 delivery years than previous procurements, but still fell short of target quantities. The IPA expects to conduct additional capacity procurements in 2025 based on the 2025 Electricity Procurement Plan scheduled to be approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission in December. In that Plan, the IPA will be proposing refinements designed to improve the results of future capacity procurements.

Order  (09/12/2024)