Energy News Network
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6th April 2020
Agreements between Illinois cities and utilities push costs onto ratepayers
Unlike anywhere else in the region and potentially even the country, nearly every city and town in northern Illinois gets free energy to power many public facilities, including town halls, police and fire stations and other municipal buildings.
But this arrangement, part of arcane franchise agreements with utility providers that were written decades ago, comes at a significant cost to those footing the bill: ratepayers.