I’ve been hearing AmerenCILCO commercials on WMBD radio all the time lately telling me that electric rates are going to go up dramatically in 2007. I finally checked out their website, www.post2006.com, just to see what it was all about. Here’s the summary from their home page:

Ameren’s Illinois utilities are part of a competitive marketplace for electricity that began in late 1997, when the Illinois General Assembly joined a national movement and passed legislation to create an open and competitive retail marketplace for electricity.

Separate electric delivery rates were established under that legislation, and the regulated utility companies were encouraged to spin off or sell their power generating assets to expand the market for buying and selling energy. Today, selling electricity has become a competitive business. Illinois consumers have the right to choose a power supplier other than the utility. For those customers who choose not to select an alternative supplier, Ameren’s Illinois utility companies will continue to provide power at their actual cost, without mark-up.

Now, Ameren’s Illinois utilities own almost no generation. With the end of the transition into competition coming on January 1, 2007, we need to buy electricity in the open wholesale market to serve our customers.

This all sounds great, but what competition do we have in Peoria? “Illinois consumers have the right to choose a power supplier other than the utility,” the website says. How? What other power suppliers? By “Illinois,” do they mean Chicago? With the deregulation of telephone companies, I’ve had no shortage of marketing mail and phone calls asking me to switch carriers, yet with the power competition I haven’t heard anything.

If there’s no competition, it looks like we’ll be over a barrel when electricity rates go up 25-30%, as predicted. And when that happens, the Howerters of Canton won’t look so crazy for disconnecting from the power grid completely.

I was catching up on Bill’s blog today and read his post, “Gettin’ while the gettin’s good.” In it, he advocates two things: (1) he would like to see city-wide WiFi (short for “wireless fidelity,” a wireless local area network that would be used for internet access), and (2) the city should at least start it, if not run it — it “should be considered infrastructure, and hence a legitimate government fuction,” according to his post.

I agree with his first point. City-wide WiFi would be a plus for the MedTech district and be one more feather in Peoria’s cap for attracting high-tech business to our fair city. But to say the city government should run it is a mistake. I’m seeing a trend here… First he’s for the water company buyout, now city-run WiFi… Pretty soon we’ll have the city owning phone service (wired and cell), electric/gas service, and cable television! Then maybe they could take over gas stations and grocery stores, too. The city that does it all!

Internet service is a profitable industry. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have private companies provide WiFi service to Peoria? In fact, isn’t that the very kind of business we want to attract to the MedTech district? Considering they wouldn’t have to string cable to everyone’s house, the overhead should be considerably lower for such a business, making it easier for them enter the marketplace. Then we’d have a company that buys land, pays taxes (property and sales), and employs people — and we won’t have city resources tied up in something that should be privately run.

I understand the increasing role the internet plays in our business and personal lives, but I don’t think it’s an essential service right up there with police and fire protection. And it’s profitable enough that it doesn’t need to be subsidized by the local government.