The debate over a new energy policy that Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law Wednesday focused largely on whether utility customers, from individual families to large industrial companies, should be asked to pay billions of dollars over a decade to subsidize two unprofitable nuclear plants owned by a highly profitable corporation.
But supporters say the argument about the $235 million in annual subsidies Exelon Corp. will be eligible to receive in exchange keeping open the Clinton and Quad-Cities nuclear power plants for another 10 years has overshadowed the legislation’s long-term environmental and climate benefits.