Executive Report

Feds aid consumer cases with electric utilities

ILLINOIS was one of 12 states which received grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to help residential consumers and small businesses achieve better representation before state public utility commissions on electric utility questions. At issue are questions like customer service regulations and rate increases. The office of consumer services, Governor's Office of Manpower and Human Development, received $182, 462 in October to provide money and technical assistance to qualified consumer groups and individuals.

The office does not retain a lawyer, and in most cases consumers will use grant money to hire their own attorneys to present their cases before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). But if necessary, the consumer services office could retain legal counsel to represent a group or individual. Besides researching and assisting consumers on engineering, economic and other technical matters, consumer services representatives can also appear before the ICC to present technical evidence.

Also part of the program is a volunteer task force of consumer and citizens groups recruited from various constituencies across the state. The task force's first job was to help the office meet federal guidelines on who can get assistance in presenting cases to the ICC. Cases can be either class actions or filed by an individual consumer group or a small business. (A consumer group, according to the feds, must consist of three or more persons and meet other guidelines as well.) Refining these guidelines in a series of open meetings in December and January, the task force and consumer services representatives hoped to be in compliance with federal regulations by January and in full operation by the middle of February. After the work of compliance is over, a permanent Consumers Coordinating Council will be formed to advise and aid the office and see that citizens' interests are represented, said Consumer Services Director Al Grandys.

The office also received a grant of $165,000 from the U.S. Community Services Administration for a similar program to help low-income customers of electric utilities represent themselves before the ICC. Thomas J. O'Brien, supervisor of ICC's consumer protection section, welcomed the new programs, pointing out that the commission cannot provide consumer advocacy because its staff is also advising the commissioners who make the final decisions on consumer/utility conflicts. "Anybody who can provide well-reasoned input to the procedures of this commission is necessarily a benefit to the regulatory process," he said. He emphasized that consumer representatives should be "stable people without axes to grind, as equipped to do their jobs as the utility representatives and the ICC's commissioners." He said, "The big problem today is that people affected by rate increases have no assurance that they are protected. I don't think any rational person can say to members of the public, 'trust me,' and 1 don't think any rational member of the public can make that concession."

Consumers aren't the only ones seeking more technical expertise on utility issues. The ICC, long understaffed in comparison to states like New York, California and Michigan, has been hiring more accountants, engineers and economists and has established an agency analysis section to deal with generic questions like peak load pricing and load management — which underlie rate setting questions and affect both utilities and consumers. In fiscal 1978 the General Assembly lifted the ICC's $5.5 million biennial budget ceiling and alloted the commission $3.9 million for fiscal 1978, a considerable increase to allow for more staff. Once the new staff positions are filled, according to Public Relations Officer Judy Vandewater, the agency will evaluate its strength to see if it needs more money in fiscal 1979.

Bakalis pulls out of governor's personnel code

Employees of the comptroller's office were removed from the governor's personnel system effective in January following a request from Comptroller (and gubernatorial candidate) Michael J. Bakalis December 2. The measure was approved by the governor. Director of Personnel William Boys and the Civil Service Commission. The switch affects some 78 employees working under civil service classifications. Employees who were certified under the Personnel Code will retain code protection even though the comptroller's office will be operating without a code until one can be approved by the General Assembly.

A three-phase plan that changes the way the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (DHMDD) handles dangerous patients was announced by Director Robert deVito in December. The plan involves persons accused of crimes but placed under the jurisdiction of the DHMDD because they have been judged not fit to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity.

In phase one, already underway, male patients who are considered dangerous or potentially dangerous are being transferred to medium and maximum security facilities at the Chester Mental Health Center. These measures were taken to tighten security and to ease conditions at other state mental health centers by removing dangerous patients.

Phase two, which is in early stages of negotiation, concerns persons charged with misdemeanors in Cook County and judged not fit to stand trial. The DMHDD's evaluation and treatment program for these patients accounts for about 150 admissions per month to mental health centers in the Chicago area. DeVito would like to see the program transferred to the jurisdiction of the Cook County jail.

Phase three requires radical action by the General Assembly and would make it impossible for a person committed to a mental institution for a serious crime to be released after a short period of treatment. DeVito proposes eliminating the "not guilty by virtue of insanity plea" and substituting a plea of "guilty but menially ill." An individual sentenced under this plea would serve a prison term if treatment ended before his sentence time was up. There would also be provisions for those judged not fit to return to society and or patients opting to stay with DHMDD.

Even the unemployment statistics are costing the state money. A 70-step procedure used by the U.S. Department of Labor does not give an accurate figure of unemployment in Illinois, according to Gov. James R. Thompson. The feds acknowledged the inaccuracy but refused to implement a newer and more accurate system until January because of the difficulties it would cause for other states. Gov. Thompson announced in December that the delay would cost Illinois approximately $10 million in federal funds in countercyclical revenue sharing. C. Thompson Ross, administrator of the Illinois Bureau of Employment Security, said his office would be working with Chicago officials and the state's congressional delegation in January to see if some of the lost funds could be reimbursed next year.

Off-track betting should be legalized and operated under state supervision, according to the recommendation of the governor's Commission to Study Legalized Gambling. In a report issued December 15, the commission said as much as $60 million in additional revenues could be raised for state and local governments by Illinois betters. Other recommendations include public corporations to handle off-track betting under the supervision of a state board which could also make agreements allowing interstate betting. The commission hopes that legal betting parlors can eliminate private messenger services. The services have been blamed for declining attendance at the tracks causing an estimated loss to the state of $3.5 million. 

29/ February 1978/ Illinois Issues