Chicago City Wire

Chicagoans who have invested in solar power are calling out ComEd’s reluctance to pay solar power users who provide electricity back into the power grid. 

“I am seeing a lot in the news about the ‘ComEd Four’ who were found guilty of conspiring to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan,” Chicagoan Leah O’Connor said on Facebook. “What I am not seeing is what exactly did Madigan give to ComEd in exchange for the bribes he received. One thing Madigan gave ComEd was a way to make money off solar panels installed by Illinois homeowners.” 

O'Connor said that when her family installed solar panels, they were only allowed to cover approximately half of their roof with panels.

“At a time when we need to encourage solar power, are you aware that Illinois state law is written in way that limits the number solar panels a person can install on their homes?" she said. "The rule was that we could only install enough panels to generate the electric power used in the previous year. When we generate more power than we use, ComEd buys it back at the same price we would be charged if we were buying power from ComEd.” 

O'Connor said ComEd does not actually pay for the power that solar panel users put into the grid. 

"It gives us credit for excess kilowatt hours generated," she stated. "In the winter when the solar cells produce less power than what we use, that credit is used up. Therein lies the problem. Once a year any accrued credit is zeroed out. This year we lost about 397 kilowatt hours. That was essentially a $33 donation to ComEd. What else did Madigan give to ComEd?” 

Amanda Schnitker Sayers, a juror in the ComEd Four trial, said Madigan is responsible for the corruption to which ComEd employees and those connected to them succumbed. 

"We're tired of political corruption,” Sayers said after the verdict, The Center Square reported. "We're hoping this is a first step." 

Additionally, Sayers said Madigan "really did cause this all to happen.” In response to the defense attorney's argument that the four defendants were legally lobbying, she said the jurors "all agreed that lobbying is necessary ... this is not lobbying.”

Calls for ethics reform have been increasing after former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker along with Madigan associate Michael McClain and lobbyist Jay Doherty, who previously ran the City Club of Chicago, were convicted of scheming to pay $1.3 million to Madigan-connected people and companies. 

The ComEd Four face sentencing in January 2024. 

As part of the scheme, ComEd provided jobs – some of which were no-show – and contracts to those with connections to Madigan – who at the time controlled the Democratic Party and had wielded power as the state’s most powerful politician as the longest-serving state House Speaker in the nation. ComEd, the state’s largest utility, engaged in the scheme to influence Madigan to get preferential treatment in the state House. Prosecutors called the four defendants "grandmasters of corruption.” ComEd paid a $200 million fine in July 2020 and admitted to the scheme.

The criticism of corruption against state Democrats comes just after former state senator Tom Cullerton was spotted working in Springfield as a lobbyist after serving jail time for taking a no-show position from the Teamsters.