CLEVELAND, MAY 1, 1991–Mayor Daley stopped here briefly en route to Washington, D.C., for a firsthand look at Cleveland’s longstanding but little-known experiment with competing electric utilities. He acknowledged good-humoredly that Chicago might learn a thing or two from the city that has been described as the “mistake by the lake.” “In the neighborhoods here,” Daley observed during an impromptu street-corner press conference, “residents can choose which electric utility they want to be served by–the city-owned system or the investor-owned system. It seems to keep prices low and service reliable. I guess there’s nothing like competition to keep both companies on their toes.”
“This franchise may be the most important decision I make as mayor. I’m out here to see various alternatives for myself, and let our people know about them. A well-informed citizenry is our strongest negotiating tool. I want the people of Chicago to know that we will overlook nothing that will help us make a better electricity deal for them–even if we have to go to Cleveland.”
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When you have just one answer to every question, it had better be a good one. Now that it’s no longer so good, everyone’s calculations have been upset. Edison’s own public-relations and negotiating stance has become more difficult; their old advertising slogan, “Doing things right,” now has a decidedly humorous ring, and politicians who might have welcomed a sweetheart deal can no longer allow themselves to be seen in Edison’s company.
The Daley administration has also been caught off-guard, though some cynics might call its surprise a pleasant one. Despite the fact (revealed by Tom Brune in the Sun-Times August 24) that no public agency ever inspects Edison’s substations, the city seems to have assumed that the utility’s distribution system was in good shape. Now that it appears not to be, the administration either (a) needs time to investigate the system or (b–the cynical view) now has all the excuse it needs to put the whole troublesome mess off until after next spring’s mayoral elections. In either case, last month Daley requested, and Commonwealth Edison agreed to, a one-year extension of Edison’s franchise in Chicago, which was scheduled to expire this December 31.
Bloom thinks his amendment would help the city regardless of Edison’s response. If Edison says, “No extension if you amend the payment schedule,” that’s fine: then the utility will look like it doesn’t want to pay its bills on time, and the franchise-renewal negotiations will proceed with Edison on the public- relations ropes. (Bloom doesn’t believe the administration needs another year to study the distribution system–if they were serious about acquiring Edison, they would have studied it sooner.) On the other hand, if Edison agrees to the extension with monthly payments, then the city gets its $4 million plus time to study and get the public educated and involved. (Edison spokesperson John Hogan says the company prefers no extension at all, or failing that an extension without changes, but he does not rule out the company’s agreeing to the Bloom amendment if it passes.)
During 1988 and 1989, Edison spent more than $600,000 putting forth its position on the franchise, including literature that characterized the negotiations as a choice between irresponsible “extremists” and Edison professionals. Anti-Edison activists would like to see the city responding in kind–educating the public about the importance of the franchise, the improvements that could be made in the city’s electric service, and the alternatives the city has for pursuing those improvements. But the Daley administration doesn’t seem too interested in this sort of public relations. “There’s really not that much to say” about the city’s public-education effort, says Jessica Feldman, executive director of the mayor’s Electricity Working Group. “There’s just not as much interest in the franchise as the Electric Options Campaign would like there to be. I hate to say so, but it’s a dull topic to most of the world.”
“I do presentations on this subject every week. People can understand it. And keeping them ignorant is undemocratic. I feel very strongly that Edison’s franchise is a privilege, not a right. It is the democratic right of the people to look at this. You can’t just leave it to just a few guys in a back room.”
