(The Center Square) – A lawsuit filed
Tuesday alleges ComEd violated state law and seeks class-action status, which
means those who pay ComEd for electricity could be eligible for a settlement if
it succeeds.
The suit, filed by Chicago-based law firms Romanucci and Blandin LLC and
DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC, alleges Commonwealth Edison broke the Illinois
Consumer Fraud Act and “unjustly enriched itself by overcharging its 4 million
customers in Illinois for years.”
They claim the criminal complaint from the U.S. Attorney’s office
shows ComEd agreed to pay the federal government $200 million for corrupt
practices, but fails to make whole customers who paid those higher rates for
the better part of a decade.
“Through rampant and widespread corruption in the form of bribery of Illinois
elected officials, ComEd and its parent company, Exelon Corporation, deprived
ratepayers of vast sums of money, totaling in the hundreds of millions, if not billions,
of dollars,” the complaint alleges.
The utility giant, in an agreement with federal prosecutors, would cooperate
in any investigation into “Public Official A,” identified as House Speaker
Michael Madigan. The company also agreed to pay $200 million in exchange for a
deferred prosecution. If the company doesn't comply with the terms of of the
deal, prosecutors could revisit those charges.
ComEd warned
its investors in a February federal filing that the
investigation into the company's lobbying practices in Springfield could
subject it to criminal or civil penalties.
Attorneys heading the lawsuit said Tuesday that they could not give an
estimated payout this early in the lawsuit because they have yet to discover
how much ComEd profited from the patronage scandal.
“Commonwealth Edison has acknowledged that they have received over $150
million in benefits as a result of this bribery scheme,” attorney Stephan
Blandin said. “This lawsuit aims to determine the full extent because we all
know that Commonwealth Edison did not admit to the $150 million – that this
goes much deeper than that.”
ComEd officials said Tuesday the company had admitted to wrongdoing, but
said the legislation they had worked to enact benefitted ratepayers.
“We apologize for the past conduct that did not live up to our values and
have made significant improvements to our compliance practices to ensure that
nothing like it ever happens again,” spokesman Paul Elsberg said Tuesday. “The
improper conduct described in the deferred prosecution agreement, however, does
not mean that consumers were harmed by the legislation that was passed in
Illinois."
Elsberg said the utility has cut rates.
"The DPA makes no such allegations, and in fact, the bipartisan
legislation resulted in substantial benefits for ComEd’s customers, including
70 percent improved reliability since 2012 and billions of dollars in savings
for customers, while residential customers’ bills are lower than they were
nearly a decade ago and ComEd recently requested a third delivery rate decrease
in a row, it's fifth in 10 years," he said. "In large part as a
result of legislative action in Illinois, ComEd has made some of the largest
improvements in service at the best value of any utility serving a U.S. major
metro area. This in no way excuses the conduct described in the DPA, but that
is a distinct issue from the effect of the legislation for ComEd’s customers.”