The Illinois Power Agency conducted multiple procurement events in 2022 to procure electricity supply for three Illinois utilities: Ameren Illinois Company (AIC), Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd), and MidAmerican Energy Company (MEC). These solicitations were issued under the Block Energy and Capacity RFP framework, approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission on November 4, 2021.
The Spring 2022 procurement events, held on April 18, 2022, included monthly on-peak and off-peak standard block forward products for the period June 1, 2022 to May 31, 2025 for all three utilities, plus capacity products for AIC for delivery periods starting June 1, 2023 and June 1, 2024. When the Spring events did not fully meet load requirements, supplemental procurement events were held on May 16, 2022 to procure additional standard block forward products for June 1 through September 30, 2022.
The Fall 2022 procurement events, initially scheduled for September 16, 2022, included energy products for AIC and ComEd with delivery periods of June 2022 to May 2025. However, on September 7, 2022, the IPA filed a Notice of Cancellation for the AIC capacity procurement event in response to FERC's approval of MISO's seasonal capacity construct, which eliminated the annual ZRC capacity product previously planned for procurement.
Key dates included Part 1 proposal windows opening August 9, 2022 and closing August 22, 2022, with Part 2 proposals due September 1, 2022 for energy products and September 8, 2022 for AIC capacity products. Bid dates for energy products occurred on September 2, 2022. Bidders were required to submit bid assurance collateral (either cash or pre-bid letters of credit) according to company-specific requirements and deadlines. The Commission rendered decisions on energy product results on September 15, 2022 and capacity product results on September 22, 2022.