Chung Backs Energy Expansion Package to Lower Utility Bills, Cut the Cost of Living

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – State Rep. Sharon Chung, D-Bloomington, continued her effort to cut costs for working families by making smart investments in clean energy technology that will lower power bills in the long-term and create thousands of new good-paying jobs.

“Families in our community are bearing the burden of a high cost of living and mounting utility bills are making that burden heavier,” Chung said. “Investing in the growth of our state’s power generation and storage capacity will increase our energy supply and lower those bills in the long-term.”

Chung put her support behind Senate Bill 25, or the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, which invests in increasing battery storage capacity, capturing clean energy already produced with modern methods—like virtual power plants— and funding energy efficiency programs to lower the long-term cost of electricity. In the long-term, these measures will result in lower utility bills for Illinoisans.

The measure will create as many as 115,000 jobs, counteracting job insecurity and layoffs caused by the federal budget bill— including over 50,000 lost manufacturing jobs in Illinois. 

“I’m going to continue fighting to bring together all the pieces we need in Illinois to take advantage of clean energy industry benefits,” Chung said. “Harnessing the economic opportunities of emerging technologies by creating thousands of new jobs, setting the stage for lower utility bills and keeping Illinois on the path to a future where electric vehicles are the norm, takes us in the right direction.”