The following is a transcript of the May 18, 2026, episode of Public Power Now. Learn more about subscribing to Public Power Now at Publicpower.org/Podcasts. Some quotes may have been edited for clarity.
Paul Ciampoli
Welcome to the latest episode of Public Power Now.
I'm Paul Ciampoli, APPA's news director.
Our guest on this episode is Doug Brown, the new president and CEO of the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency, a joint action agency.
He's also President and CEO of the Illinois Municipal Utilities Association and the Illinois Public Energy Agency.
Doug succeeds Kevin Gaden, who led IMEA for 14 years and retired in March.
Doug previously served as a chief utility engineer and acting general manager of City Water Light and Power, the municipal utility of Springfield, Illinois.
Doug, thank you for joining us on the podcast.
Doug Brown
Thank you, Paul.
It's great to be here.
Paul Ciampoli
Doug, just to get our conversation started, I want to give you the opportunity to provide an overview of IMEA, the Illinois Municipal Utility Association, and the IPEA, and detail the services that they provide to member communities.
Doug Brown
With 31 years in the utility industry, my experience fits pretty well with the agencies here and the transition is going pretty smooth. It helped that I knew the staff and the municipal members.
They already knew me as well with CWP being a member of IMUA and I was on the board since 2015 and chair of the last three.
So familiarity in a time of change is usually pretty good.
IMEA is a joint action agency formed more than 40 years ago. It provides wholesale power to our members who are municipally owned electric utilities.
We have 32 members currently. Each municipal, they have a seat on our board of directors and they make all the major decisions about their electric supply and really the workings of the agency overall.
We do more than just supply energy and capacity to our members though.
We offer demand side response programs such as energy efficiency rebates like LED lighting and a soon to be smart thermostat program.
We also offer incentives to cover the full cost of electric vehicle charging stations for municipal members, as well as a demand side response program where their customers receive incentives to lower their usage during a demand response event.
We also do rate studies for our members.
So, it's good to offer these services to smaller municipal utilities that can't afford to participate in those types of programs on their own.
IMUA, which is one of our other agencies, is a statewide trade association that provides services to nearly 50 municipal members.
We do mutual aid programs advocating before the Illinois General Assembly and Congress.
We also offer a variety of training programs and activities for all members.
Through the IPEA, we supply wholesale natural gas to a number of municipally owned gas systems and a few co-ops.
One of the most important things we've done more lately is encouraging our members to hedge their purchases to avoid the volatile natural gas market. So that's kind of the three agencies at a high level.
Paul Ciampoli
Since you're still relatively new in the role, I wanted to give you the opportunity to talk about your immediate priorities since becoming president and CEO of the three organizations.
Doug Brown
Yeah, you know, the industry in general is going through constant changes that are challenging and complex that it translates into a lot of increased work activities for agencies.
So I'd like to focus on giving our utilities the tools they need to inform their elected officials and the public, really, of the benefits of public power as it relates to, more specific to energy generation, we need to do better to inform the communities of the benefits and rewards, along with the issues and the consequences of choices surrounding affordability, reliability, sustainability of any given energy resource.
And I think that maintaining that predictability regarding those three things is probably what the members’ customers desire most.
To get into more specifics is first really member visits, so I like to further develop my relationships with the members and kind of personally get to know their specific needs by visiting not just with the utility member, but meeting with their staff and their elected officials.
Since I know a lot of the board members from my time on the IMUA board, I just want to get to grow our connection and hear more about their story. So I'm kind of excited to make those visits.
You know, probably one of the biggest items that we're starting though is conducting an integrated resource plan or an IRP for all our members.
That's a pretty large undertaking and it'll help lay out how best to pursue resources in the future to meet the state's energy law, the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act or CEJA.
It's that Illinois landmark climate law that passed in 2021 and it aims for 100% clean energy by 2050.
Again, maintaining predictability of that reliability, affordability, and sustainability are paramount to the outcome of the IRP and selecting the proper balance of generating the market resources.
You know, another priority is diving in the distributed energy resource management programs, starting with the smart thermostat program I just mentioned.
That program provides an incentive for customers to use their smart thermostat by signing up kind of for a behavioral load shaping program so reducing energy consumption during peak demands, ultimately we look to expand that into maybe some virtual power program.
Another item is to fully implement an equipment share program.
It's an extension of mutual aid. so the idea is to use grant money that we purchase poles and transformers that any member can use in case of emergency and they restock it from what they've used.
So that was kind of an idea that we saw with the use of some federal grant money that came available.
And then I'd say lastly for the short term, focusing in on employees -- engaging, empowering, encouraging them because they're our biggest asset.
And I want to make sure that they're taken care of and allowed to grow because we have a tremendous group here. And that's kind of one of the main reasons I was so interested in coming to IMEA is because of the staff.
So that's kind of a lot of the priorities.
Longer term, we're looking to get into this transmission line business, partnering with some larger transmission owners.
And I think that allows some of our members to have some solid returns on their investment and also reduce future energy delivery costs.
So that's it's a good investment for the future, but that kind of rounds up kind of my top priorities really kind of coming into the CEO position.
Paul Ciampoli
Just a couple of follow-up questions if I could.
So with respect to that transmission line business, is there a timeline for formation of that at this point?
Doug Brown
Yeah, we're currently in that. We've started it. We have a couple different segments that we're pursuing with our partners.
And then once those projects were to be selected, we'll be able to move forward, you know, with that in the kind of the financing stage and then actually construction.
And the construction -- one of them is probably about a couple years out and then another one is probably about five years out for a start in construction. And that one would actually take about five years to complete for that one.
So this is more of a long-term basic project that we're pursuing, but again, I think it's really it's the return on investment for that is pretty good when you get into the transmission lines and we'll be one of the smaller owners of it, but it's still it's a good asset to have.
Paul Ciampoli
With respect to the equipment share program, is it safe to say that supply chain challenges remain at this point in time? Probably an understatement at this point, but just wanted to get your thoughts on that.
Doug Brown
Yeah, and this started a few years ago and when I was on the IMUA board, that was kind of part of the discussions that we had and getting it started with some of the grant money because of the supply chain issues that utilities were facing, it started with COVID and continues to today, right?
I mean, they've gotten a little bit better, but they're still, they're too long.
And when there's a major event, some kind of catastrophe, and these smaller utilities are scrambling for poles and transformers, it's good to know that they have at least a source that they can come to hopefully take care of what they need at that moment in time.
Paul Ciampoli
So I just wanted to switch topics here and talk about rating agencies.
And as you know, in early April, IMEA received notice from Fitch Ratings, one of the three national credit rating agencies that reviewed the overall credit quality of its bonds, that the agency had once again affirmed the AA minus with a stable outlook rating for IMEA.
And in addition, IMEA has investment grade credit ratings from the other two national rating agencies, Moody's Investor Service and Standard and Poor's Global Ratings.
So, against that backdrop, what are the steps that IMEA has taken to receive top tier ratings from all three of the credit rating agencies?
Doug Brown
First, I will say that we're very proud of those ratings.
And it's been our agency's diligent long-term financial or resource planning through the years that IMEA's sound financial decisions -- It's placed us at really those fortunate positions with each of the three big rating agencies and that double A minus with a stable outlook from Fitch, which you mentioned, an A1 with a stable outlook from Moody's, and an A with a stable outlook from S&P.
The rating agencies -- they recognize the long-term positives of our asset plan, the accelerated bond payment amortization schedule, the positive impact of our recent 2025A bond refinancing, and the transition over the years to move to a diverse power supply, while all providing our members with affordable and reliable power.
And that recent bond refinancing of $473 million in remaining debt saved our members a total of $33.6 million in gross savings and $23 million in net present value savings over 10 years.
So the remaining debt is going to be paid off in February of 2035.
And at that point, IMEA will have roughly $1.2 billion of assets with no system power supply debt. And I would say that's kind of nearly unprecedented in the industry now.
Paul Ciampoli
Yeah, in terms of our coverage in the newsletter for APPA, to date, there seems to be consistency across the board in terms of public power utilities and agencies such as IMEA, consistently scoring high with the rating agencies.
Doug Brown
And I think that shows you the true power of really public power and what our agencies can accomplish.
Paul Ciampoli
And then for my last question, Doug, I wanted to talk about something we actually covered in our newsletter, which relates to energy storage.
And as you know, the board of directors of IMEA recently approved the development of a request for a proposal to be issued to all member municipal utilities to apply to host a battery energy storage system project in their community, so I wanted to give you the opportunity to tell us more about this effort.
Doug Brown
Let me first say that IMEA is committed to transitioning to a greener power supply.
Our board of directors created and approved a sustainability plan that serves our agency's roadmap to achieve net zero carbon emissions in our power generation by 2050.
So in that, there's two benchmarks set forth in that plan that IMEA is working on now.
And it's the acquisition of 130 megawatts of solar, and then studying battery storage as a way to supplement solar and wind generation in the future.
So now we've surpassed that benchmark for the solar acquisition with our power purchase agreement from Bee Hollow. It's A 150 megawatt solar generation facility, and it's expected to be operational, now weather dependent, by the end of the year.
This past year, IMEA conducted a battery study to review the economics of incorporating battery storage into our portfolio.
The board reviewed the study and voted to follow its recommendation to conduct pilot behind the meter bulk electric system storage or BESS projects in our member communities.
And ideally, one's going to be located in the regional transmission organization or RTO of MISO, which is central and southern Illinois and then we'll have a project located in the RTO of PJM, which is in Northern Illinois.\
So these pilot projects will allow IMEA to learn how to integrate the technology into its portfolio, into its daily market operations, and manage the economic benefits of battery storage in each RTO, which will provide the agency with valuable experience, right?
And as the board considers future wide scale limitation of that technology, as it evolves and becomes more economical, this is really the right thing to do to start these pilot projects.
And then recently, as you kind of mentioned, the board of directors approved the development of a request for proposal. So it's issued to all member municipal utilities.
That way they can apply to host the pilot project in their community.
And then once the towns are selected, we'll issue a vendor RFP to choose a vendor to bring those battery projects online.
So we're real excited to see how we can move those forward.
And I would say it's probably going to be a 1 to 5 MW range type project in each RTO.
Paul Ciampoli
And is the assumption -- or has it been addressed in terms of technologies -- that it would be lithium ion or could it potentially be other technologies in the mix?
Doug Brown
Yeah, lithium ion really kind of showed to be the front runner in the study that we conducted. The other technologies they're not far enough along, and I think it's best to try to choose something that's a little more proven. The costs are more known and the life cycle of those batteries of the lithium ion are more known as well.
So I think for a pilot that's the best way to go for now with that. Not to say that we wouldn't consider something else as well, but I think that's the front runner that we're going to be looking at.
Paul Ciampoli
Well, Doug, thanks again so much for taking the time to speak with us.
It's really been a pleasure to speak with you.
And we'd love to have you back at some point in the future as a guest if you'd be open to that.
Doug Brown
Oh, absolutely, Paul.
It's great to discuss these topics and promote the work that public power does across the country.
Paul Ciampoli
Agreed. So thanks again, Doug.
Doug Brown
Thank you, Paul. I appreciate it.
Paul Ciampoli
Thanks for listening to this episode of Public Power Now, which was produced by Julio Guerrero, graphic and digital designer at APPA.
I'm Paul Ciampoli, and we'll be back with more from the world of public power next week.
