McLean County Times

On June 22, Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) touched on a discussion he held at the McLean County Chamber in a Facebook post.

"Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at the McLean County Chamber's State of the State Address. Just a few topics covered were COVID relief funds, business growth in the community from both Rivian and Ferrero, redistricting, inflation, energy/gas/electric cost concerns, as well as veto session," Barickman posted.

He's spoken recently about the high energy prices for Illinois residents. "In April of this year, Ameren electric received electric rate results from the regional grid operator (MISO), which include an increase from $5/megawatt to $236/megawatt and will now cause Ameren electric rates to increase beginning June 1," Barickman posted on Facebook. "This increase is unrelated to the increase in natural gas prices and different from what was experienced beginning in Fall 2021 when Ameren gas rates increased, causing heating bills to rise over the winter months. Not only will this rate increase lead to higher electric bills that customers can expect to see in late June/early July, but there is also the potential that customers could experience electricity disruptions this summer, such as controlled brownouts due to reliability issues within the MISO territory."

He has also recently encouraged area youths to take part in a photography contest. Barickman took to Facebook  to promote the contest, noting winning photos would be featured in the 2022-2023 Cream of the Crop Calendar. All photos will be displayed at the 2022 Illinois State Fair as well.

He also took a moment this month to remember former state Rep. Tim Johnson, who died at the age of 75 in early June.