Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Illinois Senate Republicans say if your energy bills skyrocket, there is only one person to blame: Gov. JB Pritzker.

Five lawmakers held a news conference at the Capitol Wednesday to decry the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act.

Now that the governor has already signed the bill, what can be done? “Slow down,” said State Sen. Terri Bryant (pictured, at mic) (R-Murphysboro). “Even the Democrats are saying that rate decreases that they, pie-in-the-sky, say we are going to get, aren’t going to come for 7-10 years.”

“Energy prices are going up because the supply has gone down,” said State Sen. Sue Rezin (pictured, second from right) (R-Morris), “and we have not even begun to build out data centers for the new AI future.”

Renewable energy, said State Sen. Jil Tracy (pictured, far right) (R-Quincy), is not the answer – not all of it, anyway. “Wind and solar alone cannot power Illinois homes and businesses 24 hours a day,” said Tracy. “The governor’s refusal to acknowledge this reality is hurting the people he claims to protect. We cannot power an entire state with solar panels and wishful thinking.”

The news conference included the mention of bills meant to ease consumers’ financial pain, including a Tracy proposal to repeal the planned shutdown deadlines — 2030 and 2045 – for coal and natural gas plants.