"The consumers of Illinois are deeply disappointed in the General Assembly's action today to give Commonwealth Edison and Ameren guaranteed annual rate increases for each of the next 10 years...and so am I," Quinn said in a statement carried in the Chicago Tribune.

ComEd president and COO Anne Pramaggiore obviously had another take:  "Today, the General Assembly took a historic step towards creating a stronger Illinois that will help us deliver more value and better service to the 5.4 million customers we proudly serve."

And this from the sponsor of the override effort in the Senate, as quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times: "The problem we have in Illinois for the last 100 years [is] we have been operating on power created by Thomas Edison, and Thomas has been gone a long time,” said state Sen. Mike Jacobs.

To soften opposition to the override, the Sun-Times reports that legislation was also passed "to increase how much ComEd must pay to storm-proof its transmission system, lower the amount of profits the utility could claim and create a fund to help needy ratepayers pay their electricity bills."

Lawmakers also approved major provisions for renewable energy and energy conservation.

"This will be a huge boost to clean energy in Illinois.  By deploying solar energy across Illinois, we'll see new jobs and businesses, and cleaner air as we move away from dirty coal.   A smarter power grid will also save consumers money by giving us new tools to manage our power consumption," said Jack Darin, Director of the Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter.

From our files …

Ouch! Illinois governor dumps smart grid bill

Wrong, wrong, and wrong. 3 things politicians don't understandabout ComEd's smart grid plans

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Illinois smart grid toolkit