PEORIA, Ill. – A proposed $1 billion electric rate package will provide Illinois utility customers with “real, true” relief from soaring bills, Senate President Emil Jones said Monday during an appearance designed to promote the measure.

Jones, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Attorney General Lisa Madigan began their day in Peoria for the start of a four-city flyaround. They also planned stops in Decatur, Cahokia and Marion to bolster the deal, reached last week after months of talks with utilities to address electric rates that have doubled or tripled for some consumers since January.

Under the plan, Ameren customers will get discounts ranging from 40 to 70 percent on their 2007 bills, while ComEd customers will receive discounts of about 45 percent. Officials said the discounts will cut bills in half for most customers.

Most Ameren customers will receive rebate checks by September for bills already paid, while ComEd customers will receive a lump sum credit on future bills. Customers of both utilities will also get credits on future bills through 2010 under the proposal.

Jones said state lawmakers will probably vote on the plan this week.

“We believe this is a good package and this package would go a long, long ways toward the debate you’ve been hearing and rates that people have been paying … Compromise had to be made on all sides of this issue, and this is real, true rate relief,” Jones said.

Attorney General Madigan said the deal also would create an Illinois Power Agency that would protect customers from sharp rate increases in the future.

She said the independent agency would negotiate to buy power at the lowest cost, eliminating a maligned reverse auction that “set these unfair rates in the first place.”

“The reverse auction was flawed from the start because it wasn’t designed to create the lowest prices for customers,” the attorney general said. “Instead it was designed to benefit Ameren and ComEd’s corporate owners, who want to sell electricity at the highest possible prices.”

Under the deal, Madigan said her office also would dismiss lawsuits filed against Ameren and ComEd over rates. Jones said the lawsuits and talk of a rate freeze in the Legislature helped convince utilities to negotiate the relief package.

Officials say the deal provides for new rate increases starting next year, but would be more reasonable than this year’s steep increases. Under the deal, Ameren’s rates would rise 33 1/2 percent from next year through 2010, while ComEd’s would increase 24 1/2 percent, said state Sen. Jim Clayborne, a Belleville Democrat who helped negotiate the deal.

Clayborne said electric generating companies will pay about 80 percent of the costs of the relief package. Officials said no state money is included in the deal.