101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
HB2733

 

Introduced , by Rep. Thomas Morrison

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
220 ILCS 5/8-406  from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 8-406
220 ILCS 5/9-228 new
220 ILCS 5/9-235 new
220 ILCS 5/9-237 new

    Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that the Illinois Commerce Commission shall determine that proposed construction will promote the public convenience and necessity only if the utility demonstrates, among other requirements, that for construction serving a discrete area, existing customers will not be required to subsidize the cost of new facilities in excess of any refundable or nonrefundable payments by customers to be served by the new facilities. Provides that if any gas public utility connects an applicant or applicants to its gas distribution system, any costs associated with investments in plant addition in excess of any refundable payment or nonrefundable payment shall be excluded from any cost-recovery mechanism that allocates the excess cost among existing customers. Provides that no later than 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act, the Commission shall initiate a docketed investigation reviewing each gas public utility tariff that provides for gas main extensions without additional charge to new customers in excess of the default extensions without charge, and provides for other requirements pertaining to the investigation process. Provides that no later than 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act, the Commission shall initiate a rulemaking proceeding providing for rules establishing a uniform method by which natural gas public utilities determine the value of any gas main extensions provided to new customers without additional charge.


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A BILL FOR

 

HB2733LRB101 09214 JRG 54308 b

1    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing
5Section 8-406 and by adding Sections 9-228, 9-235, and 9-237 as
6follows:
 
7    (220 ILCS 5/8-406)  (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 8-406)
8    Sec. 8-406. Certificate of public convenience and
9necessity.
10    (a) No public utility not owning any city or village
11franchise nor engaged in performing any public service or in
12furnishing any product or commodity within this State as of
13July 1, 1921 and not possessing a certificate of public
14convenience and necessity from the Illinois Commerce
15Commission, the State Public Utilities Commission or the Public
16Utilities Commission, at the time this amendatory Act of 1985
17goes into effect, shall transact any business in this State
18until it shall have obtained a certificate from the Commission
19that public convenience and necessity require the transaction
20of such business.
21    (b) No public utility shall begin the construction of any
22new plant, equipment, property or facility which is not in
23substitution of any existing plant, equipment, property or

 

 

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1facility or any extension or alteration thereof or in addition
2thereto, unless and until it shall have obtained from the
3Commission a certificate that public convenience and necessity
4require such construction. Whenever after a hearing the
5Commission determines that any new construction or the
6transaction of any business by a public utility will promote
7the public convenience and is necessary thereto, it shall have
8the power to issue certificates of public convenience and
9necessity. The Commission shall determine that proposed
10construction will promote the public convenience and necessity
11only if the utility demonstrates: (1) that the proposed
12construction is necessary to provide adequate, reliable, and
13efficient service to its customers and is the least-cost means
14of satisfying the service needs of its customers or that the
15proposed construction will promote the development of an
16effectively competitive electricity market that operates
17efficiently, is equitable to all customers, and is the least
18cost means of satisfying those objectives; (2) that the utility
19is capable of efficiently managing and supervising the
20construction process and has taken sufficient action to ensure
21adequate and efficient construction and supervision thereof;
22and (3) that the utility is capable of financing the proposed
23construction without significant adverse financial
24consequences for the utility or its customers; and (4) that,
25for construction serving a discrete area, existing customers
26will not be required to subsidize the cost of new facilities in

 

 

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1excess of any refundable or nonrefundable payments by customers
2to be served by the new facilities.
3    (c) After the effective date of this amendatory Act of
41987, no construction shall commence on any new nuclear power
5plant to be located within this State, and no certificate of
6public convenience and necessity or other authorization shall
7be issued therefor by the Commission, until the Director of the
8Illinois Environmental Protection Agency finds that the United
9States Government, through its authorized agency, has
10identified and approved a demonstrable technology or means for
11the disposal of high level nuclear waste, or until such
12construction has been specifically approved by a statute
13enacted by the General Assembly.
14    As used in this Section, "high level nuclear waste" means
15those aqueous wastes resulting from the operation of the first
16cycle of the solvent extraction system or equivalent and the
17concentrated wastes of the subsequent extraction cycles or
18equivalent in a facility for reprocessing irradiated reactor
19fuel and shall include spent fuel assemblies prior to fuel
20reprocessing.
21    (d) In making its determination, the Commission shall
22attach primary weight to the cost or cost savings to the
23customers of the utility. The Commission may consider any or
24all factors which will or may affect such cost or cost savings,
25including the public utility's engineering judgment regarding
26the materials used for construction.

 

 

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1    (e) The Commission may issue a temporary certificate which
2shall remain in force not to exceed one year in cases of
3emergency, to assure maintenance of adequate service or to
4serve particular customers, without notice or hearing, pending
5the determination of an application for a certificate, and may
6by regulation exempt from the requirements of this Section
7temporary acts or operations for which the issuance of a
8certificate will not be required in the public interest.
9    A public utility shall not be required to obtain but may
10apply for and obtain a certificate of public convenience and
11necessity pursuant to this Section with respect to any matter
12as to which it has received the authorization or order of the
13Commission under the Electric Supplier Act, and any such
14authorization or order granted a public utility by the
15Commission under that Act shall as between public utilities be
16deemed to be, and shall have except as provided in that Act the
17same force and effect as, a certificate of public convenience
18and necessity issued pursuant to this Section.
19    No electric cooperative shall be made or shall become a
20party to or shall be entitled to be heard or to otherwise
21appear or participate in any proceeding initiated under this
22Section for authorization of power plant construction and as to
23matters as to which a remedy is available under The Electric
24Supplier Act.
25    (f) Such certificates may be altered or modified by the
26Commission, upon its own motion or upon application by the

 

 

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1person or corporation affected. Unless exercised within a
2period of 2 years from the grant thereof authority conferred by
3a certificate of convenience and necessity issued by the
4Commission shall be null and void.
5    No certificate of public convenience and necessity shall be
6construed as granting a monopoly or an exclusive privilege,
7immunity or franchise.
8    (g) A public utility that undertakes any of the actions
9described in items (1) through (3) of this subsection (g) or
10that has obtained approval pursuant to Section 8-406.1 of this
11Act shall not be required to comply with the requirements of
12this Section to the extent such requirements otherwise would
13apply. For purposes of this Section and Section 8-406.1 of this
14Act, "high voltage electric service line" means an electric
15line having a design voltage of 100,000 or more. For purposes
16of this subsection (g), a public utility may do any of the
17following:
18        (1) replace or upgrade any existing high voltage
19    electric service line and related facilities,
20    notwithstanding its length;
21        (2) relocate any existing high voltage electric
22    service line and related facilities, notwithstanding its
23    length, to accommodate construction or expansion of a
24    roadway or other transportation infrastructure; or
25        (3) construct a high voltage electric service line and
26    related facilities that is constructed solely to serve a

 

 

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1    single customer's premises or to provide a generator
2    interconnection to the public utility's transmission
3    system and that will pass under or over the premises owned
4    by the customer or generator to be served or under or over
5    premises for which the customer or generator has secured
6    the necessary right of way.
7    (h) A public utility seeking to construct a high-voltage
8electric service line and related facilities (Project) must
9show that the utility has held a minimum of 2 pre-filing public
10meetings to receive public comment concerning the Project in
11each county where the Project is to be located, no earlier than
126 months prior to filing an application for a certificate of
13public convenience and necessity from the Commission. Notice of
14the public meeting shall be published in a newspaper of general
15circulation within the affected county once a week for 3
16consecutive weeks, beginning no earlier than one month prior to
17the first public meeting. If the Project traverses 2 contiguous
18counties and where in one county the transmission line mileage
19and number of landowners over whose property the proposed route
20traverses is one-fifth or less of the transmission line mileage
21and number of such landowners of the other county, then the
22utility may combine the 2 pre-filing meetings in the county
23with the greater transmission line mileage and affected
24landowners. All other requirements regarding pre-filing
25meetings shall apply in both counties. Notice of the public
26meeting, including a description of the Project, must be

 

 

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1provided in writing to the clerk of each county where the
2Project is to be located. A representative of the Commission
3shall be invited to each pre-filing public meeting.
4    (i) For applications filed after the effective date of this
5amendatory Act of the 99th General Assembly, the Commission
6shall by registered mail notify each owner of record of land,
7as identified in the records of the relevant county tax
8assessor, included in the right-of-way over which the utility
9seeks in its application to construct a high-voltage electric
10line of the time and place scheduled for the initial hearing on
11the public utility's application. The utility shall reimburse
12the Commission for the cost of the postage and supplies
13incurred for mailing the notice.
14(Source: P.A. 99-399, eff. 8-18-15.)
 
15    (220 ILCS 5/9-228 new)
16    Sec. 9-228. Consideration of gas main extension costs. If
17any gas public utility connects an applicant or applicants to
18its gas distribution system, any costs associated with
19investments in plant addition in excess of any refundable
20payment or nonrefundable payment, by the applicant or
21applicants at the time of connection, shall be excluded from
22any cost-recovery mechanism that allocates the excess cost
23among existing customers.
 
24    (220 ILCS 5/9-235 new)

 

 

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1    Sec. 9-235. Tariffed gas main extension provisions. No
2later than 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory
3Act of the 101st General Assembly, the Commission shall
4initiate a docketed investigation reviewing each gas public
5utility tariff that provides for gas main extensions without
6additional charge to new customers in excess of the default
7extensions without charge as specified in Part 501 of Title 83
8of the Administrative Code. While the primary focus of the
9investigations shall be to determine whether existing
10customers are subsidizing the connection of new customers to
11the gas distribution system, the Commission is not restricted
12in consideration of other issues related to gas main
13extensions. To the extent that subsidization by existing
14customers is occurring, the Commission shall appropriately
15modify or cancel the tariff to eliminate any future
16subsidization. If the Commission modifies a gas utility's gas
17main extension tariff, the utility shall either accept or
18reject the modifications through an appropriate filing with the
19Commission within 10 days after the Commission's order. If the
20utility rejects the modifications, the Commission shall cancel
21the tariffs, and the Commission's gas main extension rules
22shall govern gas main extensions for that utility. During the
23investigations under this Section, the relevant provisions of
24the gas utility's gas main extension tariff are suspended and
25the Commission's gas main extension rules govern until the
26conclusion of the investigation.
 

 

 

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1    (220 ILCS 5/9-237 new)
2    Sec. 9-237. Gas main extension rulemaking. No later than 60
3days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the
4101st General Assembly, the Commission shall initiate a
5rulemaking proceeding providing for rules establishing a
6uniform method by which natural gas public utilities determine
7the value of any gas main extensions provided to new customers
8without additional charge.