(220 ILCS 5/16-114.1)
Sec. 16-114.1.
Recovery of decommissioning costs in connection with
nuclear power plant sale agreement.
(a) An electric utility owning a single-unit nuclear power plant located in
this State which enters into an agreement to sell the nuclear power plant and
as
part of such agreement agrees: (i) to make contributions to a tax-qualified
decommissioning trust or
non-tax qualified decommissioning trust, or both, as defined in Section
8-508.1 for the nuclear power plant, in specified amounts or for a specified
period of time, after the sale is consummated, or (ii) to purchase an
insurance instrument which provides for the payment of
all or a specified amount of the decommissioning costs of the nuclear power
plant,
shall be entitled, in the case of item (i), to maintain such
decommissioning trusts for the purpose of receiving such contributions
after the consummation of the sale, to implement revisions to its
decommissioning rate in accordance with subsection (b) of this Section, and to
transfer such decommissioning trusts, or the balance in the trusts,
to the buyer of the nuclear power plant in accordance with the agreement
of sale, and in the case of item (ii), to implement revisions to its
decommissioning rate in accordance with subsection (c) of this Section.
(b) An electric utility entering into an agreement of sale described in
subsection (a)(i) of this Section shall be entitled to file a petition with the
Commission for entry of an order authorizing the electric utility (i) to
amortize its liability for decommissioning costs pursuant to the agreement of
sale over the period of time in which the electric utility is required by such
agreement to make
additional contributions to the tax-qualified decommissioning trust, the
non-tax qualified decommissioning trust, or both, and (ii) to revise its
decommissioning
rate to a level that will recover, over the time period specified in the
agreement of sale, an annual amount equal to the electric utility's annual
contributions to the decommissioning trusts which are required by the
agreement of sale multiplied by the percentage of the output of the nuclear
power plant which the agreement of sale obligates the electric utility to
purchase in each such year.
(c) An electric utility entering into an agreement of sale described in
subsection (a)(ii) shall be entitled to file a petition with the Commission for
entry of an order authorizing the electric utility to revise its
decommissioning rate to a level that will recover, over 5 years, the electric
utility's cost of purchasing the insurance instrument multiplied by the
percentage of the output of the nuclear power plant which the agreement of sale
obligates the electric utility to purchase in each such year.
(d) An electric utility's petition pursuant to subsection (b) or subsection
(c) shall state the percentage of the output of the nuclear power plant which
the agreement of sale obligates the electric utility to purchase from the new
owner of the nuclear power plant in each of the years for which the electric
utility is seeking to implement a revised decommissioning rate.
The electric utility's petition shall also state that the electric utility
agrees, as conditions of the Commission's order and the implementation of
the revised decommissioning rate, (i) to file revisions, pursuant to Section
16-111(f), to its base rate tariffs applicable to retail customers subject to
the electric utility's decommissioning rate reducing such tariffs, and (ii) to
file revisions to its transition charge tariffs applicable to retail customers
subject to the electric utility's decommissioning rate incorporating a
credit into the calculation of the electric utility's transition charges in
accordance with this subsection. The reduction and the credit
shall be in an amount per kilowatt-hour of electricity
sold or delivered to retail customers equal to (i) the electric utility's
decommissioning rate authorized by the Commission's order in accordance with
subsection (b)(ii) or (c), as applicable, less (ii) the product of the electric
utility's decommissioning rate in effect immediately prior to the agreement of
sale multiplied by the percentage of the output of the nuclear power plant
which the agreement of sale obligates the electric utility to purchase from the
new owner of the nuclear power plant. The Commission shall issue an order
granting the petition within 30 days after the petition is filed.
The Commission's order shall state the aggregate total amount which the
order
is authorizing the electric utility to collect through its decommissioning
rate.
The
Commission's order shall state that the effectiveness of the revisions to the
electric utility's decommissioning rate shall be conditioned on the filing by
the electric utility of the revisions reducing its base rate tariffs and
providing for credits to its transition charge tariffs as specified in this
subsection.
Upon completion of the collection of the total amount which the Commission's
order authorizes the electric utility to collect through its decommissioning
rate, the electric utility shall not be entitled to collect any further amounts
of decommissioning costs for its nuclear power plant through a decommissioning
rate.
Nothing in this Section shall be construed to permit an increase in the overall
tariffed rates and charges paid by the electric utility's customers.
(e) In addition to the uses of the
proceeds of the sale and issuance of transitional funding instruments
authorized by Section 18-103(d)(1), an electric utility which has entered into
an agreement to sell a nuclear power plant may use the proceeds from the sale
and issuance of transitional funding instruments to make contributions, or to
reimburse itself for contributions which the electric utility has made, to
decommissioning trusts in accordance with the agreement of sale, in an
amount not to exceed 20% of the aggregate principal amount of
transitional funding instruments which the electric utility was authorized to
cause to have issued pursuant to Section 18-103(d)(6), including for purposes
of this calculation the amount of any transitional funding instruments which
the electric utility caused to be issued prior to the date of this amendatory
Act of
1999. The use of proceeds authorized by this subsection shall not be subject
to Section 18-103(d)(1)(B) and shall not be considered in determining if the
percentage limitations on the use of proceeds set forth in the proviso
following Section 18-103(d)(1)(E) have been complied with.
(f) None of the authorizations permitted by this Section may be exercised
if the sale of the nuclear power plant is disapproved by the Commission.
(Source: P.A. 91-50, eff. 6-30-99.)
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