Public Act 098-0473
 
HB3104 EnrolledLRB098 08168 JLS 38264 b

    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing
Section 5-104 as follows:
 
    (220 ILCS 5/5-104)  (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 5-104)
    Sec. 5-104. Depreciation accounts.
    (a) The Commission shall have power, after hearing, to
require any or all public utilities, except electric public
utilities, to keep such accounts as will adequately reflect
depreciation, obsolescence and the progress of the arts. The
Commission may, from time to time, ascertain and determine and
by order fix the proper and adequate rate of depreciation of
the several classes of property for each public utility; and
each public utility shall conform its depreciation accounts to
the rates so ascertained, determined and fixed.
    (b) The Commission shall have the power, after hearing, to
require any or all electric public utilities to keep such
accounts as will adequately reflect depreciation,
obsolescence, and the progress of the arts. The Commission may,
from time to time, ascertain and determine and by order fix the
proper and adequate rate of depreciation of the several classes
of property for each electric public utility; and each electric
public utility shall thereafter, absent further order of the
Commission, conform its depreciation accounts to the rates so
ascertained, determined and fixed until at least the end of the
first full calendar year following the date of such
determination.
    (c) An electric public utility may from time to time alter
the annual rates of depreciation, which for purposes of this
subsection (c) and subsection (d) shall include amortization,
that it applies to its several classes of assets so long as the
rates are consistent with generally accepted accounting
principles. The electric public utility shall file a statement
with the Commission which shall set forth the new rates of
depreciation and which shall contain a certification by an
independent certified public accountant that the new rates of
depreciation are consistent with generally accepted accounting
principles. Upon the filing of such statement, the new rates of
depreciation shall be deemed to be approved by the Commission
as the rates of depreciation to be applied thereafter by the
public utility as though an order had been entered pursuant to
subsection (b).
    (d) In any proceeding conducted pursuant to Section 9-201
or 9-202 to set an electric public utility's rates for service,
the Commission may determine not to use, in determining the
depreciation expense component of the public utility's rates
for service, the rates of depreciation established pursuant to
subsection (c), if the Commission in that proceeding finds
based on the record that different rates of depreciation are
required to adequately reflect depreciation, obsolescence and
the progress of the arts, and fixes by order and uses for
purposes of that proceeding new rates of depreciation to be
thereafter employed by the electric public utility until the
end of the first full calendar year following the date of the
determination and thereafter until altered in accordance with
subsection (b) or (c) of this Section.
    (e) A gas public utility serving more than 1,600,000
customers as of January 1, 2013 may from time to time alter the
annual rates of depreciation, which for purposes of this
subsection (e) shall include amortization, that the gas public
utility applies to its several classes of assets so long as the
rates are consistent with generally accepted accounting
principles. The gas public utility shall file testimony with
the Commission setting forth the new rates of depreciation that
shall include: (i) a summary of the causes for the change in
depreciation rates; (ii) a certification by an independent
certified public accountant that the new rates of depreciation
are consistent with generally accepted accounting principles;
(iii) the depreciation study; and (iv) the expected impact on
depreciation expense from the new depreciation rates. The gas
public utility shall also simultaneously submit to the
Commission all work papers that support the filed depreciation
study. No later than 120 days after the filing by the gas
public utility under this subsection (e), the Commission shall
ascertain and determine and, by order, fix the proper and
adequate rate of depreciation of the several classes of
property for the gas public utility. The gas public utility
shall conform its depreciation accounts to the rates so
ascertained, determined, and fixed. Rates of depreciation
established by the Commission pursuant to this subsection (e)
shall become effective upon the date of the gas public
utility's filing.
(Source: P.A. 90-561, eff. 12-16-97.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.