HB5799 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB102 28926 AMQ 40821 b

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
HB5799

Introduced 11/16/2022, by Rep. Jay Hoffman - Lance Yednock - Katie Stuart - LaToya Greenwood, Amy Elik, et al.

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

20 ILCS 605/1105 new
220 ILCS 5/16-107.7 new

Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that any electric utility serving adversely impacted residential and small commercial customers shall notify, as soon as practicable and no later than 15 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act, the Illinois Commerce Commission of the same and provide the results of the calculations set forth in the provisions concerning assisting qualifying customers through a power price mitigation rebate. Provides that any electric utility that provides notice to the Commission of qualification under the provisions concerning the power price mitigation rebate shall concurrently file a tariff with the Commission that provides for a monthly rebate credit to be given to all residential and small commercial customers. Provides that the tariff shall provide that the total funds appropriated by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall be divided equally and issued to all of its active residential and small commercial customers. Provides that the Commission shall have 5 days from the date an electric utility files the tariff to review the tariff for compliance, and the tariff shall go into effect no later than 7 days from the original tariff filing date or one day from the date of any compliance filing. Provides that upon receipt of notice from the Commission, the Department shall transfer $200,000,000 to the eligible electric utility serving adversely impacted residential and small commercial customers. Provides that each electric utility providing a monthly rebate credit to its customers shall include a statement as part of a bill insert reflecting a monthly rebate credit to customers. Provides that an electric utility with a tariff shall be entitled to recover the reasonable and prudent expenses incurred and shall have an obligation to provide monthly rebate credits to customers only to the extent there are funds available to the utility to provide monthly rebate credits. Makes a conforming change in the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Law. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Law is amended by adding Section 1105 as follows:

(20 ILCS 605/1105 new)

Sec. 1105. Power price mitigation assistance. The Department shall transfer $200,000,000 to an eligible electric utility serving adversely impacted residential and small commercial customers pursuant to Section 16-107.7 of the Public Utilities Act. This Section is repealed December 31, 2023.

Section 10. The Public Utilities Act is amended by adding Section 16-107.7 as follows:

(220 ILCS 5/16-107.7 new)

Sec. 16-107.7. Power price mitigation rebate.

(a) Illinois electric utility customers have been impacted by unanticipated changes to electric power and capacity prices during a period of economic hardship associated with recent global events, including increasing gas prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic. The recent power and capacity procurement events affect the market prices paid by customers. Accordingly, as many customers have experienced increased electric utility bill impacts due to the increase in electric power and capacity prices, it is the policy of the State to assist qualifying customers through a power price mitigation rebate for the August 2022 through December 2022 electric utility billing cycle. As used in this Section, "small commercial customer" means those nonresidential retail customers of an electric utility consuming 15,000 kilowatt-hours or less of electricity annually in its service area whose service has not yet been declared competitive pursuant to Section 16-113 of this Act.

(b) Any electric utility serving adversely impacted residential and small commercial customers shall notify, as soon as practicable and no later than 15 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, the Commission of the same and provide the results of the calculations set forth in this subsection. As used in this Section, "electric utility serving adversely impacted residential and small commercial customers" means any electric utility that can demonstrate that the utility default power supply rate procured from the Illinois Power Agency and available to its residential and small commercial customers has experienced, or will experience, a more than 90% year-over-year total supply charge increase, as calculated by comparing the total supply charge effective on June 1, 2021, as reported by the electric utility to the Commission pursuant to subsection (i) of Section 16-111.5, and the total supply charge effective on June 1, 2022, as reported to the Commission pursuant to subsection (i) of Section 16-111.5. The total supply charge effective on June 1, 2021, and June 1, 2022, respectively, as reported pursuant to subsection (i) of Section 16-111.5, shall be used to calculate an electric utility's qualification under this Section and no other adjustments shall be made for purposes of the calculation, including, but not limited to, any transmission costs, purchased electricity adjustments, or any other credits. Any small multi-jurisdictional electric utility that relies upon company-owned generation resources, including fossil fueled generation, to supply the majority of its eligible Illinois retail customers' energy and capacity needs shall be ineligible to file a notice or receive funding for rebate credits pursuant to this Section. The Commission shall have 5 days from the date of receipt of the utility's notice to review the calculations and notify the electric utility as to whether it qualifies as an electric utility serving adversely impacted residential and small commercial customers under this Section.

(c) Any electric utility that provides notice to the Commission of qualification under subsection (b) shall concurrently file a tariff with the Commission that provides for a monthly rebate credit to be given to all residential and small commercial customers, beginning as soon as is practicable following the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly. The tariff shall provide that the total funds appropriated by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall be divided equally and issued to all of its active residential and small commercial customers, including customers that take supply service from alternative retail suppliers or real-time pricing tariffs. The tariff shall further provide that the monthly rebate credit will be reflected on, and applied to, customer bills beginning at the start of a monthly billing period and continue through the December 2022 billing period in a manner compliant with subsections (d) and (e). The tariff shall also provide that the utility may apply the monthly rebate credit to up to 5 monthly billing periods ending in December 2022, and the utility may aggregate monthly rebate credits. To the extent a rebate credit is greater than a customer's bill in a given month, the excess rebate credit amount shall apply to the next billing period, even if the billing period is in calendar year 2023, until the customer's rebate credit has been fully applied.

(d) The Commission shall have 5 days from the date an electric utility files the tariff pursuant to subsection (c) to review the tariff for compliance with this Section, and the tariff shall go into effect no later than 7 days from the original tariff filing date or one day from the date of any compliance filing, whichever is later. Upon the tariff becoming effective, the Commission shall notify the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity of any electric utility serving adversely impacted residential and small commercial customers with an approved tariff that is eligible to receive funds to be used to pay for the monthly rebate credits issued pursuant to this Section. Upon receipt of notice from the Commission, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall transfer $200,000,000 to the eligible electric utility serving adversely impacted residential and small commercial customers.

(e) Each electric utility providing a monthly rebate credit to its customers pursuant to subsection (c) shall include at least the following statement as part of a bill insert provided with any bill reflecting a monthly rebate credit to customers: "Your bill has been reduced this month by the Power Price Mitigation Rebate Act passed by the Illinois General Assembly." The amount of the monthly rebate credit being applied for the billing period shall also be reflected on the customer's bill with the description "State Funded Power Price Mitigation Credit". The electric utility's obligation to reflect the information required by this subsection shall not extend past the December 2022 billing period.

(f) An electric utility with a tariff approved pursuant to subsection (c) shall be entitled to recover the reasonable and prudent expenses incurred to comply with this Section and shall have an obligation to provide monthly rebate credits to customers only to the extent there are funds available to the utility to provide the monthly rebate credits, as funded by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Within 180 days from the date on which all allocated funds have been transferred to and applied by the electric utility, the electric utility shall notify the Commission and provide an accounting for all funds applied as a monthly rebate credit to its residential and small commercial customers. The electric utility shall take reasonable steps to apply all allocated funds it receives as monthly rebate credits. If any funds remain after the December 2022 billing period that have not been applied to residential or small commercial customers, the electric utility shall return such unapplied amounts to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity by June 30, 2023. If the electric utility provides rebate credits to customers that exceed the available funds, the electric utility shall account for such amounts and the utility shall recover those amounts not to exceed 2% of the total available funds made available for the rebate credits as part of its next base rates increase pursuant to Article XVI or Article IX.

(g) This Section, except for this subsection and subsection (f), is repealed December 31, 2023.

(h) This Section may be referred to as the Power Price Mitigation Rebate Act.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.