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.


LRB102 28926 AMQ 40821 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB5799LRB102 28926 AMQ 40821 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 Department of Commerce and Economic
5Opportunity Law is amended by adding Section 1105 as follows:
 
6    (20 ILCS 605/1105 new)
7    Sec. 1105. Power price mitigation assistance. The
8Department shall transfer $200,000,000 to an eligible electric
9utility serving adversely impacted residential and small
10commercial customers pursuant to Section 16-107.7 of the
11Public Utilities Act. This Section is repealed December 31,
122023.
 
13    Section 10. The Public Utilities Act is amended by adding
14Section 16-107.7 as follows:
 
15    (220 ILCS 5/16-107.7 new)
16    Sec. 16-107.7. Power price mitigation rebate.
17    (a) Illinois electric utility customers have been impacted
18by unanticipated changes to electric power and capacity prices
19during a period of economic hardship associated with recent
20global events, including increasing gas prices due to the
21Russian invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic. The

 

 

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1recent power and capacity procurement events affect the market
2prices paid by customers. Accordingly, as many customers have
3experienced increased electric utility bill impacts due to the
4increase in electric power and capacity prices, it is the
5policy of the State to assist qualifying customers through a
6power price mitigation rebate for the August 2022 through
7December 2022 electric utility billing cycle. As used in this
8Section, "small commercial customer" means those
9nonresidential retail customers of an electric utility
10consuming 15,000 kilowatt-hours or less of electricity
11annually in its service area whose service has not yet been
12declared competitive pursuant to Section 16-113 of this Act.
13    (b) Any electric utility serving adversely impacted
14residential and small commercial customers shall notify, as
15soon as practicable and no later than 15 days after the
16effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General
17Assembly, the Commission of the same and provide the results
18of the calculations set forth in this subsection. As used in
19this Section, "electric utility serving adversely impacted
20residential and small commercial customers" means any electric
21utility that can demonstrate that the utility default power
22supply rate procured from the Illinois Power Agency and
23available to its residential and small commercial customers
24has experienced, or will experience, a more than 90%
25year-over-year total supply charge increase, as calculated by
26comparing the total supply charge effective on June 1, 2021,

 

 

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1as reported by the electric utility to the Commission pursuant
2to subsection (i) of Section 16-111.5, and the total supply
3charge effective on June 1, 2022, as reported to the
4Commission pursuant to subsection (i) of Section 16-111.5. The
5total supply charge effective on June 1, 2021, and June 1,
62022, respectively, as reported pursuant to subsection (i) of
7Section 16-111.5, shall be used to calculate an electric
8utility's qualification under this Section and no other
9adjustments shall be made for purposes of the calculation,
10including, but not limited to, any transmission costs,
11purchased electricity adjustments, or any other credits. Any
12small multi-jurisdictional electric utility that relies upon
13company-owned generation resources, including fossil fueled
14generation, to supply the majority of its eligible Illinois
15retail customers' energy and capacity needs shall be
16ineligible to file a notice or receive funding for rebate
17credits pursuant to this Section. The Commission shall have 5
18days from the date of receipt of the utility's notice to review
19the calculations and notify the electric utility as to whether
20it qualifies as an electric utility serving adversely impacted
21residential and small commercial customers under this Section.
22    (c) Any electric utility that provides notice to the
23Commission of qualification under subsection (b) shall
24concurrently file a tariff with the Commission that provides
25for a monthly rebate credit to be given to all residential and
26small commercial customers, beginning as soon as is

 

 

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1practicable following the effective date of this amendatory
2Act of the 102nd General Assembly. The tariff shall provide
3that the total funds appropriated by the Department of
4Commerce and Economic Opportunity shall be divided equally and
5issued to all of its active residential and small commercial
6customers, including customers that take supply service from
7alternative retail suppliers or real-time pricing tariffs. The
8tariff shall further provide that the monthly rebate credit
9will be reflected on, and applied to, customer bills beginning
10at the start of a monthly billing period and continue through
11the December 2022 billing period in a manner compliant with
12subsections (d) and (e). The tariff shall also provide that
13the utility may apply the monthly rebate credit to up to 5
14monthly billing periods ending in December 2022, and the
15utility may aggregate monthly rebate credits. To the extent a
16rebate credit is greater than a customer's bill in a given
17month, the excess rebate credit amount shall apply to the next
18billing period, even if the billing period is in calendar year
192023, until the customer's rebate credit has been fully
20applied.
21    (d) The Commission shall have 5 days from the date an
22electric utility files the tariff pursuant to subsection (c)
23to review the tariff for compliance with this Section, and the
24tariff shall go into effect no later than 7 days from the
25original tariff filing date or one day from the date of any
26compliance filing, whichever is later. Upon the tariff

 

 

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1becoming effective, the Commission shall notify the Department
2of Commerce and Economic Opportunity of any electric utility
3serving adversely impacted residential and small commercial
4customers with an approved tariff that is eligible to receive
5funds to be used to pay for the monthly rebate credits issued
6pursuant to this Section. Upon receipt of notice from the
7Commission, the Department of Commerce and Economic
8Opportunity shall transfer $200,000,000 to the eligible
9electric utility serving adversely impacted residential and
10small commercial customers.
11    (e) Each electric utility providing a monthly rebate
12credit to its customers pursuant to subsection (c) shall
13include at least the following statement as part of a bill
14insert provided with any bill reflecting a monthly rebate
15credit to customers: "Your bill has been reduced this month by
16the Power Price Mitigation Rebate Act passed by the Illinois
17General Assembly." The amount of the monthly rebate credit
18being applied for the billing period shall also be reflected
19on the customer's bill with the description "State Funded
20Power Price Mitigation Credit". The electric utility's
21obligation to reflect the information required by this
22subsection shall not extend past the December 2022 billing
23period.
24    (f) An electric utility with a tariff approved pursuant to
25subsection (c) shall be entitled to recover the reasonable and
26prudent expenses incurred to comply with this Section and

 

 

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1shall have an obligation to provide monthly rebate credits to
2customers only to the extent there are funds available to the
3utility to provide the monthly rebate credits, as funded by
4the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Within
5180 days from the date on which all allocated funds have been
6transferred to and applied by the electric utility, the
7electric utility shall notify the Commission and provide an
8accounting for all funds applied as a monthly rebate credit to
9its residential and small commercial customers. The electric
10utility shall take reasonable steps to apply all allocated
11funds it receives as monthly rebate credits. If any funds
12remain after the December 2022 billing period that have not
13been applied to residential or small commercial customers, the
14electric utility shall return such unapplied amounts to the
15Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity by June 30,
162023. If the electric utility provides rebate credits to
17customers that exceed the available funds, the electric
18utility shall account for such amounts and the utility shall
19recover those amounts not to exceed 2% of the total available
20funds made available for the rebate credits as part of its next
21base rates increase pursuant to Article XVI or Article IX.
22    (g) This Section, except for this subsection and
23subsection (f), is repealed December 31, 2023.
24    (h) This Section may be referred to as the Power Price
25Mitigation Rebate Act.
 
26    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon

 

 

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1becoming law.