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1 | AN ACT concerning regulation.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | ||||||
3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by adding | ||||||
5 | Section 17-800 as
follows:
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6 | (220 ILCS 5/17-800 new)
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7 | Sec. 17-800. Aggregation of electrical load by | ||||||
8 | municipalities and counties. The corporate authorities of a | ||||||
9 | municipality or county board of a county
may
adopt an | ||||||
10 | ordinance, under which it may aggregate in accordance with this
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11 | Section residential retail electrical loads located, | ||||||
12 | respectively, within the
municipality or
county and, for that | ||||||
13 | purpose, may solicit bids and enter into service
agreements to | ||||||
14 | facilitate
for those
loads the sale and purchase of electricity | ||||||
15 | and related services and equipment.
The corporate authorities | ||||||
16 | or county
board also
may exercise such authority jointly with | ||||||
17 | any other municipality or county.
An
ordinance under this | ||||||
18 | Section shall specify whether the aggregation will occur
only | ||||||
19 | with
the prior consent of each person owning, occupying, | ||||||
20 | controlling, or using an
electric load
center proposed to be | ||||||
21 | aggregated. Nothing in this Section,
however,
authorizes the | ||||||
22 | aggregation of electric loads that are served or authorized to | ||||||
23 | be served by an electric cooperative as defined by and pursuant |
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1 | to the Electric Supplier Act or loads served by a municipality | ||||||
2 | that owns and operates its own electric distribution system. No
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3 | aggregation pursuant to an ordinance adopted
under this Section | ||||||
4 | that provides for an election under this Section shall take
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5 | effect unless
approved by a majority of the electors voting | ||||||
6 | upon the ordinance at the
election held
pursuant to this | ||||||
7 | Section.
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8 | A governmental aggregator under this Section is not a | ||||||
9 | public utility or an
alternative retail electric supplier and
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10 | shall be subject to supervision and regulation by the
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11 | Commission only to the extent provided in this Section.
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12 | A municipality may initiate a process to authorize | ||||||
13 | aggregation by a majority
vote of the municipal council, with | ||||||
14 | the approval of the mayor. A county may
initiate the
process to | ||||||
15 | authorize aggregation by a majority vote of the county board. | ||||||
16 | Two or
more
municipalities or counties, or a combination of | ||||||
17 | both, may initiate a
process
jointly to authorize aggregation | ||||||
18 | by a majority vote of each particular
municipality or
county as | ||||||
19 | herein required.
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20 | Upon the applicable requisite authority under this | ||||||
21 | Section, the corporate
authorities or the county board shall | ||||||
22 | develop a plan of operation and
governance for the
aggregation | ||||||
23 | program so authorized. Before adopting a plan under this | ||||||
24 | Section,
the
corporate authorities or county board shall hold | ||||||
25 | at least 2 public hearings on
the plan.
Before the first | ||||||
26 | hearing, the corporate authorities or county board shall
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1 | publish notice of
the hearings once a week for 2 consecutive | ||||||
2 | weeks in a newspaper of general
circulation
in the | ||||||
3 | jurisdiction. The notice shall summarize the plan and state the | ||||||
4 | date,
time, and
location of each hearing.
Any load aggregation | ||||||
5 | plan established pursuant to this Section shall:
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6 | (1) provide for universal
access to all applicable | ||||||
7 | residential customers and equitable treatment of | ||||||
8 | applicable
residential customers;
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9 | (2) describe demand management and energy efficiency | ||||||
10 | services to be
provided to each class of customers;
and
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11 | (3) meet any requirements established by law or the | ||||||
12 | Commission
concerning aggregated service offered pursuant | ||||||
13 | to this Section.
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14 | The plan shall be filed with the Commission for
review and | ||||||
15 | approval and shall include, without limitation, an | ||||||
16 | organizational
structure of
the program, its operations, and | ||||||
17 | funding; the methods of establishing rates and
allocating
costs | ||||||
18 | among participants; the methods for entering and terminating | ||||||
19 | agreements
with other
entities; the rights and | ||||||
20 | responsibilities of program participants; and
procedures for | ||||||
21 | termination of the
program. Within 120 days after receipt of | ||||||
22 | the plan, the Commission shall issue
an order either approving | ||||||
23 | or rejecting the plan. If the Commission rejects the
plan, it | ||||||
24 | shall state detailed reasons for rejecting the plan in its | ||||||
25 | order.
Upon approval of the plan, the corporate authorities or | ||||||
26 | county
board may
solicit bids for electricity and other related |
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1 | services pursuant to the methods
established in
the plan. The | ||||||
2 | corporate authorities or county board shall report the results | ||||||
3 | of
this
solicitation and proposed
agreement awards to the | ||||||
4 | Commission, which shall have 15
business days to suspend such | ||||||
5 | awards if the solicitation or awards
are not in
conformance | ||||||
6 | with the plan or if the cost for energy would in the first year
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7 | exceed the cost
of that energy if that energy was obtained from | ||||||
8 | an electric utility under
Section 16-103 of this Act by
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9 | citizens in the municipality or county or group of | ||||||
10 | municipalities and counties,
unless the
applicant can | ||||||
11 | demonstrate that the cost for energy under the aggregation plan
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12 | will be
lower in the subsequent years or the applicant can | ||||||
13 | demonstrate that such excess
cost is
due to the purchase of | ||||||
14 | renewable energy. If the
Commission does not suspend the | ||||||
15 | proposed contract awards within 15 business
days
after
filing, | ||||||
16 | the corporate authorities or county board shall have the right | ||||||
17 | to award
the proposed
agreements.
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18 | It shall be the duty of the aggregated entity to fully | ||||||
19 | inform
residential retail customers in advance that they have | ||||||
20 | the right to opt in to the aggregation program.
The disclosure | ||||||
21 | shall prominently state all charges to be made and
shall | ||||||
22 | include
full disclosure of the cost to obtain service pursuant | ||||||
23 | to Section 16-103 of this Act, how
to access it,
and the fact | ||||||
24 | that it is available to them without penalty, if they are
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25 | currently receiving
service under that Section. The Commission | ||||||
26 | shall furnish, without charge, to
any citizen a
list of all |
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1 | supply options available to them in a format that
allows
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2 | comparison of prices and products. | ||||||
3 | This Section does not prohibit municipalities or counties | ||||||
4 | from entering into an intergovernmental agreement to aggregate | ||||||
5 | residential retail electric loads.
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