SB3015 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB099 19650 EGJ 44047 b

99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
SB3015

Introduced 2/18/2016, by Sen. Chris Nybo

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

220 ILCS 5/19-150 new

Amends the Public Utilities Act. Creates a provision that provides that corporate authorities of a municipality or county board of a county may adopt an ordinance under which it may aggregate residential customers and small commercial customer natural gas loads located, respectively, within the municipality or the unincorporated areas of the county and may solicit bids and enter into service agreements to facilitate for those loads the sale and purchase of natural gas and related services and equipment. Requires the corporate authority or county board to develop a plan of operation and governance for the aggregation program. Sets forth provisions concerning the establishment of a process for selecting a natural gas supplier and awarding a proposed agreement, compliance requirements if the program the corporate authorities or county board operates under is an opt-in program, and disclosure requirements for an opt-out program. Provides that the Illinois Commerce Commission shall adopt rules. Provides that no municipality or county shall implement, in its plan of operation and governance, an opt-out program that automatically enrolls a customer that is currently under contract with an alternative retail gas supplier or an entity that provides services in competition with and similar to an alternative retail gas supplier into its municipal or county opt-out program. Provides that the Commission shall not require a natural gas public utility without a Commission-approved small volume transportation program to accommodate aggregated load switching for any natural gas customers. 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 Public Utilities Act is amended by adding Section 19-150 as follows:

(220 ILCS 5/19-150 new)

Sec. 19-150. Aggregation of natural gas load by municipalities and counties.

(a) The corporate authorities of a municipality or county board of a county may adopt an ordinance under which it may aggregate in accordance with this Section residential customers and small commercial customer natural gas loads located, respectively, within the municipality or the unincorporated areas of the county and, for that purpose, may solicit bids and enter into service agreements to facilitate for those loads the sale and purchase of natural gas and related services and equipment.

The corporate authorities or county board may also exercise such authority jointly with any other municipality or county. Two or more municipalities or counties, or a combination of both, may initiate a process jointly to authorize aggregation by a majority vote of each particular municipality or county as required by this Section.

If the corporate authorities or the county board seek to operate the aggregation program as an opt-out program for residential customers and small commercial customers, then prior to the adoption of an ordinance with respect to aggregation of residential customers and small commercial customer natural gas loads, the corporate authorities of a municipality or the county board of a county shall submit a referendum to its residents to determine whether or not the aggregation program shall operate as an opt-out program for residential customers and small commercial customers.

In addition to the notice and conduct requirements of the general election law, notice of the referendum shall state briefly the purpose of the referendum. The question of whether the corporate authorities or the county board shall adopt an opt-out aggregation program for residential customers and small commercial customers shall be submitted to the electors of the municipality or county board at a regular election and approved by a majority of the electors voting on the question. The corporate authorities or county board must certify to the proper election authority, which must submit the question at an election in accordance with the Election Code.

The election authority must submit the question in substantially the following form:

"Shall the (municipality or county in which the question is being voted upon) have the authority to arrange for the supply of natural gas for its residential customers and small commercial customers who have not opted out of such program?"

The election authority must record the votes as "Yes" or "No".

If a majority of the electors voting on the question vote in the affirmative, then the corporate authorities or county board may implement an opt-out aggregation program for residential customers and small commercial customers.

A referendum must pass in each particular municipality or county that is engaged in the aggregation program. If the referendum fails, then the corporate authorities or county board shall operate the aggregation program as an opt-in program for residential customers and small commercial customers.

An ordinance under this Section shall specify whether the aggregation shall occur only with the prior consent of each person owning, occupying, controlling, or using a natural gas load center proposed to be aggregated. Nothing in this Section, however, authorizes the aggregation of natural gas loads that are served or authorized to be served by a municipality that owns and operates its own gas distribution system. No aggregation shall take effect unless approved by a majority of the members of the corporate authority or county board voting upon the ordinance. A governmental aggregator under this Section is not a public utility, agent, broker, consultant or an alternative retail gas supplier.

(b) Upon the applicable requisite authority under this Section, the corporate authorities or the county board shall develop a plan of operation and governance for the aggregation program so authorized. Before adopting a plan under this Section, the corporate authorities or county board shall hold at least 2 public hearings on the plan. Before the first hearing, the corporate authorities or county board shall publish notice of the hearings once a week for 2 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the jurisdiction. The notice shall summarize the plan and state the date, time, and location of each hearing. Any load aggregation plan established pursuant to this Section shall:

(1) provide for universal access to all applicable residential customers and equitable treatment of applicable residential customers;

(2) describe demand management and energy efficiency services to be provided to each class of customers; and

(3) meet any requirements established by law concerning aggregated service offered pursuant to this Section.

(c) The process for selecting a natural gas supplier and awarding proposed agreements for the purchase of natural gas and other related services shall be conducted in the following order:

(1) First, the corporate authorities or county board may solicit bids for natural gas and other related services.

(2) Then, notwithstanding Section 19-115 of this Act and Section 2FFF of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, a natural gas utility that provides residential customers and small commercial customers natural gas service in the aggregate area must, upon request of the corporate authorities or the county board in the aggregate area, submit to the requesting party, in an electronic format, those account numbers, names, and addresses of residential customers and small commercial customers in the aggregate area that are reflected in the natural gas utility's records at the time of the request. Any corporate authority or county board receiving customer information from a natural gas utility shall be subject to the limitations on the disclosure of the information described in Section 19-115 of this Act and Section 2FFF of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, and a natural gas utility shall not be held liable for any claims arising out of the provision of information pursuant to this item (2).

(d) If the corporate authorities or county board operate under an opt-in program for residential customers and small commercial customers, then:

(1) within 60 days after receiving the bids, the corporate authorities or county board shall allow residential customers and small commercial customers to commit to the terms and conditions of a bid that has been selected by the corporate authorities or county board; and

(2) if (A) the corporate authorities or county board award proposed agreements for the purchase of natural gas and other related services and (B) an agreement is reached between the corporate authorities or county board for those services, then residential customers and small commercial customers committed to the terms and conditions according to item (1) of this subsection (d) shall be committed to the agreement.

(e) If the corporate authorities or county board operate as an opt-out program for residential customers and small commercial customers, then it shall be the duty of the aggregated entity to fully inform residential customers and small commercial customers in advance that they have the right to opt out of the aggregation program. The disclosure shall prominently state all charges to be made and shall include full disclosure of the cost to obtain service pursuant to Section 19-115 of this Act, how to access it, and the fact that it is available to them without penalty, if they are currently receiving service under that Section. Early termination fees, subject to paragraph (5) of subsection (g) of Section 19-115 of this Act, for consumers currently under contract with an alternative retail gas supplier or an entity that provides services in competition with and similar to an alternative retail gas supplier, are not considered penalties under this subsection.

(f) The Illinois Commerce Commission shall adopt rules to implement this Section, including, but not limited to, the protection of customers already under contract with an alternative retail gas supplier, gas utility processes for enrollment of opt-out customers, and minimum opt-out disclosure requirements for opt-out aggregation. The rules adopted under this subsection (f) shall specifically state that if a customer is currently under contract with an alternative retail gas supplier or an entity that provides services in competition with and similar to an alternative retail gas supplier, the customer shall not be automatically enrolled in the relevant municipal or county opt-out program and that the opt-out program shall not interfere with the existing agreement between the customer and alternative retail gas supplier or an entity that provides services in competition with and similar to an alternative retail gas supplier. Nothing shall prohibit a customer under contract with an alternative retail gas supplier or an entity that provides services in competition with and similar to an alternative retail gas supplier from explicitly, in writing, affirmatively choosing to enter into the local municipality's or county's opt-out program. The opt-out disclosure rules adopted under this subsection shall, at a minimum, disclose the possibility of a contract termination fee, subject to the terms of paragraph (5) of subsection (g) of Section 19-115 of this Act, for those customers under contract with alternative retail gas suppliers or an entity that provides services in competition with and similar to an alternative retail gas supplier.

(g) No municipality or county shall implement, in its plan of operation and governance, an opt-out program that automatically enrolls a customer that is currently under contract with an alternative retail gas supplier or an entity that provides services in competition with and similar to an alternative retail gas supplier into its municipal or county opt-out program. A customer that is currently under contract with an alternative retail gas supplier or an entity that provides services in competition with and similar to an alternative retail gas supplier that seeks to enroll in an opt-out program shall be required by the municipality or county, as applicable, to explicitly, in writing, affirm the choice to enter into said opt-out program.

(h) Nothing in this Section shall require a natural gas public utility without a Commission-approved small volume transportation program to accommodate aggregated load switching for any natural gas customers.

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