Full Text of SB2335 98th General Assembly
SB2335eng 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning regulation.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing | 5 | | Sections 19-105 and 19-111 as follows:
| 6 | | (220 ILCS 5/19-105)
| 7 | | Sec. 19-105. Definitions. For the purposes of this Article, | 8 | | the following
terms shall be defined as set forth in this | 9 | | Section.
| 10 | | "Alternative gas supplier" means every person, | 11 | | cooperative, corporation,
municipal corporation, company, | 12 | | association, joint stock company or
association, firm,
| 13 | | partnership, individual, or other entity, their lessees, | 14 | | trustees, or receivers
appointed by
any court whatsoever, that | 15 | | offers gas for sale, lease, or in exchange for other
value
| 16 | | received to one or more customers, or that engages in the | 17 | | furnishing of gas to
one or
more customers, and shall include | 18 | | affiliated interests of a gas utility,
resellers,
aggregators | 19 | | and marketers, but shall not include (i) gas utilities (or any
| 20 | | agent of the gas
utility to the extent the gas utility provides | 21 | | tariffed services to customers
through an
agent); (ii) public | 22 | | utilities that are owned and operated by any political
| 23 | | subdivision, public institution of higher education or |
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| 1 | | municipal corporation
of this State, or public utilities that | 2 | | are owned by a political
subdivision, public institution of | 3 | | higher education, or municipal corporation
and operated by any | 4 | | of its lessees or operating agents; (iii)
natural gas | 5 | | cooperatives that are not-for-profit corporations operated for
| 6 | | the purpose of administering, on a cooperative basis, the
| 7 | | furnishing of natural gas for the benefit of their members who
| 8 | | are
consumers of natural gas; and (iv) the ownership or | 9 | | operation
of a facility that sells compressed natural gas at | 10 | | retail to the public for use
only as a motor vehicle fuel and | 11 | | the selling of compressed natural gas at
retail to the public | 12 | | for use only as a motor vehicle fuel.
| 13 | | "Gas utility" means a public utility, as defined in Section | 14 | | 3-105 of this
Act,
that
has a franchise, license, permit, or | 15 | | right to furnish or sell gas
or transportation services to
| 16 | | customers within a service area.
| 17 | | "Non-tariffed service" means any service provided by an | 18 | | alternative gas supplier to a residential customer or a small | 19 | | commercial customer. | 20 | | "Residential customer" means a customer who receives gas | 21 | | utility service for
household purposes distributed to a | 22 | | dwelling of 2 or fewer units which is
billed under
a | 23 | | residential rate or gas utility service for household purposes | 24 | | distributed to
a dwelling
unit or units which is billed under a | 25 | | residential rate and is registered by a
separate meter
for each | 26 | | dwelling unit.
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| 1 | | "Sales agent" means any employee, agent, independent | 2 | | contractor, consultant, or other person that is engaged by the | 3 | | alternative gas supplier to solicit customers to purchase, | 4 | | enroll in, or contract for alternative gas service on behalf of | 5 | | an alternative gas supplier. | 6 | | "Service area" means (i) the geographic area within which a | 7 | | gas utility was
lawfully entitled to provide gas to customers | 8 | | as of the effective date
of this
amendatory
Act of the 92nd | 9 | | General Assembly and includes (ii) the location of any
customer | 10 | | to
which the gas utility was lawfully providing gas utility | 11 | | services on such
effective date.
| 12 | | "Single billing" means the combined billing of the services | 13 | | provided by both a natural gas utility and an alternative gas | 14 | | supplier to any customer who has enrolled in a customer choice | 15 | | program. | 16 | | "Small commercial customer" means a nonresidential retail | 17 | | customer of
a
natural gas utility
who consumed 5,000 or fewer | 18 | | therms of natural gas
during the previous year; provided that | 19 | | any alternative gas
supplier may remove the customer from | 20 | | designation as a "small
commercial customer" if the customer | 21 | | consumes more than 5,000 therms
of natural gas in any calendar | 22 | | year after becoming a customer of the
alternative gas supplier. | 23 | | In determining whether a customer has consumed 5,000 or fewer | 24 | | therms of natural gas during the previous year, usage by the | 25 | | same commercial customer shall be aggregated to include usage | 26 | | at the same premises even if measured by more than one meter, |
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| 1 | | and to include usage at multiple premises. Nothing in this | 2 | | Section creates an affirmative obligation on a gas utility to | 3 | | monitor or inform customers or alternative gas suppliers as to | 4 | | a customer's status as a small commercial customer as that term | 5 | | is defined herein. Nothing in this Section relieves a gas | 6 | | utility from any obligation to provide information upon request | 7 | | to a customer, alternative gas supplier, the Commission, or | 8 | | others necessary to determine whether a customer meets the | 9 | | classification of small commercial customers as that term is | 10 | | defined herein.
| 11 | | "Tariffed service" means a service provided to customers by | 12 | | a gas
utility as
defined by its rates on file with the | 13 | | Commission pursuant to the provisions of
Article IX
of this | 14 | | Act.
| 15 | | "Transportation services" means those services provided by | 16 | | the gas utility
that
are necessary in order for the storage, | 17 | | transmission and distribution systems
to
function so that
| 18 | | customers located in the gas utility's service area can receive | 19 | | gas from
suppliers other
than the gas utility and shall | 20 | | include, without limitation, standard metering
and billing
| 21 | | services.
| 22 | | (Source: P.A. 95-1051, eff. 4-10-09; 96-435, eff. 1-1-10; | 23 | | 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)
| 24 | | (220 ILCS 5/19-111) | 25 | | Sec. 19-111. Material changes in business. |
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| 1 | | (a) The provisions of this Section shall apply only to | 2 | | alternative gas suppliers serving or seeking to serve | 3 | | residential or small commercial customers and only to the | 4 | | extent such alternative gas suppliers provide services to | 5 | | residential or small commercial customers. | 6 | | (b) Alternative gas suppliers shall file with the | 7 | | Commission a notification of any material change to the | 8 | | information supplied in a certification application within 30 | 9 | | days of such material change. | 10 | | (1) An alternative gas supplier shall file such notice | 11 | | under the docket number assigned to the alternative gas | 12 | | supplier's certification application, whichever is the | 13 | | most recent. The supplier shall also serve such notice upon | 14 | | the gas utility company serving customers in the service | 15 | | area where the alternative gas supplier is certified to | 16 | | provide service. | 17 | | (2) After notice and an opportunity for a hearing, the | 18 | | Commission may (i) suspend, rescind, or conditionally | 19 | | rescind an alternative gas supplier's certificate if it | 20 | | determines that the material change will adversely affect | 21 | | the alternative gas supplier's fitness or ability to | 22 | | provide the services for which it is certified or (ii) | 23 | | require the alternative gas supplier to provide reasonable | 24 | | financial assurances sufficient to protect their customers | 25 | | and gas utilities from default. | 26 | | (c) Material changes to the information contained in or |
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| 1 | | supplied with a certification application include, but are not | 2 | | limited to, the following: | 3 | | (1) Any significant change in ownership (an ownership | 4 | | interest of 5% or more) of the applicant or alternative gas | 5 | | supplier. | 6 | | (2) An affiliation with any gas utility or change of an | 7 | | affiliation with a gas utility in this State. | 8 | | (3) Retirement or other long-term changes to the | 9 | | operational status of supply resources relied upon by the | 10 | | alternative gas supplier to provide alternative gas | 11 | | service. Changes in the volume of supply from any given | 12 | | supply resource replaced by a comparable supply resource do | 13 | | not need to be reported. | 14 | | (4) Revocation, restriction, or termination of any | 15 | | interconnection or service agreement with a pipeline | 16 | | company or natural gas company relied upon by an | 17 | | alternative gas supplier to provide alternative retail | 18 | | natural gas service, but only if such revocation, | 19 | | restriction, or termination creates a situation in which | 20 | | the alternative gas supplier does not meet the tariffed | 21 | | capacity requirements of the relevant Illinois natural gas | 22 | | utility or utilities. | 23 | | (5) If the alternative gas supplier has a long-term | 24 | | bond rating from Standard & Poor's or its successor, or | 25 | | Fitch Ratings or its successor, or Moody's Investor Service | 26 | | or its successor, and the alternative gas supplier's |
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| 1 | | long-term bond rating falls below BBB as reported by | 2 | | Standard & Poor's or its successor or Fitch Ratings or its | 3 | | successor or below Baa3 as reported by Moody's Investors | 4 | | Service or its successor. | 5 | | (6) The applicant or alternative gas supplier has or | 6 | | intends to file for reorganization, protection from | 7 | | creditors, or any other form of bankruptcy with any court. | 8 | | (7) Any judgment, finding, or ruling by a court or | 9 | | regulatory agency that could affect an alternative gas | 10 | | supplier's fitness or ability to provide service in this | 11 | | State. | 12 | | (8) Any change in the alternative gas supplier's name | 13 | | or logo, including without limitation any change in the | 14 | | alternative gas supplier's legal name, fictitious names, | 15 | | or assumed business names, except for logos and names the | 16 | | alternative gas supplier provided as part of its original | 17 | | certification process or that the alternative gas supplier | 18 | | previously provided to the Commission under this Section.
| 19 | | (d) An alternative gas supplier shall provide annually to | 20 | | the Commission a list of all non-tariffed services available to | 21 | | customers in a service area for publication on the Commission's | 22 | | website. | 23 | | (Source: P.A. 95-1051, eff. 4-10-09.)
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