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Public Act 098-0429
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| HB2586 Enrolled | LRB098 08124 KTG 38215 b |
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AN ACT concerning public aid.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Energy Assistance Act is amended by changing |
Section 13 as follows:
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(305 ILCS 20/13)
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(Section scheduled to be repealed on December 31, 2013) |
Sec. 13. Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund.
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(a) The Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance
Fund is |
hereby created as a special fund in the State
Treasury. The |
Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund
is authorized |
to receive moneys from voluntary donations from individuals, |
foundations, corporations, and other sources, moneys received |
pursuant to Section 17, and, by statutory deposit, the moneys
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collected pursuant to this Section. The Fund is also authorized |
to receive voluntary donations from individuals, foundations, |
corporations, and other sources, as well as contributions made |
in accordance with Section 507MM of the Illinois Income Tax |
Act. Subject to appropriation,
the Department shall use
moneys |
from the Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund
for |
payments to electric or gas public utilities,
municipal |
electric or gas utilities, and electric cooperatives
on behalf |
of their customers who are participants in the
program |
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authorized by Sections 4 and 18 of this Act, for the provision |
of
weatherization services and for
administration of the |
Supplemental Low-Income Energy
Assistance Fund. The yearly |
expenditures for weatherization may not exceed 10%
of the |
amount collected during the year pursuant to this Section. The |
yearly administrative expenses of the
Supplemental Low-Income |
Energy Assistance Fund may not exceed
10% of the amount |
collected during that year
pursuant to this Section.
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(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 16-111
of the |
Public Utilities Act but subject to subsection (k) of this |
Section,
each public utility, electric
cooperative, as defined |
in Section 3.4 of the Electric Supplier Act,
and municipal |
utility, as referenced in Section 3-105 of the Public Utilities
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Act, that is engaged in the delivery of electricity or the
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distribution of natural gas within the State of Illinois
shall, |
effective January 1, 1998,
assess each of
its customer accounts |
a monthly Energy Assistance Charge for
the Supplemental |
Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund.
The delivering public |
utility, municipal electric or gas utility, or electric
or gas
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cooperative for a self-assessing purchaser remains subject to |
the collection of
the
fee imposed by this Section.
The
monthly |
charge shall be as follows:
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(1) $0.48 per month on each account for
residential |
electric service;
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(2) $0.48 per month on each account for
residential gas |
service;
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(3) $4.80 per month on each account for non-residential |
electric service
which had less than 10 megawatts
of peak |
demand during the previous calendar year;
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(4) $4.80 per month on each account for non-residential |
gas service which
had distributed to it less than
4,000,000 |
therms of gas during the previous calendar year;
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(5) $360 per month on each account for non-residential |
electric service
which had 10 megawatts or greater
of peak |
demand during the previous calendar year; and
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(6) $360 per month on each account for non-residential |
gas service
which had 4,000,000 or more therms of
gas |
distributed to it during the previous calendar year. |
The incremental change to such charges imposed by this |
amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly shall not (i) be |
used for any purpose other than to directly assist customers |
and (ii) be applicable to utilities serving less than 100,000 |
customers in Illinois on January 1, 2009. |
In addition, electric and gas utilities have committed, and |
shall contribute, a one-time payment of $22 million to the |
Fund, within 10 days after the effective date of the tariffs |
established pursuant to Sections 16-111.8 and 19-145 of the |
Public Utilities Act to be used for the Department's cost of |
implementing the programs described in Section 18 of this |
amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, the Arrearage |
Reduction Program described in Section 18, and the programs |
described in Section 8-105 of the Public Utilities Act. If a |
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utility elects not to file a rider within 90 days after the |
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General |
Assembly, then the contribution from such utility shall be made |
no later than February 1, 2010.
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(c) For purposes of this Section:
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(1) "residential electric service" means
electric |
utility service for household purposes delivered to a
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dwelling of 2 or fewer units which is billed under a
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residential rate, or electric utility service for |
household
purposes delivered to a dwelling unit or units |
which is billed
under a residential rate and is registered |
by a separate meter
for each dwelling unit;
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(2) "residential gas service" means gas utility
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service for household purposes distributed to a dwelling of
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2 or fewer units which is billed under a residential rate,
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or gas utility service for household purposes distributed |
to a
dwelling unit or units which is billed under a |
residential
rate and is registered by a separate meter for |
each dwelling
unit;
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(3) "non-residential electric service" means
electric |
utility service which is not residential electric
service; |
and
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(4) "non-residential gas service" means gas
utility |
service which is not residential gas service.
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(d) Within 30 days after the effective date of this |
amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, each public
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utility engaged in the delivery of electricity or the
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distribution of natural gas shall file with the Illinois
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Commerce Commission tariffs incorporating the Energy
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Assistance Charge in other charges stated in such tariffs, |
which shall become effective no later than the beginning of the |
first billing cycle following such filing.
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(e) The Energy Assistance Charge assessed by
electric and |
gas public utilities shall be considered a charge
for public |
utility service.
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(f) By the 20th day of the month following the month in |
which the charges
imposed by the Section were collected, each |
public
utility,
municipal utility, and electric cooperative |
shall remit to the
Department of Revenue all moneys received as |
payment of the
Energy Assistance Charge on a return prescribed |
and furnished by the
Department of Revenue showing such |
information as the Department of Revenue may
reasonably |
require; provided, however, that a utility offering an |
Arrearage Reduction Program pursuant to Section 18 of this Act |
shall be entitled to net those amounts necessary to fund and |
recover the costs of such Program as authorized by that Section |
that is no more than the incremental change in such Energy |
Assistance Charge authorized by this amendatory Act of the 96th |
General Assembly. If a customer makes a partial payment, a |
public
utility, municipal
utility, or electric cooperative may |
elect either: (i) to apply
such partial payments first to |
amounts owed to the
utility or cooperative for its services and |
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then to payment
for the Energy Assistance Charge or (ii) to |
apply such partial payments
on a pro-rata basis between amounts |
owed to the
utility or cooperative for its services and to |
payment for the
Energy Assistance Charge.
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(g) The Department of Revenue shall deposit into the
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Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund all moneys
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remitted to it in accordance with subsection (f) of this
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Section; provided, however, that the amounts remitted by each |
utility shall be used to provide assistance to that utility's |
customers. The utilities shall coordinate with the Department |
to establish an equitable and practical methodology for |
implementing this subsection (g) beginning with the 2010 |
program year.
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(h) On or before December 31, 2002, the Department shall
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prepare a report for the General Assembly on the expenditure of |
funds
appropriated from the Low-Income Energy Assistance Block |
Grant Fund for the
program authorized under Section 4 of this |
Act.
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(i) The Department of Revenue may establish such
rules as |
it deems necessary to implement this Section.
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(j) The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
may |
establish such rules as it deems necessary to implement
this |
Section.
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(k) The charges imposed by this Section shall only apply to |
customers of
municipal electric or gas utilities and electric |
or gas cooperatives if
the municipal
electric or gas
utility or |
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electric or gas cooperative makes an affirmative decision to
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impose the
charge. If a municipal electric or gas utility or an |
electric
cooperative makes an affirmative decision to impose |
the charge provided by
this
Section, the municipal electric or |
gas utility or electric cooperative shall
inform the
Department |
of Revenue in writing of such decision when it begins to impose |
the
charge. If a municipal electric or gas utility or electric |
or gas
cooperative does not
assess
this charge, the Department |
may not use funds from the Supplemental Low-Income
Energy |
Assistance Fund to provide benefits to its customers under the |
program
authorized by Section 4 of this Act.
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In its use of federal funds under this Act, the Department |
may not cause a
disproportionate share of those federal funds |
to benefit customers of systems
which do not assess the charge |
provided by this Section.
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This Section is repealed effective December 31, 2018 2013
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unless
renewed by action of the General Assembly. The General |
Assembly shall
consider the results of the evaluations |
described in Section 8 in its
deliberations.
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(Source: P.A. 95-48, eff. 8-10-07; 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 96-33, |
eff. 7-10-09; 96-154, eff. 1-1-10; 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
becoming law.
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