98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014
SB0647

 

Introduced 1/24/2013, by Sen. John J. Cullerton

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
220 ILCS 5/16-108

    Amends the Public Utilities Act. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning recovery of costs associated with the provision of delivery services.


LRB098 04426 JWD 34454 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

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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 Public Utilities Act is amended by changing
5Section 16-108 as follows:
 
6    (220 ILCS 5/16-108)
7    Sec. 16-108. Recovery of costs associated with the the
8provision of delivery services.
9    (a) An electric utility shall file a delivery services
10tariff with the Commission at least 210 days prior to the date
11that it is required to begin offering such services pursuant to
12this Act. An electric utility shall provide the components of
13delivery services that are subject to the jurisdiction of the
14Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the same prices, terms
15and conditions set forth in its applicable tariff as approved
16or allowed into effect by that Commission. The Commission shall
17otherwise have the authority pursuant to Article IX to review,
18approve, and modify the prices, terms and conditions of those
19components of delivery services not subject to the jurisdiction
20of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, including the
21authority to determine the extent to which such delivery
22services should be offered on an unbundled basis. In making any
23such determination the Commission shall consider, at a minimum,

 

 

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1the effect of additional unbundling on (i) the objective of
2just and reasonable rates, (ii) electric utility employees, and
3(iii) the development of competitive markets for electric
4energy services in Illinois.
5    (b) The Commission shall enter an order approving, or
6approving as modified, the delivery services tariff no later
7than 30 days prior to the date on which the electric utility
8must commence offering such services. The Commission may
9subsequently modify such tariff pursuant to this Act.
10    (c) The electric utility's tariffs shall define the classes
11of its customers for purposes of delivery services charges.
12Delivery services shall be priced and made available to all
13retail customers electing delivery services in each such class
14on a nondiscriminatory basis regardless of whether the retail
15customer chooses the electric utility, an affiliate of the
16electric utility, or another entity as its supplier of electric
17power and energy. Charges for delivery services shall be cost
18based, and shall allow the electric utility to recover the
19costs of providing delivery services through its charges to its
20delivery service customers that use the facilities and services
21associated with such costs. Such costs shall include the costs
22of owning, operating and maintaining transmission and
23distribution facilities. The Commission shall also be
24authorized to consider whether, and if so to what extent, the
25following costs are appropriately included in the electric
26utility's delivery services rates: (i) the costs of that

 

 

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1portion of generation facilities used for the production and
2absorption of reactive power in order that retail customers
3located in the electric utility's service area can receive
4electric power and energy from suppliers other than the
5electric utility, and (ii) the costs associated with the use
6and redispatch of generation facilities to mitigate
7constraints on the transmission or distribution system in order
8that retail customers located in the electric utility's service
9area can receive electric power and energy from suppliers other
10than the electric utility. Nothing in this subsection shall be
11construed as directing the Commission to allocate any of the
12costs described in (i) or (ii) that are found to be
13appropriately included in the electric utility's delivery
14services rates to any particular customer group or geographic
15area in setting delivery services rates.
16    (d) The Commission shall establish charges, terms and
17conditions for delivery services that are just and reasonable
18and shall take into account customer impacts when establishing
19such charges. In establishing charges, terms and conditions for
20delivery services, the Commission shall take into account
21voltage level differences. A retail customer shall have the
22option to request to purchase electric service at any delivery
23service voltage reasonably and technically feasible from the
24electric facilities serving that customer's premises provided
25that there are no significant adverse impacts upon system
26reliability or system efficiency. A retail customer shall also

 

 

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1have the option to request to purchase electric service at any
2point of delivery that is reasonably and technically feasible
3provided that there are no significant adverse impacts on
4system reliability or efficiency. Such requests shall not be
5unreasonably denied.
6    (e) Electric utilities shall recover the costs of
7installing, operating or maintaining facilities for the
8particular benefit of one or more delivery services customers,
9including without limitation any costs incurred in complying
10with a customer's request to be served at a different voltage
11level, directly from the retail customer or customers for whose
12benefit the costs were incurred, to the extent such costs are
13not recovered through the charges referred to in subsections
14(c) and (d) of this Section.
15    (f) An electric utility shall be entitled but not required
16to implement transition charges in conjunction with the
17offering of delivery services pursuant to Section 16-104. If an
18electric utility implements transition charges, it shall
19implement such charges for all delivery services customers and
20for all customers described in subsection (h), but shall not
21implement transition charges for power and energy that a retail
22customer takes from cogeneration or self-generation facilities
23located on that retail customer's premises, if such facilities
24meet the following criteria:
25        (i) the cogeneration or self-generation facilities
26    serve a single retail customer and are located on that

 

 

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1    retail customer's premises (for purposes of this
2    subparagraph and subparagraph (ii), an industrial or
3    manufacturing retail customer and a third party contractor
4    that is served by such industrial or manufacturing customer
5    through such retail customer's own electrical distribution
6    facilities under the circumstances described in subsection
7    (vi) of the definition of "alternative retail electric
8    supplier" set forth in Section 16-102, shall be considered
9    a single retail customer);
10        (ii) the cogeneration or self-generation facilities
11    either (A) are sized pursuant to generally accepted
12    engineering standards for the retail customer's electrical
13    load at that premises (taking into account standby or other
14    reliability considerations related to that retail
15    customer's operations at that site) or (B) if the facility
16    is a cogeneration facility located on the retail customer's
17    premises, the retail customer is the thermal host for that
18    facility and the facility has been designed to meet that
19    retail customer's thermal energy requirements resulting in
20    electrical output beyond that retail customer's electrical
21    demand at that premises, comply with the operating and
22    efficiency standards applicable to "qualifying facilities"
23    specified in title 18 Code of Federal Regulations Section
24    292.205 as in effect on the effective date of this
25    amendatory Act of 1999;
26        (iii) the retail customer on whose premises the

 

 

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1    facilities are located either has an exclusive right to
2    receive, and corresponding obligation to pay for, all of
3    the electrical capacity of the facility, or in the case of
4    a cogeneration facility that has been designed to meet the
5    retail customer's thermal energy requirements at that
6    premises, an identified amount of the electrical capacity
7    of the facility, over a minimum 5-year period; and
8        (iv) if the cogeneration facility is sized for the
9    retail customer's thermal load at that premises but exceeds
10    the electrical load, any sales of excess power or energy
11    are made only at wholesale, are subject to the jurisdiction
12    of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and are not
13    for the purpose of circumventing the provisions of this
14    subsection (f).
15If a generation facility located at a retail customer's
16premises does not meet the above criteria, an electric utility
17implementing transition charges shall implement a transition
18charge until December 31, 2006 for any power and energy taken
19by such retail customer from such facility as if such power and
20energy had been delivered by the electric utility. Provided,
21however, that an industrial retail customer that is taking
22power from a generation facility that does not meet the above
23criteria but that is located on such customer's premises will
24not be subject to a transition charge for the power and energy
25taken by such retail customer from such generation facility if
26the facility does not serve any other retail customer and

 

 

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1either was installed on behalf of the customer and for its own
2use prior to January 1, 1997, or is both predominantly fueled
3by byproducts of such customer's manufacturing process at such
4premises and sells or offers an average of 300 megawatts or
5more of electricity produced from such generation facility into
6the wholesale market. Such charges shall be calculated as
7provided in Section 16-102, and shall be collected on each
8kilowatt-hour delivered under a delivery services tariff to a
9retail customer from the date the customer first takes delivery
10services until December 31, 2006 except as provided in
11subsection (h) of this Section. Provided, however, that an
12electric utility, other than an electric utility providing
13service to at least 1,000,000 customers in this State on
14January 1, 1999, shall be entitled to petition for entry of an
15order by the Commission authorizing the electric utility to
16implement transition charges for an additional period ending no
17later than December 31, 2008. The electric utility shall file
18its petition with supporting evidence no earlier than 16
19months, and no later than 12 months, prior to December 31,
202006. The Commission shall hold a hearing on the electric
21utility's petition and shall enter its order no later than 8
22months after the petition is filed. The Commission shall
23determine whether and to what extent the electric utility shall
24be authorized to implement transition charges for an additional
25period. The Commission may authorize the electric utility to
26implement transition charges for some or all of the additional

 

 

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1period, and shall determine the mitigation factors to be used
2in implementing such transition charges; provided, that the
3Commission shall not authorize mitigation factors less than
4110% of those in effect during the 12 months ended December 31,
52006. In making its determination, the Commission shall
6consider the following factors: the necessity to implement
7transition charges for an additional period in order to
8maintain the financial integrity of the electric utility; the
9prudence of the electric utility's actions in reducing its
10costs since the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1997;
11the ability of the electric utility to provide safe, adequate
12and reliable service to retail customers in its service area;
13and the impact on competition of allowing the electric utility
14to implement transition charges for the additional period.
15    (g) The electric utility shall file tariffs that establish
16the transition charges to be paid by each class of customers to
17the electric utility in conjunction with the provision of
18delivery services. The electric utility's tariffs shall define
19the classes of its customers for purposes of calculating
20transition charges. The electric utility's tariffs shall
21provide for the calculation of transition charges on a
22customer-specific basis for any retail customer whose average
23monthly maximum electrical demand on the electric utility's
24system during the 6 months with the customer's highest monthly
25maximum electrical demands equals or exceeds 3.0 megawatts for
26electric utilities having more than 1,000,000 customers, and

 

 

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1for other electric utilities for any customer that has an
2average monthly maximum electrical demand on the electric
3utility's system of one megawatt or more, and (A) for which
4there exists data on the customer's usage during the 3 years
5preceding the date that the customer became eligible to take
6delivery services, or (B) for which there does not exist data
7on the customer's usage during the 3 years preceding the date
8that the customer became eligible to take delivery services, if
9in the electric utility's reasonable judgment there exists
10comparable usage information or a sufficient basis to develop
11such information, and further provided that the electric
12utility can require customers for which an individual
13calculation is made to sign contracts that set forth the
14transition charges to be paid by the customer to the electric
15utility pursuant to the tariff.
16    (h) An electric utility shall also be entitled to file
17tariffs that allow it to collect transition charges from retail
18customers in the electric utility's service area that do not
19take delivery services but that take electric power or energy
20from an alternative retail electric supplier or from an
21electric utility other than the electric utility in whose
22service area the customer is located. Such charges shall be
23calculated, in accordance with the definition of transition
24charges in Section 16-102, for the period of time that the
25customer would be obligated to pay transition charges if it
26were taking delivery services, except that no deduction for

 

 

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1delivery services revenues shall be made in such calculation,
2and usage data from the customer's class shall be used where
3historical usage data is not available for the individual
4customer. The customer shall be obligated to pay such charges
5on a lump sum basis on or before the date on which the customer
6commences to take service from the alternative retail electric
7supplier or other electric utility, provided, that the electric
8utility in whose service area the customer is located shall
9offer the customer the option of signing a contract pursuant to
10which the customer pays such charges ratably over the period in
11which the charges would otherwise have applied.
12    (i) An electric utility shall be entitled to add to the
13bills of delivery services customers charges pursuant to
14Sections 9-221, 9-222 (except as provided in Section 9-222.1),
15and Section 16-114 of this Act, Section 5-5 of the Electricity
16Infrastructure Maintenance Fee Law, Section 6-5 of the
17Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Coal Resources
18Development Law of 1997, and Section 13 of the Energy
19Assistance Act.
20    (j) If a retail customer that obtains electric power and
21energy from cogeneration or self-generation facilities
22installed for its own use on or before January 1, 1997,
23subsequently takes service from an alternative retail electric
24supplier or an electric utility other than the electric utility
25in whose service area the customer is located for any portion
26of the customer's electric power and energy requirements

 

 

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1formerly obtained from those facilities (including that amount
2purchased from the utility in lieu of such generation and not
3as standby power purchases, under a cogeneration displacement
4tariff in effect as of the effective date of this amendatory
5Act of 1997), the transition charges otherwise applicable
6pursuant to subsections (f), (g), or (h) of this Section shall
7not be applicable in any year to that portion of the customer's
8electric power and energy requirements formerly obtained from
9those facilities, provided, that for purposes of this
10subsection (j), such portion shall not exceed the average
11number of kilowatt-hours per year obtained from the
12cogeneration or self-generation facilities during the 3 years
13prior to the date on which the customer became eligible for
14delivery services, except as provided in subsection (f) of
15Section 16-110.
16(Source: P.A. 91-50, eff. 6-30-99; 92-690, eff. 7-18-02.)