220 ILCS 5/8-513

(220 ILCS 5/8-513)

(This Section may contain text from a Public Act with a delayed effective date)

Sec. 8-513. Thermal Energy Network Pilot Program.

(a) The Commission shall coordinate with the Illinois Finance Authority, in its role as Climate Bank for the State, to leverage any available federal funding to support thermal energy network pilot projects through the provision of grants or to provide or leverage financing. If that federal funding is not available or not sufficient to meet program objectives, the Commission shall authorize the allocation of up to $20,000,000 to support the thermal energy network pilot projects, to be provided to the Illinois Finance Authority to distribute to projects as a grant or to provide or leverage financing. The Illinois Finance Authority shall submit projects that have already been approved by the Illinois Finance Authority to the Commission for review and approval in a form and manner determined by the Commission. The Commission shall approve projects that it deems to be just, reasonable, and in the public interest. Any allocation of funding shall provide for the Illinois Finance Authority to use a portion of such allocated funds to support its reasonable administrative costs in administering the program under this Section.

(b) An electric utility shall be entitled to recover, through tariffed charges approved by the Commission, all of the costs associated with projects authorized for funding by the Commission pursuant to this Section and shall be recovered as part of the utility's costs incurred under Section 45 of the Electric Vehicle Act. If any authorized funds have not been recovered by the utility as of January 1, 2029, the Environmental Protection Agency shall allocate the remaining funds to the Illinois Finance Authority as part of its beneficial electrification programs described in Section 45 of the Electric Vehicle Act.

(c) As part of any pilot project proposed pursuant to this Section, the Commission is authorized to approve any specific customer rebates and incentives and any project-specific tariffs and rules. The Commission may create a standard proposed rate structure or minimum requirements for a rate structure to be required of all thermal energy network pilot projects. The Commission may approve the proposed rate structure of a thermal energy network pilot project if the projected heating and cooling costs for end users is not greater than the projected heating and cooling costs the end users would have incurred if the end users had not participated in the program. In its approval process, the Commission shall take into account scenarios where pilot projects enhance comfort and safety for customers through expanded access to affordable heating and cooling.

(d) Approved thermal energy network pilot projects shall report to the Commission, on a quarterly basis and until completion of the thermal energy network pilot project, the status of each thermal energy network pilot project. The Commission shall post and make publicly available the reports on its website. The reports shall include, but not be limited to:

(1) the stage of development of each pilot project;

(2) the barriers to development;

(3) the number of customers served;

(4) the costs of the pilot project;

(5) the number of jobs retained or created by the pilot project;

(6) energy savings and fuel savings from the project and energy consumption by the project; and

(7) other information the Commission deems to be in the public interest or considers likely to prove useful or relevant to the rulemaking described in subsection (i).

(e) Any entity operating a Commission-approved thermal energy network pilot project shall demonstrate that it has entered into a labor peace agreement with a bona fide labor organization that is actively engaged in representing its employees. The labor peace agreement shall apply to the employees necessary for the ongoing maintenance and operation of the thermal energy network. The existence of a labor peace agreement shall be an ongoing material condition of an entity's authorization to maintain and operate the thermal energy networks.

(f) Any contractor or subcontractor that performs work on a thermal energy network pilot project under this Section shall be a responsible bidder, as described in Section 30-22 of the Illinois Procurement Code, and shall certify that not less than prevailing wage, as determined under the Prevailing Wage Act, was or will be paid to the employees who are engaged in construction activities associated with the pilot thermal energy network system. The contractor or subcontractor shall submit evidence to the Commission that it complied with the requirements of this subsection (f). For any approved thermal energy network pilot project, the contractor or subcontractor shall submit evidence that the contractor or subcontractor has entered into a fully executed project labor agreement for the thermal energy network system prior to the initiation of construction activities.

(Source: P.A. 104-458, eff. 6-1-26.)