HB3104 EnrolledLRB098 08168 JLS 38264 b

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 5-104 as follows:
 
6    (220 ILCS 5/5-104)  (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 5-104)
7    Sec. 5-104. Depreciation accounts.
8    (a) The Commission shall have power, after hearing, to
9require any or all public utilities, except electric public
10utilities, to keep such accounts as will adequately reflect
11depreciation, obsolescence and the progress of the arts. The
12Commission may, from time to time, ascertain and determine and
13by order fix the proper and adequate rate of depreciation of
14the several classes of property for each public utility; and
15each public utility shall conform its depreciation accounts to
16the rates so ascertained, determined and fixed.
17    (b) The Commission shall have the power, after hearing, to
18require any or all electric public utilities to keep such
19accounts as will adequately reflect depreciation,
20obsolescence, and the progress of the arts. The Commission may,
21from time to time, ascertain and determine and by order fix the
22proper and adequate rate of depreciation of the several classes
23of property for each electric public utility; and each electric

 

 

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1public utility shall thereafter, absent further order of the
2Commission, conform its depreciation accounts to the rates so
3ascertained, determined and fixed until at least the end of the
4first full calendar year following the date of such
5determination.
6    (c) An electric public utility may from time to time alter
7the annual rates of depreciation, which for purposes of this
8subsection (c) and subsection (d) shall include amortization,
9that it applies to its several classes of assets so long as the
10rates are consistent with generally accepted accounting
11principles. The electric public utility shall file a statement
12with the Commission which shall set forth the new rates of
13depreciation and which shall contain a certification by an
14independent certified public accountant that the new rates of
15depreciation are consistent with generally accepted accounting
16principles. Upon the filing of such statement, the new rates of
17depreciation shall be deemed to be approved by the Commission
18as the rates of depreciation to be applied thereafter by the
19public utility as though an order had been entered pursuant to
20subsection (b).
21    (d) In any proceeding conducted pursuant to Section 9-201
22or 9-202 to set an electric public utility's rates for service,
23the Commission may determine not to use, in determining the
24depreciation expense component of the public utility's rates
25for service, the rates of depreciation established pursuant to
26subsection (c), if the Commission in that proceeding finds

 

 

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1based on the record that different rates of depreciation are
2required to adequately reflect depreciation, obsolescence and
3the progress of the arts, and fixes by order and uses for
4purposes of that proceeding new rates of depreciation to be
5thereafter employed by the electric public utility until the
6end of the first full calendar year following the date of the
7determination and thereafter until altered in accordance with
8subsection (b) or (c) of this Section.
9    (e) A gas public utility serving more than 1,600,000
10customers as of January 1, 2013 may from time to time alter the
11annual rates of depreciation, which for purposes of this
12subsection (e) shall include amortization, that the gas public
13utility applies to its several classes of assets so long as the
14rates are consistent with generally accepted accounting
15principles. The gas public utility shall file testimony with
16the Commission setting forth the new rates of depreciation that
17shall include: (i) a summary of the causes for the change in
18depreciation rates; (ii) a certification by an independent
19certified public accountant that the new rates of depreciation
20are consistent with generally accepted accounting principles;
21(iii) the depreciation study; and (iv) the expected impact on
22depreciation expense from the new depreciation rates. The gas
23public utility shall also simultaneously submit to the
24Commission all work papers that support the filed depreciation
25study. No later than 120 days after the filing by the gas
26public utility under this subsection (e), the Commission shall

 

 

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1ascertain and determine and, by order, fix the proper and
2adequate rate of depreciation of the several classes of
3property for the gas public utility. The gas public utility
4shall conform its depreciation accounts to the rates so
5ascertained, determined, and fixed. Rates of depreciation
6established by the Commission pursuant to this subsection (e)
7shall become effective upon the date of the gas public
8utility's filing.
9(Source: P.A. 90-561, eff. 12-16-97.)
 
10    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
11becoming law.