Section 465.5  Definitions

Terms defined in Section 16-102 of the Public Utilities Act (Act) [220 ILCS 5/16-102] shall have the same meaning for purposes of this Part as they have under Section 16-102 of the Act, unless further defined in this Part.

"Alternative retail electric supplier" or "ARES" has the meaning set forth in Section 16-102 of the Act.

"Annual period" means the period of 12 consecutive monthly billing periods ending on the last day of either the net metering customer's April monthly billing period or its October monthly billing period, whichever was selected by the customer in connection with its application for net metering.

"Arm's-length agreement" means an agreement negotiated by unrelated parties, each acting in his or her own self-interest.  "Arm's-length agreement" shall not include any standardized agreement offered to consumers of goods or services that does not afford the consumer a realistic opportunity to bargain and is offered under such conditions that the consumer cannot obtain the desired product or service except by acquiescence in the standardized agreement.

"Avoided costs" means the incremental costs to the electricity provider of electric energy or capacity or both, which, but for the purchase from an eligible customer, the electricity provider would generate itself or purchase from another source.

"Electric utility" means a public utility, as defined in Section 3-105 [220 ILCS 5/3-105] of the Act, that has a franchise, license, permit or right to furnish or sell electricity or light, except when used solely for communications purposes, to retail customers within a service area, as both of these terms are defined in Section 16-102 of the Act.

"Electricity provider" means an electric utility or an alternative retail electric supplier.

"Electricity supplier" means:

the alternative retail electric supplier that is providing electric supply services; or

the electric utility that is providing electric supply services, either within or outside its service area.

"Eligible customer" or "customer" means a retail customer that owns or operates a solar, wind, or other eligible renewable electrical generating facility with a rated capacity of not more than 2,000 kilowatts (kW) that is located on the customer's premises and is intended primarily to offset the customer's own electrical requirements.

"Eligible renewable electrical generating facility" means a generator or generators with a total rated capacity of not more than 2,000 kW powered by solar electric energy, wind, dedicated crops grown for electricity generation, agricultural residues, untreated wood waste and unadulterated wood waste, landscape trimmings, livestock manure, anaerobic digestion of livestock waste or anaerobic digestion of food processing waste, fuel cells powered by renewable fuels or microturbines powered by renewable fuels, or hydroelectric energy.

"Net electricity metering" or "Net metering" means measurement during the billing period applicable to an eligible customer of the net amount of electricity supplied by an electricity provider to the customer's premises or provided to the electricity provider by the customer.

"Net purchaser of electricity" means that the total amount of generation produced by the customer is less than the customer's total usage during an applicable billing period.

"Net seller of electricity" means that the total amount of generation produced by the customer is greater than the customer's total usage during an applicable billing period.

"Non-competitive customer" means an eligible customer whose class of electric service had not been declared competitive pursuant to Section 16-113 of the Act prior to July 1, 2011, including:

all residential retail customers;

all non-residential retail customers with peak demands of less than 100 kW if located in the service territory of an electric utility serving at least 3,000,000 retail customers; and

all non-residential retail customers with peak demands of less than 150 kW if located in the service territory of an electric utility serving at least 1,000,000 retail customers.

"Time of use rate" means any contract or tariff under which the kilowatt-hour (kWh) price for electric power and energy supply is not uniform over all of the hours in a billing period.

"Type (d) Customer" means an eligible, non-competitive customer whose electric delivery service is provided and measured on a kWh basis and whose electric supply service is not based on hourly pricing.

"Type (d-5) Customer" means an eligible, non-competitive customer whose electric delivery service is provided and measured on a kWh basis and whose electric supply service is based on hourly pricing.

"Type (e) Customer" means an eligible, non-competitive customer whose electric delivery service is provided and measured on a kW demand basis and whose electric supply service is not based on hourly pricing.

"Type (f) Customer" means an eligible customer who is not a Type (d) Customer, Type (d-5) Customer or Type (e) Customer.

(Source:  Amended at 40 Ill. Reg. 7578, effective May 6, 2016)