Section 418.20  Definitions

            "Bill distribution" means a calculation, based on bills issued for 1997, that provides the total kilowatt-hours of electric energy distributed, supplied, furnished or sold for use or consumption within the corporate limits of a municipality, and not for resale, by an electric utility for the year of 1997.  Such total kilowatt-hours shall be set forth by the class selected, and distributed within each of the 10 categories set forth in Section 8-11-2(3) of the Code (see Public Act 90-561), as those kilowatt-hours were billed to the customers during each month or billing cycle of the year.

            "Bill frequency" means a calculation, based on bills issued for 1997, that provides the total kilowatt-hours of electric energy distributed, supplied, furnished or sold for use or consumption within the corporate limits of a municipality, and not for resale, by an electric utility for the year of 1997. Such total kilowatt-hours shall be set forth in terms of actual usage within each of the 10 categories set forth in Section 8-11-2(3) of the Code (see Public Act 90-561), as those kilowatt-hours were billed to the customers during each month or billing cycle of the year.

            "Declining block tax rate" means a set of rates for the 10 usage categories established in Section 8-11-2(3) of the Code in which the rate for the first 2,000 kilowatt-hours used or consumed within a month is the highest rate, and the rate for each other category is greater than zero but less than the rate for the category immediately preceding it.

            "Electric utility" means an individual, firm, trust, estate, partnership, association, joint stock company, joint venture, corporation, limited liability company, municipal corporation or political subdivision of the State of Illinois, or a receiver, trustee, guardian or other representative appointed by order of any court, that  was, during calendar 1997, engaged in the business of distributing, supplying, furnishing, or selling electricity for use or consumption within the corporate limits of the municipality, and not for resale.

            "Gross receipts" has the same meaning as that set forth in Section 8-11-2 of the Code immediately prior to December 16, 1997, the effective date of Public Act 90-561.