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1 | AN ACT concerning regulation.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing | |||||||||||||||||||
5 | Section 16-101A as follows:
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6 | (220 ILCS 5/16-101A)
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7 | Sec. 16-101A. Legislative findings.
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8 | (a) The
The citizens and businesses of the State of | |||||||||||||||||||
9 | Illinois
have been well-served by a comprehensive electrical | |||||||||||||||||||
10 | utility
system which has provided safe, reliable, and | |||||||||||||||||||
11 | affordable
service. The electrical utility system in the State | |||||||||||||||||||
12 | of
Illinois has historically been subject to State and federal
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13 | regulation, aimed at assuring the citizens and businesses of
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14 | the State of safe, reliable, and affordable service, while at
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15 | the same time assuring the utility system of a return on its
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16 | investment. | |||||||||||||||||||
17 | (b) Competitive forces are affecting the market for
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18 | electricity as a result of recent federal regulatory and
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19 | statutory changes and the activities of other states.
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20 | Competition in the electric services market may create
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21 | opportunities for new products and services for customers and
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22 | lower costs for users of electricity. Long-standing regulatory
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23 | relationships need to be altered to accommodate the
competition |
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1 | that could fundamentally alter the structure of
the electric | ||||||
2 | services market.
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3 | (c) With the advent of increasing competition in this
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4 | industry, the State has a continued interest in assuring that
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5 | the safety, reliability, and affordability of electrical power
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6 | is not sacrificed to competitive pressures, and to that end,
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7 | intends to implement safeguards to assure that the industry
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8 | continues to operate the electrical system in a manner that
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9 | will serve the public's interest. Under the existing
regulatory | ||||||
10 | framework, the industry has been encouraged to
undertake | ||||||
11 | certain investments in its physical plant and
personnel to | ||||||
12 | enhance its efficient operation, the cost of
which it has been | ||||||
13 | permitted to pass on to consumers. The
State has an interest in | ||||||
14 | providing the existing utilities a
reasonable opportunity to | ||||||
15 | obtain a return on certain
investments on which they depended | ||||||
16 | in undertaking those
commitments in the first instance while, | ||||||
17 | at the same time, not
permitting new entrants into the industry | ||||||
18 | to take unreasonable
advantage of the investments made by the | ||||||
19 | formerly regulated
industry.
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20 | (d) A competitive wholesale and retail market must
benefit | ||||||
21 | all Illinois citizens. The Illinois Commerce
Commission should | ||||||
22 | act to promote the development of an
effectively competitive | ||||||
23 | electricity market that operates
efficiently and is equitable | ||||||
24 | to all consumers. Consumer
protections must be in place to | ||||||
25 | ensure that all customers
continue to receive safe, reliable, | ||||||
26 | affordable, and
environmentally safe electric service.
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1 | (e) All consumers must benefit in an equitable and timely
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2 | fashion from the lower costs for electricity that result from
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3 | retail and wholesale competition and receive sufficient
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4 | information to make informed choices among suppliers and
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5 | services. The use of renewable resources and energy efficiency
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6 | resources should be encouraged in competitive markets.
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7 | (f) The efficiency of electric markets depends both upon | ||||||
8 | the competitiveness of supply and upon the | ||||||
9 | price-responsiveness of the demand for service. Therefore, to | ||||||
10 | ensure the lowest total cost of service and to enhance the | ||||||
11 | reliability of service, all classes of the electricity | ||||||
12 | customers of electric utilities should have access to and be | ||||||
13 | able to voluntarily use real-time pricing and other | ||||||
14 | price-response and demand-response mechanisms.
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15 | (g) Including cost-effective renewable resources and | ||||||
16 | demand-response resources in a diverse electricity supply | ||||||
17 | portfolio will reduce long-term direct and indirect costs to | ||||||
18 | consumers by decreasing environmental impacts and by avoiding | ||||||
19 | or delaying the need for new generation, transmission, and | ||||||
20 | distribution infrastructure. It serves the public interest to | ||||||
21 | allow electric utilities to recover costs for reasonably and | ||||||
22 | prudently incurred expenses for electricity generated by | ||||||
23 | renewable resources and demand-response resources.
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24 | (h) Including electricity generated by clean coal | ||||||
25 | facilities, as defined under Section 1-10 of the Illinois Power | ||||||
26 | Agency Act, in a diverse electricity procurement portfolio will |
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1 | reduce the need to purchase, directly or indirectly, carbon | ||||||
2 | dioxide emission credits and will decrease environmental | ||||||
3 | impacts. It serves the public interest to allow electric | ||||||
4 | utilities to recover costs for reasonably and prudently | ||||||
5 | incurred expenses for sourcing electricity generated by clean | ||||||
6 | coal facilities. | ||||||
7 | (Source: P.A. 94-977, eff. 6-30-06; 95-481, eff. 8-28-07; | ||||||
8 | 95-1027, eff. 6-1-09 .)
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