Full Text of HB0219 94th General Assembly
HB0219 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006 HB0219
Introduced 1/13/2005, by Rep. Thomas Holbrook SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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Amends the Public Utilities Act. Authorizes municipalities and counties to
aggregate customers for the purchase of electricity. Provides for approval of
aggregation
by the voters. Requires the Commerce Commission to review aggregation plans.
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| FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
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A BILL FOR
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HB0219 |
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LRB094 05383 MKM 35428 b |
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| AN ACT concerning the distribution of electricity.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | 3 |
| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by adding | 5 |
| Section 17-800 as
follows:
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| (220 ILCS 5/17-800 new)
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| Sec. 17-800. Aggregation of electrical load by | 8 |
| municipalities and counties.
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| (a) The corporate authorities of a municipality or county | 10 |
| board of a county
may
adopt an ordinance, under which it may | 11 |
| aggregate in accordance with this
Section one or
more classes | 12 |
| of the retail electrical loads located, respectively, within | 13 |
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municipality or
county and, for that purpose, may solicit | 14 |
| bids and enter into service
agreements to facilitate
for those
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| loads the sale and purchase of electricity and related services | 16 |
| and equipment.
The corporate authorities or county
board also
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| may exercise such authority jointly with any other municipality | 18 |
| or county.
An
ordinance under this Section shall specify | 19 |
| whether the aggregation will occur
only with
the prior consent | 20 |
| of each person owning, occupying, controlling, or using an
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| electric load
center proposed to be aggregated or will occur | 22 |
| automatically for all such
persons
pursuant to the opt-out | 23 |
| requirements of this Section. Nothing in this Section,
however,
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| authorizes the aggregation of retail electric loads of an | 25 |
| electric load center
that is located
in the certified territory | 26 |
| of a nonprofit electric supplier or an electric load
center | 27 |
| served
by distribution facilities of a municipal electric | 28 |
| utility. If
an ordinance
adopted under this Section specifies | 29 |
| that aggregation will occur automatically,
the corporate | 30 |
| authorities or county board shall
certify the
question of the | 31 |
| authority to aggregate in accordance with the Election Code to
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| the
election authority for submission to the voters at the next |
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LRB094 05383 MKM 35428 b |
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| election. No
aggregation pursuant to an ordinance adopted
under | 2 |
| this Section that provides for an election under this Section | 3 |
| shall take
effect unless
approved by a majority of the electors | 4 |
| voting upon the ordinance at the
election held
pursuant to this | 5 |
| Section.
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| No corporate authority or county board acting pursuant to | 7 |
| an ordinance under
this
Section that provides for automatic | 8 |
| aggregation
shall
aggregate the electrical load of any electric | 9 |
| load center located within its
jurisdiction
unless it clearly | 10 |
| discloses to the person owning, occupying,
controlling, or
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| using the load center that the person will be enrolled | 12 |
| automatically in the
aggregation
program and will remain so | 13 |
| enrolled unless the person affirmatively elects by a
stated
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| procedure not to be so enrolled. The disclosure shall state | 15 |
| prominently the
rates, charges,
and other terms and conditions | 16 |
| of enrollment. The stated procedure shall allow
any
person | 17 |
| enrolled in the aggregation program the opportunity to opt out | 18 |
| of the
program
every 3 years, without paying an exit fee. Any | 19 |
| such person that leaves the
aggregation program pursuant to the | 20 |
| stated procedure shall default to the
bundled utility service | 21 |
| until the person chooses an alternative supplier or
returns to | 22 |
| the aggregation program.
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| A governmental aggregator under this Section is not a | 24 |
| public utility or an
alternative retail electric supplier and
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| shall be subject to supervision and regulation by the
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| Commission only to the extent provided in this Section.
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| A municipality may initiate a process to authorize | 28 |
| aggregation by a majority
vote of the municipal council, with | 29 |
| the approval of the mayor. A county may
initiate the
process to | 30 |
| authorize aggregation by a majority vote of the county board. | 31 |
| Two or
more
municipalities or counties, or a combination of | 32 |
| both, may initiate a
process
jointly to authorize aggregation | 33 |
| by a majority vote of each particular
municipality or
county as | 34 |
| herein required.
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| Upon the applicable requisite authority under this | 36 |
| Section, the corporate
authorities or the county board shall |
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| develop a plan of operation and
governance for the
aggregation | 2 |
| program so authorized. Before adopting a plan under this | 3 |
| Section,
the
corporate authorities or county board shall hold | 4 |
| at least 2 public hearings on
the plan.
Before the first | 5 |
| hearing, the corporate authorities or county board shall
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| publish notice of
the hearings once a week for 2 consecutive | 7 |
| weeks in a newspaper of general
circulation
in the | 8 |
| jurisdiction. The notice shall summarize the plan and state the | 9 |
| date,
time, and
location of each hearing.
Any load aggregation | 10 |
| plan established pursuant to this Section shall:
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| (1) provide for universal
access to all applicable | 12 |
| customers and equitable treatment of applicable
classes of
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| customers;
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| (2) describe demand management and energy efficiency | 15 |
| services to be
provided to each class of customers;
and
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| (3) meet any requirements established by law or the | 17 |
| Commission
concerning aggregated service offered pursuant | 18 |
| to this Section.
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| The plan shall be filed with the Commission for
review and | 20 |
| approval and shall include, without limitation, an | 21 |
| organizational
structure of
the program, its operations, and | 22 |
| funding; the methods of establishing rates and
allocating
costs | 23 |
| among participants; the methods for entering and terminating | 24 |
| agreements
with other
entities; the rights and | 25 |
| responsibilities of program participants, including
the terms | 26 |
| and conditions under which retail customers who have chosen to | 27 |
| opt
out of the aggregated service may take service from the | 28 |
| aggregated entity; and
procedures for termination of the
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| program. Within 120 days after receipt of the plan, the | 30 |
| Commission shall issue
an order either approving or rejecting | 31 |
| the plan. If the Commission rejects the
plan, it shall state | 32 |
| detailed reasons for rejecting the plan in its order.
Upon | 33 |
| approval of the plan, the corporate authorities or county
board | 34 |
| may
solicit bids for electricity and other related services | 35 |
| pursuant to the methods
established in
the plan. The corporate | 36 |
| authorities or county board shall report the results of
this
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| solicitation and proposed
agreement awards to the Commission, | 2 |
| which shall have 15
business days to suspend such awards if the | 3 |
| solicitation or awards
are not in
conformance with the plan or | 4 |
| if the cost for energy would in the first year
exceed the cost
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| of that energy if that energy was obtained from an electric | 6 |
| utility under
Section 16-103 by
citizens in the municipality or | 7 |
| county or group of municipalities and counties,
unless the
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| applicant can demonstrate that the cost for energy under the | 9 |
| aggregation plan
will be
lower in the subsequent years or the | 10 |
| applicant can demonstrate that such excess
cost is
due to the | 11 |
| purchase of renewable energy. If the
Commission does not | 12 |
| suspend the proposed contract awards within 15 business
days
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| after
filing, the corporate authorities or county board shall | 14 |
| have the right to award
the proposed
agreements.
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| It shall be the duty of the aggregated entity to fully | 16 |
| inform
retail customers in advance of automatic enrollment that | 17 |
| they are to be
automatically
enrolled
and that they have the | 18 |
| right to opt out of the aggregated entity without
penalty.
The | 19 |
| disclosure shall prominently state all charges to be made and
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| shall include
full disclosure of the cost to obtain service | 21 |
| pursuant to Section 16-103, how
to access it,
and the fact that | 22 |
| it is available to them without penalty, if they are
currently | 23 |
| receiving
service under that Section. The Commission shall | 24 |
| furnish, without charge, to
any citizen a
list of all supply | 25 |
| options available to them in a format that
allows
comparison of | 26 |
| prices and products.
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| (b) The Commission shall promulgate rules by which the | 28 |
| corporate authorities
or county board may request information | 29 |
| from the electric utility or utilities
whose
customers may be | 30 |
| included in its aggregation plan. The rules shall ensure that
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| municipalities and
counties have reasonable and timely access | 32 |
| to information pertinent to the
formation of
a plan and | 33 |
| solicitation of bids to serve customers, that confidentiality | 34 |
| of
individuals is
protected, and that charges for production of | 35 |
| such data are reasonable and not
unduly
burdensome to the | 36 |
| corporate authorities or county board. Information to be
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| provided by the electric utility to the municipality or county | 2 |
| shall include,
but is not limited to, the following:
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| (1) billing and electric load data by customer class;
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| (2) forecasts of electric demand; and
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| (3) for the purpose of opt-out notification, the names, | 6 |
| addresses, and
meter and account numbers of customers who | 7 |
| do not take service from an
alternative retail electric | 8 |
| supplier.
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