Full Text of HB5555 94th General Assembly
HB5555eng 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| AN ACT concerning regulation.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Water | 5 |
| and Sewer Utility Customer Service Act. | 6 |
| Section 5. Application of Public Utilities Act to water and | 7 |
| sewer utilities. Except to the extent modified or supplemented | 8 |
| by the specific provisions of this Act, the Sections of the | 9 |
| Public Utilities Act pertaining to public utilities, public | 10 |
| utility rates, and services, and the regulation thereof, are | 11 |
| fully and equally applicable to water and sewer rates and | 12 |
| services and the regulation thereof, except where the context | 13 |
| clearly renders such provisions inapplicable. | 14 |
| Section 10. Definitions. The definitions contained in the | 15 |
| Public Utilities Act apply to terms used in this Act, unless | 16 |
| the context clearly indicates otherwise. | 17 |
| Section 15. Customer rights. | 18 |
| (a) Within 90 days after the effective date of this | 19 |
| amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly, the Commission | 20 |
| shall hold public hearings concerning and establish a water | 21 |
| bill of rights for customers of public utilities providing | 22 |
| water or sewer service. The water bill of rights must detail | 23 |
| what rights a customer has in each of the following situations: | 24 |
| (1) The customer's water meter is replaced. | 25 |
| (2) The customer's bill increases by more than 20% | 26 |
| within one billing period. | 27 |
| (3) The customer's water service is terminated. | 28 |
| (4) The customer wishes to appeal a termination of | 29 |
| service notice. | 30 |
| (5) The customer is unable to make payment on a billing |
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| statement. | 2 |
| (6) A surcharge or annual reconciliation is filed that | 3 |
| will increase the amount billed to the customer. | 4 |
| (7) The customer is billed for services provided prior | 5 |
| to the date covered by the billing statement. | 6 |
| (8) The customer is due to receive a credit. | 7 |
| The water bill of rights must also include information | 8 |
| concerning the service obligations of the utility and informing | 9 |
| the customer about unfair and unethical collection practices | 10 |
| and remedies that the customer may pursue for a violation of | 11 |
| the customer's rights. The Commission shall also determine the | 12 |
| penalties that shall be imposed on the utility for | 13 |
| noncompliance with the customer's water bill of rights. | 14 |
| (b) No water or sewer public utility may terminate the | 15 |
| service of any customer without first providing at least 7 | 16 |
| days' advance written notice to the customer. The written | 17 |
| notice must include a copy of the water bill of rights created | 18 |
| under this Section and must notify the customer of the | 19 |
| customer's right to appeal the termination. The Commission | 20 |
| shall establish, by rule, a minimum payment schedule that must | 21 |
| be followed by the customer and the public utility of a | 22 |
| customer is disputing an amount billed to the customer or | 23 |
| appealing a termination of service and sanctions that may be | 24 |
| imposed against any public utility that terminates service to | 25 |
| any customer who adheres to the minimum payment schedule | 26 |
| established by the Commission. No water or sewer public utility | 27 |
| shall terminate service to any customer appealing a termination | 28 |
| of service or disputing a billed amount so long as the customer | 29 |
| adheres to the minimum payment schedule required by the | 30 |
| Commission. | 31 |
| A customer must be at least 60 days in arrears before a | 32 |
| shutoff notice can be issued. The Commission shall establish | 33 |
| procedures to set aside a shutoff notice if it affects the | 34 |
| safety and welfare of the community. The procedures shall be | 35 |
| published and provided to the municipality or townships served | 36 |
| by the utility. |
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| (c) Each water or sewer public utility must provide written | 2 |
| notice to each affected customer of any annual reconciliation | 3 |
| rate adjustment and when it will go into effect. | 4 |
| (d) Each water or sewer public utility must disclose on | 5 |
| each billing statement any amount billed that is for service | 6 |
| provided prior to the date covered by the billing statement. | 7 |
| The disclosure must include the dates for which the prior | 8 |
| service is being billed. Each billing statement that includes | 9 |
| an amount billed for service provided prior to the date covered | 10 |
| by the billing statement must disclose the dates for which that | 11 |
| amount is billed and must include a copy of the water bill of | 12 |
| rights and a statement of current Commission rules concerning | 13 |
| back-billing. The Commission must verify any annual | 14 |
| reconciliation in the number of gallons that have been | 15 |
| back-billed by a water or sewer public utility and the utility | 16 |
| must credit the customer with those gallons, calculated in | 17 |
| dollars, with interest at the prime rate. | 18 |
| (e) The Commission shall establish by rule an informal | 19 |
| complaint process for processing complaints about water and | 20 |
| sewer public utilities and shall respond to each complaint by | 21 |
| providing the consumer with a copy of the utilities response to | 22 |
| the complaint and a copy of the Commission's review of the | 23 |
| complaint and its findings. The Commission must provide the | 24 |
| consumer with all available options for recourse. | 25 |
| (f) Any refund on the billing statement of a customer of a | 26 |
| water or sewer public utility must be itemized and state the | 27 |
| purpose of the refund. | 28 |
| Section 20. Water service for building construction | 29 |
| purposes. At the request of any municipality or township within | 30 |
| the service area of a public utility that provides water | 31 |
| service to customers within the municipality or township, a | 32 |
| public utility must (i) require all water service used for | 33 |
| building construction purposes to be measured by meter and | 34 |
| subject to approved rates and charges for metered water service | 35 |
| and (ii) prohibit the unauthorized use of water taken from |
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| hydrants or service lines installed at construction sites. | 2 |
| Section 25. Water and sewer or public utilities; | 3 |
| subcontractors. The Commission shall adopt rules to direct | 4 |
| for-profit water and sewer public utilities to conform to | 5 |
| standards that protect consumers from irresponsible | 6 |
| subcontractors contracted by a for-profit water or sewer public | 7 |
| utility. The rules must provide for notice to the consumer of | 8 |
| the proper kind of identification that the subcontractor must | 9 |
| present to the customer, prohibit the subcontractor from | 10 |
| soliciting or receiving payment of any kind for any service | 11 |
| provided by the water or sewer public utility, and establish | 12 |
| sanctions for violations. | 13 |
| Section 30. Water and sewer public utilities; annual | 14 |
| reconciliation charges. The Commission must establish by rule a | 15 |
| formula for determining (i) the amount of unmetered water that | 16 |
| a unit of local government and customers can expect to pay for | 17 |
| in order to protect the public and (ii) the percentage of | 18 |
| unmetered water that reflects environmental waste that is the | 19 |
| result of a water or sewer public utility's management | 20 |
| inefficiencies and neglect. The formula and the utility's | 21 |
| compliance with existing conservation agreements must be | 22 |
| considered as part of all rate cases and annual reconciliations | 23 |
| associated with that utility. The Commission shall establish | 24 |
| sanctions for violations of any conservation agreements. | 25 |
| Section 35. Meter malfunction; testing. | 26 |
| (a) If a public utility furnishing water to any customer | 27 |
| determines that a meter owned by the public utility has | 28 |
| malfunctioned, then the public utility is prohibited from | 29 |
| charging the customer during the malfunction unless the | 30 |
| customer intentionally caused the malfunction. | 31 |
| (b) If requested by the Commission or by the customer whose | 32 |
| use is measured by the meter, a public utility furnishing water | 33 |
| to any customer must conduct a test to determine the accuracy |
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| of the meter. Upon receipt of the written request of the | 2 |
| Commission or the customer, the utility must use a company | 3 |
| authorized by the Commission to conduct the test. The utility | 4 |
| shall charge the customer for the conduct of the test in the | 5 |
| amount authorized by the Commission by rule. | 6 |
| (c) The Commission may establish by rule a minimum schedule | 7 |
| for testing of water meters and any tests conducted thereunder | 8 |
| must be conducted at the utility's expense. | 9 |
| Section 40. Rate increases; public forums. When any public | 10 |
| utility providing water or sewer service proposes a rate | 11 |
| increase, prior to the date set for the hearing, a public forum | 12 |
| on the increase must be conducted in a location within 45 | 13 |
| minutes drive time of the location where the increase will take | 14 |
| effect and the public utility must provide 30 days' advance | 15 |
| notice of each public forum to the governing body of those | 16 |
| units of local government affected by the increases. The day | 17 |
| and time of the forum shall be selected so as to encourage the | 18 |
| greatest public participation. Reports and comments made | 19 |
| during or as a result of the public forum must be made | 20 |
| available to the hearing officials and reviewed as part of the | 21 |
| hearing for the rate case. | 22 |
| Section 45. Water and sewer utilities; low usage. Each | 23 |
| public utility that provides water and sewer service must | 24 |
| establish a unit rate, subject to review by the Commission, | 25 |
| that applies only to those customers who use less than 100 | 26 |
| gallons of water in any billing period. | 27 |
| Section 50. Water and sewer utilities; separate meters. | 28 |
| Each public utility that provides water and sewer service must | 29 |
| offer separate rates for water and sewer service to any | 30 |
| commercial or residential customer who uses separate meters to | 31 |
| measure each of those services. In order for the separate rate | 32 |
| to apply, a combination of meters must be used to measure the | 33 |
| amount of water that reaches the sewer system and the amount of |
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| water that does not reach the sewer system. | 2 |
| Section 905. The Public Utilities Act is amended by | 3 |
| changing Section 9-223 as follows:
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| (220 ILCS 5/9-223) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 9-223)
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| Sec. 9-223. Fire protection charge.
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| (a) The Commission may authorize any public utility engaged | 7 |
| in
the production, storage, transmission, sale, delivery or | 8 |
| furnishing of water
to impose a fire protection charge, in | 9 |
| addition to any rate authorized by
this Act, sufficient to | 10 |
| cover a reasonable portion of the cost of providing
the | 11 |
| capacity, facilities and the water necessary to meet the fire | 12 |
| protection
needs of any municipality or public fire protection | 13 |
| district. Such fire
protection charge shall be in the form of a | 14 |
| fixed amount per bill and shall
be shown separately on the | 15 |
| utility bill of each customer of the municipality
or fire | 16 |
| protection district. Any filing by a public utility to impose | 17 |
| such a
fire protection charge or to modify a charge shall be | 18 |
| made pursuant to Section
9-201 of this Act. Any fire protection | 19 |
| charge imposed shall reflect the
costs associated with | 20 |
| providing fire protection service for each municipality
or fire | 21 |
| protection district. No such charge shall be imposed directly | 22 |
| on
any municipality or fire protection district for a | 23 |
| reasonable level of fire
protection services unless provided | 24 |
| for in a separate agreement between the
municipality or the | 25 |
| fire protection district and the utility.
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| (b) Within one year after the effective date of this | 27 |
| amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly, the Commission | 28 |
| shall conduct at least 3 public forums to evaluate the purpose | 29 |
| and use of each fire protection charge imposed under this | 30 |
| Section. At least one forum must be held in northern Illinois, | 31 |
| at least one forum must be held in central Illinois, and at | 32 |
| least one forum must be held in southern Illinois. The | 33 |
| Commission must invite a representative from each municipality | 34 |
| and fire protection district affected by a fire protection |
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| charge under this Section to attend a public forum. The | 2 |
| Commission shall report its findings concerning | 3 |
| recommendations concerning the purpose and use of each fire | 4 |
| protection charge to the General Assembly no later than the | 5 |
| last day of the veto session in 2006.
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| (Source: P.A. 84-617.)
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| Section 999. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 8 |
| becoming law.
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