Full Text of HB5576 95th General Assembly
HB5576 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008 HB5576
Introduced , by Rep. John E. Bradley SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that in the event that more than 0.8% (rather than 30,000) of the total customers of an electric
utility are subjected to a continuous power interruption of
4 hours or more that results in the transmission of power
at less than 50% of the standard voltage, or that results in
the total loss of power transmission, the utility shall be
responsible for compensating customers affected by that interruption for 4
hours or more for all
actual damages, which shall not include consequential
damages, suffered as a result of the power interruption. Provides that in the event of a power surge or other fluctuation
that causes damage and affects more than 0.8% (rather than 30,000) of the customers, the electric utility
shall pay to
affected customers the replacement value of all goods
damaged as a result of the power surge or other fluctuation
unless the utility can show that the power surge or other
fluctuation was due to one or more of specified causes. Provides that customers to whom a waiver has been granted by the Illinois Commerce Commission pursuant to specified provisions shall not count toward the 0.8% (rather than 30,000) of the customers specified in certain provisions. Provides that the requirements of specified provisions apply only to an electric public utility
having 100,000 (rather than 1,000,000) or more customers. Effective immediately.
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A BILL FOR
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HB5576 |
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LRB095 17514 MJR 43588 b |
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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 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing | 5 |
| Section 16-125 as follows:
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| (220 ILCS 5/16-125)
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| Sec. 16-125. Transmission and distribution reliability
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| requirements.
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| (a) To assure the reliable delivery of electricity to all
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| customers in this State and the effective implementation of
the | 11 |
| provisions of this Article, the Commission shall, within
180 | 12 |
| days of the effective date of this Article, adopt rules
and | 13 |
| regulations for assessing and assuring the reliability of
the | 14 |
| transmission and distribution systems and facilities that
are | 15 |
| under the Commission's jurisdiction.
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| (b) These rules and regulations shall require each electric | 17 |
| utility or
alternative retail electric supplier owning, | 18 |
| controlling, or operating
transmission and distribution | 19 |
| facilities and equipment subject to the
Commission's | 20 |
| jurisdiction, referred to in this Section as "jurisdictional
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| entities", to adopt and implement procedures for restoring | 22 |
| transmission and
distribution services to customers after | 23 |
| transmission or distribution outages
on a nondiscriminatory |
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| basis without regard to whether a customer has chosen
the | 2 |
| electric utility, an affiliate of the electric utility, or | 3 |
| another entity
as its provider of electric power and energy. | 4 |
| These rules and regulations
shall also, at a minimum, | 5 |
| specifically require each jurisdictional entity to
submit | 6 |
| annually to the Commission.
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| (1) the number and duration of planned and
unplanned | 8 |
| outages during the prior year and their impacts
on | 9 |
| customers;
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| (2) outages that were controllable and outages that
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| were exacerbated in scope or duration by the condition of
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| facilities, equipment or premises or by the actions or
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| inactions of operating personnel or agents;
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| (3) customer service interruptions that were due
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| solely to the actions or inactions of an alternative
retail | 16 |
| electric supplier or a public utility in supplying
power or | 17 |
| energy;
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| (4) a detailed report of the age, current
condition, | 19 |
| reliability and performance of the
jurisdictional entity's | 20 |
| existing transmission and
distribution facilities, which | 21 |
| shall include, without
limitation, the following data:
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| (i) a summary of the jurisdictional entity's
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| outages and voltage variances reportable under the
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| Commission's rules;
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| (ii) the jurisdictional entity's expenditures
for | 26 |
| transmission construction and maintenance, the
ratio |
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| of those expenditures to the jurisdictional
entity's | 2 |
| transmission investment, and the average
remaining | 3 |
| depreciation lives of the entity's
transmission | 4 |
| facilities, expressed as a percentage
of total | 5 |
| depreciation lives;
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| (iii) the jurisdictional entity's expenditures
for | 7 |
| distribution construction and maintenance, the
ratio | 8 |
| of those expenditures to the jurisdictional
entity's | 9 |
| distribution investment, and the average
remaining | 10 |
| depreciation lives of the entity's
distribution | 11 |
| facilities, expressed as a percentage
of total | 12 |
| depreciation lives;
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| (iv) a customer satisfaction survey covering,
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| among other areas identified in Commission rules,
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| reliability, customer service, and understandability
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| of the jurisdictional entity's services and prices;
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| and
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| (v) the corresponding information, in the same
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| format, for the previous 3 years, if available;
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| (5) a plan for future investment and reliability
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| improvements for the jurisdictional entity's transmission
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| and distribution facilities that will ensure continued
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| reliable delivery of energy to customers and provide the
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| delivery reliability needed for fair and open competition; | 25 |
| and
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| (6) a report of the jurisdictional entity's
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| implementation of its plan filed pursuant to subparagraph | 2 |
| (5)
for the previous reporting period.
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| (c) The Commission rules shall set forth the criteria
that | 4 |
| will be used to assess each jurisdictional entity's annual | 5 |
| report and
evaluate its reliability performance. Such criteria
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| must take into account, at a minimum: the items required to be
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| reported in subsection (b); the relevant characteristics of
the | 8 |
| area served; the age and condition of the system's
equipment | 9 |
| and facilities; good engineering practices; the
costs of | 10 |
| potential actions; and the benefits of avoiding the
risks of | 11 |
| service disruption.
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| (d) At least every 3 years, beginning in the year
the | 13 |
| Commission issues the rules required by subsection
(a) or the | 14 |
| following year if the rules are issued after June
1, the | 15 |
| Commission shall assess the annual report of each
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| jurisdictional entity and evaluate its reliability | 17 |
| performance. The
Commission's evaluation shall
include | 18 |
| specific identification of, and recommendations
concerning, | 19 |
| any potential reliability problems that it has
identified as a | 20 |
| result of its evaluation.
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| (e) In the event that more than 0.8% of the total 30,000 | 22 |
| customers of an electric
utility are subjected to a continuous | 23 |
| power interruption of
4 hours or more that results in the | 24 |
| transmission of power
at less than 50% of the standard voltage, | 25 |
| or that results in
the total loss of power transmission, the | 26 |
| utility shall be
responsible for compensating customers |
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| affected by that interruption for 4
hours or more for all
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| actual damages, which shall not include consequential
damages, | 3 |
| suffered as a result of the power interruption.
The utility | 4 |
| shall also reimburse the affected municipality,
county, or | 5 |
| other unit of local government in which the power
interruption | 6 |
| has taken place for all
emergency and contingency expenses | 7 |
| incurred by the unit of
local government as a result of the | 8 |
| interruption. A waiver
of the requirements of this subsection | 9 |
| may be granted by the
Commission in instances in which the | 10 |
| utility can show that
the power interruption was a result of | 11 |
| any
one or more of the following causes:
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| (1) Unpreventable damage due to weather events or
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| conditions.
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| (2) Customer tampering.
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| (3) Unpreventable damage due to civil or
international | 16 |
| unrest or animals.
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| (4) Damage to utility equipment or other actions by a | 18 |
| party other
than the utility, its employees, agents, or
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| contractors.
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| Loss of revenue and expenses incurred in complying with this
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| subsection may not be recovered from ratepayers.
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| (f) In the event of a power surge or other fluctuation
that | 23 |
| causes damage and affects more than 0.8% of the total 30,000 | 24 |
| customers, the electric utility
shall pay to
affected customers | 25 |
| the replacement value of all goods
damaged as a result of the | 26 |
| power surge or other fluctuation
unless the utility can show |
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| that the power surge or other
fluctuation was due to one or | 2 |
| more of the following causes:
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| (1) Unpreventable damage due to weather events or
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| conditions.
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| (2) Customer tampering.
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| (3) Unpreventable damage due to civil or
international | 7 |
| unrest or animals.
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| (4) Damage to utility equipment or other actions by a | 9 |
| party other
than the utility, its employees, agents, or
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| contractors.
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| Loss of revenue and expenses incurred in complying with this
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| subsection may not be recovered from ratepayers. Customers with | 13 |
| respect to
whom a waiver has been granted by the Commission | 14 |
| pursuant to subparagraphs
(1)-(4) of subsections (e) and (f) | 15 |
| shall not count toward the 0.8% of the total 30,000 customers
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| required therein.
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| (g) Whenever an electric utility must perform
planned or | 18 |
| routine maintenance or repairs on its equipment
that will | 19 |
| result in transmission of power at less than 50%
of the | 20 |
| standard voltage, loss of power, or power fluctuation
(as | 21 |
| defined in subsection (f)), the utility shall make
reasonable | 22 |
| efforts to notify potentially affected customers
no less than | 23 |
| 24 hours in advance of performance of the
repairs or | 24 |
| maintenance.
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| (h) Remedies provided for under this Section may be
sought | 26 |
| exclusively through the Illinois Commerce Commission
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| provided under Section 10-109 of this Act. Damages
awarded | 2 |
| under this Section for a power interruption shall be
limited to | 3 |
| actual damages, which shall not include
consequential damages, | 4 |
| and litigation costs. Damage awards
may not be paid out of | 5 |
| utility rate funds.
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| (i) The provisions of this Section shall not in any way
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| diminish or replace other civil or administrative remedies
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| available to a customer or a class of customers.
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| (j) The Commission shall by rule require an electric
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| utility to maintain service records detailing
information on | 11 |
| each instance of transmission of power at
less than 50% of the | 12 |
| standard voltage, loss of power, or
power fluctuation (as | 13 |
| defined in subsection (f)), that
affects 10 or more customers. | 14 |
| Occurrences that are
momentary shall not be required to be | 15 |
| recorded or reported.
The service record shall include, for | 16 |
| each occurrence, the
following information:
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| (1) The date.
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| (2) The time of occurrence.
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| (3) The duration of the incident.
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| (4) The number of customers affected.
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| (5) A description of the cause.
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| (6) The geographic area affected.
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| (7) The specific equipment involved in the
fluctuation | 24 |
| or interruption.
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| (8) A description of measures taken to restore
service.
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| (9) A description of measures taken to remedy the
cause |
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| of the power interruption or fluctuation.
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| (10) A description of measures taken to prevent
future | 3 |
| occurrence.
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| (11) The amount of remuneration, if any, paid to
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| affected customers.
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| (12) A statement of whether the fixed charge was
waived | 7 |
| for affected customers.
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| Copies of the records containing this information shall
be | 9 |
| available for public inspection at the utility's offices,
and | 10 |
| copies thereof may be obtained upon payment of a fee not
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| exceeding the reasonable cost of reproduction. A copy of
each | 12 |
| record shall be filed with the Commission and shall be
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| available for public inspection. Copies of the records may
be | 14 |
| obtained upon payment of a fee not exceeding the
reasonable | 15 |
| cost of reproduction.
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| (k) The requirements of subsections (e) through (j) of
this | 17 |
| Section shall apply only to an electric public utility
having | 18 |
| 100,000 1,000,000 or more customers.
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| (Source: P.A. 90-561, eff. 12-16-97.)
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 21 |
| becoming law.
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