Full Text of HB5576 95th General Assembly
HB5576eng 95TH 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 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 either (i) 30,000 of the | 22 |
| total customers or (ii) 0.8% of the total customers , whichever | 23 |
| is less, of an electric
utility are subjected to a continuous | 24 |
| power interruption of
4 hours or more that results in the | 25 |
| transmission of power
at less than 50% of the standard voltage, | 26 |
| or that results in
the total loss of power transmission, the |
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| utility shall be
responsible for compensating customers | 2 |
| affected by that interruption for 4
hours or more for all
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| actual damages, which shall not include consequential
damages, | 4 |
| suffered as a result of the power interruption.
The utility | 5 |
| shall also reimburse the affected municipality,
county, or | 6 |
| other unit of local government in which the power
interruption | 7 |
| has taken place for all
emergency and contingency expenses | 8 |
| incurred by the unit of
local government as a result of the | 9 |
| interruption. A waiver
of the requirements of this subsection | 10 |
| may be granted by the
Commission in instances in which the | 11 |
| utility can show that
the power interruption was a result of | 12 |
| 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 | 17 |
| unrest or animals.
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| (4) Damage to utility equipment or other actions by a | 19 |
| 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 | 24 |
| causes damage and affects more than either (i) 30,000 of the | 25 |
| total customers or (ii) 0.8% of the total customers, whichever | 26 |
| is less, the electric utility
shall pay to
affected customers |
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| the replacement value of all goods
damaged as a result of the | 2 |
| power surge or other fluctuation
unless the utility can show | 3 |
| that the power surge or other
fluctuation was due to one or | 4 |
| 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 | 9 |
| unrest or animals.
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| (4) Damage to utility equipment or other actions by a | 11 |
| 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 | 15 |
| respect to
whom a waiver has been granted by the Commission | 16 |
| pursuant to subparagraphs
(1)-(4) of subsections (e) and (f) | 17 |
| shall not count toward the either (i) 30,000 of the total | 18 |
| customers or (ii) 0.8% of the total customers
required therein.
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| (g) Whenever an electric utility must perform
planned or | 20 |
| routine maintenance or repairs on its equipment
that will | 21 |
| result in transmission of power at less than 50%
of the | 22 |
| standard voltage, loss of power, or power fluctuation
(as | 23 |
| defined in subsection (f)), the utility shall make
reasonable | 24 |
| efforts to notify potentially affected customers
no less than | 25 |
| 24 hours in advance of performance of the
repairs or | 26 |
| maintenance.
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| (h) Remedies provided for under this Section may be
sought | 2 |
| exclusively through the Illinois Commerce Commission
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| provided under Section 10-109 of this Act. Damages
awarded | 4 |
| under this Section for a power interruption shall be
limited to | 5 |
| actual damages, which shall not include
consequential damages, | 6 |
| and litigation costs. A utility's request for a waiver of this | 7 |
| Section shall be timely if filed no later than 30 days after | 8 |
| the date on which a claim is filed with the Commission seeking | 9 |
| damages or expense reimbursement under this Section. No utility | 10 |
| shall be liable under this Section while a request for waiver | 11 |
| is pending. Damage awards
may not be paid out of utility rate | 12 |
| 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 | 18 |
| each instance of transmission of power at
less than 50% of the | 19 |
| standard voltage, loss of power, or
power fluctuation (as | 20 |
| defined in subsection (f)), that
affects 10 or more customers. | 21 |
| Occurrences that are
momentary shall not be required to be | 22 |
| recorded or reported.
The service record shall include, for | 23 |
| 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 | 5 |
| 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 | 8 |
| of the power interruption or fluctuation.
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| (10) A description of measures taken to prevent
future | 10 |
| 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 | 14 |
| for affected customers.
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| Copies of the records containing this information shall
be | 16 |
| available for public inspection at the utility's offices,
and | 17 |
| 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 | 19 |
| record shall be filed with the Commission and shall be
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| available for public inspection. Copies of the records may
be | 21 |
| obtained upon payment of a fee not exceeding the
reasonable | 22 |
| cost of reproduction.
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| (k) The requirements of subsections (e) through (j) of
this | 24 |
| Section shall apply only to an electric public utility
having | 25 |
| 100,000 1,000,000 or more customers. | 26 |
| (l) Notwithstanding any other rulemaking authority that |
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| may exist, neither the Governor nor any agency or agency head | 2 |
| under the jurisdiction of the Governor has any authority to | 3 |
| make or promulgate rules to implement or enforce the provisions | 4 |
| of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly. If, | 5 |
| however, the Governor believes that rules are necessary to | 6 |
| implement or enforce the provisions of this amendatory Act of | 7 |
| the 95th General Assembly, the Governor may suggest rules to | 8 |
| the General Assembly by filing them with the Clerk of the House | 9 |
| and the Secretary of the Senate and by requesting that the | 10 |
| General Assembly authorize such rulemaking by law, enact those | 11 |
| suggested rules into law, or take any other appropriate action | 12 |
| in the General Assembly's discretion. Nothing contained in this | 13 |
| amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly shall be | 14 |
| interpreted to grant rulemaking authority under any other | 15 |
| Illinois statute where such authority is not otherwise | 16 |
| explicitly given. For the purposes of this amendatory Act of | 17 |
| the 95th General Assembly, "rules" is given the meaning | 18 |
| contained in Section 1-70 of the Illinois Administrative | 19 |
| Procedure Act, and "agency" and "agency head" are given the | 20 |
| meanings contained in Sections 1-20 and 1-25 of the Illinois | 21 |
| Administrative Procedure Act to the extent that such | 22 |
| definitions apply to agencies or agency heads under the | 23 |
| jurisdiction of the Governor.
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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 | 26 |
| becoming law.
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