Full Text of HB1260 097th General Assembly
HB1260enr 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning veterans.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing | 5 | | Section 8-206 as follows:
| 6 | | (220 ILCS 5/8-206) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 8-206)
| 7 | | Sec. 8-206. Winter termination for nonpayment.
| 8 | | (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, no
| 9 | | electric or gas public utility shall disconnect service to any | 10 | | residential
customer or mastermetered apartment building for | 11 | | nonpayment of a bill or
deposit where gas or electricity is | 12 | | used as the primary source of space
heating or is used to | 13 | | control or operate the primary source of space heating
| 14 | | equipment at the premises during the period of time from | 15 | | December 1 through
and including March 31 of the immediately | 16 | | succeeding calendar year, unless:
| 17 | | (1) The utility (i) has offered the customer a deferred | 18 | | payment arrangement
allowing for payment of past due | 19 | | amounts over a period of not less than
4 months not to | 20 | | extend beyond the following November and the option to | 21 | | enter
into a levelized payment plan for the payment of | 22 | | future bills. The maximum
down payment requirements shall | 23 | | not exceed 10% of the amount past due and
owing at the time |
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| 1 | | of entering into the agreement; and (ii) has provided
the | 2 | | customer with the names, addresses and telephone numbers of | 3 | | governmental
and private agencies which may provide | 4 | | assistance to customers of public
utilities in paying their | 5 | | utility bills; the utility shall obtain the approval
of an | 6 | | agency before placing the name of that agency on any list | 7 | | which will
be used to provide such information to | 8 | | customers;
| 9 | | (2) The customer has refused or failed to enter into a | 10 | | deferred payment
arrangement as described in paragraph (1) | 11 | | of this subsection (a); and
| 12 | | (3) All notice requirements as provided by law and | 13 | | rules or regulations
of the Commission have been met.
| 14 | | (b) Prior to termination of service for any residential | 15 | | customer or
mastermetered apartment building during the period | 16 | | from December 1 through
and including March 31 of the | 17 | | immediately succeeding calendar year, all
electric and gas | 18 | | public utilities shall, in addition to all other notices:
| 19 | | (1) Notify the customer or an adult residing at the | 20 | | customer's premises by
telephone, a personal visit to the | 21 | | customer's premises or by first class
mail, informing the | 22 | | customer that:
| 23 | | (i) the customer's account is in arrears and the | 24 | | customer's service is
subject to termination for | 25 | | nonpayment of a bill;
| 26 | | (ii) the customer can avoid disconnection of |
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| 1 | | service by entering into
a deferred payment agreement | 2 | | to pay past due amounts over a period not to
extend | 3 | | beyond the following November and the customer has the | 4 | | option to
enter into a levelized payment plan for the | 5 | | payment of future bills;
| 6 | | (iii) the customer may apply for any available | 7 | | assistance to aid in the
payment of utility bills from | 8 | | any governmental or private agencies from
the list of | 9 | | such agencies provided to the customer by the utility.
| 10 | | Provided, however, that a public utility shall be | 11 | | required to make only
one such contact with the customer | 12 | | during any such period from December
1 through and | 13 | | including March 31 of the immediately succeeding calendar | 14 | | year.
| 15 | | (2) Each public utility shall maintain records which | 16 | | shall include, but
not necessarily be limited to, the | 17 | | manner by which the customer was notified
and the time, | 18 | | date and manner by which any prior but unsuccessful | 19 | | attempts
to contact were made. These records shall also | 20 | | describe the terms of the
deferred payment arrangements | 21 | | offered to the customer and those entered
into by the | 22 | | utility and customers. These records shall indicate the | 23 | | total
amount past due, the down payment, the amount | 24 | | remaining to be paid and the
number of months allowed to | 25 | | pay the outstanding balance. No public utility
shall be | 26 | | required to retain records pertaining to unsuccessful |
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| 1 | | attempts to
contact or deferred payment arrangements | 2 | | rejected by the customer after such
customer has entered | 3 | | into a deferred payment arrangement with such utility.
| 4 | | (c) No public utility shall disconnect service for | 5 | | nonpayment of a bill
until the lapse of 6 business days after | 6 | | making the notification required by
paragraph (1) of subsection | 7 | | (b) so as to allow the customer an opportunity to:
| 8 | | (1) Enter into a deferred payment arrangement and the | 9 | | option to enter
into a levelized payment plan for the | 10 | | payment of future bills.
| 11 | | (2) Contact a governmental or private agency that may | 12 | | provide assistance
to customers for the payment of public | 13 | | utility bills.
| 14 | | (d) Any residential customer who enters into a deferred | 15 | | payment arrangement
pursuant to this Act, and subsequently | 16 | | during that period of time set forth
in subsection (a) becomes | 17 | | subject to termination, shall be given notice
as required by | 18 | | law and any rule or regulation of the Commission prior to
| 19 | | termination of service.
| 20 | | (e) During that time period set forth in subsection (a), a | 21 | | utility shall
not require a down payment for a deposit from a | 22 | | residential customer in
excess of 20% of the total deposit | 23 | | requested. An additional 4 months shall
be allowed to pay the | 24 | | remainder of the deposit. This provision shall not
apply to | 25 | | mastermetered apartment buildings or other nonresidential | 26 | | customers.
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| 1 | | (f) During that period of time set forth in subsection (a), | 2 | | no utility
may refuse to offer a deferred payment agreement to | 3 | | a residential customer
who has defaulted on such an agreement | 4 | | within the past 12 months. However,
no utility shall be | 5 | | required to enter into more than one deferred payment
| 6 | | arrangement under this Section with any residential customer or
| 7 | | mastermetered apartment building during the period from | 8 | | December 1 through
and including March 31 of the immediately | 9 | | succeeding calendar year.
| 10 | | (g) In order to enable customers to take advantage of | 11 | | energy assistance
programs, customers who can demonstrate that | 12 | | their applications for a local,
state or federal energy | 13 | | assistance program have been approved may request
that the | 14 | | amount they will be entitled to receive as a regular energy | 15 | | assistance
payment be deducted and set aside from the amount | 16 | | past due on which they
make deferred payment arrangements. | 17 | | Payment on the set-aside amount shall
be credited when the | 18 | | energy assistance voucher or check is received, according
to | 19 | | the utility's common business practice.
| 20 | | (h) In no event shall any utility send a final notice to | 21 | | any customer
who has entered into a current deferred payment | 22 | | agreement and has not defaulted
on that deferred payment | 23 | | agreement, unless the final notice pertains to
a deposit | 24 | | request.
| 25 | | (i) Each utility shall include with each disconnection | 26 | | notice sent during
the period for December 1 through and |
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| 1 | | including March 31 of the immediately
succeeding calendar year | 2 | | to a residential customer an insert explaining the
above | 3 | | provisions and providing a telephone number of the utility | 4 | | company
which the consumer may call to receive further | 5 | | information.
| 6 | | (j) Each utility shall file with the Commission prior to | 7 | | December 1 of
each year a plan detailing the implementation of | 8 | | this Section. This plan
shall contain, but not be limited to:
| 9 | | (1) a description of the methods to be used to notify | 10 | | residential customers
as required in this Section, | 11 | | including the forms of written and oral notices
which shall | 12 | | be required to include all the information contained in | 13 | | subsection
(b) of this Section.
| 14 | | (2) a listing of the names, addresses and telephone | 15 | | numbers of governmental
and private agencies which may | 16 | | provide assistance to residential customers
in paying | 17 | | their utility bills.
| 18 | | (3) the program of employee education and information | 19 | | which shall be used
by the company in the implementation of | 20 | | this Section.
| 21 | | (4) a description of methods to be utilized to inform | 22 | | residential customers
of those governmental and private | 23 | | agencies and current and planned methods
of cooperation | 24 | | with those agencies to identify the customers who qualify
| 25 | | for assistance in paying their utility bills.
| 26 | | A utility which has a plan on file with the Commission need |
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| 1 | | not resubmit
a new plan each year. However, any alteration of | 2 | | the plan on file must
be submitted and approved prior to | 3 | | December 1 of any year.
| 4 | | All plans are subject to review and approval by the | 5 | | Commission. The
Commission may direct a utility to alter its | 6 | | plan to comply with the
requirements of this Section.
| 7 | | (k) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, no
| 8 | | electric or gas public utility shall disconnect service to any | 9 | | residential
customer who is a participant under Section 6 of | 10 | | the Energy
Assistance Act for nonpayment of a bill or
deposit | 11 | | where gas or electricity is used as the primary source of space
| 12 | | heating or is used to control or operate the primary source of | 13 | | space heating
equipment at the premises during the period of | 14 | | time from December 1 through
and including March 31 of the | 15 | | immediately succeeding calendar year.
| 16 | | (l) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, no
| 17 | | electric or gas public utility shall disconnect service to any | 18 | | residential customer who has notified the utility that he or | 19 | | she is a service member or veteran for nonpayment of a bill or | 20 | | deposit where gas or electricity is used as the primary source | 21 | | of space heating or is used to control or operate the primary | 22 | | source of space heating equipment at the premises during the | 23 | | period of time from December 1 through and
including March 31 | 24 | | of the immediately succeeding calendar year. | 25 | | (Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 95-876, eff. 8-21-08.)
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