Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SB4028

LRB104 19039 AAS 32484 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
SB4028

Introduced 2/6/2026, by Sen. Donald P. DeWitte

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

220 ILCS 5/16-108

Amends the Public Utilities Act. In provisions concerning the recovery of costs associated with the provision of delivery and other services, provide that the Illinois Commerce Commission shall, within 180 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act, initiate and complete a rulemaking proceeding to revise 83 Ill. Adm. Code 466 and 83 Ill. Adm. Code 467 to address barriers to timely and cost-effective interconnections for distributed generation facilities with a nameplate capacity of at least 40 kilowatts but no greater than 2 megawatts, including stand-alone solar photovoltaic systems, battery energy storage, hybrid gas-electric systems, and renewable natural gas integrations. Requires the revisions to include certain factors. Provides that the Commission shall coordinate the revisions with a Future of Gas proceeding pursuant to the final Order of the Commission in Docket No. 24-0158 to ensure compatibility with gas decarbonization pathways and to prioritize market-driven distributed resources that enhance reliability and affordability. Provides that the revised rules shall take effect no later than July 1, 2026. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing Section 16-108 as follows:

(220 ILCS 5/16-108)

(Text of Section before amendment by P.A. 104-458)

Sec. 16-108. Recovery of costs associated with the provision of delivery and other services.

(a) An electric utility shall file a delivery services tariff with the Commission at least 210 days prior to the date that it is required to begin offering such services pursuant to this Act. An electric utility shall provide the components of delivery services that are subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the same prices, terms and conditions set forth in its applicable tariff as approved or allowed into effect by that Commission. The Commission shall otherwise have the authority pursuant to Article IX to review, approve, and modify the prices, terms and conditions of those components of delivery services not subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, including the authority to determine the extent to which such delivery services should be offered on an unbundled basis. In making any such determination the Commission shall consider, at a minimum, the effect of additional unbundling on (i) the objective of just and reasonable rates, (ii) electric utility employees, and (iii) the development of competitive markets for electric energy services in Illinois.

(b) The Commission shall enter an order approving, or approving as modified, the delivery services tariff no later than 30 days prior to the date on which the electric utility must commence offering such services. The Commission may subsequently modify such tariff pursuant to this Act.

(c) The electric utility's tariffs shall define the classes of its customers for purposes of delivery services charges. Delivery services shall be priced and made available to all retail customers electing delivery services in each such class on a nondiscriminatory basis regardless of whether the retail customer chooses the electric utility, an affiliate of the electric utility, or another entity as its supplier of electric power and energy. Charges for delivery services shall be cost based, and shall allow the electric utility to recover the costs of providing delivery services through its charges to its delivery service customers that use the facilities and services associated with such costs. Such costs shall include the costs of owning, operating and maintaining transmission and distribution facilities. The Commission shall also be authorized to consider whether, and if so to what extent, the following costs are appropriately included in the electric utility's delivery services rates: (i) the costs of that portion of generation facilities used for the production and absorption of reactive power in order that retail customers located in the electric utility's service area can receive electric power and energy from suppliers other than the electric utility, and (ii) the costs associated with the use and redispatch of generation facilities to mitigate constraints on the transmission or distribution system in order that retail customers located in the electric utility's service area can receive electric power and energy from suppliers other than the electric utility. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as directing the Commission to allocate any of the costs described in (i) or (ii) that are found to be appropriately included in the electric utility's delivery services rates to any particular customer group or geographic area in setting delivery services rates.

(d) The Commission shall establish charges, terms and conditions for delivery services that are just and reasonable and shall take into account customer impacts when establishing such charges. In establishing charges, terms and conditions for delivery services, the Commission shall take into account voltage level differences. A retail customer shall have the option to request to purchase electric service at any delivery service voltage reasonably and technically feasible from the electric facilities serving that customer's premises provided that there are no significant adverse impacts upon system reliability or system efficiency. A retail customer shall also have the option to request to purchase electric service at any point of delivery that is reasonably and technically feasible provided that there are no significant adverse impacts on system reliability or efficiency. Such requests shall not be unreasonably denied.

(e) Electric utilities shall recover the costs of installing, operating or maintaining facilities for the particular benefit of one or more delivery services customers, including without limitation any costs incurred in complying with a customer's request to be served at a different voltage level, directly from the retail customer or customers for whose benefit the costs were incurred, to the extent such costs are not recovered through the charges referred to in subsections (c) and (d) of this Section.

(f) An electric utility shall be entitled but not required to implement transition charges in conjunction with the offering of delivery services pursuant to Section 16-104. If an electric utility implements transition charges, it shall implement such charges for all delivery services customers and for all customers described in subsection (h), but shall not implement transition charges for power and energy that a retail customer takes from cogeneration or self-generation facilities located on that retail customer's premises, if such facilities meet the following criteria:

(i) the cogeneration or self-generation facilities serve a single retail customer and are located on that retail customer's premises (for purposes of this subparagraph and subparagraph (ii), an industrial or manufacturing retail customer and a third party contractor that is served by such industrial or manufacturing customer through such retail customer's own electrical distribution facilities under the circumstances described in subsection (vi) of the definition of "alternative retail electric supplier" set forth in Section 16-102, shall be considered a single retail customer);

(ii) the cogeneration or self-generation facilities either (A) are sized pursuant to generally accepted engineering standards for the retail customer's electrical load at that premises (taking into account standby or other reliability considerations related to that retail customer's operations at that site) or (B) if the facility is a cogeneration facility located on the retail customer's premises, the retail customer is the thermal host for that facility and the facility has been designed to meet that retail customer's thermal energy requirements resulting in electrical output beyond that retail customer's electrical demand at that premises, comply with the operating and efficiency standards applicable to "qualifying facilities" specified in title 18 Code of Federal Regulations Section 292.205 as in effect on the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1999;

(iii) the retail customer on whose premises the facilities are located either has an exclusive right to receive, and corresponding obligation to pay for, all of the electrical capacity of the facility, or in the case of a cogeneration facility that has been designed to meet the retail customer's thermal energy requirements at that premises, an identified amount of the electrical capacity of the facility, over a minimum 5-year period; and

(iv) if the cogeneration facility is sized for the retail customer's thermal load at that premises but exceeds the electrical load, any sales of excess power or energy are made only at wholesale, are subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and are not for the purpose of circumventing the provisions of this subsection (f). If a generation facility located at a retail customer's premises does not meet the above criteria, an electric utility implementing transition charges shall implement a transition charge until December 31, 2006 for any power and energy taken by such retail customer from such facility as if such power and energy had been delivered by the electric utility. Provided, however, that an industrial retail customer that is taking power from a generation facility that does not meet the above criteria but that is located on such customer's premises will not be subject to a transition charge for the power and energy taken by such retail customer from such generation facility if the facility does not serve any other retail customer and either was installed on behalf of the customer and for its own use prior to January 1, 1997, or is both predominantly fueled by byproducts of such customer's manufacturing process at such premises and sells or offers an average of 300 megawatts or more of electricity produced from such generation facility into the wholesale market. Such charges shall be calculated as provided in Section 16-102, and shall be collected on each kilowatt-hour delivered under a delivery services tariff to a retail customer from the date the customer first takes delivery services until December 31, 2006 except as provided in subsection (h) of this Section. Provided, however, that an electric utility, other than an electric utility providing service to at least 1,000,000 customers in this State on January 1, 1999, shall be entitled to petition for entry of an order by the Commission authorizing the electric utility to implement transition charges for an additional period ending no later than December 31, 2008. The electric utility shall file its petition with supporting evidence no earlier than 16 months, and no later than 12 months, prior to December 31, 2006. The Commission shall hold a hearing on the electric utility's petition and shall enter its order no later than 8 months after the petition is filed. The Commission shall determine whether and to what extent the electric utility shall be authorized to implement transition charges for an additional period. The Commission may authorize the electric utility to implement transition charges for some or all of the additional period, and shall determine the mitigation factors to be used in implementing such transition charges; provided, that the Commission shall not authorize mitigation factors less than 110% of those in effect during the 12 months ended December 31, 2006. In making its determination, the Commission shall consider the following factors: the necessity to implement transition charges for an additional period in order to maintain the financial integrity of the electric utility; the prudence of the electric utility's actions in reducing its costs since the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1997; the ability of the electric utility to provide safe, adequate and reliable service to retail customers in its service area; and the impact on competition of allowing the electric utility to implement transition charges for the additional period.

(g) The electric utility shall file tariffs that establish the transition charges to be paid by each class of customers to the electric utility in conjunction with the provision of delivery services. The electric utility's tariffs shall define the classes of its customers for purposes of calculating transition charges. The electric utility's tariffs shall provide for the calculation of transition charges on a customer-specific basis for any retail customer whose average monthly maximum electrical demand on the electric utility's system during the 6 months with the customer's highest monthly maximum electrical demands equals or exceeds 3.0 megawatts for electric utilities having more than 1,000,000 customers, and for other electric utilities for any customer that has an average monthly maximum electrical demand on the electric utility's system of one megawatt or more, and (A) for which there exists data on the customer's usage during the 3 years preceding the date that the customer became eligible to take delivery services, or (B) for which there does not exist data on the customer's usage during the 3 years preceding the date that the customer became eligible to take delivery services, if in the electric utility's reasonable judgment there exists comparable usage information or a sufficient basis to develop such information, and further provided that the electric utility can require customers for which an individual calculation is made to sign contracts that set forth the transition charges to be paid by the customer to the electric utility pursuant to the tariff.

(h) An electric utility shall also be entitled to file tariffs that allow it to collect transition charges from retail customers in the electric utility's service area that do not take delivery services but that take electric power or energy from an alternative retail electric supplier or from an electric utility other than the electric utility in whose service area the customer is located. Such charges shall be calculated, in accordance with the definition of transition charges in Section 16-102, for the period of time that the customer would be obligated to pay transition charges if it were taking delivery services, except that no deduction for delivery services revenues shall be made in such calculation, and usage data from the customer's class shall be used where historical usage data is not available for the individual customer. The customer shall be obligated to pay such charges on a lump sum basis on or before the date on which the customer commences to take service from the alternative retail electric supplier or other electric utility, provided, that the electric utility in whose service area the customer is located shall offer the customer the option of signing a contract pursuant to which the customer pays such charges ratably over the period in which the charges would otherwise have applied.

(i) An electric utility shall be entitled to add to the bills of delivery services customers charges pursuant to Sections 9-221, 9-222 (except as provided in Section 9-222.1), and Section 16-114 of this Act, Section 5-5 of the Electricity Infrastructure Maintenance Fee Law, Section 6-5 of the Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Coal Resources Development Law of 1997, and Section 13 of the Energy Assistance Act.

(i-5) An electric utility required to impose the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge provided for in subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act shall add such charge to the bills of its delivery services customers pursuant to the terms of a tariff conforming to the requirements of subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act and this subsection (i-5) and filed with and approved by the Commission. The electric utility shall file its proposed tariff with the Commission on or before July 1, 2022 to be effective, after review and approval or modification by the Commission, beginning January 1, 2023. On or before December 1, 2022, the Commission shall review the electric utility's proposed tariff, including by conducting a docketed proceeding if deemed necessary by the Commission, and shall approve the proposed tariff or direct the electric utility to make modifications the Commission finds necessary for the tariff to conform to the requirements of subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act and this subsection (i-5). The electric utility's tariff shall provide for imposition of the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge on a per-kilowatthour basis to all kilowatthours delivered by the electric utility to its delivery services customers. The tariff shall provide for the calculation of the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge to be in effect for the year beginning January 1, 2023 and each year beginning January 1 thereafter, sufficient to collect the electric utility's estimated payment obligations for the delivery year beginning the following June 1 under contracts for purchase of renewable energy credits entered into pursuant to subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act and the obligations of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, or any successor department or agency, which for purposes of this subsection (i-5) shall be referred to as the Department, to make grant payments during such delivery year from the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Fund pursuant to grant contracts entered into pursuant to subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act, and using the electric utility's kilowatthour deliveries to its delivery services customers during the delivery year ended May 31 of the preceding calendar year. On or before November 1 of each year beginning November 1, 2022, the Department shall notify the electric utilities of the amount of the Department's estimated obligations for grant payments during the delivery year beginning the following June 1 pursuant to grant contracts entered into pursuant to subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act; and each electric utility shall incorporate in the calculation of its Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge the fractional portion of the Department's estimated obligations equal to the electric utility's kilowatthour deliveries to its delivery services customers in the delivery year ended the preceding May 31 divided by the aggregate deliveries of both electric utilities to delivery services customers in such delivery year. The electric utility shall remit on a monthly basis to the State Treasurer, for deposit in the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Fund provided for in subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act, the electric utility's collections of the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge estimated to be needed by the Department for grant payments pursuant to grant contracts entered into pursuant to subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. The initial charge under the electric utility's tariff shall be effective for kilowatthours delivered beginning January 1, 2023, and thereafter shall be revised to be effective January 1, 2024 and each January 1 thereafter, based on the payment obligations for the delivery year beginning the following June 1. The tariff shall provide for the electric utility to make an annual filing with the Commission on or before November 15 of each year, beginning in 2023, setting forth the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge to be in effect for the year beginning the following January 1. The electric utility's tariff shall also provide that the electric utility shall make a filing with the Commission on or before August 1 of each year beginning in 2024 setting forth a reconciliation, for the delivery year ended the preceding May 31, of the electric utility's collections of the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge against actual payments for renewable energy credits pursuant to contracts entered into, and the actual grant payments by the Department pursuant to grant contracts entered into, pursuant to subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. The tariff shall provide that any excess or shortfall of collections to payments shall be deducted from or added to, on a per-kilowatthour basis, the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge, over the 6-month period beginning October 1 of that calendar year.

(j) If a retail customer that obtains electric power and energy from cogeneration or self-generation facilities installed for its own use on or before January 1, 1997, subsequently takes service from an alternative retail electric supplier or an electric utility other than the electric utility in whose service area the customer is located for any portion of the customer's electric power and energy requirements formerly obtained from those facilities (including that amount purchased from the utility in lieu of such generation and not as standby power purchases, under a cogeneration displacement tariff in effect as of the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1997), the transition charges otherwise applicable pursuant to subsections (f), (g), or (h) of this Section shall not be applicable in any year to that portion of the customer's electric power and energy requirements formerly obtained from those facilities, provided, that for purposes of this subsection (j), such portion shall not exceed the average number of kilowatt-hours per year obtained from the cogeneration or self-generation facilities during the 3 years prior to the date on which the customer became eligible for delivery services, except as provided in subsection (f) of Section 16-110.

(k) The electric utility shall be entitled to recover through tariffed charges all of the costs associated with the purchase of zero emission credits from zero emission facilities to meet the requirements of subsection (d-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act and all of the costs associated with the purchase of carbon mitigation credits from carbon-free energy resources to meet the requirements of subsection (d-10) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. Such costs shall include the costs of procuring the zero emission credits and carbon mitigation credits from carbon-free energy resources, as well as the reasonable costs that the utility incurs as part of the procurement processes and to implement and comply with plans and processes approved by the Commission under subsections (d-5) and (d-10). The costs shall be allocated across all retail customers through a single, uniform cents per kilowatt-hour charge applicable to all retail customers, which shall appear as a separate line item on each customer's bill. Beginning June 1, 2017, the electric utility shall be entitled to recover through tariffed charges all of the costs associated with the purchase of renewable energy resources to meet the renewable energy resource standards of subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act, under procurement plans as approved in accordance with that Section and Section 16-111.5 of this Act. Such costs shall include the costs of procuring the renewable energy resources, as well as the reasonable costs that the utility incurs as part of the procurement processes and to implement and comply with plans and processes approved by the Commission under such Sections. The costs associated with the purchase of renewable energy resources shall be allocated across all retail customers in proportion to the amount of renewable energy resources the utility procures for such customers through a single, uniform cents per kilowatt-hour charge applicable to such retail customers, which shall appear as a separate line item on each such customer's bill. The credits, costs, and penalties associated with the self-direct renewable portfolio standard compliance program described in subparagraph (R) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act shall be allocated to approved eligible self-direct customers by the utility in a cents per kilowatt-hour credit, cost, or penalty, which shall appear as a separate line item on each such customer's bill.

Notwithstanding whether the Commission has approved the initial long-term renewable resources procurement plan as of June 1, 2017, an electric utility shall place new tariffed charges into effect beginning with the June 2017 monthly billing period, to the extent practicable, to begin recovering the costs of procuring renewable energy resources, as those charges are calculated under the limitations described in subparagraph (E) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. Notwithstanding the date on which the utility places such new tariffed charges into effect, the utility shall be permitted to collect the charges under such tariff as if the tariff had been in effect beginning with the first day of the June 2017 monthly billing period. For the delivery years commencing June 1, 2017, June 1, 2018, June 1, 2019, and each delivery year thereafter, the electric utility shall deposit into a separate interest bearing account of a financial institution the monies collected under the tariffed charges. Money collected from customers for the procurement of renewable energy resources in a given delivery year may be spent by the utility for the procurement of renewable resources over any of the following 5 delivery years, after which unspent money shall be credited back to retail customers. The electric utility shall spend all money collected in earlier delivery years that has not yet been returned to customers, first, before spending money collected in later delivery years. Any interest earned shall be credited back to retail customers under the reconciliation proceeding provided for in this subsection (k), provided that the electric utility shall first be reimbursed from the interest for the administrative costs that it incurs to administer and manage the account. Any taxes due on the funds in the account, or interest earned on it, will be paid from the account or, if insufficient monies are available in the account, from the monies collected under the tariffed charges to recover the costs of procuring renewable energy resources. Monies deposited in the account shall be subject to the review, reconciliation, and true-up process described in this subsection (k) that is applicable to the funds collected and costs incurred for the procurement of renewable energy resources.

The electric utility shall be entitled to recover all of the costs identified in this subsection (k) through automatic adjustment clause tariffs applicable to all of the utility's retail customers that allow the electric utility to adjust its tariffed charges consistent with this subsection (k). The determination as to whether any excess funds were collected during a given delivery year for the purchase of renewable energy resources, and the crediting of any excess funds back to retail customers, shall not be made until after the close of the delivery year, which will ensure that the maximum amount of funds is available to implement the approved long-term renewable resources procurement plan during a given delivery year. The amount of excess funds eligible to be credited back to retail customers shall be reduced by an amount equal to the payment obligations required by any contracts entered into by an electric utility under contracts described in subsection (b) of Section 1-56 and subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act, even if such payments have not yet been made and regardless of the delivery year in which those payment obligations were incurred. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, including in tariffs authorized by this subsection (k) in effect before the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, all unspent funds as of May 31, 2021, excluding any funds credited to customers during any utility billing cycle that commences prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, shall remain in the utility account and shall on a first in, first out basis be used toward utility payment obligations under contracts described in subsection (b) of Section 1-56 and subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. The electric utility's collections under such automatic adjustment clause tariffs to recover the costs of renewable energy resources, zero emission credits from zero emission facilities, and carbon mitigation credits from carbon-free energy resources shall be subject to separate annual review, reconciliation, and true-up against actual costs by the Commission under a procedure that shall be specified in the electric utility's automatic adjustment clause tariffs and that shall be approved by the Commission in connection with its approval of such tariffs. The procedure shall provide that any difference between the electric utility's collections for zero emission credits and carbon mitigation credits under the automatic adjustment charges for an annual period and the electric utility's actual costs of zero emission credits from zero emission facilities and carbon mitigation credits from carbon-free energy resources for that same annual period shall be refunded to or collected from, as applicable, the electric utility's retail customers in subsequent periods.

Nothing in this subsection (k) is intended to affect, limit, or change the right of the electric utility to recover the costs associated with the procurement of renewable energy resources for periods commencing before, on, or after June 1, 2017, as otherwise provided in the Illinois Power Agency Act.

The funding available under this subsection (k), if any, for the programs described under subsection (b) of Section 1-56 of the Illinois Power Agency Act shall not reduce the amount of funding for the programs described in subparagraph (O) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. If funding is available under this subsection (k) for programs described under subsection (b) of Section 1-56 of the Illinois Power Agency Act, then the long-term renewable resources plan shall provide for the Agency to procure contracts in an amount that does not exceed the funding, and the contracts approved by the Commission shall be executed by the applicable utility or utilities.

(l) A utility that has terminated any contract executed under subsection (d-5) or (d-10) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act shall be entitled to recover any remaining balance associated with the purchase of zero emission credits prior to such termination, and such utility shall also apply a credit to its retail customer bills in the event of any over-collection.

(m)(1) An electric utility that recovers its costs of procuring zero emission credits from zero emission facilities through a cents-per-kilowatthour charge under subsection (k) of this Section shall be subject to the requirements of this subsection (m). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, such electric utility shall, beginning on April 30, 2018, and each April 30 thereafter until April 30, 2026, calculate whether any reduction must be applied to such cents-per-kilowatthour charge that is paid by retail customers of the electric utility that have opted out of subsections (a) through (j) of Section 8-103B of this Act under subsection (l) of Section 8-103B. Such charge shall be reduced for such customers for the next delivery year commencing on June 1 based on the amount necessary, if any, to limit the annual estimated average net increase for the prior calendar year due to the future energy investment costs to no more than 1.3% of 5.98 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is the average amount paid per kilowatthour for electric service during the year ending December 31, 2015 by Illinois industrial retail customers, as reported to the Edison Electric Institute.

The calculations required by this subsection (m) shall be made only once for each year, and no subsequent rate impact determinations shall be made.

(2) For purposes of this Section, "future energy investment costs" shall be calculated by subtracting the cents-per-kilowatthour charge identified in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph (2) from the sum of the cents-per-kilowatthour charges identified in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph (2):

(A) The cents-per-kilowatthour charge identified in the electric utility's tariff placed into effect under Section 8-103 of the Public Utilities Act that, on December 1, 2016, was applicable to those retail customers that have opted out of subsections (a) through (j) of Section 8-103B of this Act under subsection (l) of Section 8-103B.

(B) The sum of the following cents-per-kilowatthour charges applicable to those retail customers that have opted out of subsections (a) through (j) of Section 8-103B of this Act under subsection (l) of Section 8-103B, provided that if one or more of the following charges has been in effect and applied to such customers for more than one calendar year, then each charge shall be equal to the average of the charges applied over a period that commences with the calendar year ending December 31, 2017 and ends with the most recently completed calendar year prior to the calculation required by this subsection (m):

(i) the cents-per-kilowatthour charge to recover the costs incurred by the utility under subsection (d-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act, adjusted for any reductions required under this subsection (m); and

(ii) the cents-per-kilowatthour charge to recover the costs incurred by the utility under Section 16-107.6 of the Public Utilities Act.

If no charge was applied for a given calendar year under item (i) or (ii) of this subparagraph (B), then the value of the charge for that year shall be zero.

(3) If a reduction is required by the calculation performed under this subsection (m), then the amount of the reduction shall be multiplied by the number of years reflected in the averages calculated under subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of this subsection (m). Such reduction shall be applied to the cents-per-kilowatthour charge that is applicable to those retail customers that have opted out of subsections (a) through (j) of Section 8-103B of this Act under subsection (l) of Section 8-103B beginning with the next delivery year commencing after the date of the calculation required by this subsection (m).

(4) The electric utility shall file a notice with the Commission on May 1 of 2018 and each May 1 thereafter until May 1, 2026 containing the reduction, if any, which must be applied for the delivery year which begins in the year of the filing. The notice shall contain the calculations made pursuant to this Section. By October 1 of each year beginning in 2018, each electric utility shall notify the Commission if it appears, based on an estimate of the calculation required in this subsection (m), that a reduction will be required in the next year.

(n)(1) The Commission shall, within 180 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly, initiate and complete a rulemaking proceeding to revise 83 Ill. Adm. Code 466 and 83 Ill. Adm. Code 467 to address barriers to timely and cost-effective interconnections for distributed generation facilities with a nameplate capacity of at least 40 kilowatts but no greater than 2 megawatts, including stand-alone solar photovoltaic systems, battery energy storage, hybrid gas-electric systems, and renewable natural gas integrations. The revisions shall include:

(A) capping interconnection study costs at 150% of the initial feasibility estimate or $50,000 per study, whichever is lesser, requiring electric distribution companies to justify estimates in advance, and prohibiting overhead markups on labor or materials;

(B) permitting applicants to self-supply interconnection studies or self-build system upgrades if an electric distribution company cannot complete them within 90 days or at capped costs, as long as such studies and upgrades meet the technical standards for electric distribution companies and are subject to Commission review for compliance;

(C) enhancing transparency by requiring electric distribution companies to provide anonymized queue data, model assumptions, and progress reports under confidentiality agreements, while maintaining system security;

(D) updating definitions to explicitly include stand-alone solar photovoltaic systems, battery energy storage, and hybrid gas-electric systems as distributed generation facilities and clarifying that lower-voltage facilities that qualify as transmission facilities under FERC Order 888 shall be treated as transmission facilities;

(E) mandating that all interconnection agreements be filed with the Commission within 30 days after the execution of the agreement, with provisions allowing applicants to file unexecuted agreements in initiating a rate case proceeding; and

(F) adding a pro forma attachment affirming that interconnecting facilities, including storage, comply with the requirements for non-taxable status under 26 U.S.C. 45.

(2) The Commission shall coordinate the revisions under this subsection (n) with a Future of Gas proceeding pursuant to the final Order of the Commission in Docket No. 24-0158 to ensure compatibility with gas decarbonization pathways and to prioritize market-driven distributed resources that enhance reliability and affordability. The revised rules shall take effect no later than July 1, 2026.

(Source: P.A. 102-662, eff. 9-15-21.)

(Text of Section after amendment by P.A. 104-458)

Sec. 16-108. Recovery of costs associated with the provision of delivery and other services.

(a) An electric utility shall file a delivery services tariff with the Commission at least 210 days prior to the date that it is required to begin offering such services pursuant to this Act. An electric utility shall provide the components of delivery services that are subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the same prices, terms and conditions set forth in its applicable tariff as approved or allowed into effect by that Commission. The Commission shall otherwise have the authority pursuant to Article IX to review, approve, and modify the prices, terms and conditions of those components of delivery services not subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, including the authority to determine the extent to which such delivery services should be offered on an unbundled basis. In making any such determination the Commission shall consider, at a minimum, the effect of additional unbundling on (i) the objective of just and reasonable rates, (ii) electric utility employees, and (iii) the development of competitive markets for electric energy services in Illinois.

(b) The Commission shall enter an order approving, or approving as modified, the delivery services tariff no later than 30 days prior to the date on which the electric utility must commence offering such services. The Commission may subsequently modify such tariff pursuant to this Act.

(c) The electric utility's tariffs shall define the classes of its customers for purposes of delivery services charges. Delivery services shall be priced and made available to all retail customers electing delivery services in each such class on a nondiscriminatory basis regardless of whether the retail customer chooses the electric utility, an affiliate of the electric utility, or another entity as its supplier of electric power and energy. Charges for delivery services shall be cost based, and shall allow the electric utility to recover the costs of providing delivery services through its charges to its delivery service customers that use the facilities and services associated with such costs. Such costs shall include the costs of owning, operating and maintaining transmission and distribution facilities. The Commission shall also be authorized to consider whether, and if so to what extent, the following costs are appropriately included in the electric utility's delivery services rates: (i) the costs of that portion of generation facilities used for the production and absorption of reactive power in order that retail customers located in the electric utility's service area can receive electric power and energy from suppliers other than the electric utility, and (ii) the costs associated with the use and redispatch of generation facilities to mitigate constraints on the transmission or distribution system in order that retail customers located in the electric utility's service area can receive electric power and energy from suppliers other than the electric utility. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as directing the Commission to allocate any of the costs described in (i) or (ii) that are found to be appropriately included in the electric utility's delivery services rates to any particular customer group or geographic area in setting delivery services rates.

(d) The Commission shall establish charges, terms and conditions for delivery services that are just and reasonable and shall take into account customer impacts when establishing such charges. In establishing charges, terms and conditions for delivery services, the Commission shall take into account voltage level differences. A retail customer shall have the option to request to purchase electric service at any delivery service voltage reasonably and technically feasible from the electric facilities serving that customer's premises provided that there are no significant adverse impacts upon system reliability or system efficiency. A retail customer shall also have the option to request to purchase electric service at any point of delivery that is reasonably and technically feasible provided that there are no significant adverse impacts on system reliability or efficiency. Such requests shall not be unreasonably denied.

(e) Electric utilities shall recover the costs of installing, operating or maintaining facilities for the particular benefit of one or more delivery services customers, including without limitation any costs incurred in complying with a customer's request to be served at a different voltage level, directly from the retail customer or customers for whose benefit the costs were incurred, to the extent such costs are not recovered through the charges referred to in subsections (c) and (d) of this Section.

(f) An electric utility shall be entitled but not required to implement transition charges in conjunction with the offering of delivery services pursuant to Section 16-104. If an electric utility implements transition charges, it shall implement such charges for all delivery services customers and for all customers described in subsection (h), but shall not implement transition charges for power and energy that a retail customer takes from cogeneration or self-generation facilities located on that retail customer's premises, if such facilities meet the following criteria:

(i) the cogeneration or self-generation facilities serve a single retail customer and are located on that retail customer's premises (for purposes of this subparagraph and subparagraph (ii), an industrial or manufacturing retail customer and a third party contractor that is served by such industrial or manufacturing customer through such retail customer's own electrical distribution facilities under the circumstances described in subsection (vi) of the definition of "alternative retail electric supplier" set forth in Section 16-102, shall be considered a single retail customer);

(ii) the cogeneration or self-generation facilities either (A) are sized pursuant to generally accepted engineering standards for the retail customer's electrical load at that premises (taking into account standby or other reliability considerations related to that retail customer's operations at that site) or (B) if the facility is a cogeneration facility located on the retail customer's premises, the retail customer is the thermal host for that facility and the facility has been designed to meet that retail customer's thermal energy requirements resulting in electrical output beyond that retail customer's electrical demand at that premises, comply with the operating and efficiency standards applicable to "qualifying facilities" specified in title 18 Code of Federal Regulations Section 292.205 as in effect on the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1999;

(iii) the retail customer on whose premises the facilities are located either has an exclusive right to receive, and corresponding obligation to pay for, all of the electrical capacity of the facility, or in the case of a cogeneration facility that has been designed to meet the retail customer's thermal energy requirements at that premises, an identified amount of the electrical capacity of the facility, over a minimum 5-year period; and

(iv) if the cogeneration facility is sized for the retail customer's thermal load at that premises but exceeds the electrical load, any sales of excess power or energy are made only at wholesale, are subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and are not for the purpose of circumventing the provisions of this subsection (f). If a generation facility located at a retail customer's premises does not meet the above criteria, an electric utility implementing transition charges shall implement a transition charge until December 31, 2006 for any power and energy taken by such retail customer from such facility as if such power and energy had been delivered by the electric utility. Provided, however, that an industrial retail customer that is taking power from a generation facility that does not meet the above criteria but that is located on such customer's premises will not be subject to a transition charge for the power and energy taken by such retail customer from such generation facility if the facility does not serve any other retail customer and either was installed on behalf of the customer and for its own use prior to January 1, 1997, or is both predominantly fueled by byproducts of such customer's manufacturing process at such premises and sells or offers an average of 300 megawatts or more of electricity produced from such generation facility into the wholesale market. Such charges shall be calculated as provided in Section 16-102, and shall be collected on each kilowatt-hour delivered under a delivery services tariff to a retail customer from the date the customer first takes delivery services until December 31, 2006 except as provided in subsection (h) of this Section. Provided, however, that an electric utility, other than an electric utility providing service to at least 1,000,000 customers in this State on January 1, 1999, shall be entitled to petition for entry of an order by the Commission authorizing the electric utility to implement transition charges for an additional period ending no later than December 31, 2008. The electric utility shall file its petition with supporting evidence no earlier than 16 months, and no later than 12 months, prior to December 31, 2006. The Commission shall hold a hearing on the electric utility's petition and shall enter its order no later than 8 months after the petition is filed. The Commission shall determine whether and to what extent the electric utility shall be authorized to implement transition charges for an additional period. The Commission may authorize the electric utility to implement transition charges for some or all of the additional period, and shall determine the mitigation factors to be used in implementing such transition charges; provided, that the Commission shall not authorize mitigation factors less than 110% of those in effect during the 12 months ended December 31, 2006. In making its determination, the Commission shall consider the following factors: the necessity to implement transition charges for an additional period in order to maintain the financial integrity of the electric utility; the prudence of the electric utility's actions in reducing its costs since the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1997; the ability of the electric utility to provide safe, adequate and reliable service to retail customers in its service area; and the impact on competition of allowing the electric utility to implement transition charges for the additional period.

(g) The electric utility shall file tariffs that establish the transition charges to be paid by each class of customers to the electric utility in conjunction with the provision of delivery services. The electric utility's tariffs shall define the classes of its customers for purposes of calculating transition charges. The electric utility's tariffs shall provide for the calculation of transition charges on a customer-specific basis for any retail customer whose average monthly maximum electrical demand on the electric utility's system during the 6 months with the customer's highest monthly maximum electrical demands equals or exceeds 3.0 megawatts for electric utilities having more than 1,000,000 customers, and for other electric utilities for any customer that has an average monthly maximum electrical demand on the electric utility's system of one megawatt or more, and (A) for which there exists data on the customer's usage during the 3 years preceding the date that the customer became eligible to take delivery services, or (B) for which there does not exist data on the customer's usage during the 3 years preceding the date that the customer became eligible to take delivery services, if in the electric utility's reasonable judgment there exists comparable usage information or a sufficient basis to develop such information, and further provided that the electric utility can require customers for which an individual calculation is made to sign contracts that set forth the transition charges to be paid by the customer to the electric utility pursuant to the tariff.

(h) An electric utility shall also be entitled to file tariffs that allow it to collect transition charges from retail customers in the electric utility's service area that do not take delivery services but that take electric power or energy from an alternative retail electric supplier or from an electric utility other than the electric utility in whose service area the customer is located. Such charges shall be calculated, in accordance with the definition of transition charges in Section 16-102, for the period of time that the customer would be obligated to pay transition charges if it were taking delivery services, except that no deduction for delivery services revenues shall be made in such calculation, and usage data from the customer's class shall be used where historical usage data is not available for the individual customer. The customer shall be obligated to pay such charges on a lump sum basis on or before the date on which the customer commences to take service from the alternative retail electric supplier or other electric utility, provided, that the electric utility in whose service area the customer is located shall offer the customer the option of signing a contract pursuant to which the customer pays such charges ratably over the period in which the charges would otherwise have applied.

(i) An electric utility shall be entitled to add to the bills of delivery services customers charges pursuant to Sections 9-221, 9-222 (except as provided in Section 9-222.1), and Section 16-114 of this Act, Section 5-5 of the Electricity Infrastructure Maintenance Fee Law, Section 6-5 of the Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Coal Resources Development Law of 1997, and Section 13 of the Energy Assistance Act.

(i-5) An electric utility required to impose the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge provided for in subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act shall add such charge to the bills of its delivery services customers pursuant to the terms of a tariff conforming to the requirements of subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act and this subsection (i-5) and filed with and approved by the Commission. The electric utility shall file its proposed tariff with the Commission on or before July 1, 2022 to be effective, after review and approval or modification by the Commission, beginning January 1, 2023. On or before December 1, 2022, the Commission shall review the electric utility's proposed tariff, including by conducting a docketed proceeding if deemed necessary by the Commission, and shall approve the proposed tariff or direct the electric utility to make modifications the Commission finds necessary for the tariff to conform to the requirements of subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act and this subsection (i-5). The electric utility's tariff shall provide for imposition of the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge on a per-kilowatthour basis to all kilowatthours delivered by the electric utility to its delivery services customers. The tariff shall provide for the calculation of the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge to be in effect for the year beginning January 1, 2023 and each year beginning January 1 thereafter, sufficient to collect the electric utility's estimated payment obligations for the delivery year beginning the following June 1 under contracts for purchase of renewable energy credits entered into pursuant to subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act and the obligations of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, or any successor department or agency, which for purposes of this subsection (i-5) shall be referred to as the Department, to make grant payments during such delivery year from the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Fund pursuant to grant contracts entered into pursuant to subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act, and using the electric utility's kilowatthour deliveries to its delivery services customers during the delivery year ended May 31 of the preceding calendar year. On or before November 1 of each year beginning November 1, 2022, the Department shall notify the electric utilities of the amount of the Department's estimated obligations for grant payments during the delivery year beginning the following June 1 pursuant to grant contracts entered into pursuant to subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act; and each electric utility shall incorporate in the calculation of its Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge the fractional portion of the Department's estimated obligations equal to the electric utility's kilowatthour deliveries to its delivery services customers in the delivery year ended the preceding May 31 divided by the aggregate deliveries of both electric utilities to delivery services customers in such delivery year. The electric utility shall remit on a monthly basis to the State Treasurer, for deposit in the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Fund provided for in subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act, the electric utility's collections of the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge estimated to be needed by the Department for grant payments pursuant to grant contracts entered into pursuant to subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. The initial charge under the electric utility's tariff shall be effective for kilowatthours delivered beginning January 1, 2023, and thereafter shall be revised to be effective January 1, 2024 and each January 1 thereafter, based on the payment obligations for the delivery year beginning the following June 1. The tariff shall provide for the electric utility to make an annual filing with the Commission on or before November 15 of each year, beginning in 2023, setting forth the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge to be in effect for the year beginning the following January 1. The electric utility's tariff shall also provide that the electric utility shall make a filing with the Commission on or before August 1 of each year beginning in 2024 setting forth a reconciliation, for the delivery year ended the preceding May 31, of the electric utility's collections of the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge against actual payments for renewable energy credits pursuant to contracts entered into, and the actual grant payments by the Department pursuant to grant contracts entered into, pursuant to subsection (c-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. The tariff shall provide that any excess or shortfall of collections to payments shall be deducted from or added to, on a per-kilowatthour basis, the Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative Charge, over the 6-month period beginning October 1 of that calendar year.

(j) If a retail customer that obtains electric power and energy from cogeneration or self-generation facilities installed for its own use on or before January 1, 1997, subsequently takes service from an alternative retail electric supplier or an electric utility other than the electric utility in whose service area the customer is located for any portion of the customer's electric power and energy requirements formerly obtained from those facilities (including that amount purchased from the utility in lieu of such generation and not as standby power purchases, under a cogeneration displacement tariff in effect as of the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1997), the transition charges otherwise applicable pursuant to subsections (f), (g), or (h) of this Section shall not be applicable in any year to that portion of the customer's electric power and energy requirements formerly obtained from those facilities, provided, that for purposes of this subsection (j), such portion shall not exceed the average number of kilowatt-hours per year obtained from the cogeneration or self-generation facilities during the 3 years prior to the date on which the customer became eligible for delivery services, except as provided in subsection (f) of Section 16-110.

(k) The electric utility shall be entitled to recover through tariffed charges all of the costs associated with the purchase of zero emission credits from zero emission facilities to meet the requirements of subsection (d-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act and all of the costs associated with the purchase of carbon mitigation credits from carbon-free energy resources to meet the requirements of subsection (d-10) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. Such costs shall include the costs of procuring the zero emission credits and carbon mitigation credits from carbon-free energy resources, as well as the reasonable costs that the utility incurs as part of the procurement processes and to implement and comply with plans and processes approved by the Commission under subsections (d-5) and (d-10). The costs shall be allocated across all retail customers through a single, uniform cents per kilowatt-hour charge applicable to all retail customers, which shall appear as a separate line item on each customer's bill. The electric utility shall be entitled to recover through tariffed charges approved by the Commission all of the prudent and reasonable costs associated with energy storage resources procurements to meet the energy storage system portfolio standard of subsection (d-20) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. Such costs shall include the contract costs for the energy storage system resources and the prudent and reasonable costs that the utility incurs as part of the procurement processes and in implementing and complying with plans and processes approved by the Commission under subsection (d-20). The costs associated with the purchase of energy storage system resources shall be allocated across all retail customers in proportion to the amount of energy storage system resources the utility procures for such customers through a single, uniform cents per kilowatt-hour charge applicable to such retail customers, which shall appear as a separate line item on each customer's bill. Beginning June 1, 2017, the electric utility shall be entitled to recover through tariffed charges all of the costs associated with the purchase of renewable energy resources to meet the renewable energy resource standards of subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act, under procurement plans as approved in accordance with that Section and Section 16-111.5 of this Act. Such costs shall include the costs of procuring the renewable energy resources, as well as the reasonable costs that the utility incurs as part of the procurement processes and to implement and comply with plans and processes approved by the Commission under such Sections. The costs associated with the purchase of renewable energy resources shall be allocated across all retail customers in proportion to the amount of renewable energy resources the utility procures for such customers through a single, uniform cents per kilowatt-hour charge applicable to such retail customers, which shall appear as a separate line item on each such customer's bill. The credits, costs, and penalties associated with the self-direct renewable portfolio standard compliance program described in subparagraph (R) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act shall be allocated to approved eligible self-direct customers by the utility in a cents per kilowatt-hour credit, cost, or penalty, which shall appear as a separate line item on each such customer's bill.

Notwithstanding whether the Commission has approved the initial long-term renewable resources procurement plan as of June 1, 2017, an electric utility shall place new tariffed charges into effect beginning with the June 2017 monthly billing period, to the extent practicable, to begin recovering the costs of procuring renewable energy resources, as those charges are calculated under the limitations described in subparagraph (E) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. Notwithstanding the date on which the utility places such new tariffed charges into effect, the utility shall be permitted to collect the charges under such tariff as if the tariff had been in effect beginning with the first day of the June 2017 monthly billing period. For the delivery years commencing June 1, 2017, June 1, 2018, June 1, 2019, and each delivery year thereafter, the electric utility shall deposit into a separate interest bearing account of a financial institution the monies collected under the tariffed charges. Money collected from customers for the procurement of renewable energy resources in a given delivery year may be spent by the utility for the procurement of renewable resources over any of the following 5 delivery years, after which unspent money shall be credited back to retail customers. The electric utility shall spend all money collected in earlier delivery years that has not yet been returned to customers, first, before spending money collected in later delivery years. Any interest earned shall be credited back to retail customers under the reconciliation proceeding provided for in this subsection (k), provided that the electric utility shall first be reimbursed from the interest for the administrative costs that it incurs to administer and manage the account. Any taxes due on the funds in the account, or interest earned on it, will be paid from the account or, if insufficient monies are available in the account, from the monies collected under the tariffed charges to recover the costs of procuring renewable energy resources. Monies deposited in the account shall be subject to the review, reconciliation, and true-up process described in this subsection (k) that is applicable to the funds collected and costs incurred for the procurement of renewable energy resources.

The electric utility shall be entitled to recover all of the costs identified in this subsection (k) through automatic adjustment clause tariffs applicable to all of the utility's retail customers that allow the electric utility to adjust its tariffed charges consistent with this subsection (k). The determination as to whether any excess funds were collected during a given delivery year for the purchase of renewable energy resources, and the crediting of any excess funds back to retail customers, shall not be made until after the close of the delivery year, which will ensure that the maximum amount of funds is available to implement the approved long-term renewable resources procurement plan during a given delivery year. The amount of excess funds eligible to be credited back to retail customers shall be reduced by an amount equal to the payment obligations required by any contracts entered into by an electric utility under contracts described in subsection (b) of Section 1-56 and subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act, even if such payments have not yet been made and regardless of the delivery year in which those payment obligations were incurred. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, including in tariffs authorized by this subsection (k) in effect before the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, all unspent funds as of May 31, 2021, excluding any funds credited to customers during any utility billing cycle that commences prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, shall remain in the utility account and shall on a first in, first out basis be used toward utility payment obligations under contracts described in subsection (b) of Section 1-56 and subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. The electric utility's collections under such automatic adjustment clause tariffs to recover the costs of renewable energy resources, zero emission credits from zero emission facilities, energy storage resources, and carbon mitigation credits from carbon-free energy resources shall be subject to separate annual review, reconciliation, and true-up against actual costs by the Commission under a procedure that shall be specified in the electric utility's automatic adjustment clause tariffs and that shall be approved by the Commission in connection with its approval of such tariffs. The procedure shall provide that any difference between the electric utility's collections for energy storage resources, zero emission credits, and carbon mitigation credits under the automatic adjustment charges for an annual period and the electric utility's actual costs of energy storage resources, zero emission credits from zero emission facilities, and carbon mitigation credits from carbon-free energy resources for that same annual period shall be refunded to or collected from, as applicable, the electric utility's retail customers in subsequent periods.

Nothing in this subsection (k) is intended to affect, limit, or change the right of the electric utility to recover the costs associated with the procurement of renewable energy resources for periods commencing before, on, or after June 1, 2017, as otherwise provided in the Illinois Power Agency Act.

The funding available under this subsection (k), if any, for the programs described under subsection (b) of Section 1-56 of the Illinois Power Agency Act shall not reduce the amount of funding for the programs described in subparagraph (O) of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act. If funding is available under this subsection (k) for programs described under subsection (b) of Section 1-56 of the Illinois Power Agency Act, then the long-term renewable resources plan shall provide for the Agency to procure contracts in an amount that does not exceed the funding, and the contracts approved by the Commission shall be executed by the applicable utility or utilities.

(l) A utility that has terminated any contract executed under subsection (d-5) or (d-10) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act shall be entitled to recover any remaining balance associated with the purchase of zero emission credits prior to such termination, and such utility shall also apply a credit to its retail customer bills in the event of any over-collection.

(m)(1) An electric utility that recovers its costs of procuring zero emission credits from zero emission facilities through a cents-per-kilowatthour charge under subsection (k) of this Section shall be subject to the requirements of this subsection (m). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, such electric utility shall, beginning on April 30, 2018, and each April 30 thereafter until April 30, 2026, calculate whether any reduction must be applied to such cents-per-kilowatthour charge that is paid by retail customers of the electric utility that have opted out of subsections (a) through (j) of Section 8-103B of this Act under subsection (l) of Section 8-103B. Such charge shall be reduced for such customers for the next delivery year commencing on June 1 based on the amount necessary, if any, to limit the annual estimated average net increase for the prior calendar year due to the future energy investment costs to no more than 1.3% of 5.98 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is the average amount paid per kilowatthour for electric service during the year ending December 31, 2015 by Illinois industrial retail customers, as reported to the Edison Electric Institute.

The calculations required by this subsection (m) shall be made only once for each year, and no subsequent rate impact determinations shall be made.

(2) For purposes of this Section, "future energy investment costs" shall be calculated by subtracting the cents-per-kilowatthour charge identified in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph (2) from the sum of the cents-per-kilowatthour charges identified in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph (2):

(A) The cents-per-kilowatthour charge identified in the electric utility's tariff placed into effect under Section 8-103 of the Public Utilities Act that, on December 1, 2016, was applicable to those retail customers that have opted out of subsections (a) through (j) of Section 8-103B of this Act under subsection (l) of Section 8-103B.

(B) The sum of the following cents-per-kilowatthour charges applicable to those retail customers that have opted out of subsections (a) through (j) of Section 8-103B of this Act under subsection (l) of Section 8-103B, provided that if one or more of the following charges has been in effect and applied to such customers for more than one calendar year, then each charge shall be equal to the average of the charges applied over a period that commences with the calendar year ending December 31, 2017 and ends with the most recently completed calendar year prior to the calculation required by this subsection (m):

(i) the cents-per-kilowatthour charge to recover the costs incurred by the utility under subsection (d-5) of Section 1-75 of the Illinois Power Agency Act, adjusted for any reductions required under this subsection (m); and

(ii) the cents-per-kilowatthour charge to recover the costs incurred by the utility under Section 16-107.6 of the Public Utilities Act.

If no charge was applied for a given calendar year under item (i) or (ii) of this subparagraph (B), then the value of the charge for that year shall be zero.

(3) If a reduction is required by the calculation performed under this subsection (m), then the amount of the reduction shall be multiplied by the number of years reflected in the averages calculated under subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of this subsection (m). Such reduction shall be applied to the cents-per-kilowatthour charge that is applicable to those retail customers that have opted out of subsections (a) through (j) of Section 8-103B of this Act under subsection (l) of Section 8-103B beginning with the next delivery year commencing after the date of the calculation required by this subsection (m).

(4) The electric utility shall file a notice with the Commission on May 1 of 2018 and each May 1 thereafter until May 1, 2026 containing the reduction, if any, which must be applied for the delivery year which begins in the year of the filing. The notice shall contain the calculations made pursuant to this Section. By October 1 of each year beginning in 2018, each electric utility shall notify the Commission if it appears, based on an estimate of the calculation required in this subsection (m), that a reduction will be required in the next year.

(n)(1) The Commission shall, within 180 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly, initiate and complete a rulemaking proceeding to revise 83 Ill. Adm. Code 466 and 83 Ill. Adm. Code 467 to address barriers to timely and cost-effective interconnections for distributed generation facilities with a nameplate capacity of at least 40 kilowatts but no greater than 2 megawatts, including stand-alone solar photovoltaic systems, battery energy storage, hybrid gas-electric systems, and renewable natural gas integrations. The revisions shall include:

(A) capping interconnection study costs at 150% of the initial feasibility estimate or $50,000 per study, whichever is lesser, requiring electric distribution companies to justify estimates in advance, and prohibiting overhead markups on labor or materials;

(B) permitting applicants to self-supply interconnection studies or self-build system upgrades if an electric distribution company cannot complete them within 90 days or at capped costs, as long as such studies and upgrades meet the technical standards for electric distribution companies and are subject to Commission review for compliance;

(C) enhancing transparency by requiring electric distribution companies to provide anonymized queue data, model assumptions, and progress reports under confidentiality agreements, while maintaining system security;

(D) updating definitions to explicitly include stand-alone solar photovoltaic systems, battery energy storage, and hybrid gas-electric systems as distributed generation facilities and clarifying that lower-voltage facilities that qualify as transmission facilities under FERC Order 888 shall be treated as transmission facilities;

(E) mandating that all interconnection agreements be filed with the Commission within 30 days after the execution of the agreement, with provisions allowing applicants to file unexecuted agreements in initiating a rate case proceeding; and

(F) adding a pro forma attachment affirming that interconnecting facilities, including storage, comply with the requirements for non-taxable status under 26 U.S.C. 45.

(2) The Commission shall coordinate the revisions under this subsection (n) with a Future of Gas proceeding pursuant to the final Order of the Commission in Docket No. 24-0158 to ensure compatibility with gas decarbonization pathways and to prioritize market-driven distributed resources that enhance reliability and affordability. The revised rules shall take effect no later than July 1, 2026.

(Source: P.A. 104-458, eff. 6-1-26.)

Section 95. No acceleration or delay. Where this Act makes changes in a statute that is represented in this Act by text that is not yet or no longer in effect (for example, a Section represented by multiple versions), the use of that text does not accelerate or delay the taking effect of (i) the changes made by this Act or (ii) provisions derived from any other Public Act.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.