Illinois

Restructuring Overview  |  Public Benefits  |  Restructuring Resources  |  Consumer Protection 

Legislation Passed
Electric Y Gas N

1997, HB 362; The Electric Service Customer Choice and Rate Relief Law

1999, SB 24; Accelerates Implementation

2002, SB 1569; Directs the Illinois Commerce Commission to study the consumer benefits of municipal and other forms of electric aggregation; permits local government to purchase customers usage data, and protects customer privacy

Electric
Overview

• Under the state's Electric Service Choice and Rate Relief Law of 1997, residential customers were given a 15% rate cut in August 1998 and an additional 5% reduction in October 2001, the largest rate reductions in the country. This action was intended to offer savings to residential customers while non-residential customers were offered customer choice. Residential customers who stay with their utility after May 2002 will have their rates frozen until 2005.

Choice Status

• Deregulation in the commercial and industrial market in Illinois, which began in 1999, was to have paved the way for eventual competition in the residential market. Now some experts predict it will be many years before suppliers attempt to compete for the state's residential customers, if it ever happens, because of the high costs involved in supplying power to such small users.

Natural Gas
Overview

• Nicor Gas' Customer Select program received final approval from the Illinois Commerce Commission in January 2002 to move from the pilot stage to a permanent program. Customer Select became available to all of Nicor Gas' two million customers in March 2002.
• Customers of both Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas became eligible for a choice of gas suppliers in May 2002.  Enrollment limits for People's Gas residential customers is 98,000 for the first year and up to 180,000 in the third year.  North Shore Gas enrollment limits are 18,000 residential customores the first year and 30,000 customers in the third year.
• The Central Illinois Light Company's pilot is no longer in operation.

Choice Status

• Although Illinois has not enacted a law opening up the gas market to competition, virtually all of the state’s non-residential customers may purchase gas from alternative gas suppliers. Some residential customers in the state have access to pilot unbundling programs.

Choice education
Plug In Illinois
www.icc.state.il.us/pluginillinois/
This state website contains an explanation of electric restructuring in Illinois and a Consumer's Guide to Electric Choice, Energy Sources, Billing, and Customer Rights. The site also lists competitive electric suppliers.

Suppliers
www.icc.state.il.us/pluginillinois/suppliers.asp

Public Benefits

Illinois' restructuring law directed gas and electric utilities to assess a monthly charge on residential, commercial and industrial gas and electric accounts to fund energy efficiency, renewable energy and low-income programs. Charges range from 40 cents for residential customers to $300 for large industrial customers. The money is deposited into the state Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund, administered by the Department Commerce and Community Affairs, the LIHEAP grantee. Since 1999, average annual funding from the monthly charge is $83 million. Of that, $3 million is used for energy efficiency programs, $5 million for renewable energy programs, and $75 million for low-income programs, of which 80 percent is for low-income rate assistance. Additionally, Commonwealth Edison was required to make a one-time contribution of $250 million to establish an Illinois clean energy community trust for energy efficiency, renewable and environmental projects. (Click here for details on the state’s low-income energy and general residential energy programs.)

Aggregation

• Aggregators are included in the definition of alternative retail electric supplier. Suppliers must obtain a certificate of service authority from the Illinois Commerce Commission.
• Electric utilities must allow aggregation for any voluntary grouping of customers, including those having a common agent with authority to purchase electric power and energy and delivery services on behalf of all customers in the grouping.

State Restructuring Resources

Utility Regulatory Commission
Illinois Commerce Commission
1-800-524-0795
www.icc.state.il.us/home.aspx

Consumer advocate
Citizens Utility Board
1-800-669-5556
www.citizensutilityboard.org/

Grassroots groups
ACORN
312-939-7488
www.acorn.org
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families. Energy is among its priorities. The group successfully lobbied for money to help low-income households pay off utility arrearages in Illinois.

The Community Energy Cooperative
773-486-7600, ext. 200
www.energycooperative.net/
The Community Energy Cooperative is a non-profit membership organization helping consumers and communities obtain the information and services they need to control energy costs. The Cooperative was founded in January 2000 by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, with initial support from ComEd for a three-year start-up period. The Cooperative is beginning its work in targeted communities where demand for energy is growing rapidly or is projected to outstrip existing capacity. Its website features information on available energy efficiency measures, as well as news about restructuring issues in Illinois.

Consumer Protection

Disconnection policy

• Gas and electric service to residential heating customers cannot be shut off if the National Weather Service predicts 32° temperatures or less for the next 24 hours, or if customers provide the utility with a valid illness certificate.
• Service can be disconnected if the customer bill was not paid, the deposit or increased deposit amount was not paid by the due date, the customer tampered with company equipment, the deferred payment agreement was not kept, access to company equipment was denied, or hazardous health and safety conditions exist.
• Before shutting off service, the utility must mail customers a final notice 8 days before shut-off or deliver the notice 5 days prior to disconnection. Service cannot be shut off after 2 p.m. unless the utility is prepared to reconnect service the same day at the regular reconnection charge. Before shutting off service to residential heating customers, the utility must once during the winter months: notify the customer by telephone, in person, or first class mail, that service may be shut off; offer a deferred payment agreement for past due bills and a level payment plan for future bills; provide information on government or private agency assistance; and not shut off service for at least 6 business days after notifying the customer of possible disconnection.
• To have their service reconnected, customers must pay all past due bills or enter a deferred payment agreement, if the utility agrees. In addition, customers must pay a deposit, if required, and pay a reconnection fee, if required.
• Households can be reconnected for less than full payment during the winter months only if gas or electric service provides the main source of heating; service was shut off for nonpayment between December 1 of the previous heating season and April 1 of the current heating season; the customer applied for service reconnection between November 1 and April 1; the customer was not reconnected using this winter policy last year; the customer hasn't benefited from the tampering of meters or other company equipment; and the customer has paid at least 1/3 of the amount billed since the previous December 1.

Deferred payments

• Customers can spread payments on past due amounts over several months if they have not defaulted on a deferred payment agreement within the past 12 months and their service is still on. Customers must pay the deferred payment amount and their regular bill amount by each due date.
• April 1 to November 30: The utility may require a down payment -- no more than 25% of the amount past due. The utility will allow customers to pay the amount within 4 to 12 months.
• December 1 to March 31: The utility may require a down payment -- no more than 10% of amount past due. The utility will allow customers to pay the amount within 4 months, not to extend beyond the following November.
• If customers have missed a payment, the utility must let them back on the plan one time provided that: Service has not been shut off and customers pay the amount they should have paid if they had kept the agreement.
• Customers can renegotiate a deferred payment agreement one time if: Not more than 14 days have passed since they failed to make a payment and they can show that their financial situation has changed.

Customer service

• Before providing service for residential and small commercial customers, a competitive supplier must provide a terms of service statement which outlines all charges, the length of the contract, the process for notification regarding changes in terms of service, and a toll-free number. Utilities and competitive suppliers are also required to provide customers at least once a year with information on the average monthly prices paid by the consumer for electricity, as well as the terms and conditions for sales.

Deposits/fees

• The utility may require a deposit if the customer has not paid for past utility service. The utility may require a deposit within 45 days of the following occurrences: The customer has paid late during any 12-month period of the first 2 years of service (four times, if billed monthly; two times in a row, or three times, if billed every other month; twice, if billed every 3 or 6 months) or has benefited from tampering with utility equipment.
• The utility must refund customer deposits plus interest after a year, unless the customer has any unpaid past due bills or paid late, as explained above.

Billing and collections

• Customers of competitive suppliers may receive one bill from the new supplier, or they may receive separate bills – one from the electric supplier and one from the local utility company that delivers electricity.
• The charges on an electric bill could include: generation charge for producing electricity; delivery service charge for distribution service provided by the electric utility company to keep the transmission and distribution systems functioning so customers can receive electric service; transition charge for costs incurred by the local utility prior to restructuring may be charged through the transition period (through December 2006); and customer charge, which is a basic service charge to partially cover the costs of billing, meter reading, equipment, and service line maintenance.

Supplier licensing

• The Illinois Commerce Commission must determine that an electric supplier possesses sufficient technical, financial and managerial resources to provide service. When making this judgment, the ICC must consider the characteristics, including size and financial sophistication, of the customers the applicant wishes to serve. The Commission can impose fines of $10,000 per violation or $30,000 on suppliers that violate licensing requirements.

Slamming

• Before switching a customer, a competitive supplier must obtain verifiable authorization from the customer, in the form of a customer’s written authorization of a change in electric service through a letter of agency. Suppliers who switch a customer without his consent are

Fraud

• The restructuring legislation provides consumer protections, with amendments to the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business governing how suppliers can solicit and bill customers. It also provides additional penalties of $50,000 per violation for fraudulent acts against elderly or disabled persons.

Dispute resolution

• To resolve customer problems, customers should contact the utility company. If the utility cannot resolve the problem, customers should contact the Illinois Commerce Commission Consumer Services Division.
• The Consumer Counselor will provide information about Commission rules/state laws that handle the problem and, if necessary, contact the utility for information and documentation regarding the customer account.
• If a resolution is not reached through the informal process, customers may file for a formal hearing with the ICC, which will schedule a hearing. The hearing, similar to a court hearing, takes place before the Commission's impartial hearing examiner. Customers may use a lawyer's services, though it is not required. The Commission will consider the testimony presented, review the evidence and make a decision.
• During both the informal and formal complaint processes, the utility will not discontinue service if customers pay the undisputed portion of the bill OR pay for what they used during the same billing period the previous year. Customers must continue to pay all current bills.

Discrimination/redlining

• Electric suppliers cannot deny service to a customer or group of customers or establish any differences as to prices, terms, conditions, services, products, facilities, or in any other respect, based on race, gender, income or locality.

Disclosure

• Fuel source and emissions information must be included on or with bills. Alternative suppliers who make claims about the technologies and fuel types used to generate their electricity have to provide documentation substantiating such claims to the ICC and to customers.

Advertising/marketing/trade practices

• Any marketing materials that make statements about prices, terms and conditions of service must adequately disclose the prices, terms and conditions of the products or services that the alternative retail electric supplier is offering or selling to the customer. Before any customer is switched from another supplier, the alternative retail electric supplier must give the customer written information that adequately discloses, in plain language, the prices, terms and conditions of the products and services being offered and sold to the customer.

Privacy

• Utilities cannot provide customer-specific billing, usage or load shape data to any retail electric supplier except at the customer’s request.