{"data":{"id":"us-il/220-ilcs-5-9-241","jurisdiction":"us-il","citation":"220 ILCS 5/9-241","heading":"Nondiscrimination.","body":"(a) No public utility shall, as to rates or other charges, services, facilities or in other respect, make or grant any preference or advantage to any corporation or person or subject any corporation or person to any prejudice or disadvantage. No public utility shall establish or maintain any unreasonable difference as to rates or other charges, services, facilities, or in any other respect, either as between localities or as between classes of service.\n(b) An electric utility in a county with a population of 3,000,000 or more shall not establish or maintain any unreasonable difference as to rates or other charges, services, contractual terms, or facilities for access to or the use of its utility infrastructure by another person or for any other purpose. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commission and its staff shall interpret this Section in accordance with Article XVI of this Act.\n(c) Nothing in this Section shall be construed as limiting the authority of the Commission to permit the establishment of economic development rates as incentives to economic development either in enterprise zones as designated by the State of Illinois or in other areas of a utility's service area. Such rates should be available to existing businesses which demonstrate an increase to existing load as well as new businesses which create new load for a utility so as to create a more balanced utilization of generating capacity. The Commission shall ensure that such rates are established at a level which provides a net benefit to customers within a public utility's service area.\n(d) On or before January 1, 2023, the Commission shall conduct a comprehensive study to assess whether low-income discount rates for electric and natural gas residential customers are appropriate and the potential design and implementation of any such rates. The Commission shall include its findings, together with the appropriate recommendations, in a report to be provided to the General Assembly. Upon completion of the study, the Commission shall have the authority to permit or require electric and natural gas utilities to file a tariff establishing low-income discount rates.\nSuch study shall assess, at a minimum, the following:\n(1) customer eligibility requirements, including income-based eligibility and eligibility based on participation in or eligibility for certain public assistance programs;\n(2) appropriate rate structures, including consideration of tiered discounts for different income levels;\n(3) appropriate recovery mechanisms, including the consideration of volumetric charges and customer charges;\n(4) appropriate verification mechanisms;\n(5) measures to ensure customer confidentiality and data safeguards;\n(6) outreach and consumer education procedures; and\n(7) the impact that a low-income discount rate would have on the affordability of delivery service to low-income customers and customers overall.\n(d-5) For the purposes of this subsection (d-5), \"qualifying customer\" means a residential customer of a utility serving more than 100,000 customers in the State that has a low-income discount program for residential customers (i) who has been deemed eligible for assistance under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) or who receives energy assistance under the Energy Assistance Act and (ii) whose household income does not exceed 300% of the federal poverty level.\nNotwithstanding the contents of the report required under subsection (d) and any other provision of this Act, the Commission may approve a low-income discount for electric and natural gas residential customers that applies to the entirety of a qualifying customer's bill, including, but not limited to, a qualifying customer's delivery service charges, energy supply charges, and any other applicable charges. The low-income discount under this subsection (d-5) shall not apply to, or otherwise reduce, any State or municipal taxes or any nonbypassable charge approved by the Commission or defined in a public utility's tariff and included in the qualifying customer's bill. An electric or natural gas utility may fund its low-income discounts under this subsection (d-5) through a surcharge on both its residential and non-residential customers' electric and natural gas bills. Any charges, surcharges, or cost recovery mechanisms authorized or approved by the Commission under this Section shall be assessed solely on a fixed, per-customer basis and shall not be designed, implemented, or recovered on a volumetric, usage-based, demand-based, or throughput basis, whether directly or indirectly. Charges authorized under this Section may vary by customer class or rate classification.\nAny electric or natural gas public utility serving more than 100,000 customers in the State that does not have a low-income discount or that elects to implement a low-income discount that complies with the requirements of this subsection (d-5) on and after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly shall, within 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly, file a new or amended tariff with the Commission to implement the new low-income discount or bring the utility's low-income discount into compliance with this subsection (d-5). The Commission shall issue a final order approving, or approving with modifications aligning the tariff with the requirements of this subsection (d-5), the utility's tariff within 90 days after receipt of the utility's filing. The utility shall implement the changes necessary to put the approved low-income discount into effect no later than 12 months after the issuance of the Commission's final order approving the low-income discount. If the utility needs more than 12 months to implement the necessary changes, the utility shall have, upon filing a notice with the Commission, an additional 12 months to implement the changes necessary to put the approved low-income discount into effect. Any tariff from a utility establishing a low-income discount that is in effect as of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly shall remain in effect until the utility implements an updated low-income discount that satisfies the requirements of this subsection (d-5). A utility shall be entitled to recover prudent and reasonable costs incurred in complying with this subsection (d-5).\nIn reviewing and approving any low-income discount under this subsection (d-5), the Commission shall take into consideration the effect of the low-income discount on, and shall endeavor to maximize, the allocation and receipt of federal LIHEAP grants, funds under Section 13 of the Energy Assistance Act, and any other State and federal energy assistance funds that are available to the State. The low-income discounts authorized under this subsection (d-5) may include, but are not limited to, tiered discounts or a Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) program. For any low-income discounts approved by the Commission after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly, the calculation of the low-income discount to be applied to a qualifying customer's bill shall be applied after any federal or State energy assistance funds are allocated and applied to the qualifying customer's bill.\nNothing in this subsection (d-5) shall be interpreted to limit, modify, or nullify any low-income discount rate that is in effect for a regulated water utility as of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly or prohibit Commission approval of any future proposal for a low-income discount rate for such regulated water utility.\n(e) The Commission shall adopt rules requiring utility companies to produce information, in the form of a mailing, and other approved methods of distribution, to its consumers, to inform the consumers of available rebates, discounts, credits, and other cost-saving mechanisms that can help them lower their monthly utility bills, and send out such information semi-annually, unless otherwise provided by this Article.\n(f) Prior to October 1, 1989, no public utility providing electrical or gas service shall consider the use of solar or other nonconventional renewable sources of energy by a customer as a basis for establishing higher rates or charges for any service or commodity sold to such customer; nor shall a public utility subject any customer utilizing such energy source or sources to any other prejudice or disadvantage on account of such use. No public utility shall without the consent of the Commission, charge or receive any greater compensation in the aggregate for a lesser commodity, product, or service than for a greater commodity, product or service of like character.\nThe Commission, in order to expedite the determination of rate questions, or to avoid unnecessary and unreasonable expense, or to avoid unjust or unreasonable discrimination between classes of customers, or, whenever in the judgment of the Commission public interest so requires, may, for rate making and accounting purposes, or either of them, consider one or more municipalities either with or without the adjacent or intervening rural territory as a regional unit where the same public utility serves such region under substantially similar conditions, and may within such region prescribe uniform rates for consumers or patrons of the same class.\nAny public utility, with the consent and approval of the Commission, may as a basis for the determination of the charges made by it classify its service according to the amount used, the time when used, the purpose for which used, and other relevant factors.","path":["CHAPTER 220 UTILITIES","Public Utilities Act."],"source_url":"https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ILCS/details?ActID=1277\u0026ChapterID=23\u0026ChapAct=FullText\u0026Print=True","current_through":"at least Public Act 104-790","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-15T04:46:30Z","sha256":"164618845c013a9f5a6e80ce750fa3d0c8f4a3d3aad60ef680b3babf6a064e5c","source_id":"us-il","stale":false,"prev":"us-il/220-ilcs-5-9-240","next":"us-il/220-ilcs-5-9-242"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}