§ 16-122 — Customer information

(a) Upon the request of a retail customer, or a person who presents verifiable authorization and is acting as the customer's agent, and payment of a reasonable fee, electric utilities shall provide to the customer or its authorized agent the customer's billing and usage data. (b) Upon request from any alternative retail electric supplier and payment of a reasonable fee, an electric utility serving retail customers in its service area shall make available generic information concerning the usage, load shape curve or other general characteristics of customers by rate classification. Provided however, no customer specific billing, usage or load shape data shall be provided under this subsection unless authorization to provide such information is provided by the customer pursuant to subsection (a) of this Section. Notwithstanding the requirements of this Section, if an alternative retail electric supplier warrants to an electric utility serving more than 500,000 retail customers that the alternative retail electric supplier's customer has provided consent as described in subsection (d-5) of Section 2EE of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, then until either the customer contacts the alternative retail electric supplier to opt out or the customer is no longer served by the alternative retail electric supplier: (1) An electric utility serving more than 500,000 retail customers shall electronically transmit interval meter usage data at the end of each monthly billing period for each residential retail customer for which the alternative retail electric supplier is providing electric power and energy supply service, for which the alternative retail electric supplier has requested such information, and for which the electric utility meters the residential customer using automated metering infrastructure equipment. Such data transmission shall occur no later than one business day after the electric utility serving more than 500,000 retail customers validates the interval meter usage data with the monthly billing period for such residential retail customer through an electronic data interchange or secure interface for which the alternative retail electric supplier has requested such information and upon payment of a reasonable and amortized fee to recover the utility's prudently and reasonably incurred costs, approved by the Commission after notice and hearing, to provide this service. The interval meter usage data shall be provided at a minimum on an hourly basis or on a 30-minute basis. In addition, not later than the following day, the electric utility shall provide unverified interval data through an electronic data interchange or secure interface for which the alternative retail electric supplier has requested such information and upon payment of a reasonable and amortized fee to recover the utility's prudently and reasonably incurred costs, approved by the Commission after notice and hearing, to provide this service. The unverified interval meter usage data shall be provided at a minimum on an hourly basis or on a 30-minute basis. The same processes shall apply for nonresidential retail customers. (2) An electric utility serving more than 500,000 retail customers shall submit tariffs to the Commission for approval within 120 days of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly to meet the minimum requirements of paragraph (1) and provide such services no later than June 1, 2025. The Commission shall issue an order approving, or approving with modification to ensure compliance with this Section, the tariff no later than 240 days after such filing of the tariffs filed as described in this Section. (3) Nothing in this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly prohibits such utility proposing new tariffs as described in Article IX to the extent such tariffs are consistent with the requirements of this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly. Nothing in this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly shall require such electric utility to alter its tariffs or practices to the extent that they: (i) provide interval data with shorter intervals; (ii) provide interval data more frequently than monthly; or (iii) provide other enhancements beyond the minimum standards required by paragraph (1). (4) An alternative retail electric supplier shall use such interval meter usage data exclusively for the development, marketing, and provision of current and future products and services to enable such customers to more easily and effectively manage their energy consumption, including, but not limited to, time-of-use pricing, demand response, energy efficiency or management, beneficial electrification, on-site or community generation, or any other electricity-related products or services or customer billing or as otherwise authorized by the Commission. (5) An alternative retail electric supplier shall not sell interval data obtained under this Section. An alternative retail electric supplier shall not provide, share, or otherwise disclose a consumer's interval meter data obtained under this Section, except an alternative retail electric supplier may license or disclose a customer's interval meter data obtained under this Section if the following conditions are met: (i) the license or disclosure is made to an alternative retail electric supplier's affiliate or a third party with which the alternative retail electric supplier has a contract; (ii) the disclosure of a customer's interval meter data is made only to perform the following functions on behalf of the alternative retail electric supplier: billing and invoicing, administration of the product or service provided to the customer, or pricing products and services for the customer; and (iii) the alternative retail electric supplier maintains responsibility for ensuring that its affiliates and contracted third parties purge such data upon termination of their contract, ownership, affiliation, or license or other agreement, or to the extent that the customer interval data is no longer necessary for the affiliate or contracted third party to perform the function for which the customer interval data was provided. An alternative retail electric supplier may not provide a customer's interval meter data obtained under this Section to a sales agent, broker, or consultant for the purpose of marketing to that specific customer. An alternative retail electric supplier shall be strictly liable under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, this Act, and any other applicable law for any improper or unauthorized disclosure of customer interval data by it or any entity to which it discloses such customer interval data, regardless of whether such data was disclosed under the terms of this Section. (6) Nothing in this Section prohibits an electric utility serving more than 500,000 retail customers from providing interval metering data to an alternative retail electric supplier as otherwise authorized by law or order of the Commission. (7) The Commission shall set such fee, after notice and hearing pursuant to paragraph (1) and cost recovery to provide data or services, including any and all data or services provided or proposed under paragraphs (1) through (3) or otherwise authorized by this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly, which shall be designed to obtain cost recovery solely from alternative retail electric suppliers. The fee shall be paid by all alternative retail electric suppliers that are authorized to provide service to residential customers in the electric utility's service territory on a periodic basis as set forth in the tariff. The Commission shall not establish a fee that is so high as to deter competition or competitive supply offerings in the State, or deny a utility a reasonable opportunity to recover its cost of providing public utility service pursuant to this Act. The Commission may at any time review the reasonableness of the fee established pursuant to this Section upon its own motion or petition of an interested party. (c) Upon request from a unit of local government and payment of a reasonable fee, an electric utility shall make available information concerning the usage, load shape curves, and other characteristics of customers by customer classification and location within the boundaries of the unit of local government, however, no customer specific billing, usage, or load shape data shall be provided under this subsection unless authorization to provide that information is provided by the customer. This subsection (c) does not prohibit an electric utility from providing a unit of local government or its designated auditor the materials delineated in Section 8-11-2.5 of the Illinois Municipal Code for the purposes of an audit under that Section. (d) All such customer information shall be made available in a timely fashion in an electronic format, if available.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 102-1144, eff. 3-17-23; 103-237, eff. 6-30-23.)