§ 11-21.5-5 — Local emergency energy plans

Illinois § 11-21.5-5

• Jurisdiction: Illinois
• Topic: GOVERNMENT
• Ch. 65: MUNICIPALITIES
• Act 65 ILCS 5/: Illinois Municipal Code.
• Art.: Art 11 prec Div 16 - Health Regulations

Text

(a) Any municipality, including a home rule municipality, may, by ordinance, require any electric utility (i) that serves more than 1,000,000 customers in Illinois and (ii) that is operating within the corporate limits of the municipality to adopt and to provide the municipality with a local emergency energy plan. For the purposes of this Section, (i) "local emergency energy plan" or "plan" means a planned course of action developed by the electric utility that is implemented when the demand for electricity exceeds, or is at significant risk of exceeding, the supply of electricity available to the electric utility and (ii) "local emergency energy plan ordinance" means an ordinance adopted by the corporate authorities of the municipality under this Section that requires local emergency energy plans. (b) A local emergency energy plan must include the following information: (1) the circumstances that would require the implementation of the plan; (2) the levels or stages of the plan; (3) the approximate geographic limits of each outage area provided for in the plan; (4) the approximate number of customers within each outage area provided for in the plan; (5) any police facilities, fire stations, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, day care centers, senior citizens centers, community health centers, blood banks, dialysis centers, community mental health centers, correctional facilities, stormwater and wastewater treatment or pumping facilities, water-pumping stations, buildings in excess of 80 feet in height that have been identified by the municipality, and persons on life support systems that are known to the electric utility that could be affected by controlled rotating interruptions of electric service under the plan; and (6) the anticipated sequence and duration of intentional interruptions of electric service to each outage area under the plan. (c) A local emergency energy plan ordinance may require that, when an electric utility determines it is necessary to implement a controlled rotating interruption of electric service because the demand for electricity exceeds, or is at significant risk of exceeding, the supply of electricity available to the electric utility, the electric utility notify a designated municipal officer that the electric utility will be implementing its local emergency energy plan. The notification shall be made pursuant to a procedure approved by the municipality after consultation with the electric utility. (d) After providing the notice required in subsection (c), an electric utility shall reasonably and separately advise designated municipal officials before it implements each level or stage of the plan, which shall include (i) a request for emergency help from neighboring utilities, (ii) a declaration of a control area emergency, and (iii) a public appeal for voluntary curtailment of electricity use. (e) The electric utility must give a separate notice to a designated municipal official immediately after it determines that there will be a controlled rotating interruption of electric service under the local emergency energy plan. The notification must include (i) the areas in which service will be interrupted, (ii) the sequence and estimated duration of the service outage for each area, (iii) the affected feeders, and (iv) the number of affected customers in each area. Whenever practical, the notification shall be made at least 2 hours before the time of the outages. If the electric utility is aware that controlled rotating interruptions may be required, the notification may not be made less than 30 minutes before the outages. (f) A local emergency energy plan ordinance may provide civil penalties for violations of its provisions. The penalties must be permitted under the Illinois Municipal Code. (g) The notifications required by this Section are in addition to the notification requirements of any applicable franchise agreement or ordinance and to the notification requirements of any applicable federal or State law, rule, and regulation. (h) Except for any penalties or remedies that may be provided in a local emergency energy plan ordinance, in this Act, or in rules adopted by the Illinois Commerce Commission, nothing in this Section shall be construed to impose liability for or prevent a utility from taking any actions that are necessary at any time, in any order, and with or without notice that are required to preserve the integrity of the electric utility's electrical system and interconnected network. (i) Nothing in this Section, a local emergency energy plan ordinance, or a local emergency energy plan creates any duty of a municipality to any person or entity. No municipality may be subject to any claim or cause of action arising, directly or indirectly, from its decision to adopt or to refrain from adopting a local emergency energy plan ordinance. No municipality may be subject to any claim or cause of action arising, directly or indirectly, from any act or omission under the terms of or information provided in a local emergency energy plan filed under a local emergency energy plan ordinance.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 92-651, eff. 7-11-02; 93-293, eff. 7-22-03.)