Illinois Statutes Chapter 220. Utilities § 5/9-201.5. Decommissioning nuclear power plants; rates

(a) The Commission may after hearing, in a rate case or otherwise, authorize the institution of rate provisions or tariffs that increase or decrease charges to customers to reflect changes in, or additional or reduced costs of, decommissioning nuclear power plants, including accruals for estimates of those costs, irrespective of any changes in other costs or revenues; provided the revenues collected under such rates or tariffs are used to recover costs associated with contributions to appropriate decommissioning trust funds or to reduce the amounts to be charged under such rates or tariffs in the future. These provisions or tariffs shall hereinafter be referred to as “decommissioning rates”.

(b) A public utility that does not have a decommissioning rate in effect on the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1994 may not place a decommissioning rate in effect before January 1, 1995. Changes in charges under a decommissioning rate shall not be subject to the notice and filing requirements of subsection (a) of Section 9-201 of this Act, but a decommissioning rate of a utility that does not have such a rate in effect before the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1994 shall provide that no increase in charges under that rate may take effect until 60 days after the utility provides the proposed increased charge to the Commission for review. The Commission may require that a decommissioning rate contain provisions for reconciling amounts collected under the rate with both reasonably projected costs and actual costs prudently incurred. As used in this Section, “decommissioning costs” and “decommissioning trust fund” have the same meaning as in Section 8-508.1 of this Act.

(c) Nothing contained in this amendatory Act of 1994 shall affect any determination of the authority of the Commission before the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1994. Nothing contained in this amendatory Act of 1994 shall be used in any determination of the authority of the Commission after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1994, except with respect to decommissioning rates.

(d) A decommissioning rate authorized by the Commission under this Section and the decommissioning cost studies underlying the rate shall be subject to hearing and review, in a rate case or otherwise, not less than once every 6 years.