HB 3499 — NET ELECTRICITY METERING

*LRB10409282AAS19340b* HB3499 104THEngrossed GENERALLRB104 ASSEMBLY09282 StateAAS of19340 Illinoisb andAN 2026ACT HB3499concerning Introducedregulation. 2/18/2025, by Rep.

Eva-Dina Delgado SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

See Index Amends the Public Utilities Act.

Changes the name of the Retail Electric Competition Article to the Retail and Renewable Electric Competition Article.

Changes the name of the Retail Electric Competition Act of 2006 to the Retail and Renewable Electric Competition Act of 2006.

Changes the name of the Office of Retail Market Development to the Office of Retail and Renewable Market Development and the title of the head of the Office from Director to Bureau Chief.

Provides that the Bureau Chief shall have the authority to employ or otherwise retain at least 2 professionals dedicated to the task of actively seeking out ways to promote distributed renewable energy generation devices and community renewable generation projects in the State to benefit all State consumers.

Provides that the Office shall actively seek input from all interested parties and shall develop a thorough understanding and critical analyses of the tools and techniques used to promote development and remove barriers to development of distributed renewable energy generation devices and community renewable generation projects.

Provides that the Office shall take steps for interconnections involving distributed renewable energy resources, energy storage systems, utility-scale wind projects, and utility-scale solar projects, including interconnections to a distribution system or a transmission system.

Provides that the Interconnection Working Group shall determine a single standardized cost for Level 1 interconnections, which shall not exceed $200.

Provides that, in collaboration with the General Counsel of the Commission, the Office shall develop policies and procedures to facilitate employees of the Office in leading the Interconnection Working Group without interference with docketed proceedings.

Provides that the Office may employ, designate, or otherwise retain the services of an Ombudsperson who is responsible for oversight of a utility's compliance with the certain rules and any other utility interconnection policies or procedures.

Sets forth provisions concerning the authority of the Ombudsperson and interconnection monitoring by the Office.

Makes conforming and other changes.

LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b A BILL FOR HB3499 LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b AN ACT concerning regulation.

(b) As used in this Section, (i) "community renewable generation project" shall have the meaning set forth in HB3499 Engrossed - 2 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b Section 1-10 of the Illinois Power Agency Act;

(viii) HB3499 Engrossed - 3 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b "energy storage system" means commercially available technology that is capable of absorbing energy and storing it for a period of time for use at a later time, including, but not limited to, electrochemical, thermal, and electromechanical technologies, and may be interconnected behind the customer's meter or interconnected behind its own meter;

(1) For eligible customers whose electric service has not been declared competitive pursuant to Section 16-113 of this Act as of July 1, 2011 and whose electric delivery service is provided and measured on a kilowatt-hour basis and electric supply service is not provided based on HB3499 Engrossed - 4 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b hourly pricing, this shall typically be accomplished through use of a single, bi-directional meter.

(3) For all other eligible customers, until such time HB3499 Engrossed - 5 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b as the local electric utility installs a smart meter, as described by subsection (b) of Section 16-108.5 of this Act, the electricity provider may arrange for the local electric utility or a meter service provider to install and maintain metering equipment capable of measuring the flow of electricity both into and out of the customer's facility at the same rate and ratio, typically through the use of a dual channel meter.

(2) If the amount of electricity produced by a HB3499 Engrossed - 6 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b customer during the billing period exceeds the amount of electricity used by the customer during that billing period, the electricity provider supplying that customer shall apply a 1:1 kilowatt-hour credit to a subsequent bill for service to the customer for the net electricity supplied to the electricity provider.

HB3499 Engrossed - 7 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b (1) If the amount of electricity used by the customer during any hourly period or time-of-use period exceeds the amount of electricity produced by the customer, the electricity provider shall charge the customer for the net electricity supplied to and used by the customer according to the terms of the contract or tariff to which the same customer would be assigned to or be eligible for if the customer was not a net metering customer.

(e) An electricity provider shall measure and charge or credit for the net electricity supplied to eligible customers whose electric service has not been declared competitive HB3499 Engrossed - 8 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b pursuant to Section 16-113 of this Act as of July 1, 2011 and whose electric delivery service is provided and measured on a kilowatt demand basis and electric supply service is not provided based on hourly pricing in the following manner:

The electricity provider shall continue to carry over any excess kilowatt-hour credits earned and apply those credits to subsequent billing periods to offset any customer-generator consumption in those billing periods until all credits are used or until HB3499 Engrossed - 9 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b the end of the annualized period.

Subsections (c) through (e) of this Section shall not be construed to prevent an arms-length agreement between an electricity provider and an eligible customer that sets forth different prices, terms, and conditions for the provision of net metering service, HB3499 Engrossed - 10 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b including, but not limited to, the provision of the appropriate metering equipment for non-residential customers.

(3) For all eligible net metering customers taking service from an electricity provider under contracts or tariffs employing hourly or time-of-use rates, any monthly consumption of electricity shall be calculated according HB3499 Engrossed - 11 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b to the terms of the contract or tariff to which the same customer would be assigned to or be eligible for if the customer was not a net metering customer.

(h) Within 120 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly, the Commission shall establish standards for net metering and, if the Commission has not already acted on its own initiative, standards for the interconnection of eligible renewable HB3499 Engrossed - 12 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b generating equipment to the utility system.

(A) cost and best available technology for HB3499 Engrossed - 13 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b interconnection and metering, including the standardization and publication of standard costs;

(J) collect, share, and examine data on Level 1 interconnection costs, including cost and type of upgrades required for interconnection, and use this data to inform the final standardized cost of Level 1 HB3499 Engrossed - 14 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b interconnection;

and (3) determine a single standardized cost for Level 1 HB3499 Engrossed - 15 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b interconnections, which shall not exceed $200.

Nothing in this Section shall limit the ability of an electricity provider to request HB3499 Engrossed - 16 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b the redaction of information deemed by the Commission to be confidential business information.

and HB3499 Engrossed - 17 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b (C) subscriptions to community renewable generation projects, including community renewable generation projects on the customer's side of the billing meter of a host facility and partially used for the customer's own load.

For customers with HB3499 Engrossed - 18 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b transmission or capacity charges not charged on a kilowatt-hour basis, the electricity provider shall prepare a reasonable approximation of the kilowatt-hour equivalent value and provide that value as a monetary credit.

For the purposes of this subsection, "total price to compare" means the rate or rates published by the Illinois Commerce Commission for energy supply for eligible customers receiving HB3499 Engrossed - 19 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b supply service from the electric utility, and shall include energy, capacity, transmission, and the purchased energy adjustment.

HB3499 Engrossed - 20 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b (4) If requested by the owner or operator of a community renewable generating project, an electric utility serving more than 200,000 customers as of January 1, 2021 shall enter into a net crediting agreement with the owner or operator to include a subscriber's subscription fee on the subscriber's monthly electric bill and provide the subscriber with a net credit equivalent to the total bill credit value for that generation period minus the subscription fee, provided the subscription fee is structured as a fixed percentage of bill credit value.

HB3499 Engrossed - 21 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b (A) The owner or operator shall, on a monthly basis, provide to the electric utility the kilowatthours of generation attributable to each of the utility's retail customers and subscribers participating in projects under this subsection (l) in accordance with the customer's or subscriber's share of the eligible renewable electric generating facility's or community renewable generation project's output of power and energy for such month.

(B) For those participating customers and subscribers who receive their energy supply from an alternative retail electric supplier, the electric utility shall remit to the applicable alternative retail electric supplier the information provided under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph (3) for such customers and subscribers in a HB3499 Engrossed - 22 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b manner set forth in such alternative retail electric supplier's net metering program, or as otherwise agreed between the utility and the alternative retail electric supplier.

(l-5) Within 90 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, each electric utility subject to this Section shall file a tariff or tariffs to implement the provisions of subsection (l) of this Section, which shall, consistent with the provisions of subsection (l), describe the terms and conditions under which owners or HB3499 Engrossed - 23 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b operators of qualifying properties, units, or apartments may participate in net metering.

The electric utility serving more than 200,000 customers as of January 1, HB3499 Engrossed - 24 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b 2021 is responsible for ensuring the billing credits continue without lapse for the lifetime of systems, as required in subsection (o).

(B) If the amount of electricity produced by a customer during the monthly billing period exceeds the amount of electricity used by the customer during that billing period, then the electricity provider supplying that customer shall apply a 1:1 kilowatt-hour energy or monetary credit kilowatt-hour HB3499 Engrossed - 25 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b supply charges to the customer's subsequent bill.

HB3499 Engrossed - 26 - LRB104 09282 AAS 19340 b (A) If the amount of electricity used by the customer during any hourly period exceeds the amount of electricity produced by the customer, then the electricity provider shall charge the customer for the net electricity supplied to and used by the customer as provided in paragraph (3) of this subsection (n).