Pritzker signs legislation for energy bill transparency, utility discount program

CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker signed a pair of bills Thursday aimed at improving transparency of utility billing and expanding access to discounts for low-income residents.

“Illinois has made historic investments to strengthen our energy system while returning savings to consumers,” Pritzker said in a statement announcing the bill signing. “By signing these bills, we are building on that foundational work by helping reduce energy costs for working families while increasing transparency on billing.”

The first of the two bills, House Bill 4456, expands a discount program for low-income electric and natural gas customers established under the state’s landmark energy legislation passed in 2021, the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, or CEJA.

Under CEJA, the Illinois Commerce Commission, the regulatory body that oversees the state’s public utilities, was instructed to assess whether low-income discount programs would be appropriate for residential electric and natural gas customers.

In 2023, the commission ordered the state’s major utilities to begin offering discount rates, funded through a small charge on all customers’ bills. The utilities are required to get those rates approved by the ICC.

This bill codifies that process into law and raises the eligibility threshold for access to benefits to the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, to 300% of the federal poverty level, up from the previous 200%.

That means that an individual making up to $47,880, a family of two making up to $64,920 or a family of four making up to $99,000 now qualify for the relief.

“In low-income communities, we see families spending up to 20% of their income on utilities,” said Rep. Laura Faver Dias, D-Grayslake, who sponsored the bill in the House. “It’s really important, I think, to codify the work that the ICC has done around the low-income discount program and make some other changes that make our whole support system more streamlined and more effective.”

The bill also caps the surcharge rate that funds the low-income discount program, which was set for another increase in 2027.

Bill transparency

The second bill Pritzker signed, House Bill 5524, is all about transparency, according to its House sponsor, Rep. Dave Severin, R-Benton.

Severin said his constituents were reaching out, not only with concerns about high energy costs, but also with confusion about what they were even paying for, due to unspecified line items on their bills.

That led him to introduce the legislation, which requires the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability to issue a report on those actual costs, line by line.

The report will be required to list all charges, along with any laws requiring it, the programs and services the charge supports, and the full amount collected from the charge in 2025.

“So, does it lower someone’s bill? No, it doesn’t, but it makes it transparent, where it makes the energy companies accountable for what’s going on,” Severin said. He also emphasized the role in transparency for state agencies that receive funds through those charges.

That transparency, Severin said, is good for both the people paying bills, and to keep agencies accountable for where the funds will end up.

The bill passed unanimously in both the House and Senate this spring.

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