HB2619 Summary: Public Utilities Intervenor Compensation Act

• Creates the Public Utilities Intervenor Compensation Act allowing the Illinois Commerce Commission to award reasonable advocate's fees, expert witness fees, and preparation costs to customers who contribute to Commission orders and face significant financial hardship from participation.

• Establishes the Illinois Commerce Commission Intervenor Compensation Fund with initial contributions from electric and natural gas utilities ($20,000 to $450,000 depending on size) to provide pre-proceeding grants to qualifying organizations.

• Requires electric utilities with 500,000+ customers to file Multi-Year Integrated Grid Plans addressing renewable energy integration, distributed energy resources, grid modernization, and equity with at least 40% of benefits directed to environmental justice and low-income communities.

• Mandates residential time-of-use pricing options with three time blocks (peak, off-peak, super-off-peak) and establishes performance-based ratemaking framework tied to utility achievement of affordability, pollution reduction, reliability, equity, and cost-effectiveness metrics.

• Implements comprehensive ratemaking reforms including 4-year Multi-Year Rate Plans with specified cost-of-equity calculations, capital true-up mechanisms, and annual performance evaluations with rewards or penalties based on metric achievement.