House Bill 3445 passed both houses of the General Assembly and was sent to Governor J.B. Pritzker on June 22, 2023. The Bill sent to the Governor included a requirement that the Commission, in order to develop a regulatory structure for utility thermal energy networks that scale with affordable and accessible building electrification, protect utility customers, and promote the successful planning and delivery of thermal energy networks, shall convene a workshop process for the purpose of establishing an open, inclusive, and cooperative forum regarding such thermal energy networks. On August 16, 2023, Governor J.B. Pritzker issued an Amendatory Veto of House Bill 3445. While the Governor’s Amendatory Veto did not strike the Thermal Energy Network workshop portion of House Bill 3445, the Thermal Energy Network workshop language was included in Senate Bill 1699 House Amendment 3. Senate Bill 1699 House Amendment 3passed both houses of the General Assembly and was signed into law by Governor Pritzker as Illinois Public Act 103-0580 on December 8, 2023.
The workshop process will be designed to achieve the following objectives:
No later than March 1, 2024, the Commission must submit a report to the Governor and General Assembly describing the stakeholders, discussions, proposals, and areas of consensus and disagreement from the workshop process, and making recommendations regarding thermal energy networks.
In order to provide stakeholders a forum for providing input regarding the Thermal Energy Networks, Staff will be hosting workshops and inviting comments. Details regarding the workshops and comment process will be posted on this page.
The workshops will be open to all interested parties. If you are interested in receiving an e-mail invitation, please send your e-mail address to [email protected] and include “Illinois Thermal Energy Network Workshop Series Invitation” in the subject line of your e-mail.
Associated with these workshops, the ICC Staff is also seeking written comments from interested stakeholders.
Comment Round 1 – The ICC Staff is seeking comment on the appropriate ownership, market, and rate structures for thermal energy networks and whether the provision of thermal energy services by thermal network energy providers is in the public interest. Please submit comments to Staff on these topics on or before December 8, 2023, by submitting them to Jim Zolnierek at [email protected]. Please include “Thermal Energy Network Round 1 Comments” in the subject line of your submission. These comments will be discussed at Workshop #4 on December 19, 2023.
Comment Round 2 – The ICC Staff is seeking comment on project designs that could maximize the value of existing State energy efficiency and weatherization programs and maximize federal funding opportunities to the extent practicable; whether thermal energy network projects further climate justice and emissions reductions and benefits to utility customers and society at large, including but not limited to public health benefits in areas with disproportionate environmental burdens, job retention and creation, reliability, and increased affordability of renewable thermal energy options; and approaches to thermal energy network projects that advance financial and technical approaches to equitable and affordable building electrification, including access to thermal energy network benefits by low and moderate income households. Please submit comments to Staff on these topics on or before December 26, 2023, by submitting them to Jim Zolnierek at [email protected]. Please include “Thermal Energy Network Round 2 Comments” in the subject line of your submission. These comments will be discussed at Workshop #5 on January 3, 2024.
Comment Round 3 – The ICC Staff is seeking comment on approaches to promote the training and transition of utility workers to work on thermal energy networks. Please submit comments to Staff on these topics on or before January 3, 2024, by submitting them to Jim Zolnierek at [email protected]. Please include “Thermal Energy Network Round 3 Comments” in the subject line of your submission. These comments will be discussed at Workshop # 6 on January 10, 2024.
Final Comment Round – Following Workshop #6, stakeholders are invited to submit further comments on issues not previously addressed and recommendations regarding the thermal energy networks. Please submit these final comments to Staff or before January 31, 2024, by submitting comments to Jim Zolnierek at [email protected]. Please include “Thermal Energy Network Final Comments” in the subject line of your submission.
Please note that all comments shared with ICC Staff will be made public and posted to this ICC Thermal Energy Network Forum webpage.