Bill Amendment: IL HB4456 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: LOW-INCOME UTILITY RATES

Status: 2026-07-09 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 104-0540 [HB4456 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HB4456-House_Amendment_002.html

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Rep. Laura Faver Dias

Filed: 4/13/2026

 

 

 

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AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4456
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4456 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by
changing Section 9-241 as follows:
(220 ILCS 5/9-241) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 9-241)
Sec. 9-241. Nondiscrimination.
(a) No public utility shall, as to rates or other charges,
services, facilities or in other respect, make or grant any
preference or advantage to any corporation or person or
subject any corporation or person to any prejudice or
disadvantage. No public utility shall establish or maintain
any unreasonable difference as to rates or other charges,
services, facilities, or in any other respect, either as
between localities or as between classes of service.
(b) An electric utility in a county with a population of

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3,000,000 or more shall not establish or maintain any
unreasonable difference as to rates or other charges,
services, contractual terms, or facilities for access to or
the use of its utility infrastructure by another person or for
any other purpose. Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
the Commission and its staff shall interpret this Section in
accordance with Article XVI of this Act.
(c) Nothing in this Section shall be construed as limiting
the authority of the Commission to permit the establishment of
economic development rates as incentives to economic
development either in enterprise zones as designated by the
State of Illinois or in other areas of a utility's service
area. Such rates should be available to existing businesses
which demonstrate an increase to existing load as well as new
businesses which create new load for a utility so as to create
a more balanced utilization of generating capacity. The
Commission shall ensure that such rates are established at a
level which provides a net benefit to customers within a
public utility's service area.
(d) On or before January 1, 2023, the Commission shall
conduct a comprehensive study to assess whether low-income
discount rates for electric and natural gas residential
customers are appropriate and the potential design and
implementation of any such rates. The Commission shall include
its findings, together with the appropriate recommendations,
in a report to be provided to the General Assembly. Upon

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completion of the study, the Commission shall have the
authority to permit or require electric and natural gas
utilities to file a tariff establishing low-income discount
rates.
Such study shall assess, at a minimum, the following:
(1) customer eligibility requirements, including
income-based eligibility and eligibility based on
participation in or eligibility for certain public
assistance programs;
(2) appropriate rate structures, including
consideration of tiered discounts for different income
levels;
(3) appropriate recovery mechanisms, including the
consideration of volumetric charges and customer charges;
(4) appropriate verification mechanisms;
(5) measures to ensure customer confidentiality and
data safeguards;
(6) outreach and consumer education procedures; and
(7) the impact that a low-income discount rate would
have on the affordability of delivery service to
low-income customers and customers overall.
(d-5) For the purposes of this subsection (d-5),
"qualifying customer" means a residential customer of a
utility serving more than 100,000 customers in the State that
has a low-income discount program for residential customers
(i) who has been deemed eligible for assistance under the

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Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) or who
receives energy assistance under the Energy Assistance Act and
(ii) whose household income does not exceed 300% of the
federal poverty level.
Notwithstanding the contents of the report required under
subsection (d) and any other provision of this Act, the
Commission may approve a low-income discount for electric and
natural gas residential customers that applies to the entirety
of a qualifying customer's bill, including, but not limited
to, a qualifying customer's delivery service charges, energy
supply charges, and any other applicable charges. The
low-income discount under this subsection (d-5) shall not
apply to, or otherwise reduce, any State or municipal taxes or
any nonbypassable charge approved by the Commission or defined
in a public utility's tariff and included in the qualifying
customer's bill. An electric or natural gas utility may fund
its low-income discounts under this subsection (d-5) through a
surcharge on both its residential and non-residential
customers' electric and natural gas bills. Any charges,
surcharges, or cost recovery mechanisms authorized or approved
by the Commission under this Section shall be assessed solely
on a fixed, per-customer basis and shall not be designed,
implemented, or recovered on a volumetric, usage-based,
demand-based, or throughput basis, whether directly or
indirectly. Charges authorized under this Section may vary by
customer class or rate classification.

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Any electric or natural gas public utility serving more
than 100,000 customers in the State that does not have a
low-income discount or that elects to implement a low-income
discount that complies with the requirements of this
subsection (d-5) on and after the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly shall, within 30
days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the
104th General Assembly, file a new or amended tariff with the
Commission to implement the new low-income discount or bring
the utility's low-income discount into compliance with this
subsection (d-5). The Commission shall issue a final order
approving, or approving with modifications aligning the tariff
with the requirements of this subsection (d-5), the utility's
tariff within 90 days after receipt of the utility's filing.
The utility shall implement the changes necessary to put the
approved low-income discount into effect no later than 12
months after the issuance of the Commission's final order
approving the low-income discount. If the utility needs more
than 12 months to implement the necessary changes, the utility
shall have, upon filing a notice with the Commission, an
additional 12 months to implement the changes necessary to put
the approved low-income discount into effect. Any tariff from
a utility establishing a low-income discount that is in effect
as of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th
General Assembly shall remain in effect until the utility
implements an updated low-income discount that satisfies the

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requirements of this subsection (d-5). A utility shall be
entitled to recover prudent and reasonable costs incurred in
complying with this subsection (d-5).
In reviewing and approving any low-income discount under
this subsection (d-5), the Commission shall take into
consideration the effect of the low-income discount on, and
shall endeavor to maximize, the allocation and receipt of
federal LIHEAP grants, funds under Section 13 of the Energy
Assistance Act, and any other State and federal energy
assistance funds that are available to the State. The
low-income discounts authorized under this subsection (d-5)
may include, but are not limited to, tiered discounts or a
Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) program. For any
low-income discounts approved by the Commission after the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General
Assembly, the calculation of the low-income discount to be
applied to a qualifying customer's bill shall be applied after
any federal or State energy assistance funds are allocated and
applied to the qualifying customer's bill.
Nothing in this subsection (d-5) shall be interpreted to
limit, modify, or nullify any low-income discount rate that is
in effect for a regulated water utility as of the effective
date of this amendatory Act of the 104th General Assembly or
prohibit Commission approval of any future proposal for a
low-income discount rate for such regulated water utility.
(e) The Commission shall adopt rules requiring utility

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companies to produce information, in the form of a mailing,
and other approved methods of distribution, to its consumers,
to inform the consumers of available rebates, discounts,
credits, and other cost-saving mechanisms that can help them
lower their monthly utility bills, and send out such
information semi-annually, unless otherwise provided by this
Article.
(f) Prior to October 1, 1989, no public utility providing
electrical or gas service shall consider the use of solar or
other nonconventional renewable sources of energy by a
customer as a basis for establishing higher rates or charges
for any service or commodity sold to such customer; nor shall a
public utility subject any customer utilizing such energy
source or sources to any other prejudice or disadvantage on
account of such use. No public utility shall without the
consent of the Commission, charge or receive any greater
compensation in the aggregate for a lesser commodity, product,
or service than for a greater commodity, product or service of
like character.
The Commission, in order to expedite the determination of
rate questions, or to avoid unnecessary and unreasonable
expense, or to avoid unjust or unreasonable discrimination
between classes of customers, or, whenever in the judgment of
the Commission public interest so requires, may, for rate
making and accounting purposes, or either of them, consider
one or more municipalities either with or without the adjacent

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or intervening rural territory as a regional unit where the
same public utility serves such region under substantially
similar conditions, and may within such region prescribe
uniform rates for consumers or patrons of the same class.
Any public utility, with the consent and approval of the
Commission, may as a basis for the determination of the
charges made by it classify its service according to the
amount used, the time when used, the purpose for which used,
and other relevant factors.
(Source: P.A. 102-662, eff. 9-15-21; 103-679, eff. 7-19-24.)
Section 10. The Energy Assistance Act is amended by
changing Sections 6 and 13 as follows:
(305 ILCS 20/6) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 1406)
Sec. 6. Eligibility, conditions of participation, and
energy assistance.
(a) Any person who is a resident of the State of Illinois
and whose household income is not greater than an amount
determined annually by the Department, in consultation with
the Policy Advisory Council, may apply for assistance pursuant
to this Act in accordance with regulations promulgated by the
Department. In setting the annual eligibility level, the
Department shall consider the amount of available funding and
may not set a limit higher than 150% of the federal nonfarm
poverty level as established by the federal Office of

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Management and Budget or 60% of the State median income for the
current State fiscal year as established by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services; except that for the
period from the effective date of this amendatory Act of the
101st General Assembly through June 30, 2021, the Department
may establish limits not higher than 200% of that poverty
level. In setting the annual eligibility level for the use of
State funds from the Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance
Fund under Section 13, the Department shall consider the
amount of available funding and may not set a limit higher than
300% of the federal nonfarm poverty level as established by
the federal Office of Management and Budget. The Department,
in consultation with the Policy Advisory Council, may adjust
the percentage of poverty level annually in accordance with
federal guidelines and based on funding availability.
(b) Applicants who qualify for assistance pursuant to
subsection (a) of this Section shall, subject to appropriation
from the General Assembly and subject to availability of funds
to the Department, receive energy assistance as provided by
this Act. The Department, upon receipt of monies authorized
pursuant to this Act for energy assistance, shall commit funds
for each qualified applicant in an amount determined by the
Department. In determining the amounts of assistance to be
provided to or on behalf of a qualified applicant, the
Department shall ensure that the highest amounts of assistance
go to households with the greatest energy costs in relation to

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household income. The Department shall include factors such as
energy costs, household size, household income, and region of
the State when determining individual household benefits. In
setting assistance levels, the Department shall attempt to
provide assistance to approximately the same number of
households who participated in the 1991 Residential Energy
Assistance Partnership Program. Such assistance levels shall
be adjusted annually on the basis of funding availability and
energy costs. In promulgating rules for the administration of
this Section the Department shall assure that a minimum of 1/3
of funds available for benefits to eligible households with
the lowest incomes and that elderly households, households
with children under the age of 6 years old, and households with
persons with disabilities are offered a priority application
period.
(c) If the applicant is not a customer of record of an
energy provider for energy services or an applicant for such
service, such applicant shall receive a direct energy
assistance payment in an amount established by the Department
for all such applicants under this Act; provided, however,
that such an applicant must have rental expenses for housing
greater than 30% of household income.
(c-1) This subsection shall apply only in cases where: (1)
the applicant is not a customer of record of an energy provider
because energy services are provided by the owner of the unit
as a portion of the rent; (2) the applicant resides in housing

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subsidized or developed with funds provided under the Rental
Housing Support Program Act or under a similar locally funded
rent subsidy program, or is the voucher holder who resides in a
rental unit within the State of Illinois and whose monthly
rent is subsidized by the tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher
Program under Section 8 of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937; and
(3) the rental expenses for housing are no more than 30% of
household income. In such cases, the household may apply for
an energy assistance payment under this Act and the owner of
the housing unit shall cooperate with the applicant by
providing documentation of the energy costs for that unit. Any
compensation paid to the energy provider who supplied energy
services to the household shall be paid on behalf of the owner
of the housing unit providing energy services to the
household. The Department shall report annually to the General
Assembly on the number of households receiving energy
assistance under this subsection and the cost of such
assistance.
(d) If the applicant is a customer of an energy provider,
such applicant shall receive energy assistance in an amount
established by the Department for all such applicants under
this Act, such amount to be paid by the Department to the
energy provider supplying winter energy service to such
applicant. Such applicant shall:
(i) make all reasonable efforts to apply to any other
appropriate source of public energy assistance; and

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(ii) sign a waiver permitting the Department to
receive income information from any public or private
agency providing income or energy assistance and from any
employer, whether public or private.
(e) Any qualified applicant pursuant to this Section may
receive or have paid on such applicant's behalf an emergency
assistance payment to enable such applicant to obtain access
to winter energy services. Any such payments shall be made in
accordance with regulations of the Department.
(f) The Department may, if sufficient funds are available,
provide additional benefits to certain qualified applicants:
(i) for the reduction of past due amounts owed to
energy providers;
(ii) to assist the household in responding to
excessively high summer temperatures or energy costs.
Households containing elderly members, children, a person
with a disability, or a person with a medical need for
conditioned air shall receive priority for receipt of such
benefits; and
(iii) for the installation of energy conservation
measures, health and safety measures, healthy home
measures, home improvement measures to help alleviate
deferrals from weatherization activities, and renewable
energy retrofits.
(Source: P.A. 102-16, eff. 6-17-21; 102-176, eff. 6-1-22;
102-699, eff. 4-19-22; 103-663, eff. 1-1-25.)

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(305 ILCS 20/13)
Sec. 13. Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund.
(a) The Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund is
hereby created as a special fund in the State Treasury. The
Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund is authorized
to receive moneys from voluntary donations from individuals,
foundations, corporations, and other sources, moneys received
pursuant to Section 17, and, by statutory deposit, the moneys
collected pursuant to this Section. The Fund is also
authorized to receive voluntary donations from individuals,
foundations, corporations, and other sources. Subject to
appropriation, the Department shall use moneys from the
Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund for: (i)
payments to electric or gas public utilities, municipal
electric or gas utilities, and electric cooperatives on behalf
of their customers who are participants in the program
authorized by Sections 4 and 18 of this Act; (ii) the provision
of weatherization services, including, but not limited to, the
installation of energy conservation measures, health and
safety measures, healthy home measures, home improvement
measures to alleviate the deferrals of certain projects,
including, but not limited to, roofs and foundation repairs,
and renewable energy retrofits; and (iii) administration of
the Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund. All other
deposits outside of the Energy Assistance Charge as set forth

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in subsection (b) are not subject to the percentage
restrictions related to administrative and weatherization
expenses provided in this subsection. The yearly expenditures
for weatherization may not exceed 10% of the amount collected
during the year pursuant to this Section, except when unspent
funds from the Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund
are reallocated from a previous year; any unspent balance of
the 10% weatherization allowance may be utilized for
weatherization expenses in the year they are reallocated. The
yearly administrative expenses of the Supplemental Low-Income
Energy Assistance Fund may not exceed 15% 13% of the amount
collected during that year pursuant to this Section, except
when unspent funds from the Supplemental Low-Income Energy
Assistance Fund are reallocated from a previous year; any
unspent balance of the 15% 13% administrative allowance may be
utilized for administrative expenses in the year they are
reallocated. Of the 15% 13% administrative allowance, no less
than 9% 8% shall be provided to Local Administrative Agencies
for administrative expenses.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 16-111 of
the Public Utilities Act but subject to subsection (k) of this
Section, each public utility, electric cooperative, as defined
in Section 3.4 of the Electric Supplier Act, and municipal
utility, as referenced in Section 3-105 of the Public
Utilities Act, that is engaged in the delivery of electricity
or the distribution of natural gas within the State of

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Illinois shall, effective January 1, 2021, assess each of its
customer accounts a monthly Energy Assistance Charge for the
Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund. The delivering
public utility, municipal electric or gas utility, or electric
or gas cooperative for a self-assessing purchaser remains
subject to the collection of the fee imposed by this Section.
The monthly charge shall be as follows:
(1) Base Energy Assistance Charge per month on each
account for residential electrical service;
(2) Base Energy Assistance Charge per month on each
account for residential gas service;
(3) Ten times the Base Energy Assistance Charge per
month on each account for non-residential electric service
which had less than 10 megawatts of peak demand during the
previous calendar year;
(4) Ten times the Base Energy Assistance Charge per
month on each account for non-residential gas service
which had distributed to it less than 4,000,000 therms of
gas during the previous calendar year;
(5) Three hundred and seventy-five times the Base
Energy Assistance Charge per month on each account for
non-residential electric service which had 10 megawatts or
greater of peak demand during the previous calendar year;
and
(6) Three hundred and seventy-five times the Base
Energy Assistance Charge per month on each account for

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non-residential gas service which had 4,000,000 or more
therms of gas distributed to it during the previous
calendar year.
The Base Energy Assistance Charge shall be $0.48 per month
for the calendar year beginning January 1, 2022 and shall
increase by $0.16 per month for any calendar year, provided no
less than 80% of the previous State fiscal year's available
Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund funding was
exhausted. The maximum Base Energy Assistance Charge shall not
exceed $0.80 $0.96 per month for any calendar year.
Beginning January 1, 2027, the Base Energy Assistance
Charge shall be $0.80 per month, with no additional step-up
provisions, for each utility that is required by the
Commission to implement a low-income discount program and
shall be $0.40 per month for each utility that is not required
to implement a low-income discount program and that
contributes to the Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance
Fund.
The incremental change to such charges imposed by Public
Act 99-933 and Public Act 102-16 this amendatory Act of the
102nd General Assembly shall not (i) be used for any purpose
other than to directly assist customers and (ii) be applicable
to utilities serving less than 100,000 customers in Illinois
on January 1, 2021. The incremental change to such charges
imposed by this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly
are intended to increase utilization of the Percentage of

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Income Payment Plan (PIPP or PIP Plan) and shall be applied
such that PIP Plan enrollment is at least doubled, as compared
to 2020 enrollment, by 2024.
In addition, electric and gas utilities have committed,
and shall contribute, a one-time payment of $22 million to the
Fund, within 10 days after the effective date of the tariffs
established pursuant to Sections 16-111.8 and 19-145 of the
Public Utilities Act to be used for the Department's cost of
implementing the programs described in Section 18 of this
amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, the Arrearage
Reduction Program described in Section 18, and the programs
described in Section 8-105 of the Public Utilities Act. If a
utility elects not to file a rider within 90 days after the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General
Assembly, then the contribution from such utility shall be
made no later than February 1, 2010.
(c) For purposes of this Section:
(1) "residential electric service" means electric
utility service for household purposes delivered to a
dwelling of 2 or fewer units which is billed under a
residential rate, or electric utility service for
household purposes delivered to a dwelling unit or units
which is billed under a residential rate and is registered
by a separate meter for each dwelling unit;
(2) "residential gas service" means gas utility
service for household purposes distributed to a dwelling

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of 2 or fewer units which is billed under a residential
rate, or gas utility service for household purposes
distributed to a dwelling unit or units which is billed
under a residential rate and is registered by a separate
meter for each dwelling unit;
(3) "non-residential electric service" means electric
utility service which is not residential electric service;
and
(4) "non-residential gas service" means gas utility
service which is not residential gas service.
(d) Within 30 days after the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, each public
utility engaged in the delivery of electricity or the
distribution of natural gas shall file with the Illinois
Commerce Commission tariffs incorporating the Energy
Assistance Charge in other charges stated in such tariffs,
which shall become effective no later than the beginning of
the first billing cycle following such filing.
(e) The Energy Assistance Charge assessed by electric and
gas public utilities shall be considered a charge for public
utility service.
(f) By the 20th day of the month following the month in
which the charges imposed by the Section were collected, each
public utility, municipal utility, and electric cooperative
shall remit to the Department of Revenue all moneys received
as payment of the Energy Assistance Charge on a return

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prescribed and furnished by the Department of Revenue showing
such information as the Department of Revenue may reasonably
require; provided, however, that a utility offering an
Arrearage Reduction Program or Supplemental Arrearage
Reduction Program pursuant to Section 18 of this Act shall be
entitled to net those amounts necessary to fund and recover
the costs of such Programs as authorized by that Section that
is no more than the incremental change in such Energy
Assistance Charge authorized by Public Act 96-33. If a
customer makes a partial payment, a public utility, municipal
utility, or electric cooperative may elect either: (i) to
apply such partial payments first to amounts owed to the
utility or cooperative for its services and then to payment
for the Energy Assistance Charge or (ii) to apply such partial
payments on a pro-rata basis between amounts owed to the
utility or cooperative for its services and to payment for the
Energy Assistance Charge.
If any payment provided for in this Section exceeds the
distributor's liabilities under this Act, as shown on an
original return, the Department may authorize the distributor
to credit such excess payment against liability subsequently
to be remitted to the Department under this Act, in accordance
with reasonable rules adopted by the Department. If the
Department subsequently determines that all or any part of the
credit taken was not actually due to the distributor, the
distributor's discount shall be reduced by an amount equal to

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the difference between the discount as applied to the credit
taken and that actually due, and that distributor shall be
liable for penalties and interest on such difference.
(g) The Department of Revenue shall deposit into the
Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund all moneys
remitted to it in accordance with subsection (f) of this
Section. The utilities shall coordinate with the Department to
establish an equitable and practical methodology for
implementing this subsection (g) beginning with the 2010
program year.
(h) On or before December 31, 2002, the Department shall
prepare a report for the General Assembly on the expenditure
of funds appropriated from the Low-Income Energy Assistance
Block Grant Fund for the program authorized under Section 4 of
this Act.
(i) The Department of Revenue may establish such rules as
it deems necessary to implement this Section.
(j) The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
may establish such rules as it deems necessary to implement
this Section.
(k) The charges imposed by this Section shall only apply
to customers of municipal electric or gas utilities and
electric or gas cooperatives if the municipal electric or gas
utility or electric or gas cooperative makes an affirmative
decision to impose the charge. If a municipal electric or gas
utility or an electric cooperative makes an affirmative

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decision to impose the charge provided by this Section, the
municipal electric or gas utility or electric cooperative
shall inform the Department of Revenue in writing of such
decision when it begins to impose the charge. If a municipal
electric or gas utility or electric or gas cooperative does
not assess this charge, the Department may not use funds from
the Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund to provide
benefits to its customers under the program authorized by
Section 4 of this Act.
In its use of federal funds under this Act, the Department
may not cause a disproportionate share of those federal funds
to benefit customers of systems which do not assess the charge
provided by this Section.
(Source: P.A. 102-16, eff. 6-17-21; 102-176, eff. 6-1-22;
102-671, eff. 11-30-21; 102-673, eff. 11-30-21; 102-699, eff.
4-19-22; 103-820, eff. 8-9-24.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.".