Bill Text: IL SB2478 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Creates the Utility Data Access Act. Requires the Illinois Commerce Commission to enact the following procedures: (1) a utility shall retain all consumption data for a period of not less than 2 years; (2) a qualified utility shall retain monthly consumption data used for billing for a period of not less than 15 years; (3) a utility shall honor an account holder's request to transmit the account holder's covered usage data held by the utility to any entity designated by the account holder; (4) a qualified data recipient with respect to a qualified building or qualified property may request that a qualified utility provide aggregated usage data for the qualified building or qualified property; (5) a utility shall deliver requested data on a schedule set by the Commission; and (6) the account holder request process and utility delivery of requested data shall be convenient and secure. Establishes requirements for: the Commission's participation in a stakeholder process; the form and timeline in which covered usage data is provided to the data recipient; entry of data into the benchmarking tool; and the provision of covered usage data to recipients upon account holder authorization. Provides that, except in cases where the utility has not followed processes established by the Act or the utility is grossly negligent, the utility shall be held harmless for third-party misuse of data shared under the Act and no cause of action may be initiated against the utility for such subsequent misuse. Provides that prior to filing for cost recovery, a qualified utility must first demonstrate good faith efforts to secure federal, State, or other relevant funding options. Sets forth provisions regarding funding for the Commission to carry out its responsibilities under the Act and the Commission selecting and engaging outside consultants with experience in benchmarking and utility data access. States findings. Defines terms.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-07 - Referred to Assignments [SB2478 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-SB2478-Introduced.html

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 SB2478 Introduced 2/7/2025, by Sen. Mattie Hunter SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
Creates the Utility Data Access Act. Requires the Illinois Commerce Commission to enact the following procedures: (1) a utility shall retain all consumption data for a period of not less than 2 years; (2) a qualified utility shall retain monthly consumption data used for billing for a period of not less than 15 years; (3) a utility shall honor an account holder's request to transmit the account holder's covered usage data held by the utility to any entity designated by the account holder; (4) a qualified data recipient with respect to a qualified building or qualified property may request that a qualified utility provide aggregated usage data for the qualified building or qualified property; (5) a utility shall deliver requested data on a schedule set by the Commission; and (6) the account holder request process and utility delivery of requested data shall be convenient and secure. Establishes requirements for: the Commission's participation in a stakeholder process; the form and timeline in which covered usage data is provided to the data recipient; entry of data into the benchmarking tool; and the provision of covered usage data to recipients upon account holder authorization. Provides that, except in cases where the utility has not followed processes established by the Act or the utility is grossly negligent, the utility shall be held harmless for third-party misuse of data shared under the Act and no cause of action may be initiated against the utility for such subsequent misuse. Provides that prior to filing for cost recovery, a qualified utility must first demonstrate good faith efforts to secure federal, State, or other relevant funding options. Sets forth provisions regarding funding for the Commission to carry out its responsibilities under the Act and the Commission selecting and engaging outside consultants with experience in benchmarking and utility data access. States findings. Defines terms.
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A BILL FOR
SB2478 LRB104 08508 AAS 18560 b
AN ACT concerning regulation.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Utility Data Access Act.
Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds and
declares that optimizing energy and water use through
whole-building utility data access is in the public interest
because it provides consumers, building owners, utilities, and
states with significant economic benefits. The General
Assembly further finds the following:
(1) implementing building energy and water use data
access legislation catalyzes the development of a strong
market for building energy services which will positively
impact the State's economy through significant job growth;
(2) improving the energy and water use efficiency of
the existing building stock is a key strategy to help
preserve the affordability of rental housing;
(3) energy and water use reductions stemming from data
access can result in direct cost savings to customers and
in peak load reductions that benefit all ratepayers;
(4) data access programs allow utilities to maximize
the value of their energy and water use efficiency

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portfolio by engaging customers and directing them to
energy and water efficiency programs and by enabling
utilities to target low-performing buildings;
(5) implementing building data access enables building
owners in the State to qualify for certain federal and
other incentives to help them improve their assets;
(6) energy and water use data access is the foundation
of a successful efficiency strategy and enables building
owners to track energy and water use performance over
time, set performance goals, and justify cost-effective
energy and water use upgrades; and
(7) absent whole-building energy and water use data
access legislation, building owners lack an efficient,
defined process to obtain energy and water performance of
their buildings in a manner that protects consumer
confidentiality.
Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Account holder" or "customer" means the person or entity
authorized to access or modify utility account details.
"Aggregated usage data" means an aggregation of covered
usage data, where all data associated with a qualified
building or qualified property, including, but not limited to,
data from tenant meters and from owner meters, are combined
into one collective data point per utility data type, per time
period, and where any unique identifiers or other personal

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information are removed or dissociated from individual meter
data.
"Aggregation threshold" means 3 or more unique
nonresidential qualified accounts or 5 or more unique
qualified accounts of a property or building during the period
for which data is requested.
"Benchmarking tool" means the ENERGY STAR Portfolio
Manager web-based tool or any prudent and cost-effective
alternative system or tool approved by the Commission that (i)
enables the periodic entry of a building's energy use data and
other descriptive information about a building and (ii) rates
a building's energy efficiency against that of comparable
buildings nationwide.
"Commission" means the Illinois Commerce Commission.
"Covered usage data" means electric, gas, district energy,
water, or fuel delivery data collected from one or more
utility meters that reflects the quantity and period of
utility usage in the building, property, or portion thereof.
"Data recipient" means:
(1) an owner of the property or building;
(2) an owner of a portion of a property with regard to
covered usage data only for the utility consumption the
owner or the owner's tenants, if any, pay for and consume
in the owned portion;
(3) a tenant with regard to covered usage data only
for the utility consumption the tenant or the tenant's

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subtenants, if any, pay for and consume in the space
leased by the tenant;
(4) the board in the case of a condominium or
cooperative ownership of the property or building; or
(5) an agent authorized to receive the covered usage
data by anyone in paragraphs (1) through (4).
"District energy" means steam, hot water, chilled water,
and other heat or heat rejection services delivered through
fixed pipes to multiple properties.
"Large qualified utility" means a utility that:
(1) has 100,000 or more active accounts, customers, or
commercial or industrial service connections in the State;
or
(2) has more than 50 active accounts, customers, or
commercial or industrial service connections in the State
and has over $500,000,000 in annual revenue from within
the State.
"Medium qualified utility" means a utility that does not
qualify as a large qualified utility and that:
(1) has 10,000 or more active accounts, customers, or
commercial or industrial service connections in the State;
or
(2) has more than 50 active accounts, customers, or
commercial or industrial service connections in the State
and has $40,000,000 to $500,000,000 in annual revenue from
within the State.

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"Property" means:
(1) a single tax parcel;
(2) 2 or more tax parcels held in the cooperative or
condominium form of ownership and governed by a single
board of managers; or
(3) 2 or more colocated tax parcels owned or
controlled by the same entity.
"Qualified account" means a utility account that serves
some or all of a building or property for which covered usage
data is requested and that, as affirmed by the data recipient,
was not controlled by the data recipient or its subsidiary
during the time period for which covered usage data is
requested.
"Qualified building" means a building that meets the
aggregation threshold.
"Qualified data recipient" means a data recipient with
respect to a qualified property or qualified building.
"Qualified property" means a property that meets the
aggregation threshold.
"Qualified utility" means a large qualified utility, a
medium qualified utility, or a small qualified utility.
"Small qualified utility" means a utility that that does
not qualify as a medium qualified utility or a large qualified
utility and that:
(1) has more than 1,000 active accounts, customers, or
commercial or industrial service connections in the State;

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or
(2) has more than 20 active accounts, customers, or
commercial or industrial service connections in the State
and has more than $10,000,000 in annual revenue from
within the State.
"Utility" means a company, cooperative, association, or
government entity that distributes and sells electricity,
natural gas, water, delivered fuel, including fuel oil,
propane, kerosene, and coal, or district energy for use in
buildings.
"Utility data type" means electric, gas, district energy,
fuel delivery, or water.
Section 15. Utility data access.
(a) Within 90 days of the effective date of this Act, the
Commission shall open a proceeding and establish by rule,
consistent with the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act or
other relevant rules and the requirements of subsection (c),
procedures to implement the requirements of this Section. The
Commission shall consider industry best practices in
developing the implementing rules. The governing authority of
a public utility district, municipally owned utility, or
cooperative utility may adopt a rule adopted by the
Commission.
(b) The Commission shall enact procedures whereby:
(1) A utility shall retain all consumption data for a

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period of not less than 2 years.
(2) A qualified utility shall retain monthly
consumption data used for billing for a period of not less
than 15 years.
(3) A utility shall honor an account holder's request
to transmit the account holder's covered usage data held
by the utility to any entity designated by the account
holder.
(4) A qualified data recipient with respect to a
qualified building or qualified property may request that
a qualified utility provide aggregated usage data for the
qualified building or qualified property. Aggregated usage
data shall include identifiers of all meters associated
with the aggregate data and any other information needed
for data quality assurance.
(5) A utility shall deliver data requested under this
subsection according to schedules set by the Commission.
(6) The account holder request process and utility
delivery of requested data shall be convenient and secure.
(c) Within 100 days of opening a data access proceeding as
described in subsection (b), the Commission shall initiate or
participate in a stakeholder process to inform its fulfillment
of the requirements described in subsection (b). The
Commission stakeholder process shall:
(1) be completed in no more than 18 months;
(2) include stakeholder workshops organized and

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facilitated in a way that encourages representation from
diverse stakeholders and ensures equitable opportunities
for participation. Stakeholders shall not need formal
intervention or legal representation to participate in the
workshops;
(3) include opportunities for dialogue and written
comments; and
(4) allow stakeholder responses to a straw proposal
drafted by Commission staff or other stakeholders, as
appropriate.
(d) Stakeholders include, but are not limited to,
utilities, data recipients, tenants, environmental groups,
consumer advocates, tenant advocates, housing advocates, local
communities, and other interested members of the public.
(e) Notwithstanding any other law, aggregated usage data
shall not be deemed customer utility usage information,
personally identifiable information, critical energy
infrastructure information, or confidential information and
shall not be subject to protections as such.
(f) Any covered usage data that a utility provides to a
data recipient under this Section must meet the following
requirements:
(1) The covered usage data must be available to be
requested online and in printable paper form. A
nonqualified utility may provide only paper request forms
upon showing of hardship. A utility's validation of the

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requester's identity shall be consistent with, and no more
onerous than, the utility's then-current practices.
(2) The covered usage data must be provided to the
data recipient in a timeframe, frequency, and format and
be delivered by a method as may be determined by the
Commission.
(g) Any covered usage data that a qualified utility
provides to a data recipient under this Section must:
(1) be provided to the data recipient:
(A) within 90 days after receiving the data
recipient's valid written or electronic request if the
request is received within one year of the effective
date of this Act; or
(B) within 30 days after receiving the data
recipient's valid written or electronic request if the
request is received more than one year after the
effective date of this Act;
(2) subject to subsections (n) and (o), include at
least the most recent 48 consecutive months of covered
usage data prior to the initial date the data was
requested, regardless of whether the data recipient had a
business relationship with the building or property during
that period;
(3) include all necessary data points for data
recipients to comply with reporting requirements to which
they are subject, including any such data that the utility

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possesses;
(4) be directly uploaded to the data recipient's
benchmarking tool account, delivered in a spreadsheet in a
standard format consistent with the benchmarking tool, or
delivered in another format approved by the Commission,
depending on utility size under subsection (h);
(5) be provided to the data recipient according to a
schedule set by the Commission, but no less than monthly;
(6) be provided until the data recipient revokes the
request for usage data or is no longer a data recipient or
is no longer a qualified data recipient with respect to
aggregated usage data;
(7) be accompanied by a list of all meters associated
with the covered usage data, including, but not limited
to, aggregated usage data, and shall be accompanied by any
other information the Commission deems necessary including
for data quality assurance; and
(8) be provided at no cost to the data recipient.
(h) The Commission shall direct that covered usage data
shall be delivered to the data recipient in the following
formats and timelines:
(1) No later than 100 days after the effective date of
this Act, a large qualified utility shall provide data
requested by a data recipient using a spreadsheet in a
standard format consistent with the benchmarking tool. No
later than 2 years after effective date of this Act, a

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large qualified utility shall provide requested data by
direct upload to the data recipient's benchmarking tool,
or, at the data recipient's request, send the data using a
spreadsheet in a standard format consistent with the
benchmarking tool.
(2) No later than 200 days after the effective date of
this Act, a medium qualified utility shall provide data
requested by a data recipient using a spreadsheet in a
standard format consistent with the benchmarking tool. No
later than 2 years after first receiving a request for
aggregated usage data, a medium qualified utility shall
provide the data by direct upload to the data recipient's
benchmarking tool account, or, at the data recipient's
request, send the data using a spreadsheet in a standard
format consistent with the benchmarking tool.
(3) No later than 300 days after the effective date of
this Act, a small qualified utility shall provide data
requested by a data recipient using a spreadsheet in a
standard format consistent with the benchmarking tool at
the data recipient's request.
(i) To ensure the validity and usefulness of covered usage
data, the utility shall provide the best available consumption
and other information, consistent with the utility's records
as presented to the account holder on the utility's customer
portal and on the account holder's bills.
(j) One year after the effective date of this Act, the

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Commission shall establish by rule procedures for a data
recipient to request and receive timely revisions correcting
erroneous covered usage data.
(k) Once covered usage data has been entered into the
benchmarking tool, such data may not be deleted or altered by a
utility system, except as is necessary to correct errors or
reflect rebills. If previously provided covered usage data is
changed to correct errors, notification must be provided to
the data recipient.
(l) Within 90 days of the effective date of this Act, the
Commission shall adopt a standard form for a utility account
holder to authorize the sharing of the utility account
holder's covered usage data.
(m) For properties that do not meet the aggregation
threshold and therefore require account holder authorization,
the utility shall provide covered usage data to data
recipients upon account holder authorization, which:
(1) may be provided in Commission-approved form;
(2) may be provided in a lease agreement provision;
and
(3) remains valid until the account holder revokes it,
regardless of how the authorization is provided.
(n) The utility shall provide to a data recipient
unaggregated data regarding usage by an account holder that
has vacated the property unless the account holder has
explicitly notified the utility that the account holder

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forbids the sharing of such data.
(o) A qualified account holder shall not be entitled to
forbid the sharing of aggregated usage data with a qualified
data recipient except upon a showing that aggregation of data
would present a proximate and foreseeable threat to national
security and where each showing is deemed credible by the
Commission.
(p) Access to covered usage data under this Section shall
be subject to any rules the Commission has adopted or may
choose to adopt, if the rules do not conflict with this
Section.
(q) Except in cases where the utility has not followed
processes established by this Act or the utility is grossly
negligent, the utility shall be held harmless for third-party
misuse of data shared under this Act and no cause of action may
be initiated against the utility for such subsequent misuse.
(r) Prior to filing for cost recovery, a qualified utility
must first demonstrate good faith efforts to secure federal,
State, or other relevant funding options. Thereafter, a
qualified utility may file for cost recovery of the reasonable
and prudently-incurred costs of providing covered usage data,
including establishing, operating, and maintaining data
aggregation and data access services, for the Commission to
evaluate.
(s) To carry out its responsibilities under this Act, the
Commission shall be allocated additional annual funds. In

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performing its responsibilities under this Act, the Commission
may select and engage outside consultants with experience in
benchmarking and utility data access.
(t) A utility shall provide all necessary data points for
a qualified data recipient to comply with reporting
requirements to which the qualified data recipient is subject,
including any such data that the utility possesses.