220 ILCS 5/13-502
2021 Illinois Compiled Statutes|Chapter 220 - UTILITIES|220 ILCS 5/ - Public Utilities Act.|Article XIII - Telecommunications

 (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-502)(Section scheduled to be repealed on December 31, 2026)Sec. 13-502. Classification of services.(a) All telecommunications services offered or provided  under tariff by telecommunications carriers shall be classified as either  competitive or noncompetitive.  A  telecommunications carrier may offer or  provide either competitive or noncompetitive telecommunications services, or  both, subject to proper certification and other applicable provisions of  this Article.  Any tariff filed with the Commission as required by Section  13-501 shall indicate whether the service to be offered or provided is  competitive or noncompetitive.(b) A service shall be classified as competitive only if, and only to the  extent that, for some identifiable class or group of customers in an  exchange, group of exchanges, or some other clearly defined geographical  area, such service, or its functional equivalent, or a substitute service,  is reasonably available from more than one provider, whether or not any  such provider is a telecommunications carrier subject to regulation under  this Act. All telecommunications services not properly classified as  competitive shall be classified as noncompetitive. The Commission shall  have the power to investigate the propriety of any classification of a  telecommunications service on its own motion and shall investigate upon  complaint.  In any hearing or investigation, the burden of proof as to the  proper classification of any service shall rest upon the telecommunications  carrier providing the service.  After notice and hearing, the Commission  shall order the proper  classification of any service in whole or in part.  The Commission shall  make its determination and issue its final order no later than 180 days  from the date such hearing or investigation is initiated. If the Commission  enters into a hearing upon complaint and if the Commission fails to issue  an order within that period, the complaint shall be deemed granted unless  the Commission, the complainant, and the telecommunications carrier  providing the service agree to extend the time period.(c) In determining whether a service should be reclassified as  competitive, the Commission shall, at a minimum, consider the following  factors:(1) the number, size, and geographic distribution of     other providers of the service;(2) the availability of functionally equivalent     services in the relevant geographic area and the ability of  telecommunications carriers or other persons to make the same, equivalent, or substitutable service readily available in the relevant market at comparable rates, terms, and conditions;(3) the existence of economic, technological, or any     other barriers to entry into, or exit from, the relevant market;(4) the extent to which other telecommunications     companies must rely upon the service of another telecommunications carrier to provide telecommunications service; and(5) any other factors that may affect competition and     the public interest that the Commission deems appropriate.(d) No tariff classifying a new telecommunications service as  competitive or  reclassifying a previously noncompetitive telecommunications service as  competitive, which is filed by a telecommunications carrier which also  offers or provides noncompetitive telecommunications service, shall be  effective unless and until such telecommunications carrier offering or  providing, or seeking to offer or provide, such proposed competitive  service prepares and files a study of the long-run service incremental cost  underlying such service and demonstrates that the tariffed rates and  charges for the service and any relevant group of services that includes  the proposed competitive service and for which resources are used in common  solely by that group of services are not less than the long-run service  incremental cost of providing the service and each relevant group of services.  Such study shall be given proprietary treatment by the Commission at the  request of such carrier if any other provider of the competitive service,  its functional equivalent, or a substitute service in the geographical area  described by the proposed tariff has not filed, or has not been required to  file, such a study.(e) In the event any telecommunications service has been  classified and  filed as competitive by the telecommunications carrier, and has been  offered or provided on such basis, and the Commission subsequently  determines after investigation that such classification improperly included  services which were in fact noncompetitive, the Commission shall have the  power to determine and order refunds to customers for any overcharges which  may have resulted from the improper classification, or to order such other  remedies provided to it under this Act, or to seek an appropriate remedy or  relief in a court of competent jurisdiction.(f) If no hearing or investigation regarding the propriety of a  competitive  classification of a telecommunications service is initiated within 180 days  after a  telecommunications carrier files a tariff listing such telecommunications  service as competitive, no refunds to customers for any overcharges which may  result from an improper classification shall be ordered for the period from the  time the telecommunications carrier filed such tariff listing the service as  competitive up to the time an investigation of the service classification is  initiated by the Commission's own motion or the filing of a complaint.  Where a  hearing or an investigation regarding the propriety of a telecommunications  service classification as competitive is initiated after 180 days from the  filing of the tariff, the period subject to refund for improper classification  shall begin on the date such investigation or hearing is initiated by the  filing of a Commission motion or a complaint.  (Source: P.A. 100-20, eff. 7-1-17.)