220 ILCS 5/8-402.2
2021 Illinois Compiled Statutes|Chapter 220 - UTILITIES|220 ILCS 5/ - Public Utilities Act.|Article VIII - Service Obligations And Conditions

Sec. 8-402.2. Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment programs.(a)   Within one year after the effective date of this amendatory  Act of the 102nd General Assembly, each electric utility serving over  500,000 retail customers in this State shall implement a Public  Schools Carbon-Free Assessment program.(b)   Each utility's Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment program  shall include the following requirements:(1)   Each plan shall be designed to offer within the     utility's service territory to assist public schools, as defined by Section 1-3 of the School Code, to increase the efficiency of their energy usage, to reduce the carbon emissions associated with their energy usage, and to move toward a goal of public schools being carbon-free in their energy usage by 2030. The program shall include a target of completing Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment for all public schools in the utility's service territory by December 31, 2029.(2)   The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment shall     be a generally standardized assessment, but may incorporate flexibility to reflect the circumstances of individual public schools and public school districts.(3)   The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment shall     include, but not be limited to, comprehensive analyses of the following subjects:(A)     The top energy efficiency savings         opportunities for the public school, by energy saved;(B)   The total achievable solar energy potential         on or nearby a public school's premises and able to provide power to a school;(C)   The infrastructure required to support         electrification of the facility's space heating and water heating needs;(D)   The infrastructure requirements to support         electrification of a school's transportation needs; and(E)   The investments required to achieve a WELL         Certification or similar certification as determined through methods developed and updated by the International WELL Building Institute or similar or successor organizations.(4)   The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment also     shall include, but not be limited to, mechanical insulation evaluation inspection and inspection of the building envelope(s).(5)     With respect to those public school     construction projects for public schools within the service territory of a utility serving over 500,000 retail customers in this State and for which a public school district applies for a grant under Section 5-40 of the School Construction Law on or after June 1, 2023, the district must submit a copy of the applicable Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment report, or, if no such Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment has been performed, request the applicable utility to perform such a Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment and submit a copy of the Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment report promptly when it becomes available. The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment report shall include, but not limited to, an energy audit of both the building envelope and the building's mechanical insulation system. It shall also include an inspection of both the building envelope and the mechanical insulation system. The district must demonstrate how the construction project is designed and managed to achieve the goals that all public elementary and secondary school facilities in the State are able to be powered by clean energy by 2030, and for such facilities to achieve carbon-free energy sources for space heat, water heat, and transportation by 2050.(6)     The results of each Public Schools     Carbon-Free Assessment shall be memorialized by the utility or by a third party acting on behalf of the utility in a usable report form and shall be provided to the applicable public school. Each utility shall be required to retain a copy of each Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment report and to provide confidential copies of each report to the Illinois Power Agency and the Illinois Capital Development Board within 3 months of its completion.(7)     The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment     shall be conducted in coordination with each utility's energy efficiency and demand-response plans under Sections 8-103, 8-103A, and 8-103B of this Act, to the extent applicable. Nothing in this Section is intended to modify or require modification of those plans. However, the utility may request a modification of a plan approved by the Commission, and the Commission may approve the requested modification, if the modification is consistent with the provisions of this Section and Section 8-103B of this Act.(8)   If there are no other providers of assessments     that are substantively the same as those being performed by utilities pursuant to this Section by 2024, a utility that has a Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment program may offer assessments to public schools that are not served by a utility subject to this Section at the utility's cost.(9)   The Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessment shall     be offered to and performed for public schools in the utility's service territory on a complimentary basis by each utility, with no Assessment fee charged to the public schools for the Assessments. Nothing in this Section is intended to prohibit the utility from recovering through rates approved by the Commission the utility's prudent and reasonable costs of complying with this Section.(10)   Utilities shall make efforts to prioritize the     completion of Public Schools Carbon-Free Assessments for the following school districts by December 31, 2022: East St. Louis School District 189, Harvey School District 152, Thornton Township High School District 205. (Source: P.A. 102-662, eff. 9-15-21.)