The Illinois Supreme Court has issued an opinion finding that the Illinois Commerce Commission does not have exclusive jurisdiction over contractual rate disputes between retail electric suppliers and their customers, and that customers may pursue claims in court

In a December ruling, the Illinois Supreme Court said that the ICC does not have exclusive jurisdiction over a "reparation" claim brought by a residential customer against a retail supplier because statute extended to the ICC exclusive jurisdiction over such claims with respect to "public utilities". Retail suppliers are expressly excluded from the definition of public utility under statute, and statute does not give the ICC exclusive jurisdiction over retail supplier rate disputes as was expressly granted for public utility rates, the Illinois Supreme Court said

"As such -- and there is no dispute on this point -- the prices they are permitted to charge are not established by the Commerce Commission through the conventional rate-making process and do not have to be submitted to the Commerce Commission for approval under the 'just and reasonable' standard. In contrast to public utilities, an ARES’s prices are a matter of contract between the ARES and its customers. The technical and regulatory expertise of the Commerce Commission does not come into play. Accordingly, the justification for giving the Commerce Commission exclusive original jurisdiction over the disputes involving rates charged by public utilities is absent where, as here, the complaint concerns overcharging by an ARES," the Illinois Supreme Court said

The Illinois Supreme Court was answering a certified question concerning the ICC's jurisdiction after a federal court had dismissed a suit against a retail supplier concerning its variable rates. Although the lower federal court dismissed the suit on several grounds, the federal court said in dismissing the suit that the ICC had exclusive jurisdiction over the claim

Link to Supreme Court opinion

Tags:
Illinois   Litigation   Complaints   Variable Rates  

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