Pritzker signs legislation for energy bill transparency, utility
discount program
[July 10, 2026]
By Maggie Dougherty
CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker signed a pair of bills Thursday aimed at
improving transparency of utility billing and expanding access to
discounts for low-income residents.
“Illinois has made historic investments to strengthen our energy system
while returning savings to consumers,” Pritzker said in a statement
announcing the bill signing. “By signing these bills, we are building on
that foundational work by helping reduce energy costs for working
families while increasing transparency on billing.”
The first of the two bills, House Bill 4456, expands a discount program
for low-income electric and natural gas customers established under the
state’s landmark energy legislation passed in 2021, the Climate and
Equitable Jobs Act, or CEJA.
Under CEJA, the Illinois Commerce Commission, the regulatory body that
oversees the state’s public utilities, was instructed to assess whether
low-income discount programs would be appropriate for residential
electric and natural gas customers.
In 2023, the commission ordered the state’s major utilities to begin
offering discount rates, funded through a small charge on all customers’
bills. The utilities are required to get those rates approved by the
ICC.
This bill codifies that process into law and raises the eligibility
threshold for access to benefits to the federally funded Low Income Home
Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, to 300% of the federal poverty
level, up from the previous 200%.
That means that an individual making up to $47,880, a family of two
making up to $64,920 or a family of four making up to $99,000 now
qualify for the relief.
“In low-income communities, we see families spending up to 20% of their
income on utilities,” said Rep. Laura Faver Dias, D-Grayslake, who
sponsored the bill in the House. “It’s really important, I think, to
codify the work that the ICC has done around the low-income discount
program and make some other changes that make our whole support system
more streamlined and more effective.”
The bill also caps the surcharge rate that funds the low-income discount
program, which was set for another increase in 2027.
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An Ameren Illinois meter. (Capitol News Illinois file photo by
Jennifer Fuller)
Bill transparency
The second bill Pritzker signed, House Bill 5524, is all about
transparency, according to its House sponsor, Rep. Dave Severin,
R-Benton.
Severin said his constituents were reaching out, not only with concerns
about high energy costs, but also with confusion about what they were
even paying for, due to unspecified line items on their bills.
That led him to introduce the legislation, which requires the Commission
on Government Forecasting and Accountability to issue a report on those
actual costs, line by line.
The report will be required to list all charges, along with any laws
requiring it, the programs and services the charge supports, and the
full amount collected from the charge in 2025.
“So, does it lower someone’s bill? No, it doesn’t, but it makes it
transparent, where it makes the energy companies accountable for what’s
going on,” Severin said. He also emphasized the role in transparency for
state agencies that receive funds through those charges.
That transparency, Severin said, is good for both the people paying
bills, and to keep agencies accountable for where the funds will end up.
The bill passed unanimously in both the House and Senate this spring.
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government
coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily
by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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