Northern Illinois Gas Co. v. Illinois Commerce Commission and The People ex rel. Kwame Raoul, Attorney General of the State of Illinois

Summary

Northern Illinois Gas Company, doing business as Nicor Gas Company, appealed an Illinois Commerce Commission rate-case decision concerning Nicor's capital structure, pipeline investment costs, and a required long-term gas infrastructure plan. The Illinois Appellate Court, Third District, affirmed in part and vacated in part, including the Commission's imputed capital structure and disallowance of certain distribution investment costs. The provided text ends before the court's complete disposition of all issues.

Holdings

1. The Commission applied the correct legal standard and substantial evidence supported its adoption of an imputed capital structure consisting of 50% common equity, 46.96% long-term debt, and 3.04% short-term debt.
2. The Commission properly disallowed $55.1 million of Nicor's proposed distribution investment costs.
3. The Commission properly disallowed $43.3 million of Nicor's proposed MAOP-reconfirmation investment costs and required Nicor to submit a compliance plan.
4. The Commission properly disallowed approximately $28.4 million of Nicor's proposed transmission-pipeline investment costs.
5. The Commission lacked authority to impose the infrastructure-plan requirement, and the requirement was void because it constituted a rule adopted without the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act's notice-and-comment process.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Commission applied the proper statutory standard in rejecting Nicor's proposed actual capital structure and adopting an imputed 50% common-equity structure.
2. Whether substantial evidence supported the Commission's disallowance of $55.1 million in distribution investment costs.
3. Whether substantial evidence supported the Commission's disallowance of $43.3 million in MAOP-reconfirmation investment costs.
4. Whether substantial evidence supported the Commission's disallowance of approximately $28.4 million in transmission-pipeline investment costs.
5. Whether the Commission had statutory authority to require Nicor to file a biennial long-term gas infrastructure plan and, if the requirement was a rule, whether it was invalid because the Commission did not use the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act's notice-and-comment process.

Disposition

other