Ill. Admin. Code tit. 83, § 467.80 - Disputes
a) It is the policy of
the Commission that applicants for interconnection and EDCs should, to the maximum
extent possible, endeavor to resolve interconnection disputes through negotiation
and without resorting to the processes of the Commission. A party shall attempt to
resolve all disputes regarding interconnection promptly and in a good faith manner.
A party shall provide prompt written notice of the existence of the dispute,
including sufficient detail to identify the scope of the dispute, to the other party
in order to attempt to resolve the dispute in a good faith manner.
b) An informal meeting between the parties shall
be held within 10 business days after receipt of the written notice. Persons with
decision-making authority from each party shall attend the meeting. In the event the
dispute involves technical issues, persons with sufficient technical expertise and
familiarity with the issue in dispute from each party shall also attend the informal
meeting. If the parties agree, the meeting may be conducted by teleconference. The
informal process between the parties shall extend 30 days after the receipt of
written notice, after which the dispute is deemed resolved and the timeframes for
decisions within the interconnection process resume, unless one of the parties seeks
resolution through the non-binding arbitration procedures described in subsection
(c) or files a formal complaint at the Commission before the end of the 30-day
period. If the negotiations do not resolve the dispute within 10 business days after
commencing, either party may proceed to subsection (c) upon providing written notice
to the other party.
c) Ombudsman
1) If the parties are unable to resolve the
dispute through an informal meeting or meetings, either party may submit the
interconnection dispute to an Ombudsman for non-binding arbitration. The party
electing arbitration shall notify the other party of the request in
writing.
2) For purposes of this
Section, the Ombudsman, as that term is used in Section 16-107.5(h-5) of the Act,
for that dispute may be:
A) the American
Arbitration Association (AAA) or an individual arbitrator or team of arbitrators
selected by the parties pursuant to AAA rules;
B) Commission employees designated on the
Commission's website, as available; or
C) a third party selected by the
parties.
3) In designating
one or more of its employees as a potential Ombudsman for a dispute, the Commission
may identify an hourly fee for that individual's time spent on arbitration; the
Commission shall invoice and collect a fee equal to the hourly rate multiplied by
hours spent on the arbitration in equal shares from the parties to the
arbitration.
4) Each party shall bear
its own fees, costs and expenses and an equal share of the expenses of the
non-binding arbitration.
5) The
non-binding arbitration process is limited to 60 days unless the parties and the
Ombudsman agree to a longer period.
d) Within 10 days after the conclusion of the
procedures in subsection (c), either party may initiate a formal complaint with the
Commission and ask for an expedited resolution of the dispute. If the complaint
seeks expedited resolution, any written recommendation of the Ombudsman shall be
appended to the complaint. If a party fails to file a formal complaint within this
10-day timeframe, it waives its right to obtain relief from the Commission and the
dispute is deemed resolved.
e) Pursuit
of dispute resolution shall not affect an interconnection applicant with regard to
consideration of an interconnection request or an interconnection applicant's
position in the EDC's interconnection queue of any pending application or
interconnection agreement.
Notes
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