H. B. 3007
(By Delegates Wright, Kuhn and Butcher)
[Introduced February 13, 2003
; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections three and four-b, article two,
chapter twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the
jurisdiction of the public service commission over public
service districts with respect to rates and charges.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections three and four-b, article two, chapter
twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2. POWERS AND DUTIES OF PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.
§24-2-3. General power of commission with respect to rates.
The commission shall have power to enforce, originate, establish, change and promulgate tariffs, rates, joint rates, tolls
and schedules for all public utilities:
Provided, That the
commission may exercise
such rate authority over
public service
districts and municipal utilities only under the circumstances set
forth in section four-b of this article. And whenever the
commission shall, after hearing, find any existing rates, tolls,
tariffs, joint rates or schedules unjust, unreasonable,
insufficient or unjustly discriminatory or otherwise in violation
of any of the provisions of this chapter, the commission shall by
an order fix reasonable rates, joint rates, tariffs, tolls or
schedules to be followed in the future in lieu of those found to be
unjust, unreasonable, insufficient or unjustly discriminatory or
otherwise in violation of any provisions of law, and the
said
commission, in fixing the rate of any railroad company, may fix a
fair, reasonable and just rate to be charged on any branch line
thereof, independent of the rate charged on the main line of
such
the railroad.
In determining just and reasonable rates, the commission may
audit and investigate management practices and policies, or have
performed an audit and investigation of such practices and
policies, in order to determine whether the utility is operating with efficiency and is utilizing sound management practices. The
commission shall adopt rules
and regulations setting forth the
scope, frequency and application of such audits and investigations
to the various utilities subject to its jurisdiction. The
commission may include the cost of conducting the management audit
in the cost of service of the utility.
In determining just and reasonable rates, the commission shall
investigate and review transactions between utilities and
affiliates. The commission shall limit the total return of the
utility to a level which, when considered with the level of profit
or return the affiliate earns on transactions with the utility, is
just and reasonable.
§24-2-4b. Procedures for changing rates of electric and natural
gas cooperatives, local exchange services of
telephone cooperatives and municipally operated
public utilities.
(a) The rates and charges of electric cooperatives, natural
gas cooperatives,
public service districts and municipally operated
public utilities, except for municipally operated commercial solid
waste facilities as defined in section two, article fifteen,
chapter twenty-two of this code, and the rates and charges for
local exchange services provided by telephone cooperatives are not subject to the rate approval provisions of section four or four-a
of this article, but are subject to the limited rate provisions of
this section.
(b) All rates and charges set by electric cooperatives,
natural gas cooperatives,
public service districts and municipally
operated public utilities and all rates and charges for local
exchange services set by telephone cooperatives shall be just,
reasonable, applied without unjust discrimination or preference and
based primarily on the costs of providing these services.
Such
Rates and charges shall be adopted by the electric, natural gas or
telephone cooperative's governing board,
in the case of public
service districts by resolution and in the case of the municipally
operated public utility by municipal ordinance to be effective not
sooner than forty-five days after adoption:
Provided, That notice
of intent to effect a rate change
shall must be specified on the
monthly billing statement of the customers of
such the utility for
the month next preceding the month in which the rate change is to
become effective or the utility shall give its customers, and in
the case of a cooperative, its customers, members and stockholders,
such other reasonable notices as will allow filing of timely
objections to such rate change.
Such Rates and charges
shall must be filed with the commission together with
such information showing
the basis of
such the rates and charges and
such other
additional
information as the commission considers necessary. Any change in
such the rates and charges with updated information
shall must be
filed with the commission. If a petition, as set out in
subdivision (1), (2) or (3), subsection (c) of this section, is
received and the electric cooperative, natural gas cooperative,
telephone cooperative,
public service district or municipality has
failed to file with the commission
such the rates and charges with
such information showing the basis of rates and charges and
such
the other
additional information as the commission considers
necessary, the suspension period limitation of one hundred twenty
days and the one hundred day period limitation for issuance of an
order by a hearing examiner, as contained in subsections (d) and
(e) of this section, is tolled until the necessary information is
filed. The electric cooperative, natural gas cooperative,
telephone cooperative,
public service district or municipality
shall set the date when any new rate or charge is to go into
effect.
(c) The commission shall review and approve or modify
such the
rates upon the filing of a petition within thirty days of the adoption of the ordinance or resolution changing
said the rates or
charges by:
(1) Any customer aggrieved by the changed rates or charges who
presents to the commission a petition signed by not less than
twenty-five percent of the customers served by
such the municipally
operated public utility,
five percent of the customers served by
the public service district, or twenty-five percent of the
membership of the electric, natural gas or telephone cooperative
residing within the state; or
(2) Any customer who is served by a municipally operated
public utility and who resides outside the corporate limits and who
is affected by the change in
said the rates or charges and who
presents to the commission a petition alleging discrimination
between customers within and without the municipal boundaries.
Said The petition shall be accompanied by evidence of
discrimination; or
(3) Any customer or group of customers who are affected by
said the change in rates who reside within the
public service
district or municipal boundaries and who present a petition to the
commission alleging discrimination between
said the customer or
group of customers and other customers of the
public service district or municipal utility,
as the case may be. Said The
petition
shall must be accompanied by evidence of discrimination.
(d) (1) The filing of a petition with the commission signed by
not less than twenty-five percent of the customers served by the
municipally operated public utility,
five percent of the customers
served by the public service district, or twenty-five percent of
the membership of the electric, natural gas or telephone
cooperative residing within the state, under subdivision (1),
subsection (c) of this section, shall suspend the adoption of the
rate change contained in the ordinance or resolution for a period
of one hundred twenty days from the date said rates or charges
would otherwise go into effect, or until an order is issued as
provided
herein in this section.
(2) Upon sufficient showing of discrimination by customers
outside the municipal boundaries,
under a petition filed under
subdivision (2), subsection (c) of this section, or a customer or
a group of customers within the
public service district or
municipal boundaries, under a petition filed under subdivision
(2)
or (3), subsection (c) of this section, the commission shall
suspend the adoption of the rate change contained in the
resolution
or ordinance,
as the case may be, for a period of one hundred twenty days from the date
said the rates or charges would otherwise
go into effect or until an order is issued as provided
herein in
this section.
(e) The commission shall forthwith appoint a hearing examiner
from its staff to review the grievances raised by the petitioners.
Said The hearing examiner shall conduct a public hearing, and shall
within one hundred days from the date the said rates or charges
would otherwise go into effect, unless otherwise tolled as provided
in subsection (b) of this section, issue an order approving,
disapproving or modifying, in whole or in part, the rates or
charges imposed by the electric, natural gas or telephone
cooperative or by the
public service district or municipally
operated public utility pursuant to this section.
(f) Upon receipt of a petition for review of the rates under
the provisions of subsection (c) of this section, the commission
may exercise the power granted to it under the provisions of
section three of this article. The commission may determine the
method by which such rates are reviewed and may grant and conduct
a de novo hearing on the matter if the customer, electric, natural
gas or telephone cooperative or municipality requests such a
hearing.
(g) The commission may, upon petition by a
public service
district, municipality or electric, natural gas or telephone
cooperative, allow an interim or emergency rate to take effect,
subject to future modification, if it is determined that
such the
interim or emergency rate is necessary to protect the
public
service district or municipality from financial hardship and if
that financial hardship is attributable solely to the purchase of
the utility commodity sold. In such cases, the commission may
waive the forty-five-day waiting period provided for in subsection
(b) of this section and the one hundred twenty-day suspension
period provided for in subsection (d) of this section.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision, the commission has no
authority or responsibility with regard to the regulation of rates,
income, services or contracts by municipally operated public
utilities for services which are transmitted and sold outside of
the state of West Virginia.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to limit the jurisdiction
of the public service commission over public service districts with
regard to rates and charges to only those instances where a
customer aggrieved by a change in the public service district's
rates or charges presents to the commission a petition signed by
not less than five percent of the customers served by the public
service district or where a customer or group of customers who are affected by changed rates or charges who reside within the public
service district presents a petition to the commission alleging
discrimination between said customer or group of customers and
other customers of the public service district.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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