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WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2024 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced
House Bill 4009
By Delegates Pushkin, Hansen, Garcia, Williams, Young, Hamilton, and Griffith
[Introduced February 13, 2024; Referred to the Committee on Technology and Infrastructure then the Judiciary]
A BILL to amend and reenact §24-1-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §24-1-3a; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §24-2-22; and to amend §24-2A-1 of said code, all relating to the Public Service Commission; providing that Commission members be elected non-partisan positions; allowing for staggered appointments for initial election; revising provisions relating to duties of the Commission and its employees; establishing process for election of Commission members; providing mechanism of removal for commission members and employees by initiating judicial action; requiring electronic access for certain public hearings; creating a process for notice and comment by customers of a utility relating to a proposed or enacted utility rate increase; and increasing the discount rate for utility costs for certain low income persons.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
(a) The Public Service Commission of West Virginia is continued and directed as provided by this chapter, chapter twenty-four-a, chapter twenty-four-b and chapter twenty-four-d of this code. The Public Service Commission may sue and be sued by that name.
(b) The Public Service Commission shall consist of three members who shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate and all appointed members terms will end on December 31, 2025. Effective January 1, 2025, members of the Commission shall be elected by state-wide non-partisan election pursuant to §24-1-3a of this Code, to take Office effective January first following the year of election. The commissioners shall be citizens and residents of this state. and at least one of them shall be duly licensed to practice law in West Virginia, with not less than ten years’ actual work experience in the legal profession as a member of a State Bar.
(c) No more than two of the commissioners shall be members of the same political party
(d) (c) Each commissioner shall, before entering upon the duties of his or her office, take and subscribe to the oath provided by section five, article IV of the Constitution of West Virginia. The oath shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State.
(e) (d) The Governor Commission shall designate one of the commissioners to serve as chairman at the Governor’s will and pleasure. The chairman shall be the chief administrative officer of the commission. The Governor may remove any Any commissioner only may be removed for incompetency, neglect of duty, gross immorality, malfeasance in office. or violation of subsections (g) and (h) of this section.
(f) Upon expiration of the terms, appointments are for terms of six years, except that an appointment to fill a vacancy is for the unexpired term only.
(g) (e) No person while in the employ of, or holding any official relation to, any public utility subject to the provisions of this chapter or holding any stocks or bonds of a public utility subject to the provisions of this chapter or who is pecuniarily interested in a public utility subject to the provisions of this chapter may serve as a member of the commission or as an employee of the commission.
(h) (f) Nor may any commissioner be a candidate for or hold public office other than re-election to the commission or be a member of any political committee while acting as a commissioner; nor may any commissioner or employee of the commission receive any pass, free transportation or other thing of value, either directly or indirectly, from any public utility or motor carrier subject to the provisions of this chapter. In case any of the commissioners becomes a candidate for any public office or a member of any political committee, he or she is disqualified from serving on the commission. the Governor shall remove him or her from office and shall appoint a new commissioner to fill the vacancy created.
(i) (g) The annual salary of each commissioner provided in section two-a, article seven, chapter six of this code shall be paid at least twice per month from the special funds in the percentages that follow:
(1) From the Public Service Commission Fund collected under the provisions of section six, article three of this chapter, eighty percent;
(2) From the Public Service Commission Motor Carrier Fund collected under the provisions of section six, article six, chapter twenty-four-a of this code, seventeen percent; and
(3) From the Public Service Commission Gas Pipeline Safety Fund collected under the provisions of section three, article five, chapter twenty-four-b of this code, three percent.
(j) (h) In addition to the salary provided for all commissioners in section two-a, article seven, chapter six of this code, the chairman of the commission shall receive $5,000 per annum to be paid at least twice per month from the Public Service Commission Fund collected under the provisions of section six, article three of this chapter.
(i) Any citizen of the state may petition a court of record to have a member of the Commission removed for maleficence, or violation of any law or duty required by the Commission by law.
Effective January 1, 2025, each member of the Public Service Commission shall be elected on a nonpartisan basis during the May primary to serve 6-year term, subject to the exceptions of the initial elected terms as provided herein. For purposes of the 2026 election, each member shall have an elected term as follows: (1) One member is elected for a two-year term; (2) one member is elected for a four-year term; and (3) member is elected for a six-year term. For the 2026 election, each candidate shall select the two-year, four-year or six- year term. After the initial election in 2026, each member of the Commission shall be elected for a six-year term.
(a) The Legislature finds that in the past 20 years the citizens of this state have had to endure the highest increases in utility costs in the United States and that these increases have most greatly impacted lower income residents, have far exceeded state wage, salary, and retirement income increases, and are consuming a greater and greater proportion of our citizen's income. This trend of spiraling utility rates has created financial hardship for countless West Virginians. Further, that the current system of setting and increasing utility rate increases which focuses on the costs of the utility companies, service upgrades and promoting state coal and natural gas resources, while guaranteeing a rate of return for utilities, places the costs to the consumers in West Virginia as a secondary consideration of the Public Service Commission. Further, the current public notice and comment system for ratemaking of utility increases is an ineffective tool for engaging average West Virginians, as its cumbersome case-codes, orders and reports are difficult for average consumers to understand and reinforces the belief that there is no meaningful way for them to participate in the utility ratemaking process. Therefore, the purpose of this section is to create a mechanism to allow citizens to have a voice and provide understandable, accessible, and transparent process to express their views of the financial harm hoisted upon them in every increase of utility costs in West Virginia.
(b) Effective July 1, 2024, the commission shall order every utility, upon receipt of notice of a rate increase, to provide in the following month's electronic or paper billing documents to each customer of the utility, the following:
(1) A description of the proposed rate increase, including an estimate on the increase costs to the consumer will be required to pay if the rate increase is approved;
(2) The purpose for the increase, with specific details regarding the reason for the increase, and how much of the increase will be retained by the utility as profit in this state, and a statement of the existing overall profits of the utility for the prior fiscal year;
(3) The mail address and email address that the consumer can submit comments;
(4) A list of all relevant dates and locations for receipt of public comment; and
(5) Upon the approval of the Commission of any rate increase, the information listed in subdivision (2) shall be provided based on the approved rate as provided in this subsection.
(c) Any public hearing conducted relating to a utility rate increase shall be streamed on the internet and participation in the public hearing, including giving testimony, shall be allowed remotely.
(d) The Commission shall promulgate a rule providing minimum requirements for this notice and shall review and approve the design and content of each utility's notice. The Commission shall establish a web page location where all public comments may be reviewed along with any responses the Commission has made to the submitted comments.
The commission shall order each gas and electric utility subject to its jurisdiction, except municipal or cooperative gas or electric utilities, to offer special reduced rates applicable to gas and electric service for the billing months of December, January, February, March and April of each year (beginning with the billing month of December, 1983) to residential utility customers receiving (a) social security supplemental security income (SSI), (b) aid to families with dependent children (AFDC), (c) aid to families with dependent children-- unemployed (AFDC-U), or (d) food stamps, if such food stamp recipients are sixty years of age or older. The special reduced rate offered by each gas and electric utility to its eligible customers shall be twenty thirty percent less than the rate which would be applicable to such customers if they were not receiving any of the four forms of assistance which confer eligibility for the special reduced rates. A customer of a utility offering special reduced rates shall be eligible to receive such rates for each of the billing months of December, January, February, March and April that correlates to a calendar month during which that customer is eligible to participate in one or more of the qualifying programs specified in this section, except as otherwise provided in this section. The correlation of billing months to calendar months of eligibility to participate in a qualifying program is as follows: A December billing month correlates to the calendar month of November; a January billing month correlates to the calendar month of December; a February billing month correlates to the calendar month of January; a March billing month correlates to the calendar month of February; and an April billing month correlates to the calendar month of March. After the billing month of April, 1984, no No customer shall be eligible to receive the special reduced rates until the billing month in which that customer applies for such rates. For the billing months of December, 1983, and January, February, March and April, 1984, a customer shall be eligible to receive a utility's special reduced rates for any of said billing months which correlates to a calendar month during which that customer is eligible to participate in one or more of the qualifying programs specified in this section, regardless of the date on which that customer applies for such rates: Provided, That the date of application falls on or prior to May 15, 1984. No customer who applies for the special reduced rates after May 15, 1984 shall be eligible to receive such rates for any of the billing months of December, 1983 or January, February, March or April, 1984. Before any individual may qualify to receive the special reduced rates, the following requirements must be met:
(a) The special reduced rates shall apply only to current customers or to those persons who subsequently become customers in their own right. If an SSI, AFDC, AFDC- U or food stamp recipient is living in a household which is served under the name of a person who is not an SSI, AFDC, AFDC-U or food stamp recipient, that service may not be changed or have been changed subsequent to March 12, 1983, to the name of the SSI, AFDC, AFDC-U or food stamp recipient in order to qualify for service under the special reduced rates.
(b) The burden of proving eligibility for the special reduced rates shall be on the customer requesting such rates. The department of human services shall establish by rules and regulations procedures (1) to inform persons receiving any of the four forms of assistance which confer eligibility for the special reduced rates about the availability of the special reduced rates, (2) to assist applicants for the special reduced rates in proving their eligibility therefor, and (3) to assist gas and electric utilities offering the special reduced rates in determining on a continuing basis the eligibility therefor of persons receiving or applying for such rates. The commission shall establish by rules and regulations procedures for the application for and provision of service under the special reduced rates and for the determination and certification of revenue deficiencies resulting from the special reduced rates. Within ten days of the effective date of this article, the commission and the department of human services shall adopt temporary rules and regulations, as required by this section, which rules and regulations shall not be subject to the requirements of chapter twenty-nine-a and section seven, article one of chapter twenty-four except that they shall be filed with the Secretary of State and published in the state register. These temporary rules and regulations shall remain in effect until supplanted by permanent rules and regulations, which shall be adopted by the commission and the department of human services within one hundred eighty days of the effective date of this article. No customer who is a recipient of more than one of the four forms of assistance which confer eligibility for the special reduced rates shall be eligible for more than one twenty thirty percent discount for gas service and one twenty thirty percent discount for electric service during each billing month that said customer is eligible to receive the special reduced rates.
(c) In order to provide each eligible residential utility customer the special reduced rates for the billing months of December, 1983, through April, 1984, (hereinafter referred to as the first special-reduced-rate season), each utility providing the special reduced rates shall credit against the amount otherwise owed by each customer an amount equal to the difference between the total amount that each such customer was actually billed during the first special-reduced-rate season and the total amount that each customer would have been entitled to be billed under the special reduced rates. Each such credit shall be fully reflected on the first bill issued to each such customer after approval of each such customer's application for the special reduced rates, except in cases where the interval between the approval and the issuance of the next bill is so short that it is administratively impracticable to do so, in which cases such credits shall be fully reflected on the second bill issued to each such customer after approval of that customer's application. If the interval between the approval and the issuance of the next bill is fifteen days or more, it shall not be deemed administratively impracticable to reflect such credit on the customer's first such bill.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create greater accountability and public input in the operations of the Public Service Commission; to remove the appointment process so Commission members are elected by non-partisan elections; revising the removal process in Commission to allow citizens to initiate removal for malfeasance and conflicts of interest; providing for reduced rates for qualifying low-income customers; and providing an accessible and more transparent method for consumers to participate in the utility ratemaking process.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
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