WEST virginia legislature
2018 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 4612
By Delegate Hanshaw
[Introduced February 13,
2018; Referred
to the Committee on Energy then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §24-3-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to prohibiting public utilities from prohibiting customers from constructing, installing, or maintaining a connection or other infrastructure necessary for the customer to connect to the public utility to receive service.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 3. DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES OF PUBLIC UTILITIES SUBJECT TO REGULATIONS OF COMMISSION.
§24-3-2. Discrimination prohibited.
No public utility subject
to the provisions of this chapter shall may, directly or
indirectly, by any special rate, rebate, drawback or other device or method,
charge, demand, collect or receive from any person, firm or corporation, a
greater or less compensation, for any service rendered or to be rendered, than
it charges, demands, collects, or receives from any other person, firm or
corporation for doing a like and contemporaneous service under the same or
substantially similar circumstances and conditions.
It shall be is
unlawful for any public utility subject to the provisions of this chapter to
make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any
particular person, company, firm, corporation or locality, or any particular character
of traffic or service, in any respect whatsoever, or to subject any particular
person, firm, corporation, company or locality, or any particular character of
traffic or service, to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in
any respect whatsoever.
It is unlawful for a public utility subject to the provisions of this chapter, to prohibit a customer of that public utility from constructing, installing, or maintaining, or hiring a contractor of the customer’s choice, to construct, install, or maintain, any connection or other infrastructure necessary for the customer to connect to the public utility to receive service. However, a public utility subject to the provisions of this chapter may require that all construction, installation, or maintenance be performed according to standards developed by the public utility.
Nothing in this section shall
be construed to prevent prevents the commission from:
(a) Authorizing or requiring any rate design consistent with the purposes and policies set forth in §24-2A-1 et seq. of this code; or
(b) Authorizing a private water utility to voluntarily implement a rate design featuring reduced rates and charges for service to qualifying low-income residential customers.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit public utilities from prohibiting customers from constructing, installing, or maintaining a connection or other infrastructure necessary for the customer to connect to the public utility to receive service.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.