(a) A public utility may not operate and receive compensation for providing a commodity or service without first having obtained from the commission under this chapter a certificate declaring that public convenience and necessity require or will require the service. Where a public utility provides more than one type of utility service, a separate certificate of convenience and necessity is required for each type. A certificate must describe the nature and extent of the authority granted in it, including, as appropriate for the services involved, a description of the authorized area and scope of operations of the public utility.

(b) All certificates of convenience and necessity issued to a public utility before July 1, 1970, remain in effect but they are subject to modification where there are areas of conflict with public utilities that have not previously been required to have a certificate or where there is a substantial change in circumstances.

(c) A certificate shall be issued to a public utility that was not required to have one before July 1, 1970, and that is required to have one after that date, if it appears to the commission that the utility was actually operating in good faith on that date. Such a certificate is subject to modification where there are areas of conflict with other public utilities or where there has been a substantial change in circumstances.

(d) In an area where the commission determines that two or more public utilities are competing to furnish identical utility service and that this competition is not in the public interest, the commission shall take appropriate action to eliminate the competition and any undesirable duplication of facilities. This appropriate action may include, but is not limited to, ordering the competing utilities to enter into a contract that, among other things, would:

(1) delineate the service area boundaries of each in those areas of competition;

(2) eliminate existing duplication and paralleling to the fullest reasonable extent;

(3) preclude future duplication and paralleling;

(4) provide for the exchange of customers and facilities for the purposes of providing better public service and of eliminating duplication and paralleling; and

(5) provide such other mutually equitable arrangements as would be in the public interest.

(e) If the commission employs professional consultants to assist it in administering this section, it may apportion the expenses relating to their employment among the competing utilities.

(f) [Repealed, § 12 ch 136 SLA 1980.]