(a) Whenever any person, firm or corporation, incorporated under the general statutes or any special act, is granted a franchise to operate as a public service company, as defined in section 16-1, and fails to provide service which is adequate to serve the public convenience and necessity of any town, city, borough, district or other political subdivision of the state, or any portion thereof, for a period of five years from the date of such franchise or from January 1, 1961, whichever is later, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, on its own initiative, or upon complaint of any such town, city, borough, district or other political subdivision, or on petition of not less than five per cent of the affected persons, but in no event more than one thousand persons, in any such town, city, borough, district or other political subdivision, shall fix a time and place for a hearing to be held thereon. The authority shall give notice thereof to all parties in interest and shall make such further investigation into the alleged failure to provide such service as it deems necessary. If upon such hearing, said authority finds that the holder of such franchise has failed to provide such service and that there is an immediate need for such service, it may revoke such franchise as to any such town, city, borough, district or political subdivision, or any portion thereof, or make such other order as may be necessary to provide such service. Whenever any person, firm or corporation, incorporated under the general statutes or any special act, is granted a franchise to operate as a railroad company, as defined in section 13b-199, and fails to provide adequate service, or has discontinued the service, on any segment of its lines for which such franchise is granted for a period of five years or more, the franchise for such segment of line shall cease to exist and shall be revoked by the authority for such failure to operate such service or discontinuance of service for a period of five years or more.

(b) The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, on its own initiative or upon complaint of any town, city, borough, district or other political subdivision of the state, in which a public service company, other than a community antenna television company, having five thousand or fewer customers, or a water company provides service, or on petition of either fifty per cent of the residents of such a town, city, borough, district or other political subdivision, or of five hundred customers of such company in any such town, city, borough, district or other political subdivision, may conduct a hearing, after giving notice thereof to all interested parties, to determine whether the rates that have been charged by such company for a period of five consecutive years immediately preceding the date of such hearing are so excessive in comparison to the rates charged by other public service companies providing the same or similar service as to inhibit the economic development of the area in which such company is authorized to furnish service or impose an unreasonable cost on the customers of such company. In making such determination, the authority may conduct such further investigation as it deems necessary and may consider whether such rates, if excessive, are the result of such factors as the overall size, stability and financial condition of such company, the organization, including technical and managerial expertise and efficiency, of such company and the physical condition and capacity of such company's plant. If the authority finds that such company is unable or unwilling to provide service at a reasonable cost to its customers, as determined by the authority, it may (1) make such order as may be necessary to provide such service, or (2) revoke the franchise held by such company. The authority shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to implement the provisions of this subsection.

(c) If any such franchise is revoked, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, when the General Assembly is not in session, may grant a franchise to any person, firm or corporation, incorporated under the general statutes or any special act, qualified and prepared to provide such services within a reasonable time, as determined by said authority provided the authority first finds there is an immediate need for such a franchise after a public hearing in the area to be served thereunder. Such hearing shall be advertised at least twice prior thereto in a newspaper having a general circulation in each town of the area to be serviced by such franchise, once at least three days before said hearing, once at least fifteen days before said hearing, both advertisements to be at least ten days apart. Such franchise shall carry the same authority and powers and shall be subject to the same conditions and restrictions, if any, as the original franchise.

(1969, P.A. 789, S. 1; P.A. 73-353; P.A. 75-486, S. 7, 69; P.A. 77-614, S. 162, 610; P.A. 80-482, S. 48, 348; P.A. 81-472, S. 24, 159; P.A. 85-246, S. 9; P.A. 87-96; P.A. 89-261, S. 1; P.A. 94-219, S. 2; P.A. 11-80, S. 1; P.A. 14-134, S. 3.)

History: P.A. 73-353 added provisions re revocation of franchise upon failure to provide or discontinuance of service in Subsec. (a); P.A. 75-486 replaced public utilities commission with public utilities control authority and amended Subsec. (a) to allow hearings if service not adequate to serve public convenience and necessity and to add provision re petition for hearing; P.A. 77-614 replaced the authority with division of public utility control within the department of business regulation, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 80-482 made division an independent department and deleted reference to abolished department of business regulation; P.A. 81-472 made technical changes; P.A. 85-246 amended Subsec. (a) to delete reference to street railway companies; P.A. 87-96 relettered existing Subsec. (b) as Subsec. (c) and added new Subsec. (b) re franchise revocation procedures applicable to small public service companies unable or unwilling to provide service at a reasonable cost; P.A. 89-261 deleted provision in Subsec. (b) preventing the department from revoking a water company franchise; P.A. 94-219 in Subsec. (b) changed requirements for a petition to determine if rates charged by a public service water company are excessive from 5% of the affected persons to either 50% of the residents of such town, city or borough, district or other political subdivision or 500 customers of such company; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Department of Public Utility Control” and “department” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “Public Utilities Regulatory Authority” and “authority”, respectively, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 14-134 amended Subsec. (a) by replacing reference to Sec. 16-1 with reference to Sec. 13b-199 re railroad company, effective June 6, 2014.