(a) Every gas company, as defined in section 16-1, owning or operating any underground facilities for furnishing gas shall, every two years, beginning on or before April 1, 1997, furnish a report to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority concerning the condition of such underground gas facilities for each of the previous two calendar years. The report shall be made available to the public and shall be furnished to the chief executive officer of each municipality in which such underground gas facilities are located, the regional council of governments which encompasses each such municipality, the Attorney General, the president pro tempore of the Senate, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to public utilities, any other member of the General Assembly making a request to the authority for the report and such other state and municipal bodies as the authority may designate by regulation. The report shall include: (1) Information concerning the age and condition of such underground gas facilities; (2) data on all major repairs to such underground gas facilities undertaken during the reporting period; (3) plans for replacing aged, deteriorated and obsolete piping; (4) plans for the construction of new underground gas facilities; and (5) such other information as the authority may require by regulation.

(b) The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall review and may conduct a public hearing on each report required by subsection (a) of this section. The authority may require a gas company to submit additional information to explain or substantiate items contained in the report or to address specific matters not contained in the report and may issue such remedial orders as the authority deems necessary to eliminate hazards to public safety and prevent interruptions in gas service to consumers.

(P.A. 87-71, S. 10, 11, 13; P.A. 96-46, S. 4; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 98-1, S. 9, 121; P.A. 11-80, S. 1; P.A. 13-247, S. 312.)

History: P.A. 96-46 amended Subsec. (a) to require gas companies to furnish reports every two years rather than annually and amended Subsec. (b) to make provision re the department conducting a public hearing discretionary rather than mandatory; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 98-1 made a technical change to Subsec. (a), effective June 24, 1998; 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; pursuant to P.A. 13-247, “regional planning agency” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “regional council of governments” in Subsec. (a), effective January 1, 2015.