Sec. 1. (a) It is declared to be the public policy of this state that in order to maintain and foster the effective regulation of the public utilities, in the interests of the people of the state of Indiana and the public utilities as well, the public utilities subject to regulation and which enjoy the privilege of operating as public utilities in this state shall bear the expense of administering the provisions of IC 8-1-1 and IC 8-1-2 by means of a public utility fee on such privilege measured by the annual gross revenue of such public utilities in the manner provided in this chapter. That expense shall be determined by totaling the budgets, approved by the general assembly in its appropriation act for the years to be billed, of the commission and the utility consumer counselor, including expert witness fees. The sum of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) shall be added to that total for the use of the commission and the utility consumer counselor as a contingency fund, with expenditures from that fund subject to prior approval of the governor and state budget agency. The proceeds from the public utility fee shall be paid to the commission and deposited in the public utility fund which is hereby created in the state treasury. If the reports required to be submitted to the commission under section 5 of this chapter reveal that the amounts to be collected for the fiscal year from the public utilities, when added together, plus the unexpended balance of the public utility fund account at the end of the fiscal year will exceed the total of the expenses plus the contingency fund, the commission shall compute the amount of each public utility's proportionate share of the excess sum. The commission shall, as promptly as possible, notify each public utility of the amount of its proportionate share of such excess and that amount shall be deducted from the subsequent payment of any fees imposed on such utility under section 4 of this chapter.

(b) If the sum of the actual expenditures of the commission and the utility consumer counselor are less than the appropriations therefor by the general assembly, the difference between the actual expenditures and the appropriations shall be subject to the credit provision provided in this section and each utility's proportionate share of that difference shall be deducted from the subsequent payment of any fee imposed on that utility under section 4 of this chapter.

Formerly: Acts 1969, c.360, s.1; Acts 1974, P.L.28, SEC.1; Acts 1975, P.L.77, SEC.1. As amended by Acts 1977, P.L.101, SEC.1; P.L.23-1988, SEC.37.