§307. Changes in schedules; notice

No change may be made in any schedule, including schedules of joint rates, except upon 30 days' notice to the commission, and all such changes must be plainly indicated upon existing schedules by filing new schedules in lieu of them 30 days prior to the time they are to take effect. The commission may, for good cause shown, allow changes upon less than the notice specified or modify the requirements of this section and section 308 in respect to publishing, posting and filing of schedules, either in particular instances or by rule applicable to special or peculiar circumstances or conditions.   [PL 1995, c. 254, §1 (AMD).]

Without the approval of the commission, no utility may file a schedule or schedules for a general increase in rates pursuant to this section within one year of a prior filing for a general increase in rates pursuant to this section, unless the proceeding initiated by a prior filing was terminated without a final determination of the utility's revenue requirement. This requirement does not prevent any utility, at any time, from notifying the commission in advance, either voluntarily or in accordance with a commission requirement under this section, of its plans to file a general increase in rates. Nothing in this section may be construed to limit any utility's right, at any time, to petition pursuant to section 1322 for temporary rate relief. For the purpose of this paragraph, a "final determination of the utility's revenue requirement" means a decision on the merits of the utility's request after consideration of at least the utility's direct case in support of its request. The commission shall decide whether a final determination has been made in any specific case.   [PL 1987, c. 141, Pt. A, §6 (NEW).]

For the purposes of this section, a "general increase in rates" means any change in the rates, tolls and charges of the public utility, the effect of which is to increase the annual operating revenues of a public utility by more than 1%, provided that this term does not include a rate change made for the sole purpose of implementing a fuel cost adjustment rate, pursuant to section 4703 or a rate change made for the sole purpose of implementing an energy conservation adjustment rate, pursuant to section 3154.   [PL 1999, c. 398, Pt. A, §13 (AMD); PL 1999, c. 398, Pt. A, §§104, 105 (AFF).]

The commission may, in its discretion, require the filing of information relating to the changes to be filed in a general increase in rates at the same time as the schedules are filed. The commission may require utilities, whose gross revenues exceed $5,000,000 annually, to notify the commission, not more than 2 months in advance of filing a general increase in rates under this section, that such a filing is planned and to disclose the approximate amount of the increase, a general statement of the major issues that might be presented and the approximate rate of return the utility would be seeking.   [PL 1987, c. 141, Pt. A, §6 (NEW).]

SECTION HISTORY

PL 1987, c. 141, §A6 (NEW). PL 1995, c. 254, §1 (AMD). PL 1999, c. 398, §A13 (AMD). PL 1999, c. 398, §§A104,105 (AFF).