Upon a complaint made and filed by any municipality, or by any person or party affected, that any rate, service regulation, classification, practice or service in effect or proposed to be made effective is in any respect unfair, unreasonable, unjust or inadequate, the commission may proceed, if the commission finds probable cause for said complaint, and without such complaint, the commission, whenever it deems that the public interest or the interest of consumers and investors so requires, may proceed, to hold such hearing as it may deem necessary or appropriate; but no such hearing shall be had without notice, and no order affecting such rates, service regulations, classifications, practice or service complained of shall be entered by the commission without a hearing and notice thereof. Any utility may make complaint as to any matter within the provisions of this act affecting it.

History: Laws 1941, ch. 84, § 50; 1941 Comp., § 72-801; 1953 Comp., § 68-8-1.

Compiler's notes. — For the meaning of "this act", see 62-13-1 NMSA 1978 and notes thereto.

Sections 62-10-1 to 62-10-6, 62-10-8 to 62-10-14 and 62-10-16 of the Public Utility Act are still effective as the repeal of Chapter 62, Article 6 by Laws 1998, Chapter 108, Section 82, effective July 1, 2003 Chapter 108, Section 82 was repealed prior to taking effect by Chapter 23, Section 1, Laws 2003. Although Laws 2003, Chapter 336, Section 8, amended Laws 1998, Chapter 82, as amended, an amendment of a repealed section is ineffective. See Quintana v. N.M. Dep't of Corrs., 100 N.M. 224, 668 P.2d 1101 (1983). Laws 2003, Chapter 416, Section 5 also repealed Laws 1998, Chapter 108, Section 82, as amended, a second time, however, that repeal is of no effect as the section had previously been repealed by Chapter 23, Section 1, Laws 2003.

Cross references. — For costs in proceedings before commission, see 62-13-3 NMSA 1978.

Article governs revocation of certificate of convenience and necessity. — If the commission is assumed to have power to revoke a certificate of public convenience and necessity, the authority as well as the procedure therefor would be found in this article rather than in Sections 62-9-1 and 62-9-4 NMSA 1978 even though a conclusion that the certificate of the service company was null and void, if based upon proper findings, could probably be made in determining the issues in a hearing under Section 62-9-1 NMSA 1978 as a necessary incident of the larger questions presented thereunder. Public Serv. Co. v. N.M. Pub. Serv. Comm'n, 1974-NMSC-045, 86 N.M. 255, 522 P.2d 802; N.M. Elec. Serv. Co. v. Lea Cnty. Elec. Coop., 1966-NMSC-046, 76 N.M. 434, 415 P.2d 556, cert. denied, 385 U.S. 969, 87 S. Ct. 506, 17 L. Ed. 2d 433.

Law reviews. — For article, "Cost of Service Indexing: An Analysis of New Mexico's Experiment in Public Utility Regulation," see 9 N.M.L. Rev. 287 (1979).

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 64 Am. Jur. 2d Public Utilities §§ 240, 264 to 275.

Prohibition as means of controlling action of rate-making official, 115 A.L.R. 19, 159 A.L.R. 627.

Representation of another before state public utilities or service commission as practice of law, 13 A.L.R.3d 812.

73B C.J.S. Public Utilities §§ 16, 77, 50, 51, 175.