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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 824e. Power of Commission to fix rates and charges; determination of cost of production or transmission
(a) Unjust or preferential rates, etc.; statement of reasons for
changes; hearing; specification of issues
Whenever the Commission, after a hearing had upon its own motion
or upon complaint, shall find that any rate, charge, or
classification, demanded, observed, charged, or collected by any
public utility for any transmission or sale subject to the
jurisdiction of the Commission, or that any rule, regulation,
practice, or contract affected such rate, charge, or classification
is unjust, unreasonable, unduly discriminatory or preferential, the
Commission shall determine the just and reasonable rate, charge,
classification, rule, regulation, practice, or contract to be
thereafter observed and in force, and shall fix the same by order.
Any complaint or motion of the Commission to initiate a proceeding
under this section shall state the change or changes to be made in
the rate, charge, classification, rule, regulation, practice, or
contract then in force, and the reasons for any proposed change or
changes therein. If, after review of any motion or complaint and
answer, the Commission shall decide to hold a hearing, it shall fix
by order the time and place of such hearing and shall specify the
issues to be adjudicated.
(b) Refund effective date; preferential proceedings; statement of
reasons for delay; burden of proof; scope of refund order; refund
orders in cases of dilatory behavior; interest
Whenever the Commission institutes a proceeding under this
section, the Commission shall establish a refund effective date. In
the case of a proceeding instituted on complaint, the refund
effective date shall not be earlier than the date 60 days after the
filing of such complaint nor later than 5 months after the
expiration of such 60-day period. In the case of a proceeding
instituted by the Commission on its own motion, the refund
effective date shall not be earlier than the date 60 days after the
publication by the Commission of notice of its intention to
initiate such proceeding nor later than 5 months after the
expiration of such 60-day period. Upon institution of a proceeding
under this section, the Commission shall give to the decision of
such proceeding the same preference as provided under section 824d
of this title and otherwise act as speedily as possible. If no
final decision is rendered by the refund effective date or by the
conclusion of the 180-day period commencing upon initiation of a
proceeding pursuant to this section, whichever is earlier, the
Commission shall state the reasons why it has failed to do so and
shall state its best estimate as to when it reasonably expects to
make such decision. In any proceeding under this section, the
burden of proof to show that any rate, charge, classification,
rule, regulation, practice, or contract is unjust, unreasonable,
unduly discriminatory, or preferential shall be upon the Commission
or the complainant. At the conclusion of any proceeding under this
section, the Commission may order the public utility to make
refunds of any amounts paid, for the period subsequent to the
refund effective date through a date fifteen months after such
refund effective date, in excess of those which would have been
paid under the just and reasonable rate, charge, classification,
rule, regulation, practice, or contract which the Commission orders
to be thereafter observed and in force: Provided, That if the
proceeding is not concluded within fifteen months after the refund
effective date and if the Commission determines at the conclusion
of the proceeding that the proceeding was not resolved within the
fifteen-month period primarily because of dilatory behavior by the
public utility, the Commission may order refunds of any or all
amounts paid for the period subsequent to the refund effective date
and prior to the conclusion of the proceeding. The refunds shall be
made, with interest, to those persons who have paid those rates or
charges which are the subject of the proceeding.
(c) Refund considerations; shifting costs; reduction in revenues;
"electric utility companies" and "registered holding company"
defined
Notwithstanding subsection (b) of this section, in a proceeding
commenced under this section involving two or more electric utility
companies of a registered holding company, refunds which might
otherwise be payable under subsection (b) of this section shall not
be ordered to the extent that such refunds would result from any
portion of a Commission order that (1) requires a decrease in
system production or transmission costs to be paid by one or more
of such electric companies; and (2) is based upon a determination
that the amount of such decrease should be paid through an increase
in the costs to be paid by other electric utility companies of such
registered holding company: Provided, That refunds, in whole or in
part, may be ordered by the Commission if it determines that the
registered holding company would not experience any reduction in
revenues which results from an inability of an electric utility
company of the holding company to recover such increase in costs
for the period between the refund effective date and the effective
date of the Commission's order. For purposes of this subsection,
the terms "electric utility companies" and "registered holding
company" shall have the same meanings as provided in the Public
Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, as amended [15 U.S.C. 79 et
seq.].
(d) Investigation of costs
The Commission upon its own motion, or upon the request of any
State commission whenever it can do so without prejudice to the
efficient and proper conduct of its affairs, may investigate and
determine the cost of the production or transmission of electric
energy by means of facilities under the jurisdiction of the
Commission in cases where the Commission has no authority to
establish a rate governing the sale of such energy.
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