- Introduced -

SB 1132 - This act allows any gas, water and/or electric company proposing to invest in infrastructure, facility additions, or entering into any contract to purchase power or natural gas, to submit an application with the Public Service Commission (PSC) for a determination of prudence before such investment is made. The company may also request, as part of the same application, that the PSC determine ratemaking principles that will be applied to the cost of such infrastructure in future proceedings before the Commission.

The PSC has sixty days to determine whether or not the application is complete, if not, the company then has ten days to resubmit the completed application. Any Commission determination that an application is incomplete is appealable to the court of appeals on an expedited basis.

The PSC shall conduct a hearing and issue an order with regard to the completed predetermination application within two hundred ten days of the submission, if such an issue is not ordered by the Commission within that time frame, the project/investment is deemed to be prudent as proposed, and any ratemaking principles requested by the company in the application shall also be deemed approved by the PSC.

If, after a hearing and consequent order, the PSC determines that the proposed investment is reasonable and prudent, the commission may impose monitoring and reporting conditions on the company responsible. No costs shall be included in the company's rates until the project is fully operational. Nothing in this act alters the PSC's authority to set the rates of the company in question.

The company has two hundred seventy days after a prudency predetermination order has been issued, to notify the Commission whether it will go forward with the investment/project proposed in the original application. If the company notifies the commission that the proposed investment will not be made, any proposed ratemaking principles will be of no further force and there is to be no adverse presumption applied to the company in future dealings with the PSC.

Both the company and the PSC have authority through this act, to request considering the modification or termination of a project approved by the Commission. If such a decision is ordered by the Commission, the company shall be allowed to recover in rates the amounts already expensed on the project including interest expense and a return on investment from the time the original order was entered.

No company shall file more than one application in a twelve month period, excluding circumstances when an application has been denied, dismissed, or approved but not entered into - a company can file a new application for the same or an alternative project at any time. Such limitations can be waived by the PSC if the waiver is found to be in the public interest.

MEGAN CRAIN