SB 592 - This act establishes the Missouri Water and Sewer Infrastructure Act, which specifies that a water or sewer corporation may file a petition and proposed rate schedules with the Public Service Commission to create or change a water and sewer infrastructure rate adjustment (WSIRA) that provides for the recovery of pretax revenues associated with eligible infrastructure projects. The WSIRA and any future changes must meet specific requirements as set forth in the act. The Commission shall not approve a WSIRA for a water or sewer corporation that has not had a general rate proceeding decided or dismissed in the 3 years before the filing of a WSIRA petition unless the water or sewer corporation has filed for or is the subject of a new general rate proceeding.
At the time the water or sewer corporation files a petition for a WSIRA, it shall submit proposed WSIRA rate schedules and supporting documentation, and the corporation shall also serve the Office of Public Counsel with a copy of the petition, rate schedules, and documentation. Upon the filing of a petition, the Commission shall conduct an examination of the proposed WSIRA, as specified in the act. The Commission may hold a hearing on the petition and any associated WSIRA rate schedules. If the Commission finds that a petition complies with the requirements set forth in the act, the Commission shall enter an order authorizing the water or sewer corporation to implement the WSIRA. A corporation may petition the Commission for a change in its WSIRA no more than two times in every 12-month period.
The act lists what information the Commission may consider in determining the appropriate pretax revenues and how the WSIRA is calculated. If this information is unavailable and the Commission is not provided such information on an agreed-upon basis, the Commission shall use the last authorized overall pretax weighted average cost of capital in a general rate proceeding for the water or sewer corporation. At the end of each 12-month calendar year that a WSIRA is in effect, the corporation shall reconcile the differences between the revenues from a WSIRA and the appropriate pretax revenues found by the Commission for that period and submit the reconciliation and proposed WSIRA to the Commission for approval to recover or credit the difference.
A water or sewer corporation that has a WSIRA shall file revised WSIRA schedules when new base rates and charges become effective following a general rate proceeding that includes the WSIRA eligible costs in the base rates. Once the eligible costs are included in the water or sewer corporation's base rates, the corporation shall reconcile any previously unreconciled WSIRA revenues to ensure that revenues resulting from the WSIRA match as closely as possible the appropriate pretax revenues.
A water or sewer corporation's filing of a petition to establish or change a WSIRA is not considered a request for a general increase in the corporation's base rates and charges. Nothing in the act impairs the authority of the Commission to review the prudence or eligibility of specific projects in the proposed WSIRA.
This act is similar to HCS/HB 2094 (2020), SB 377 (2019), and HCS/HB 633 (2019).
JAMIE ANDREWS