Connecticut General Statutes 16-32c – Water company rate adjustments. Application. Notice to customers
(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of § 16-19, a water company, as defined in § 16-1, may charge rates in excess of or less than those approved by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, after a limited hearing as deemed appropriate by the authority, by adjusting existing rates to compensate for increases or decreases only in the company’s following expenses: (1) The price of water purchased for redistribution to its customers from another water company or governmental authority whose rates have been adjusted; (2) the price of gas or electricity purchased from a gas or electric distribution company, electric supplier or governmental authority whose rates have been adjusted; (3) federal, state and local taxes or other government assessments on revenue, income or property; (4) fees charged by any federal or state agency or other government entity that has jurisdiction over the company; (5) fees, or changes in fees, charged for federal and state mandated monitoring of the quality of the company’s water supply; and (6) changes in expenses due to inflation that, in the opinion of the authority, are subject to an inflation adjustment in rate schedule proceedings held pursuant to § 16-19. The amount of any adjustment of rates shall not exceed the aggregate net amount of increases and decreases in the expenses set forth in this subsection on an annualized basis, provided that such adjustment shall not cause the company’s projected return on equity for the following twelve-month period to exceed the return on equity authorized in the company’s most recent proceeding for an amendment of rates pursuant to § 16-19. A company may adjust its rates pursuant to this section only (A) when the aggregate effect of increases or decreases in such expenses equals or exceeds one half of one per cent of the company’s operating revenues for the twelve-month period commencing after the authority issued a decision on the company’s most recent application for an amendment of rates pursuant to § 16-19, and (B) once in any twelve-month period. A company shall not adjust its rates pursuant to this section in any twelve-month period following approval of an amendment of rates by the authority pursuant to § 16-19.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 16-32c
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- another: may extend and be applied to communities, companies, corporations, public or private, limited liability companies, societies and associations. See Connecticut General Statutes 1-1
- Authority: means the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and "department" means the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. See Connecticut General Statutes 16-1
- distribution company: means any person providing electric transmission or distribution services within the state, but does not include: (A) A private power producer, as defined in §. See Connecticut General Statutes 16-1
- Electric supplier: means any person, including an electric aggregator or participating municipal electric utility that is licensed by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority in accordance with §. See Connecticut General Statutes 16-1
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Water company: includes every person owning, leasing, maintaining, operating, managing or controlling any pond, lake, reservoir, stream, well or distributing plant or system employed for the purpose of supplying water to fifty or more consumers. See Connecticut General Statutes 16-1
(b) A company applying to the authority for an adjustment of rates pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall include in its application (1) the amount by which each of the expenses set forth in subsection (a) of this section shall increase or decrease, (2) the basis for each such increase or decrease, (3) the total amount of the proposed adjustment of rates, (4) the proposed amount by which each class of customers’ rates will increase or decrease, (5) the date the proposed adjusted rates will be in effect, (6) a sworn statement which attests to the accuracy of the figures and calculations upon which any proposed adjustment of rates is based and which states that the proposed adjustment will not cause the company to exceed the return on equity authorized in the company’s most recent proceeding for an amendment of rates pursuant to § 16-19, and (7) a copy of the notice the company provided pursuant to subsection (c) of this section to all affected customers advising them of the proposed adjustment of rates. The authority may hold a public hearing not more than forty-five days after receiving an application for an adjustment of rates to verify the accuracy of the figures and calculations submitted to the authority by the company and to determine that such an adjustment shall not cause the company to exceed the return on equity authorized in the company’s most recent proceeding for an amendment of rates pursuant to § 16-19. The authority shall review the complete application to determine whether the proposed adjustment of rates reflects prudent and efficient management of the company’s operations in accordance with the criteria set forth in § 16-19e. The authority shall issue a decision on an application for an adjustment of rates not more than ninety days after the filing of the complete application. If, within fifteen months after the filing of a company’s annual audit report, as required by § 16-32, the authority finds that the company exceeded the return on equity authorized in the company’s most recent proceeding for an amendment of rates pursuant to § 16-19 because of an adjustment of rates made pursuant to this section, the authority shall order the company to refund, with interest and on an equitable basis, the amount realized by the company in excess of its return on equity authorized in the company’s most recent proceeding for an amendment of rates pursuant to § 16-19 to its rate-paying customers and to adjust its rates as determined by the authority to be necessary to prevent the company from further exceeding its authorized rate of return.
(c) Before a company applies for an adjustment of rates pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, the company shall notify each customer who would be affected by the proposed adjustment, by mail, that the company is applying for an adjustment of rates, the total amount of the proposed adjustment, the amount by which each class of customers’ rates would increase or decrease and the date the proposed adjusted rates would go into effect.