§ 34-301 — Public Service Commission; general powers.

The Commission shall, within its jurisdiction:

(1) Have general supervision of all gas companies and electrical companies having authority under any general or special law or under any charter or franchise to lay down, erect, or maintain wires, pipes, conduits, ducts, or other fixtures in, over, or under the streets, highways, and public places in the District of Columbia for the purpose of furnishing or distributing gas or of furnishing or transmitting electricity for light, heat, or power, or maintaining underground conduits or ducts for electrical conductors, and all gas plants and electric plants owned, leased, or operated by any person.

(2) Investigate and ascertain, from time to time, the quality and quantity of gas supplied by persons or corporations; examine or investigate the methods employed by such persons and corporations in manufacturing, distributing, and supplying gas and in transmitting or distributing electricity for light, heat, or power, and in transmitting the same, and have power to order such with respect to manufacturing, distributing, or supplying such gas, or with respect to transmitting or distributing such electricity as will reasonably promote the public interest, preserve the public health, and protect those using such gas or electricity and those employed in the manufacture and distribution of gas or the transmission or distribution of electricity or in the manufacture and operation of the works, wires, poles, lines, conduits, ducts, and systems connected therewith, and have power to order reasonable improvements and extensions of the works, wires, poles, lines, conduits, ducts, and other reasonable devices, apparatus, and property of gas companies and electric companies.

(3) Have power by order to fix from time to time standards for determining the purity or the measurement of the illuminating power of gas to be manufactured, distributed, or sold by persons or corporations for lighting, heating, or power purposes, and to prescribe from time to time the efficiency of the electric transmission or distribution system, and by order to require the gas so manufactured, distributed, or sold to equal the standards so fixed by it, and to prescribe from time to time the reasonable minimum and maximum pressure at which gas shall be delivered by said persons or corporations. For the purpose of determining whether the gas manufactured, distributed, or sold by such persons or corporations for lighting, heating, or power purposes conforms to the standards of illuminating power, purity, and pressure, and for the purpose of determining whether the efficiency of the electric transmission or distribution system conforms to the orders issued by the Commission, the Commission shall have power, of its own motion, to examine and investigate the plants and methods employed in manufacturing, delivering, and supplying gas or transmitting or distributing electricity, and shall have access, through it members or persons employed and authorized by it to make such examinations and investigations, to all parts of the manufacturing plants owned, used, or operated for the manufacture, transmission, or distribution of gas or the transmission or distribution of electricity by any such person or corporation. Any employee or agent of the Commission who divulges any fact or information which may come to his knowledge during the course of any such inspection or examination, except insofar as he may be directed by the Commission, or by a court or judge thereof, or authorized by law, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $500 for each offense.

Legislative History

Mar. 4, 1913, 37 Stat. 986, ch. 150, § 8, par. 55; May 9, 2000, D.C. Law 13-107, § 201(k), 47 DCR 1091; Mar. 16, 2005, D.C. Law 15-227, § 17(b), 51 DCR 10549