§ 8-1-6-1 — Public policy; computation; disposition

Indiana § 8-1-6-1

• Jurisdiction: Indiana
• Art. 1: UTILITIES GENERALLY
• Ch. 6: Public Utility Fees

Text

(a) It is declared to be the public policy of this
state that in order to maintain and foster the effective regulation of the
public utilities, in the interests of the people of the state of Indiana and
the public utilities as well, the public utilities subject to regulation and
which enjoy the privilege of operating as public utilities in this state
shall bear the expense of administering the provisions of IC 8-1-1 and
IC 8-1-2 by means of a public utility fee on such privilege measured by
the annual gross revenue of such public utilities in the manner provided
in this chapter. That expense shall be determined by totaling the
budgets, approved by the general assembly in its appropriation act for
the years to be billed, of the commission and the utility consumer
counselor, including expert witness fees. The sum of two hundred fifty
thousand dollars ($250,000) shall be added to that total for the use of
the commission and the utility consumer counselor as a contingency
fund, with expenditures from that fund subject to prior approval of the
governor and state budget agency. The proceeds from the public utility
fee shall be paid to the commission and deposited in the state general
fund for appropriation to the regulation of public utilities. If the reports
required to be submitted to the commission under section 5 of this
chapter reveal that the amounts to be collected for the fiscal year from
the public utilities, when added together, plus the amount deposited in
the state general fund under this section at the end of the fiscal year
will exceed the total of the expenses plus the contingency fund, the
commission shall compute the amount of each public utility's
proportionate share of the excess sum. The commission shall, as
promptly as possible, notify each public utility of the amount of its
proportionate share of such excess and that amount shall be deducted
from the subsequent payment of any fees imposed on such utility under
section 4 of this chapter.
(b) If the sum of the actual expenditures of the commission and the
utility consumer counselor are less than the appropriations therefor by
the general assembly, the difference between the actual expenditures
and the appropriations shall be subject to the credit provision provided
in this section and each utility's proportionate share of that difference
shall be deducted from the subsequent payment of any fee imposed on
that utility under section 4 of this chapter.
Formerly: Acts 1969, c.360, s.1; Acts 1974, P.L.28, SEC.1; Acts
1975, P.L.77, SEC.1. As amended by Acts 1977, P.L.101, SEC.1;
P.L.23-1988, SEC.37; P.L.213-2025, SEC.98.