1.Facilities.
Every public utility shall furnish safe, reasonable and adequate facilities and service.
1-A.
Minimum service standards and report card for transmission and distribution utilities.
The commission shall adopt rules for utilities with over 50,000 customers in accordance with this subsection governing the evaluation of transmission and distribution utility service, which must take into account the specific characteristics of each utility and its service territory. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2‑A.
2.Rates.
The rate, toll or charge, or any joint rate made, exacted, demanded or collected by any public utility for production, transmission, delivery or furnishing of electricity, gas, heat or wa
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1.
Facilities.
Every public utility shall furnish safe, reasonable and adequate facilities and service.
1-A.
Minimum service standards and report card for transmission and distribution utilities.
The commission shall adopt rules for utilities with over 50,000 customers in accordance with this subsection governing the evaluation of transmission and distribution utility service, which must take into account the specific characteristics of each utility and its service territory. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2‑A.
2.
Rates.
The rate, toll or charge, or any joint rate made, exacted, demanded or collected by any public utility for production, transmission, delivery or furnishing of electricity, gas, heat or water; for communications service; or for transportation of persons or property within this State or for any service rendered or to be rendered in connection with any public utility, shall be just and reasonable.
3.
Unreasonable rates prohibited.
Every unjust or unreasonable charge for public utility service is prohibited and declared unlawful.
4.
Determining rates.
In determining just and reasonable rates, the commission:
5.
Transmission and distribution utility report required; audits.
If the commission has not made a rate determination within the preceding 5 years for a transmission and distribution utility that serves more than 50,000 customers, the utility shall submit a report to the commission that includes a comparison of the utility's actual costs with cost estimates used in the utility's most recent rate case to set rates. Upon a finding of the commission that there was a difference of more than 10% between the transmission and distribution utility's actual costs and estimated costs, the commission may:
6.
Investor-owned transmission and distribution utility expenditures; comparison.
No later than November 1, 2022, the commission shall initiate a proceeding to conduct a detailed comparison of the annual expenditures of each investor-owned transmission and distribution utility in the State with the annual expenditures of other comparable investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities located in the United States. When conducting this analysis, the commission shall identify specific categories in which spending by an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility significantly deviated from those expenditures of comparable investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities. The commission may use the results of this analysis in future rate cases involving an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility. The commission may undertake a new comparison or update an existing one in accordance with this subsection at any time the commission determines is necessary. For purposes of this subsection, a comparable investor-owned transmission and distribution utility is one that provides electricity delivery in a service territory in a northern climate that is primarily wooded and includes urban and rural areas.