§ 72 — Notice and hearing; order fixing price of gas or electricity or requiring improvement

New York § 72

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law PBS: Public Service
• Art. 4: Provisions Relating to Gas and Electric Corporations; Regulation of Price of Gas and Electricity

Text

§ 72. Notice and hearing; order fixing price of gas or electricity or\nrequiring improvement. Before proceeding under a complaint presented as\nprovided in section seventy-one, the commission shall cause notice of\nsuch complaint, and the purpose thereof, to be served upon the person or\ncorporation affected thereby. Such person or corporation shall have an\nopportunity to be heard in respect to the matters complained of at a\ntime and place to be specified in such notice. An investigation may be\ninstituted by the commission of its own motion as to any matter of which\ncomplaint may be made, as provided in section seventy-one of this\nchapter, or to enable it to ascertain the facts requisite to the\nexercise of any power conferred upon it. After a hearing and after such\nan investigation as shall have been made by the commission or its\nofficers, agents, examiners or inspectors, the commission may, by order,\nfix just and reasonable prices, rates and charges for gas or electricity\nto be charged by such corporation or person, for the service to be\nfurnished notwithstanding that a higher or lower price has been\ntheretofore prescribed by general or special statute, contract, grant,\nfranchise condition, consent or other agreement, and may order such\nimprovement in the manufacture, conveying, transportation, distribution\nor supply of gas, in the manufacture, transmission or supply of\nelectricity, or in the methods employed by such person or corporation,\nas will in its judgment be adequate, just and reasonable. Any such\nchange in price shall be upon such terms, conditions or safeguards as\nthe commission may prescribe. If it shall be made to appear to the\nsatisfaction of the commission that the public interest requires a\nchange in the price of gas or electricity charged by any such person or\ncorporation, or that such change is necessary for the purpose of\nproviding adequate and efficient service, or for the preservation of the\nproperty, the commission, upon such terms, conditions or safeguards as\nit deems proper, may authorize an immediate, reasonable, temporary\nincrease or decrease in such price pending a final determination of the\nprice to be thereafter charged by such person or corporation. The terms,\nconditions or safeguards prescribed may include provisions for the\npurposes for which the additional revenue derived from any such\ntemporary increase may be expended and for the impounding thereof until\nthe same shall be applied to the purposes so specified. The price fixed\nby the commission under this section or under subdivision five of\nsection sixty-six shall be the maximum price to be charged by such\nperson, corporation or municipality for gas or electricity for the\nservice to be furnished within the territory and for a period to be\nfixed by the commission in the order, not exceeding three years except\nin the case of a sliding scale, and thereafter until the commission\nshall, upon its own motion or upon the complaint of any corporation,\nperson or municipality interested, fix a higher or lower maximum price\nof gas or electricity to be thereafter charged. In determining the price\nto be charged for gas or electricity the commission may consider all\nfacts which in its judgment have any bearing upon a proper determination\nof the question although not set forth in the complaint and not within\nthe allegations contained therein, with due regard among other things to\na reasonable average return upon capital actually expended and to the\nnecessity of making reservations out of income for surplus and\ncontingencies. At any hearing involving a rate, the burden of proof to\nshow that the change in rate or price if proposed by the person,\ncorporation or municipality operating such utility, or that the existing\nrate or price, if on motion of the commission or in a complaint filed\nwith the commission it is proposed to reduce the rate or price, is just\nand reasonable shall be upon the person, corporation or municipality\noperating such utility; and the commission may give to the hearing and\ndecision of such questions preference over all other questions pending\nbefore it and decide the same as speedily as possible. Nothing in this\nchapter contained shall be deemed to prohibit the commission from fixing\na sliding scale upward rate for natural gas, beginning at a fixed price\nper unit for a small consumption and then increasing the price per unit\nas the consumption is increased.\n