H. B. 4152
(By Delegate Stalnaker (By Request))
[Introduced January 25, 2000; referred to the
Committee on Political Subdivisions then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article two, chapter
twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring
certain utilities to conduct actual monthly meter readings.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article two, chapter twenty-four of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2.POWERS AND DUTIES OF PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.
§24-2-2. General power of commission to regulate public
utilities.
(a) The commission is hereby given power to investigate all
rates, methods and practices of public utilities subject to the
provisions of this chapter; to require them to conform to the
laws of this state and to all rules, regulations and orders of the commission not contrary to law; and to require copies of all
reports, rates, classifications, schedules and timetables in
effect and used by the public utility or other person, to be
filed with the commission, and all other information desired by
the commission relating to the investigation and requirements,
including inventories of all property in such form and detail as
the commission may prescribe. The commission may compel
obedience to its lawful orders by mandamus or injunction or other
proper proceedings in the name of the state in any circuit court
having jurisdiction of the parties or of the subject matter, or
the supreme court of appeals direct, and the proceedings shall
have priority over all pending cases. The commission may change
any intrastate rate, charge or toll which is unjust or
unreasonable or any interstate charge with respect to matters of
a purely local nature which have not been regulated by or
pursuant to an act of Congress and may prescribe a rate, charge
or toll that is just and reasonable, and change or prohibit any
practice, device or method of service in order to prevent undue
discrimination or favoritism between persons and between
localities and between commodities for a like and contemporaneous
service. But in no case shall the rate, toll or charge be more
than the service is reasonably worth, considering the cost of the
service. Every order entered by the commission shall continue in
force until the expiration of the time, if any, named by the commission in the order, or until revoked or modified by the
commission, unless the order is suspended, modified or revoked by
order or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction: Provided,
That in the case of utilities used by emergency shelter
providers, the commission shall prescribe such rates, charges or
tolls that are the lowest available. "Emergency shelter provider"
means any nonprofit entity which provides temporary emergency
housing and services to the homeless or to victims of domestic
violence or other abuse.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, rates are not discriminatory if, when considering the
debt costs associated with a future water or sewer project which
would not benefit existing customers, the commission establishes
rates which ensure that the future customers to be served by the
new project are solely responsible for the debt costs associated
with the project.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, each and every utility providing its service to
residential customers shall, for each thereof, conduct an actual
meter reading during each month of the year, without resorting to
estimates in determining the customer's usage of the service.
NOTE: This bill provides for requiring utilities which
provide service to residential households to make monthly meter
readings in each month of the year without resort to the usage of
estimates to determine the amount of monthly billings.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.