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Am. S. B. No. 44 As Reported by the Senate Public Utilities CommitteeAs Reported by the Senate Public Utilities Committee
125th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2003-2004 |
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Senators Robert Gardner, Blessing
A BILL
To amend section 4909.171 and to enact section
4909.172 of the Revised Code to authorize, subject
to Public Utilities Commission approval, cost-based
rate adjustments for water supplied to a waterworks
utility by another waterworks utility, rate
adjustment authority for a sewage disposal utility
similar to the authority of a waterworks utility,
and customer surcharges on waterworks or sewage
disposal utility rates to cover specified costs
associated with and a return on certain plant
investment.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That section 4909.171 be amended and section
4909.172 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 4909.171. (A) Any waterworks company
whose water supply
is provided by a municipal corporation or other local
governmental
unit of this state whose rates are not subject to
regulation by
or
any sewage disposal system company may submit an application to
the public utilities commission
shall request
for an
increase or
decrease in
rates when the
any rate
or charge for, respectively,
water or sewage treatment, if both of the following conditions are
met: (1) The water or sewage treatment is provided to the company
by either of the following: (a) A municipal corporation or other local governmental unit
of this state whose rates are not subject to regulation by the
commission; (b) Another waterworks company, or another sewage disposal
system company, that is a public utility and whose rates for the
water, or the sewage treatment, have been approved by the
commission pursuant to an application filed under section 4909.18
of the Revised Code. (2) The change
in rate or charge is based
solely on a change
in the cost
to the company of
the water
imposed on the waterworks
company by the municipal corporation or other governmental unit
and, in such instance, sections
or the sewage treatment. Sections 4909.18 and 4909.19 of the
Revised Code do not apply
to any application filed under this section.
When the waterworks
company requests
a rate change, it shall file with the commission
An application shall be accompanied by evidence of the
new rates
imposed by the municipal corporation or other
governmental unit
and
charges charged the company by a provider described in
division (A)(1)(a) or (b) of this section. (B) Pursuant to the filing of an application under division
(A) of this section by a waterworks company or a sewage disposal
system company, the commission shall approve appropriate
tariff
revisions, without
in the schedule of the company filed under
section 4905.30 of the Revised Code, which revisions shall reflect
solely the change in the cost to the company of the water or the
sewage treatment, as specified in division (A) of this section and
no other cost, charge, or item, and shall not
change
in the
distribution of
the revenue responsibility of the
various classes
of
the company's customers, which revisions shall become
effective
immediately.
(C) An increase authorized pursuant to division (B) of this
section shall not be effective until ten days after the date the
waterworks company or the sewage disposal system company has
provided affected customers with notification of the increase, in
such form and by such method as the commission shall prescribe.
Sec. 4909.172. (A) A waterworks company,
or a sewage disposal system company, that is a public utility may
file an application with the commission for approval to collect
surcharges from all its customers to cover the company's costs of
infrastructure plant incurred after March 1, 2003,
and to provide a fair and
reasonable rate of return on the valuation of that plant
investment. The company's costs of infrastructure plant may include depreciation expenses. Such infrastructure plant shall exclude any
improvement providing the company with additional revenue other
than any minimal revenue associated with the elimination of a dead
end and shall consist of all of the following: (1) In the case of a waterworks company, services for, and
hydrants, mains, and valves installed as a part of, a replacement
project for an existing facility; main extensions installed to
eliminate dead ends to resolve documented water supply problems
presenting significant health or safety issues to then existing
customers; and main cleaning or relining;
(2) In the case of a sewage disposal system company, mains
and lift stations installed as part of a replacement project for
an existing facility; main extensions installed to resolve
documented sewage disposal problems presenting significant health
or safety issues to then existing customers; and main cleaning,
inflow and infiltration elimination, or relining;
(3) Unreimbursed capital expenditures made by the
waterworks company, or the sewage disposal system company, for
waterworks, or sewage disposal, facility relocation required by a
governmental entity due to a street or highway project;
(4) Minimum land or land rights acquired by the company as
necessary for any service, equipment, or facility described in
division (A)(1) to (3) of this section.
(B) The commission, independent of any other matter related
to the waterworks company's or the sewage disposal system
company's revenue requirement, may authorize by order the
surcharges described in division (A) of this section pursuant to
an application filed under that division, except that the
commission shall not authorize any surcharge to be effective on or
after January 1, 2015. Any surcharge authorized under this
division shall be limited to not more than three per cent of the
rates and charges in effect on the date of the application for
each customer class of the company. A company for which a
surcharge has been authorized under this division may file an
application for another surcharge not sooner than twelve months
after the filing date of its most recent application. The
commission shall not authorize a company to have more than three
surcharges in effect at any time.
(C) During the period that an authorized surcharge is in
effect, the commission, by order and on its own motion or upon
good cause shown, may reduce the surcharge to prevent the company
from earning an excessive rate of return on its valuation under
section 4909.15 of the Revised Code.
(D) An order issued by the commission deciding an
application by a waterworks company or a sewage disposal system
company for an increase in rates and charges pursuant to an
application filed by the company under section 4909.18 of the
Revised Code shall provide for the termination, as of the earlier
of the effective date of the increase or the date specified in
division (E) of this section, of any then existing surcharges of
the company authorized under division (B) of this section. (E) All surcharges authorized pursuant to this section shall
terminate by operation of law not later than December 31, 2014. (F) The commission may adopt such rules as it considers
necessary to carry out this section.
Section 2. That existing section 4909.171 of the Revised Code
is hereby repealed.
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