40-250. Hearing on rate or other change in
operations by public service corporation; establishment of rates or
other practices by order of commission; rates for
telecommunications markets
A. No public service corporation shall raise any rate, fare, toll, rental or
charge, or alter any classification, contract, practice, rule or regulation to result in
any increase thereof, except upon a showing before the commission and a finding by the
commission that an increase is justified. The showing before the commission by a public
service corporation with gross operating revenues derived from intrastate operations of
less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars, including the requested rate relief, by a
telecommunications corporation or by a member-owned nonprofit cooperative corporation may
be made with or without a hearing as determined by order or rule of the commission.
B. When there is filed with the commission any schedule stating an individual or
joint rate, fare, toll, rental, charge, classification, contract, practice, rule or
regulation not increasing or resulting in an increase, the commission may, without answer
or other pleadings by the interested corporation, but upon reasonable notice, conduct a
hearing concerning the propriety of the rate, fare, toll, rental, charge, classification,
contract, practice, rule or regulation, and pending the hearing and the decision thereon,
it shall not go into effect. The period of suspension thereof shall not extend one
hundred twenty days beyond the time when it would otherwise go into effect, unless the
commission extends the period of suspension for a further period not exceeding six
months.
C. On the hearing the commission shall by order establish the rates, fares, tolls,
rentals, charges, classifications, contracts, practices, rules or regulations proposed,
in whole or in part, or establish others in lieu thereof, which it finds just and
reasonable, and which, if not suspended, shall, on the expiration of thirty days from the
time of filing the order, or in such lesser time as the commission grants, become
effective and be established, subject to the power of the commission to alter or modify
the order.
D. In establishing just and reasonable rates in competitive long-distance
telecommunications markets, the commission need not use exclusively the rate of return
evaluation traditionally used in establishing rates for noncompetitive telecommunications
markets but may consider other factors which the commission deems more appropriate for a
long-distance competitive market. The commission may establish a rate for a particular
service of a long-distance telecommunication corporation without a hearing and without
reviewing all of the rates for all of the long-distance telecommunication corporation's
services if the particular service is in a competitive market.
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