66-117. Change of rates or schedules; procedure; effective date; higher rates of return in certain cases; hearing; property tax surcharge authorized.
66-117
66-117. Change of rates or schedules; procedure; effective date; higherrates of return in certain cases; hearing; property tax surcharge authorized.(a) Unless the state corporation commission otherwise orders, no commoncarrier or public utility over which the commission has control shall makeeffective any changed rate, joint rate, toll, charge or classification orschedule of charges, or any rule or regulation or practice pertaining tothe service or rates of such public utility or common carrier except byfiling the same with the commission at least 30 days prior to theproposed effective date. The commission, for good cause, may allowsuch changed rate, joint rate, toll, charge or classification or scheduleof charges, or rule or regulation or practice pertaining to the serviceor rates of any such public utility or common carrier to become effectiveon less than 30 days' notice. If the commission allows a changeto become effective on less than 30 days' notice, the effective date of theallowed change shall be the date established in the commission order approvingsuch change, or the date of the order if no effective date is otherwiseestablished. Any such proposed change shall beshown by filing with the state corporation commission a schedule showingthe changes, and such changes shall be plainly indicated by proper referencemarks in amendments or supplements to existing tariffs, schedules orclassifications,or in new issues thereof.
(b) Whenever any common carrier or public utility governed by the provisionsof this actfiles with the state corporation commission a schedule showing thechanges desired to be made and put in force by such public utility orcommon carrier, the commission either upon complaint or upon its own motion,may give notice and hold a hearing upon such proposed changes. Pending suchhearing, the commission may suspend the operation of such schedule and deferthe effective date of such change in rate, joint rate, toll, charge or classificationor schedule of charges, or any rule or regulation or practice pertainingto the service or rates of any such public utility or common carrier bydelivering to such public utility or common carrier a statement in writingof its reasons for such suspension.
(c) The commission shall not delay the effectivedate of the proposed change in rate, joint rate, toll, charge or classificationor schedule of charges, or in any rule or regulation or practice pertainingto the service or rates of any such public utility or common carrier, morethan 240 days beyond the date the public utility orcommon carrier filed its application requesting the proposed change. Ifthe commission does not suspend the proposed schedule within 30days of the date the same is filed by the public utility or common carrier,such proposed schedule shall be deemed approved by the commission and shalltake effect on the proposed effective date. If the commission has not issueda final order on the proposed change in any rate, joint rate, toll, chargeor classification or schedule of charges, or any rule or regulation orpracticepertaining to the service or rates of any such public utility or commoncarrier, within 240 days after the carrier or utilityfiles its application requesting the proposed change, then the scheduleshall be deemed approved by the commission and the proposed change shallbe effective immediately, except that (1) for purposes of the foregoingprovisions regarding the period of time within which the commission shallact on an application, any amendment to an application for a proposed changein any rate, which increases the amount sought by the public utilityor common carrier or substantially alters the facts used as a basis forsuch requested change of rate, shall, at the option of the commission, bedeemed a new application and the 240-day period shallbegin again from the date of the filing of the amendment, (2)if hearings are in process before the commission on a proposed changerequested by the public utility or common carrier on the last day of such240-day period, such period shall be extended to the end of such hearingsplus 20 days to allow the commission to prepare and issue its final order,and, (3) nothing in this subsection shall preclude the public utility or commoncarrier and the commission from agreeing to a waiver or an extension of the240-day period.
(d) Except as provided in subsection (c), no changeshall bemade in anyrate, toll, charge, classificationor schedule of charges or joint rates, or in any rule or regulation orpractice pertaining to the service or rates of any such public utilityor common carrier, without the consent of the commission. Within30 days after such changes have been authorized bythe state corporationcommission or become effective as provided in subsection (c),copies of all tariffs, schedules and classifications,and all rules and regulations, except those determined to be confidentialunder rules and regulations adopted by the commission, shall be filed inevery station, officeor depot of every such public utility and every common carrier in thisstate, for public inspection.
(e) Upon a showing by a public utility before the statecorporationcommission at a public hearing and a finding by the commission that suchutility has invested in projects or systems that can be reasonably expected(1) to produce energy from a renewable resource other than nuclear for theuse of its customers, (2) to cause the conservation of energy used by itscustomers, or (3) to bring about the more efficient use of energy by itscustomers, the commission may allow a return on suchinvestment equal to an increment of from 1/2% to 2% plus an amount equal to therate of return fixed for theutility's other investment in property found by the commission to beused or required to be used in its services to the public. Thecommission may also allow such higher rate of return on investments by apublic utility in experimental projects, such as load managementdevices, which it determines after public hearing to be reasonablydesigned to cause more efficient utilization of energy and in energyconservationprograms or measures which it determines after public hearing provides areduction in energy usage by its customers in a cost-effective manner.
(f) Whenever, after the effective date of this act, an electricpublicutility, a natural gas public utility or a combination thereof, files tariffsreflecting a surcharge on the utility's bills for utility service designed tocollect the annual increase in expense charged on its books and records for advalorem taxes, such utility shall report annually to the state corporationcommission the changes in expense charged for ad valorem taxes. For purposesof this section, such amounts charged to expense on the books and records ofthe utility may be estimated once the total property tax payment is known. Iffound necessary by the commission or the utility, the utility shall filetariffs which reflect the change as a revision to the surcharge. Upon ashowing that the surcharge is applied to bills in a reasonable manner and iscalculated to substantially collect the increase in ad valorem tax expensecharged on the books and records of the utility, or reduce any existingsurcharge based upon a decrease in ad valorem tax expense incurred on the booksand records of the utility, the commission shall approve such tariffs within 30days of the filing. Any over or under collection of the actual ad valorem taxincrease charged to expense on the books of the utility shall be eithercredited or collected through the surcharge in subsequent periods. Theestablishment of a surcharge under this section shall not be deemed to be arate increase for purposes of this act. The net effect of any surchargesestablished under this section shall be included by the commission in theestablishment of base rates in any subsequent rate case filed by the utility.
(g) Except as to the time limits prescribed in subsection (c),proceedings under this section shall be conducted in accordance with theprovisions of the Kansas administrative procedure act.
History: L. 1911, ch. 238, § 20; R.S. 1923, 66-117; L. 1978,ch. 264, § 1; L. 1980, ch. 201, § 2; L. 1980, ch. 200, § 1;L. 1988, ch. 356, § 225;L. 1995, ch. 21, § 2;L. 1995, ch. 70, § 1;L. 1997, ch. 132, § 19; July 1.