4909.18 Application to establish or change rate.
4909.18 Application to establish or change rate.
Any public utility desiring to establish any rate, joint rate, toll, classification, charge, or rental, or to modify, amend, change, increase, or reduce any existing rate, joint rate, toll, classification, charge, or rental, or any regulation or practice affecting the same, shall file a written application with the public utilities commission. Except for actions under section 4909.16 of the Revised Code, no public utility may issue the notice of intent to file an application pursuant to division (B) of section 4909.43 of the Revised Code to increase any existing rate, joint rate, toll, classification, charge, or rental, until a final order under this section has been issued by the commission on any pending prior application to increase the same rate, joint rate, toll, classification, charge, or rental or until two hundred seventy-five days after filing such application, whichever is sooner. Such application shall be verified by the president or a vice-president and the secretary or treasurer of the applicant. Such application shall contain a schedule of the existing rate, joint rate, toll, classification, charge, or rental, or regulation or practice affecting the same, a schedule of the modification amendment, change, increase, or reduction sought to be established, and a statement of the facts and grounds upon which such application is based. If such application proposes a new service or the use of new equipment, or proposes the establishment or amendment of a regulation, the application shall fully describe the new service or equipment, or the regulation proposed to be established or amended, and shall explain how the proposed service or equipment differs from services or equipment presently offered or in use, or how the regulation proposed to be established or amended differs from regulations presently in effect. The application shall provide such additional information as the commission may require in its discretion. If the commission determines that such application is not for an increase in any rate, joint rate, toll, classification, charge, or rental, the commission may permit the filing of the schedule proposed in the application and fix the time when such schedule shall take effect. If it appears to the commission that the proposals in the application may be unjust or unreasonable, the commission shall set the matter for hearing and shall give notice of such hearing by sending written notice of the date set for the hearing to the public utility and publishing notice of the hearing one time in a newspaper of general circulation in each county in the service area affected by the application. At such hearing, the burden of proof to show that the proposals in the application are just and reasonable shall be upon the public utility. After such hearing, the commission shall, where practicable, issue an appropriate order within six months from the date the application was filed. If the commission determines that said application is for an increase in any rate, joint rate, toll, classification, charge, or rental there shall also, unless otherwise ordered by the commission, be filed with the application in duplicate the following exhibits:
(A) A report of its property used and useful in rendering the service referred to in such application, as provided in section 4909.05 of the Revised Code;
(B) A complete operating statement of its last fiscal year, showing in detail all its receipts, revenues, and incomes from all sources, all of its operating costs and other expenditures, and any analysis such public utility deems applicable to the matter referred to in said application;
(C) A statement of the income and expense anticipated under the application filed;
(D) A statement of financial condition summarizing assets, liabilities, and net worth;
(E) A proposed notice for newspaper publication fully disclosing the substance of the application. The notice shall prominently state that any person, firm, corporation, or association may file, pursuant to section 4909.19 of the Revised Code, an objection to such increase which may allege that such application contains proposals that are unjust and discriminatory or unreasonable. The notice shall further include the average percentage increase in rate that a representative industrial, commercial, and residential customer will bear should the increase be granted in full;
(F) Such other information as the commission may require in its discretion.
Effective Date: 01-11-1983