Title 37 — Title 37

The rights, powers, authority, jurisdiction and duties by this title conferred upon the commission shall be exclusive and, in respect of rates and service regulations and equipment, shall be exercised notwithstanding any rights heretofore acquired by the public under any franchis…

The Public Service Commission shall have general supervision of all persons, firms and corporations operating utilities mentioned in this title, shall inquire into the management of the business and shall keep itself informed as to the manner and method in which the business is c…

Etc., of Electricity, Gas, or Steam. None of the provisions of this title shall apply to the generation, transmission or distribution of electricity, to the manufacture or distribution of gas, to the furnishing or distribution of water, or to the production, delivery or furnishin…

Nothing contained in this title shall be deemed to confer upon the commission the power and jurisdiction to regulate and supervise any utility owned and operated by any municipal corporation in the state. History: (Acts 1915, No. 746, p. 865; Code 1923, §9633; Code 1940, T. 48, §…

Powers. Nothing in this title is intended or shall be construed: (1) To limit or restrict the police jurisdiction or power of municipalities over their streets and other highways and public places or the power to maintain or the power to require maintenance of the same; (2) To li…

When a person is engaged in business, a portion of which business is private business and a portion of which is the business of a utility, the authority, powers and jurisdiction of the commission conferred upon it by law shall not be deemed to apply to and shall not be exercised …

This title shall not apply to logging or private railroads not doing business as common carriers. History: (Code 1907, §5649; Code 1923, §9627; Code 1940, T. 48, §21.)

The commission may adopt and publish rules to govern its proceedings and to regulate the mode and manner of all investigations and hearings before it, provided all hearings shall be open to the public. History: (Code 1907, §5643; Code 1923, §9621; Code 1940, T. 48, §22.)

Every order of the commission shall be in writing, and in cases of importance may be accompanied by an opinion, setting forth, in brief, the facts on which the commission has based its order. The commission shall provide for the assembling and publication, from time to time, of i…

The members of the commission shall be state officers, and before entering upon the discharge of their duties they shall take the oath of office prescribed for other state officers. History: (Code 1886, §1121; Code 1896, §3482; Code 1907, §5637; Code 1923, §9610; Code 1940, T. 48…

Every utility subject to the supervision of the Public Service Commission, and all officers, agents and employees of the same shall obey, observe and comply with every order made by the Public Service Commission under the authority of this title. History: (Acts 1907, Ex. Sess., N…

On or before January 10 of each year, the Public Service Commission, through the president thereof, shall make to the Governor, for transmission to the legislature, a report of its acts and doings for the year ending on September 30 next preceding, setting forth such facts as wil…

The commission shall, on request of the Director of the Department of Revenue, furnish such information as will assist in the assessment of taxes against persons or corporations operating utilities. History: (Code 1886, §1141; Code 1896, §3502; Code 1907, §5655; Code 1923, §9637;…

Regulated Under Acts of Congress. All the authority, powers and jurisdiction which have been given by law to the Alabama Public Service Commission over utilities engaged in intrastate commerce in this state are hereby given to said commission over utilities whose principal place …

or Discriminatory. When the commission is of the opinion that the interstate rates, charges, practices, rules or regulations of any utility are unjust, unreasonable, excessive, discriminatory or otherwise in violation of the Interstate Commerce Act, or other federal acts relating…

The members of the commission may sit with and confer with other state utility commissions and public service commissions, either within or without the state, in general utility matters; but in no event shall the commission make any order without proceeding to carry out the other…

In any proceedings involving directly or indirectly any rate, charge, practice, rule, or regulation in force in the State of Alabama, the commission through any of its members may sit with and confer with the Interstate Commerce Commission, Federal Power Commission, Federal Commu…

Interstate Rates, Etc., in Alabama. When, in any proceeding before the Interstate Commerce Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Power Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission or any other federal bureau or agency, any interstate rate or regulation or any i…

Contracts. Any utility accepting under the provisions of this title any rate or service regulation more favorable to it than provided by any ordinance or contract under which it claims rights from any municipality shall be held to waive any and all terms and conditions in such or…

Every utility shall maintain its plant, facilities and equipment in good operating condition and shall set up and maintain proper reserves for renewals, replacements and reasonable contingencies. Every utility shall render adequate service to the public and shall make such reason…

Utilities. (Amended by Act 2026-345) [Effective until June 1, 2026.] AMENDED BY ACT 2026-345, EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2026. SEE ACT FOR REVISED LANGUAGE. No public service commissioner or clerk of the commission shall, during his continuance in office, personally or through any partner…

No utility shall abandon all or any portion of its service to the public except ordinary discontinuance of service for nonpayment of charges, nonuser and similar reasons in the usual course of business, unless and until written application is first made to the commission for the …

The commission may provide for a comprehensive classification of service for each utility, and such classification may take into account the quantity used, the time when used, the purpose for which used or any other reasonable consideration. Each utility is required to conform it…

The commission may prescribe adequate standard of service rendered or to be rendered by any utility, and may prescribe regulations for the examination and testing of such service and for the measurement and regulations thereof. History: (Acts 1920, No. 37, p. 38; Code 1923, §9782…

Each telecommunications utility and/or company that provides operator service shall ensure that a caller may access a live operator through a method designed to be easily and clearly understandable and accessible to the caller. A telecommunications utility and/or company shall su…

(a) The commission may prescribe reasonable rules, regulations and standards to secure the substantial accuracy of all meters, safety devices, regulators and mileage indicators and appliances for measurement which shall be complied with by the utility and consumer. (b) The commis…

(a) The commission may, when it deems it advisable to do so, establish a uniform system of accounts for each utility, which system shall be uniform for all utilities of the same kind and class, and may make such regulations regarding the accounts and statistics of each utility fo…

Where railroads are required to keep their accounts and records and do keep them in accordance with the requirements of any law of the United States or uniform system of accounts prescribed by the Interstate Commerce Commission, the information therein reflected shall be sufficie…

The commission may prescribe such changes in the form in which the schedules and service regulations are issued by any utility as may be found to be expedient. History: (Acts 1920, No. 37, p. 38; Code 1923, §9790; Code 1940, T. 48, §43.)

Every utility, when and as required by the commission, shall file with the commission such annual, or other reports, and such other information as the commission may desire. History: (Acts 1920, No. 37, p. 38; Code 1923, §9789; Code 1940, T. 48, §44.)

Business. Every utility doing business in this state must, within 90 days after the close of business for its preceding fiscal or calendar year, make to the commission in the manner prescribed, and upon the blanks to be furnished by said commission, annual returns of the business…

Earnings and Operating Expenses. The commission may also require utilities to file additional reports of earnings and operating expenses within a specified time, and may require specific answers to questions upon which it may desire information to be made in such reports. History…

No person owning any stock in any utility, or in the employment of any utility or pecuniarily interested in any utility, as defined in this title, shall be eligible to the office of public service commissioner. History: (Code 1886, §1123; Code 1896, §3484; Code 1907, §5638; Code …

Records. The Public Service Commission shall prescribe the form of the annual or other reports and records required to be made by utilities. The form of such reports and records shall conform as near as may be to that required from time to time by the Interstate Commerce Commissi…

Subscribed and Sworn To; Preservation in Office of Commission. The originals of the reports shall be subscribed and sworn to, and shall be preserved in the office of the commission. History: (Acts 1907, Ex. Sess., No. 15, p. 29; Code 1923, §9860; Code 1940, T. 48, §48.)

All reports, records and accounts in the possession of the commission shall be open to inspection by the public at all times, except as otherwise provided for in this title, or as ordered by the commission, and under the rules prescribed by the commission. History: (Acts 1920, No…

Subpoenas, Etc. Each of the commissioners, and any examiners appointed by the commission, for the purposes mentioned in this title, and in all hearings before the commission, may administer oaths, certify to official acts, issue subpoenas, compel the attendance of witnesses and t…

Employment of Special Counsel. The Attorney General shall represent the Public Service Commission in any and all legal proceedings which it may have the power to institute and which, pursuant to such power, it has instituted, and in all legal proceedings against it, and shall ins…

Unless otherwise in this title provided, all actions to enforce penalties or forfeitures under this title shall be brought in the name of the State of Alabama in a court of competent jurisdiction in Montgomery County, Alabama. Whenever any utility is subject to a penalty or forfe…

Members of the enforcement division of the Public Service Commission designated in writing by the Public Service Commission shall have the powers of peace officers and deputy sheriffs in this state, and may exercise such powers anywhere within the state as to the provisions of th…

The commissioners may be impeached and removed from office by the supreme court for the same causes and in the same manner as other state officers; and any commissioner who shall accept directly or indirectly any gift, gratuity, emolument or employment from any person, firm, corp…

The commissioners shall have an office at Montgomery, Alabama, and shall meet there a minimum of once a month, with the public information officer giving notice of the monthly meeting at least one week prior to the meeting, and shall remain in session until all business before th…

Return; Alternative Methods of Regulation. (a) The rates and charges for the services rendered and required shall be reasonable and just to both the utility and the public. Every utility shall be entitled to such just and reasonable rates as will enable it at all times to fully p…

When South Central Bell Telephone Company Receives Increase in Net Return. When South Central Bell Telephone Company receives an increase in its net return as the result of any order issued by the Alabama Public Service Commission or a contingent increase as the result of a super…

Other Services; Liability of Trustees. (a) The Alabama Public Service Commission shall impose a surcharge on each access line of each customer of the local exchange companies operating in Alabama to fund a dual party relay system whereby a deaf or hearing-impaired person may comm…

(a) Whenever a utility desires to put in operation a new rate or service regulation or to change any existing rate or service regulation, it shall file with the commission a new schedule embodying the same, not less than 30 days prior to the time it desires to make the same effec…

(a) The retail base rates established and in place on October 1, 2026 for each utility that is regulated by the commission and that provides retail electric service may not be increased before January 1, 2029. (b) On and after January 1, 2029, a utility that provides retail elect…

The commissioners and staff of the commission shall convene at least one public meeting per calendar year with utility representatives to provide information to the public on cost trends, reliability, resilience, general infrastructure investment plans, economic development impac…

(a) After the mandated prohibition on increasing retail base rates that runs until January 1, 2029, as provided in Section 37-1-81.1, a formal hearing to examine specific issues relative to the rate making process and to provide greater transparency and direction to the establish…

(a) The commission, by order, may require any utility or any officer or agent thereof to produce within the state, at such reasonable time and place as it may designate, any books, records, accounts or documents kept in any office or place without or within the state, or certifie…