Title 34 — Public Utilities.

In the determination of any appeal from an order or decision of the Commission the review by the Court shall be limited to questions of law, including constitutional questions; and the findings of fact by the Commission shall be conclusive unless it shall appear that such finding…

All orders and decisions of the Commission shall remain in full effect, except as provided in § 34-604 hereof, unless and until they are suspended, superseded, or rescinded by the Commission or are vacated by lawful order of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals; provided, th…

The Commission may at any time, rescind, alter, modify, or amend its order. If, after appeal is filed, the Commission shall rescind the order or decision appealed from, the appeal shall be dismissed; if it shall alter, modify, or amend the same, such altered, modified, or amended…

The method of review of the orders and decisions of the Commission provided by §§ 34-604 to 34-608, herein, shall be exclusive.

No person shall be excused from testifying or from producing books, accounts, and papers in any proceeding based upon or growing out of any violation of the provisions of this subtitle, on the ground or for the reason that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, requ…

Upon application of any person the Commission shall furnish certified copies, under the seal of the Commission, of any order made by it, which shall be prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein.

Each and every director, president, secretary, or other official of any such public utility who shall make any false statement to secure the issue of any stock, certificate of stock, bond, mortgage, or other evidence of indebtedness, or who shall, by false statement knowingly mad…

If any public utility or any agent or officer thereof shall, directly or indirectly, by any device whatsoever, or otherwise, charge, demand, collect, or receive from any person, firm, or corporation a greater or less compensation for any service rendered or to be rendered by it i…

It shall be unlawful for any public utility to demand, charge, collect, or receive from any person, firm, or corporation less compensation for any service rendered or to be rendered by said public utility in consideration of the furnishing by said person, firm, or corporation of …

It shall be unlawful for any person to solicit, accept, or receive any rebate, concession, or discrimination in respect to any service in or affecting or relating to any public utility or the production, transmission, delivery, or furnishing of heat, light, water, or power, or an…

Any officer, agent, or employee of any public utility who shall fail or refuse to fill out and return any blanks, as required by this subtitle, or shall fail or refuse to answer any question therein propounded, or shall knowingly or wilfully give a false answer to any such questi…

(a) If any public utility shall violate any provision of this subtitle, or shall do any act herein prohibited, or shall fail or refuse to perform any duty enjoined upon it for which a penalty has not been provided, or shall fail, neglect, or refuse to obey any lawful requirement …

Any person who shall destroy, injure, or interfere with any apparatus or appliance owned or operated by or in charge of the Commission or its agent shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by fine not exceeding $100 or imprisonment for a peri…

Every day during which any public utility, or any officer, agent, or employee thereof, shall fail knowingly or willfully to observe and comply with any order or direction of the Commission, or to perform any duty enjoined by this section, shall constitute a separate and distinct …

Whenever, after hearing and investigation as provided in this subtitle, the Commission shall find that any rate, toll, charge, regulation, or practice of any public utility within the District of Columbia is unreasonable or discriminatory, it shall have the power to regulate, fix…

All moneys received from fines, forfeitures, and penalties shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the General Fund of the District of Columbia.

This subtitle shall not have the effect to release or waive any right of action by the United States, or by the District of Columbia, or by any person, for any right, penalty, or forfeiture under any law of the United States or any regulation in force in the District of Columbia;…

Prosecution for violation of any rule, order, or regulation issued, adopted, or approved by the Public Service Commission pursuant to this subtitle; § 50-2201.03(e), or Chapters 28 and 30 [repealed] of Title 47, shall be on information in the Superior Court of the District of Col…

The provisions of §§ 34-706 and 34-731 relating to the orders, rules, and regulations of the Public Service Commission may be enforced either as provided in § 34-706 or § 34-731.

The Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia shall be composed of 3 commissioners appointed by the Mayor by and with the advice and consent of the Council, except that the members (other than the Mayor of the District of Columbia) serving as commissioners of such Com…

A majority of the commissioners shall constitute a quorum to do business, and any vacancy shall not impair the right of the remaining commissioners to exercise all the powers of the Commission. Any investigation, inquiry, or hearing within the powers of the Commission may be made…

There is established within the Public Service Commission an Office of the General Counsel. The head of such Office shall be the General Counsel, who shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Commission. The Commission may, upon the recommendation of the General Coun…

(a) There is hereby established within the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia, established by § 34-801, an office to be known as the “Office of the People’s Counsel.” The Office shall be a party, as of right, in any investigation, valuation, revaluation, or pro…

There are authorized to be appropriated, to carry out the purposes of §§ 34-804 and 34-912, such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 1980 and for each fiscal year thereafter.

(a) The Commission shall have the power in each and every instance to employ and to prescribe the duties of such officers, clerks, stenographers, typewriters, inspectors, experts, and employees as it may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this subtitle. The Commission …

(a) The authority vested by law in the Interstate Commerce Commission by virtue and under the Act of Congress, approved May 23, 1908, entitled “An Act authorizing certain extensions to be made in the lines of the Anacostia and Potomac River Railroad Company, the Washington Railwa…

Whenever the Commission shall be of opinion, after hearing had upon its own motion or upon complaint, that repairs, improvements, or changes in any street railroad, gas plant, electric plant, telephone line, telegraph line, pipeline, waterpower plant, or the facilities of any com…

(a) The Office of the People’s Counsel shall establish a program to increase the awareness of District residents of the availability of services offered by competitive energy providers and the means by which to procure such services. (b) The Public Service Commission shall establ…

In supervising and regulating utility or energy companies, the Commission shall consider the public safety, the economy of the District, the conservation of natural resources, and the preservation of environmental quality.

All the duties, powers, and authority of the Mayor of the District of Columbia shall continue and remain in full force and effect notwithstanding this subtitle; and all powers, authority and duties of the municipality known as the District of Columbia and all rights vested in sai…

(a) Unless the Commission shall otherwise order, it shall be unlawful for any public utility within the District of Columbia to demand, collect, or receive a greater compensation for any service than the charge fixed on the lowest schedule of rates for the same service under the …

(a) The Commission shall have power to adopt reasonable and proper rules and regulations relative to all inspections, tests, audits, and investigations, and to adopt and publish reasonable and proper rules to govern its proceedings and to regulate the mode and manner of all inves…

The Commission shall keep itself informed as to the manner and method in which the business of all public utilities is conducted, and shall have the right to obtain from any public utility all necessary information to enable the Commission to perform its duties.

The Commission or any commissioner or any person or persons employed by the Commission for that purpose shall, upon demand, have the right to inspect the books, accounts, papers, records, and memoranda of any public utility, and to examine, under oath, any officer, agent, or empl…

(a) The Commission may require, by order or subpoena, to be served upon any public utility in the same manner that a summons is served in a civil action in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, the production within the District of Columbia at such time and place as it …

For the purpose of making any investigation with regard to any public utility the Commission shall have power to appoint, by an order in writing, an agent, whose duties shall be prescribed in such order. In the discharge of his duties such agent shall have every power whatsoever …

Every public utility shall furnish to the Commission all information required by it to carry into effect the provisions of this subtitle, and shall make specific answers to all specific questions submitted by the Commission. Any public utility receiving from the Commission any bl…

Upon its own initiative or upon reasonable complaint made against any public utility that any of the rates, tolls, charges, or schedules, or services, or time and conditions of payment, or any joint rate or rates, schedules, or services, are in any respect unreasonable or unjustl…

(a) Notice of every rate application or change in condition of service proposed and filed with the Public Service Commission shall be given by the utility to each residential or commercial rate payer affected by the proposed rate application or change. The notice shall be availab…

The Commission shall give the public utility and the complainant, if any, 10 days notice of the time and place when and where such hearing and investigation will be held and such matters considered and determined. Both the public utility and complainant shall be entitled to be he…

If upon such investigation the rates, tolls, charges, schedules, or joint rates shall be found to be unjust, unreasonable, insufficient, or unjustly discriminatory, or to be preferential or otherwise in violation of any of the provisions of this subtitle, the Commission shall hav…

(a)(1) There are established within the District of Columbia treasury 2 fiduciary funds to be known as the “Public Service Commission Agency Fund” and the “Office of the People’s Counsel Agency Fund”. These funds shall be accounted for under procedures established pursuant to sub…

The Commission may, in its discretion, when complaint is made of more than one rate or charge of any public utility, order separate hearings thereon, and may consider and determine the several matters complained of separately and at such times as it may prescribe. No complaint sh…

Whenever the Commission shall believe that any rate or charge of any public utility may be unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory, or that any reasonable service is not supplied by a public utility, or that an investigation of any matter relating to any public utility should for…

If after making such investigation the Commission becomes satisfied that sufficient grounds exist to warrant a formal hearing being ordered as to the matters so investigated, it shall furnish such public utility interested a statement notifying the public utility of the matters u…

Notice of the time and place for such hearing shall be given to the public utility and to such other interested persons as the Commission shall deem necessary, as provided in § 34-910, and thereafter proceedings shall be had and conducted in reference to the matter investigated i…

Any public utility may make complaint as to any matter affecting its own product or service with like effect as though made by the Commission or upon reasonable complaint as hereinbefore provided.

Each of the commissioners and every agent provided for in § 34-906, for the purposes mentioned in this subtitle, shall have power to administer oaths, certify to official acts, issue subpoenas, compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, accounts, papers, reco…

Each witness who shall appear before the Commission or its agent by its order shall receive for his attendance the fees and mileage provided for witnesses in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on March 4, 1913, which shall be audited and paid in the sam…

The Commission or any party may, in any investigation, cause the depositions of witnesses residing within or without the District of Columbia to be taken in the manner prescribed by law for like depositions in civil actions in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.