Title XXXIV, Public Utilities

The depreciation fund may be expended in new construction, extensions or additions to the property of the public utility, or invested and, if invested, the net income from the investment shall be added to the depreciation fund, unless the commission for good cause shown shall oth…

No public utility shall declare or pay any dividend except out of net corporate income, and except after setting aside such depreciation reserve, if any, as it may carry in compliance with the provisions of RSA 374:10; provided, that this section shall not prevent the payment of …

When the commission has prescribed the form of accounts and records to be kept by public utilities of any class, each public utility of that class shall thereafter keep the accounts and records so prescribed accurately and honestly and in the manner prescribed; and it shall be un…

No person shall willfully make any false entry in the accounts or records of any public utility, or willfully destroy, mutilate or by any other means falsify such accounts or records, or willfully neglect or fail to make full, true or correct entries of all facts and transactions…

Every public utility shall file with the commission and the department of energy reports at such times, verified by oath in such manner, and setting forth such statistics and facts, as may be required by the commission or the department of energy.

If any public utility shall neglect or refuse to make and file any report within a time specified by the commission or the department of energy, or shall neglect or refuse to make specific answer to any question lawfully asked by the commission or the department of energy, it sha…

The commission, by order, or the department of energy, may require any public utility to produce within the state, at such time and place as it may designate, any accounts, records, memoranda, books, or papers kept in any office or place without the state, or verified copies ther…

No public utility shall willfully make any false statement or false entry in any report to the commission or the department of energy, or in any answer to any question lawfully asked by the commission or the department of energy.

All charges made or demanded by any public utility for any service rendered by it or to be rendered in connection therewith, shall be just and reasonable and not more than is allowed by law or by order of the public utilities commission. Every charge that is unjust or unreasonabl…

Every public utility that uses herbicides to clear or maintain its rights-of-way shall offer, as an alternative to herbicide use, to cut back such vegetation, if requested by the owner of the land on which the right-of-way exists. The utility shall be permitted to charge the land…

I. No person or business entity, including any person or business entity that qualifies as an excepted local exchange carrier, shall commence business as a public utility within this state, or shall engage in such business, or begin the construction of a plant, line, main, or oth…

I. If 2 or more telephone utilities find that they provide the same service in the same area or that existing maps create overlapping service territories, the department of energy, upon application by one or both of the affected utilities, shall define, alter, or establish servic…

I. To the extent consistent with federal law and notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, all telephone franchise areas served by a telephone utility that provides local exchange service, subject to the jurisdiction of the department of energy, shall be nonexcl…

The oversight committee shall have a chairperson who shall be chosen by vote from among the committee membership. The chairperson's term of office shall be for the biennium. The committee shall have a clerk who shall be chosen by vote by members of the committee. The clerk's term…

The committee's duties shall include, but not be limited to: I. Examining the restructuring of telecommunications services and rates. II. Examining the issue of the resale of telecommunications services and the feasibility of facilitating the resale process. III. Considering the …

In this subdivision: I. "Number retention" means the ability of a telephone service customer to retain that customer's direct inward dialing telephone number at the same location, or a different location served by the central office that provides private branch exchange service t…

I. The department of energy shall authorize the provision of shared tenant services by providers meeting the minimum requirements established by the department of energy to operate shared tenant services networks. II. Providers of shared tenant services shall be subject to the fo…

The department of energy shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, relative to: I. Minimum requirements for shared tenant services, including disclosure of available options and terms and prices of shared tenant services. II. Customer access to services of authorized local teleph…

Any person who violates the provisions of this subdivision shall, after notice and an opportunity for hearing, be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 per day of such violation.

Any person or business entity authorized by the department of energy to engage in business as a competitive local exchange carrier and any competitive toll provider having less than a 10 percent share of toll revenue in New Hampshire shall not be required to seek prior department…

I. (a) For the purposes of this section, "Federal Telecommunications Act" means the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, Public Law 104-104, 110 Stat. 56. (b) For purposes of this section "basic service" means: (1) Safe and reliable single-party, single line voice service; (2)…

No permission under RSA 374:22 shall be granted to any business entity not organized under the laws of this state, and no authority to transfer or lease the franchises, works, or system, or any part of the franchises, works, or system of any public utility in this state to any su…

RSA 374:24 shall not apply to: I. Any business entity operating a public utility plant in this state on June 1, 1911, or doing or desiring to do an interstate business; II. Any electric utility as defined in RSA 374-A:1 participating or desiring to participate in an electric powe…

The commission shall grant such permission whenever it shall, after due hearing, find that such engaging in business, construction or exercise of right, privilege or franchise would be for the public good, and not otherwise; and may prescribe such terms and conditions for the exe…

Authority granted under RSA 374:20-22 and 374:24-26 may only be exercised within 2 years after the same shall be granted, and shall not be exercised thereafter.

The commission may authorize any public utility to discontinue, temporarily or during such portion of each year as the commission may deem expedient, any part of its service whenever it shall appear that such temporary or seasonal discontinuance will not unreasonably inconvenienc…

I. "Slamming" is any practice that changes a consumer's telecommunications or energy-related service carrier or provider without the customer's knowledge or consent. For purposes of this section, a "customer" shall mean the person to whom the telecommunications or energy-related …

The public utilities commission and department of energy shall have the general supervision of all public utilities and the plants owned, operated or controlled by the same so far as necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this title.

Upon petition of a regulated utility or upon its own initiative and after notice and hearing, the public utilities commission may approve alternative forms of regulation other than the traditional methods which are based upon cost of service, rate base and rate of return, provide…

I. In this section, "small incumbent local exchange carrier" means an incumbent local exchange carrier serving fewer than 25,000 access lines. II. Solely at its option, a small incumbent local exchange carrier subject to rate of return regulation, and only such small incumbent lo…

I. In this section: (a) "Off-grid electricity provider" means an entity, person, private company, electric cooperative, municipal agency, or otherwise, that engages in any combination of generating, transmitting, distributing, or selling electricity at retail to consumers; is not…

I. Any public utility may transfer or lease its franchise, works, or system, or any part of such franchise, works, or system, exercised or located in this state, or contract for the operation of its works and system located in this state, when the commission shall find that it wi…

If commission approval is required pursuant to RSA 374:30 for any transfer, lease, or contract, any such attempted transfer, lease, or contract shall be void unless the same shall have been approved by the commission.

Except when the public utility is an excepted local exchange carrier, if such public utility, or the other party to any such transfer, lease, or contract, be a corporation and if the commission shall find that the public good so requires, such transfer, lease, or contract shall f…

No public utility or public utility holding company as defined in section 2(a)(7)(A) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 shall directly or indirectly acquire more than 10 percent, or more than the ownership level which triggers reporting requirements under 15 U.S.C.…

In any proceeding under RSA 374:33 in which the public utilities commission determines that the proposed acquisition is not lawful, proper, or in the public interest, the public utilities commission shall review the costs incurred by the target company incident to the proceeding,…

Every contract, assignment, transfer or agreement for transfer of any stock, by or through any person or corporation, to any corporation in violation of any provision of RSA 374:33 shall be void and of no effect, and no such transfer or assignment shall be made upon the books of …

I. In this subdivision, a "pole" means any pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way that is used for wire communications or electricity distribution and is owned in whole or in part by a public utility, including a rural electric cooperative for which a certificate of deregulation is…

There is established in the department of energy a stakeholder's group to address utility poles and attachments in the state. The stakeholder's group shall be under the direction of the director of the division of enforcement. I. The stakeholder's group shall consist of: (a) The …

The department of energy shall investigate the causes of all accidents in connection with the operation of public utilities in the state, which, in the opinion of the commission or the department of energy, ought to be investigated.

Any such investigation may be made by the department of energy in such manner as the department of energy may determine.

Every public utility shall report to the department of energy and the commission accidents occurring in connection with the operation of its business wherein loss of life occurs or any person is injured, or of such a nature as to endanger the safety, health or property of its con…

The commission and the department of energy shall have power, and it shall be their duty, to keep informed as to all public utilities in the state, their capitalization, franchises and the manner in which the lines and property controlled or operated by them are managed and opera…

Reports of accidents filed under RSA 374:39 shall not be made public otherwise than in the published reports of the commission or the department of energy.

Whenever the commission shall be of opinion that a public utility is failing or omitting, or about to fail or omit, to do anything required of it by law or by order of the commission, or is doing anything, or about to do anything, or permitting anything, or about to permit anythi…

Upon the beginning of such suit, it shall be the duty of the court to specify the time, not exceeding 20 days after service of a copy of the petition, within which the defendant complained of must answer. In case of default in answer, or after answer, the court shall immediately …