Application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity shall be made upon forms prescribed by the commission. The commission shall make regulations for the filing of such application. The application must contain a financial statement, a description of the type of service to be offered, a map and description of the area to be served, and a list of all other public utilities providing similar service in the area. Upon the filing of an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity, the commission shall set a hearing date which shall not be less than twenty days after the filing. The commission shall cause notice of the hearing to be served by certified mail, at least ten days before the day of hearing, upon every public utility which is operating, or which has applied for a certificate of public convenience and necessity, in the area proposed to be served by the applicant, and on other interested parties as determined by the commission. The commission shall impose an application fee of up to ten thousand dollars for an application under this chapter. With the approval of the emergency commission, the commission may impose an additional amount. The commission shall pay the expenses of processing an application under this chapter from the application fee paid by the public utility in accordance with section 49-02-02.
49-03.1-04. Factors to be considered by commission in granting or denying a certificate. Before granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity, the commission shall take into consideration: 1. Need for the service. 2. Fitness and ability of applicant to provide service. 3. Effect on other public utilities providing similar service. 4. Adequacy of proposed service. 5. The technical, financial, and managerial ability of the applicant to provide service.
49-03.1-05. Prerequisites to issuance of certificate of public convenience and necessity - Waiver of hearing. Before any certificate may be issued under this chapter, a certified copy of the articles of incorporation, charter, or organization of the public utility, if the applicant is a corporation or a limited liability company, shall be filed with the commission. At the hearing on the application as provided in section 49-03.1-03, the applicant shall submit evidence showing that the applicant has received the consent, franchise, permit, ordinance, or other authority of the proper municipality or other public authority, if required, or has or is about to make application therefor. The commission shall have the power, after notice and hearing, to do any of the following:
1. Issue the certificate. 2. Refuse to issue the certificate. 3. Issue the certificate for the construction or operation of only a portion of the contemplated facility, line, plant, or system. 4. Issue the certificate for the partial exercise of the right or privilege sought, conditioned upon the applicant's having secured or upon the applicant's securing the consent, franchise, permit, ordinance, or other authority of the proper municipality or other public authority, and may attach to the exercise of the rights granted by any certificate such terms and conditions as in its judgment the public convenience and necessity may require. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing provisions, the commission may grant a certificate if no interested party has requested a hearing on the application after receiving at least twenty days' notice of opportunity to request such hearing.