Title 49, Public Utilities

When an application is filed under this title for which there is no application fee, the applicant shall pay the cost of publishing any notice issued by the commission for the application.

The commission shall supervise the rates of all public utilities. It shall have the power, after notice and hearing, to originate, establish, modify, adjust, promulgate, and enforce tariffs, rates, joint rates, and charges of all public utilities. Whenever the commission, after h…

Whenever the commission shall find, after hearing, that the rules, regulations, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, or service of any public utility, or the methods of manufacture, distribution, transmission, storage, or supply employed by it are unjust, unreasonable, u…

Whenever upon hearing, after due notice, the commission has found that public convenience and necessity require the use by one public utility of the conduits, subways, tracks, wires, poles, pipes, or other equipment, or any part thereof, on, over, or under any street or highway a…

Whenever public convenience and necessity requires that an electric or telecommunications distribution or transmission line, pipeline, or railroad track of any public utility cross a line or track of another public utility and the public utilities have failed to agree upon the te…

The commission and its officers and employees shall have the power to enter upon any premises occupied by any public utility for the purpose of: 1. Making examinations and tests; 2. Setting out and using on said premises any weights or appliances necessary therefor; or 3. Exercis…

Any consumer or user of any product, commodity, or service of a public utility may have any appliance used in the measurement thereof tested by paying the fees fixed by the commission. The commission shall establish and fix reasonable fees to be paid for testing such appliances.

The commission shall test, request a public utility to test, or use a third party to test meters of public utilities used: 1. To measure the amount of electric current passing through such meters to consumers. 2. To measure the amount of gas passing through such meters for the us…

Tests shall be made for the purpose of determining the accuracy of the meters and shall determine whether or not the British thermal unit content of gas, either natural or artificial, distributed by public utilities, is of the standard that now or hereafter may be prescribed by t…

The commission shall make such rules as it may deem proper and necessary as to the manner in which tests of meters and heat values shall be made.

The commission shall: 1. Ascertain and fix just and reasonable standards, classifications, regulations, practices, measurements, or services to be furnished, imposed, observed, and followed by all public utilities. 2. Ascertain and fix adequate and serviceable standards for the m…

The commission shall: 1. Establish a system of accounts to be kept by a public utility subject to its jurisdiction. 2. Classify public utilities, establish a system of accounts for each class, and prescribe the manner in which such accounts shall be kept. 3. Prescribe the forms f…

Except as otherwise provided by law, a meeting of the public service commission is subject to the requirements of chapter 44-04. A meeting of the public service commission does not include a quorum of members attending a legislative committee. The public service commission is exe…

The commission, and each commissioner, and each officer or other person duly authorized by the commission, shall have the right, at any time, to inspect the accounts, books, papers, and documents of any public utility. The commission, each commissioner, any officer of the commiss…

When complaint has been made to the commission concerning any rate or charge for any product or commodity furnished or service performed by any public utility, and the commission has found, upon a hearing after notice given as required by this title, that the public utility has c…

The commission shall exercise constant diligence in informing itself of the rates, rules, and practices of common carriers engaged in: 1. The transportation of freight, express, and passengers; 2. The transportation by pipeline of crude petroleum, gas, or other petroleum products…

Whenever it shall come to the knowledge of the commission, either from its own investigation or by complaint made to it in any manner whatsoever, that the rates charged by any public utility including any common carrier on interstate business are unjust or unreasonable or that th…

Whenever discriminatory, unreasonable, or unjust, rates, rules, or practices on interstate business are not changed or adjusted so as to remove or remedy the discrimination, unreasonableness, or unjustness, within a reasonable time, the commission shall take the action necessary …

The public service commission shall have power: 1. To regulate the raising and lowering of electric supply and communication lines to permit the movement of buildings or other bulky objects; and to adopt and promulgate, after notice and hearing, reasonable rules and regulations p…

Any party requesting the raising or lowering of electric supply and communication lines shall be required to pay not more than the actual cost reasonably and necessarily incurred therefor. The commission shall, upon application, and after notice and hearing, review and determine …

The commission may not use, require the use of, or allow electric utilities to use environmental externality values in the planning, selection, or acquisition of electric resources or the setting of rates for providing electric service. Environmental externality values are numeri…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commission by rule may establish or participate in a program to track, record, and verify the trading of credits for electricity generated from renewable and recycled heat sources among electric generators, utilities, and other inte…

As used in section 49-02-24, renewable electricity and recycled energy include electricity generated from facilities using the following sources: 1. Solar, using the sun as the source of energy for producing electricity. 2. Wind, using the wind as the source of energy for produci…

For purposes of qualifying for renewable electricity and recycled energy credits, electricity must be generated from a source identified in section 49-02-25.

1. The commission shall adopt rules governing the decommissioning of commercial wind energy conversion facilities. The rules must address: a. The anticipated life of the project; b. The estimated decommissioning costs in current dollars; c. The method and schedule for updating th…