Title 49, Title 49. Public Utilities

Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. of the Revised Code do not prevent concentration, commodity, transit, and other special contract rates, but all such rates are subject to such chapters as to their printing and filing. Such rates shall be open to…

Upon complaint of a person, firm, corporation, or association, of a mercantile, agricultural, or manufacturing society, or of a body politic or municipal organization, that any of the rates, fares, charges, or classifications, or any joint rates are in any respect unreasonable or…

When complaint is made of more than one rate or charge, the public utilities commission may order separate hearings thereon, and may consider and determine the matters complained of separately, and at such times as it prescribes. No complaint shall necessarily be dismissed becaus…

Upon an investigation, if the rate, or any regulation, practice, or service of any railroad complained of is found to be unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory, or the service inadequate, the public utilities commission may fix and order substituted therefor, such rate, fare, ch…

If the public utilities commission believes that any rate or charge may be unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory, and that an investigation relating thereto should be made, it may investigate them upon its own motion. Before such investigation it shall present to the railroad a…

If, upon an investigation under Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., and 4909. of the Revised Code, the public utilities commission finds that any existing rate, fare, charge, or classification, any joint rate, or any regulation or practice affecting the transportation of persons…

Certified copies of all orders, other than those referred to in section 4909.28 of the Revised Code, of the public utilities commission shall be delivered to an officer or station agent of each railroad affected thereby, and shall take effect within such time thereafter as the co…

Upon application of any person or any railroad, and after notice to the parties in interest and opportunity to be heard as provided in section 4909.24 of the Revised Code for other hearings has been given, the public utilities commission may rescind, alter, or amend an order fixi…

Whenever a joint rate or charge is ordered substituted by the public utilities commission, and the railroads party thereto fail to agree within twenty days after the service of such order upon the apportionment of such rate or charge, the commission may, after a hearing, issue a …

Whenever railroads refuse or neglect to establish a joint rate for the transportation of persons or property, the public utilities commission may, upon notice to the railroads and after opportunity to be heard, fix and establish such joint rate. If the railroads party thereto fai…

Whenever any rate, toll, charge, or service ordered substituted by the public utilities commission is a joint rate, toll, charge, or service, and the public utilities which are parties to it fail to agree upon the apportionment of such joint rate, toll, charge, or service within …

Any municipal corporation or group of municipal corporations in which any public utility is established may, by ordinance or ordinances, at any time within one year before the expiration of any contract entered into under sections 715.34, 743.26, and 743.28 of the Revised Code be…

If the legislative authority of any municipal corporation fails to regulate, within sixty days after the expiration of any lawful rate, by ordinance, the rates to be charged by any public utility engaged in the business of supplying water for public or private consumption, such w…

If any public utility has accepted any rate, price, charge, toll, or rental fixed by ordinance of a municipal corporation or ordinances of a group of municipal corporations, it shall become operative, unless a complaint signed by not less than ten per cent of the qualified electo…

In all cases arising under sections 4909.34 to 4909.36, inclusive, and other sections of the Revised Code providing for the hearing of complaints or protests against rates, hearings, when feasible and proper, may be held in the community in which the cause of action arose.

A complaint or appeal to the public utilities commission under division (A) of section 4909.34 or section 4909.35 of the Revised Code, shall meet the requirements of and shall be governed in all respects by sections 4909.17 to 4909.19 and 4909.42 of the Revised Code.Upon notifica…

If the public utilities commission, after the hearing referred to in sections 4909.34 to 4909.36 of the Revised Code, is of the opinion that the rate, price, charge, toll, or rental, so fixed by ordinance is or will be unjust, unreasonable, or insufficient to yield reasonable com…

Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. of the Revised Code do not apply to any rate, fare, or regulation prescribed by any municipal corporation granting a right, permission, authority, or franchise to use its streets, alleys, avenues, or public place…

No officer, agent, or employee in an official capacity of a public utility shall knowingly violate sections 4909.15 to 4909.19, inclusive, or 4909.33 to 4909.40, inclusive, of the Revised Code, or willfully fail to comply with any lawful order or direction of the public utilities…

Except as provided for in section 4909.421 of the Revised Code, if the proceeding on an application filed with the public utilities commission under section 4909.18 of the Revised Code by any public utility requesting an increase on any rate, joint rate, toll, classification, cha…

(A) If the proceeding on an application filed with the public utilities commission under section 4909.18 of the Revised Code by an electric light, natural gas, water-works, or sewage disposal system company requesting an increase on any rate, rate mechanism, joint rate, toll, cla…

(A) No public utility shall file a rate increase application covering a municipal corporation pursuant to section 4909.18 or 4909.35 of the Revised Code at any time prior to six months before the expiration of an ordinance of that municipal corporation enacted for the purpose of …

Every gas or natural gas company shall, prior to accepting any rate, price, charge, toll, or rental fixed by ordinance of a municipal corporation, submit to the legislative authority of the municipal corporation the following information:(A) A report of its property used and usef…

Whoever violates section 4909.14 or 4909.41 of the Revised Code is guilty of a felony of the fifth degree.

As used in this chapter: (A) "Public utility" means every one as defined in divisions (A), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), (H), and (M) of section 4905.03 of the Revised Code, including all public utilities that operate their utilities not for profit, except the following:(1) Electric l…

(A) The consumers' counsel shall be appointed by the consumers' counsel governing board, and shall hold office at the pleasure of the board. (B)(1) The counsel may sue or be sued and has the powers and duties granted the counsel under this chapter, and all necessary powers to car…

The consumers' counsel shall not operate a telephone call center for consumer complaints. However, for any calls received by the consumers' counsel concerning consumer complaints, the consumers' counsel may assist consumers with their complaints or forward the calls to the public…

(A) No person may be appointed consumers' counsel unless he is admitted to the practice of law in this state and is qualified by knowledge and experience to practice in public utility proceedings.(B) No person who is in the employ of or acting in an official capacity with any pub…

The consumers' counsel shall be a resident of this state and during the counsel's term of office shall not hold any other office of either trust or profit under the government of the United States, this state, or any political subdivision of this state, except that this section s…

Before entering upon the duties of his office, the consumers' counsel shall subscribe to an oath of office, which shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state, and shall give bond of five thousand dollars with a sufficient surety approved by the treasurer of state. Afte…

The consumers' counsel shall be considered a state officer for the purpose of section 24 of Article II, Ohio constitution.

The salary of the consumers' counsel shall be determined by the consumers' counsel governing board but shall be in pay range 49 as set forth in section 124.152 of the Revised Code.

The office of the consumers' counsel shall be in Columbus.

The public utilities commission shall supply the consumers' counsel, without cost to the counsel, with all books, maps, charts, and such other items as may be necessary for carrying out the purposes of Chapters 4909. and 4911. of the Revised Code.

Except as provided in section 149.43 of the Revised Code, all documents and records in the posses-sion of the consumers' counsel are public records.

The consumers' counsel may, whenever called upon by any officer, board, or commission of this state or of any political subdivision of this state, furnish any data or information to the officer, board, or commission. All officers, boards, or commissions of this state or of any po…

(A) Notwithstanding Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code, the consumers' counsel may employ and fix the compensation of such officers, experts, lawyers, engineers, economists, statisticians, accountants, investigators, and employees in fiduciary, supervisory, or policy-making positi…

In the employment of engineers, experts, or other assistants, the consumers' counsel may make use of the services of engineers and experts employed by any university operated by this state in a manner provided by mutual arrangement between the counsel and the trustees and faculty…

The jurisdiction of the consumers' counsel extends to every case that he or another party brings before the public utilities commission involving the fixing of any rate, joint rate, fare, charge, toll, or rental charged for commodities or services by any public utility, the plant…

The consumers' counsel, at the request of one or more residential consumers residing in, or municipal corporations located in, an area served by a public utility or whenever in his opinion the public interest is served, may represent those consumers or corporations whenever an ap…

For the purpose of carrying out the duties given him in Chapter 4911. of the Revised Code, the consumers' counsel shall have access to all books, contracts, records, documents, and papers in the possession of the public utilities commission at any time.

There is hereby created a nine-member consumers' counsel governing board consisting of three representatives of organized groups representing each of the following areas: labor; residential consumers; and family farmers. No more than five members of this board may be members of t…

(A) For the sole purpose of maintaining and administering the office of the consumers' counsel and exercising the powers of the consumers' counsel under this chapter, an amount equal to the appropriation to the office of the consumers' counsel in each fiscal year shall be apporti…

Any utility to which the consumers' counsel makes an inquiry on behalf of a residential customer concerning that customer's billing, or the availability, unavailability, or quality of that customer's service shall respond to the consumers' counsel on the merits of that inquiry wi…

If the consumers' counsel governing board determines that the appointment of a deputy consumers' counsel is necessary to ensure the full and proper performance of the powers and duties of the consumers' counsel, the board may appoint a deputy consumers' counsel. The board may ass…

As used in this chapter: (A) "Aggrieved person" means a person with duties and obligations under sections 153.64 and 3781.25 to 3781.32 of the Revised Code and divisions (A) and (B) of section 3781.26 of the Revised Code and who is directly involved with or impacted by the allege…