Title 39, Title 39 Utilities and Carriers

(a) No change shall be made in the rates, tolls, and charges that have been filed and published by any public utility in compliance with the requirements of § 39-3-10, except after thirty (30) days’ notice to the commission and to the public published as provided in § 39-3-10, wh…

(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the commission shall not have the power to suspend the taking effect of any change or changes in the rates, tolls, and charges filed and published in compliance with the requirements of §§ 39-3-10 and 39-3-11 by any public…

Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the Providence Water Supply Board shall transfer to the general fund of the city of Providence an amount equal to five percent (5%) per annum times the annual gross revenues of the Providence Water Supply Board for the fiscal year endi…

At any hearing involving any proposed increase in any rate, toll, or charge, the burden of proof to show that the increase is necessary in order to obtain a reasonable compensation for the service rendered shall be upon the public utility; provided, that the commission may, in it…

(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, no water company, supplier, or water utility regulated by the commission shall be allowed to file its rate schedules or notice of changes in rates unless it shall also file a statement containing the following information:…

No electric utility, as defined in chapter 1 of this title, may include as part of its rate base any expense for advertising, either direct or indirect, that promotes the construction of a nuclear facility for the generation of electricity, and no utility so regulated may furnish…

The division shall have power, when deemed by it necessary to prevent injury to the business or interest of the people or any public utility of this state in case of any emergency to be judged of by the division, to permit any public utility to temporarily alter, amend, or suspen…

The division shall have the power, when deemed by it necessary, to provide remedial relief from unjust, unreasonable, or discriminatory acts, or from any matter, act, or thing done by a public utility, which matter, act, or thing is in chapters 1 — 5 of this title, or otherwise, …

The division may, from time to time, establish and prescribe a system of forms of accounts to be used by all public utilities, or may classify the public utilities and prescribe a system of forms of accounts for each class thereof. The accounts of all public utilities shall be ke…

A public utility, as defined in § 39-1-2, may not, without application to and authority from the division, issue stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness, payable more than twelve (12) months from the date of issue, when necessary for the acquisition of property; …

(a) The proceedings for obtaining the consent and authority of the division for the security issue as provided in §§ 39-3-15 — 39-3-23 shall be as follows: (1) In case the stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness are to be issued for money only, the public utility …

The order of the division shall fix the amount, character, and terms of any issue, and the purposes to which the issue or any proceeds thereof shall be applied, and recite that the money, property, consideration, or labor procured or to be procured or paid for by the issue has be…

All stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness, payable at periods of more than twelve (12) months after the date of issue thereof, issued by any public utility after April 30, 1936, without the consent or permission of the division, as provided in this chapter, shal…

No certificate shall be issued to any person who is not a citizen resident within this state, or to any association, unless all members of the association are citizens of this state, or to any corporation unless the corporation has been created by special act of the general assem…

No foreign public utility corporation shall be required to apply to the division for authority to issue stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness.

Any director, president, secretary, manager, officer, or other official of any public utility who shall knowingly make any false statement to secure the issue of any stock, bond, note, or other evidence of indebtedness, or who shall, by such false statement, procure the order of …

No public utility shall declare any stock, bond, or scrip dividend or divide the proceeds of the sale of any stock, bond, or scrip among its stockholders without the consent and permission of the division.

The charters of all corporations subject to regulation by the division as public utilities are hereby amended to the extent necessary to comply with the provisions of §§ 39-3-15 — 39-3-22 as amended; provided, however, that all information acquired under the provisions of the sec…

With the consent and approval of the division, but not otherwise: (1) Any two (2) or more public utilities doing business in the same municipality or locality within this state, or any two (2) or more public utilities whose lines intersect or parallel each other within this state…

The proceedings for obtaining the consent and approval of the division for such authority shall be as follows: There shall be filed with the division a petition, joint or otherwise, as the case may be, signed and verified by the president and secretary of the respective companies…

The charters of all corporations subject to regulation by the division are hereby amended to the extent necessary to authorize the carrying out of any agreement, merger, purchase, sale, or lease approved by the division as provided in §§ 39-3-24 and 39-3-25.

(a) “Affiliate” means and includes the following: (1) Every person owning or holding, directly or indirectly, ten percent (10%) or more of the voting capital stock of a public utility. (2) Any corporation, voluntary association, or trust, ten percent (10%) or more of the voting c…

The original or a verified copy of any contract or arrangement and of any modification thereof or a verified summary of any unwritten contract or arrangement, the consideration of which exceeds five hundred dollars ($500), hereafter entered into between a public utility and an af…

Any contract or arrangement not filed with the division pursuant to § 39-3-28 shall be unenforceable in any court in this state, and payments thereunder may be disallowed by the division, unless the later filing thereof is approved in writing by the division.

(a) No common carrier of persons and/or property operating upon water between termini within this state shall hereafter furnish or sell its services unless the common carrier shall first have made application to and obtained a certificate from the division certifying that public …

A petition in writing for the issuance of a certificate under § 39-3-3 shall first be filed with the division of public utilities and carriers by the common carrier desiring to obtain such certificate. Upon receipt of the petition, the division shall fix a time and place of heari…

The division shall have full power and authority to investigate any contract, arrangement, purchase, or sale, and if the division, after notice and hearing, shall find the contract, arrangement, purchase, or sale to be unjust or unreasonable, the division may make such reasonable…

If, as a result of an investigation in accordance with § 39-3-30, the division shall find that any public utility is making any payment or about to make any payment or doing or about to do any other thing that substantially threatens or impairs the ability of the public utility t…

In any proceeding, whether upon the division’s own motion or upon complaint, involving the rates or practices of any public utility, the division may disallow the inclusion in the accounts of a public utility of any payments or compensation to an affiliate for any services render…

The division shall make such reasonable rules as will aid in the administration and enforcement of chapters 1 — 5 of this title.

Sections 39-3-15 — 39-3-33 shall apply only to public utilities as defined in § 39-1-2.

Every franchise granted to any public utility by any town or city and all contracts, ordinances, rules, regulations, and orders entered into or made by any town or city regulating the use and enjoyment of rights and franchises granted to any public utility or regulating, restrict…

On any matter pertaining to railroad clearances, or on any matter wherein the safety of railroad train personnel is concerned, the public utilities administrator shall, at least ten (10) days before the date of the hearing on the matter or matters, serve a notice of the time and …

All public utilities shall include with their mailings to customers any information relating to public utility rates and services as is required from time to time by the commission, which shall promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the intent of this section.

Every person or corporation who or that shall charge for the use of water furnished to any house, building, tenement, or estate shall conspicuously display upon the bill or statement for such water charges, the telephone number and address of a public agency designated for the pu…

Every person or corporation who or that shall charge for the use of electricity furnished to any house, building, tenement, or estate shall conspicuously display upon the bill or statement for such electricity charges, the following information: (1) The total number of kilowatt h…

(a) Every electric distribution company that shall charge for the distribution of electricity to any house, building, tenement, or estate shall conspicuously display upon the bill or statement for any customer the following information: (1) The total number of kilowatt hours cons…

The authority of any public waterworks or water service owned or furnished by any city, town, water district, fire district, or any other municipal or quasi-municipal corporation to enter into contracts with each other for the sale of water at wholesale is hereby confirmed, and t…

Regulated water-supply boards that purchase wholesale water from another regulated water-supply board may impose a retail rate increase provided the public utilities commission has approved the wholesale rate increase. The total amount of the retail rate so imposed shall not exce…

The public utilities commission shall require that all electric utilities subject to the “Third supplementary decision and order” in that matter entitled “In Re: Arrangements between electric utilities and qualifying cogeneration and small power production facilities” Docket No. …

Any person, corporation, or authority who or that has lawfully been doing business as a common carrier of persons and/or property upon water between termini within this state during a seven-year period, seasonally or otherwise, prior to April 30, 1943, and any cooperative associa…

(a) In regulating the storage, transportation, and distribution of gas, and the pressure under which these operations may respectively be carried on, the division of public utilities and carriers may ascertain, determine, and fix adequate and serviceable standards for the measure…

(a) The commission may promulgate reasonable regulations concerning the offering of pay-per-call services to customers within the state. The regulations may include advertising standards, conditions under which charges for “pay-per-call services” may be adjusted or waived along w…

All bills issued by a public utility as defined in § 39-1-2 shall be deemed paid upon the receipt of sufficient funds by an agent of the public utility authorized to accept such payment.

A petition in writing for the issuance of a certificate under § 39-3-1 shall first be filed with the division of public utilities and carriers by the public utility desiring to obtain the certificate. Upon receipt of the petition, the division shall fix a time and a place for a h…

Any petitioner or any public utility or other party in interest aggrieved by any order of the division granting or refusing to grant the petition, or rescinding, altering, or amending any previous action of the division, may appeal to the superior court as provided in § 39-5-1, a…