Chapter 103

103-532.5. Deferred Payment Plan. The utility shall provide for the arrangement of a deferred payment plan to enable a residential customer to make payment by installments where such customer is unable to pay the amount due for service. The deferred payment plan shall require the…

103-533. Adjustment of Bills. If it is found that a utility has directly or indirectly, by any device whatsoever, demanded, charged, collected or received from any customer a greater or lesser compensation for any service rendered or to be rendered by such utility than that presc…

103-534. Application for Service. A. All applications for sewerage service may be made orally or in writing. B. The accepted application shall constitute a contract between the company and the applicant, obligating the applicant to pay for sewerage service in accordance with the …

103-535. Denial or Discontinuance of Service. Service may be refused or discontinued for any of the reasons listed below. Unless otherwise stated, the customer shall be allowed a reasonable time in which to comply with the rule before service is discontinued. A. Without notice in…

103-535.1. Notice Prior to Discontinuance of Service. A. Before any sewerage service may be discontinued, the utility must give thirty (30) days written notice to the customer, by certified mail, verified email, or hand delivered by staff/process server unless R.103-535.A is appl…

103-536. Insufficient Reasons for Denying Service. The following shall not constitute sufficient cause for refusal of service to a present or prospective customer. A. Non-payment for service by a previous occupant of the premises to be served, unless such previous occupant shall …

103-537. Right of Access. A. The authorized agents of the utility shall have the right of access to the customer’s premises, at reasonable hours, for the purpose of inspecting the customer’s sewerage connections and for any other purpose which is proper and necessary in the condu…

103-538. Customer Complaints. A. Complaints concerning the charges, practices, facilities, or service of the utility shall be investigated promptly and thoroughly. The utility shall keep such records of customer complaints as will enable it and ORS to review and analyze the utili…

103-539. Tariff’s Rules and Regulations. A copy of the utility’s tariffs as filed with this commission and provided to the ORS will be on file in the local business offices of the utility and shall be available for public inspection. HISTORY: Amended by State Register Volume 31, …

103-54. Changes in Rates and Classification. No change in express rates or classification shall be made until thirty (30) days’ notice of such change has been filed or posted at all express offices or agencies in this State, and not until thirty (30) days’ notice has been given t…

103-540. System Which Utility Must Maintain. Each utility, unless specifically relieved in any case by the commission from such obligation, shall operate and maintain in safe, efficient and proper conditions of all of its facilities and equipment used in connection with the servi…

103-541. Contracts. No utility shall execute or enter into any agreement or contract with any person, firm, partnership, or corporation or any agency of the Federal, State or local government which would impact, pertain to, or effect said utility’s fitness, willingness, or abilit…

103-550. Good Engineering Practice. The sewerage plant of the utility shall be constructed, installed, maintained and operated in accordance with accepted good engineering practice to assure, as far as reasonably possible, continuity of service, uniformity in the quality of servi…

103-552. Acceptable Standards. Unless otherwise specified by the commission, each utility shall use the guidelines of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control as minimum standards of good engineer- ing practices. HISTORY: Amended by SCSR 48-5 Doc. No. 518…

103-553. Adequacy of Sewerage Plant. The capacity of the utility’s plant for the collection, transmission, treatment and disposal of sewage, sewage effluent and other removed substances must be sufficiently large to meet all normal demands for service and provide a reasonable res…

103-554. Inspection of Sewerage Plant. Each utility must adopt a program of regular inspection of its sewerage plant in order to determine the necessity for replacement and repair. The frequency of the various inspections shall be based on the utility’s experience and accepted go…

103-556. Engineering Analysis. A. The ORS may survey anticipated extensions of sewer lines and the utility will assist in such survey and provide all pertinent data necessary to determine the cost and feasibility of extending such lines. B. The utility shall provide the ORS acces…

103-560. Utility Inspection and Test. A. Each utility shall adopt a program of periodic tests, inspections, and preventive maintenance designed to achieve and maintain efficient operation of its system and the rendition of safe, adequate and continuous service. B. Each utility sh…

103-562. Testing Facilities. Each utility shall make such tests as are prescribed under these rules with such frequency and in such manner and at such places as is herewith provided or as requested by ORS or as may be approved or ordered by the commission. HISTORY: Amended by Sta…

103-563. Trouble Reports. A. Each utility shall provide for the receipt of customer trouble reports at all hours and make a full and prompt investigation of all complaints. Each utility shall maintain an accurate record of trouble reports made by its customers. This record shall …

103-564. Maintenance of Plant and Equipment. A. Each sewerage utility shall adopt and pursue a maintenance program aimed at achieving and maintaining efficient operation of its system so as to permit the rendering of safe, adequate and continuous service at all times. B. Maintena…

103-570. Quality of Service. A. Each utility shall provide sewerage service insofar as practicable free from objectionable odors. Each utility must have a permit as required by the health laws of the State of South Carolina, and shall comply with all laws and regulations of State…

103-580. Acceptable Standards. As criteria of accepted good safety practice the commission will use the applicable provisions of the standards referred to in 103-551. HISTORY: Amended by State Register Volume 31, Issue No. 5, eff May 25, 2007.

103-581. Protective Measures. A. Each utility shall exercise reasonable care to reduce the hazards to which its employees, its customers, and the general public may be subjected. B. The utility shall give reasonable assistance to the ORS in the investigation of the causes of acci…

103-582. Safety Program. Each utility shall devise and implement a safety program, adapted to the size and type of its operations. At a minimum, the safety program should: (a) Require the employees to use suitable tools and equipment in order that they may perform their work in a…

103-6. Notice to be Posted. All railroad companies, operating in South Carolina as common carriers, shall be required to have printed in large type and kept posted in a conspicuous place in each waiting room at their depots in South Carolina, the following notice: NOTICE All rail…

103-600. Authorization of Rules. A. Section 58-9-810 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, provides: ‘‘The commission may make such rules and regulations not inconsistent with law or statute as may be proper in the exercise of its powers or for the performance of its dutie…

103-601. Application of Rules. 1. Jurisdiction. These rules and regulations shall apply to any person, firm, partnership, coopera- tive or corporation, which is now or may hereafter become engaged as a telephone utility in the business of furnishing communications service to any …

103-602. Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in these rules and regulations, shall have the meaning indicated below. 103-602.1. Access Line. The circuit between a subscriber’s standard interface located on the subscriber’s premises and the central office. 103-60…

103-603. Authorization for Rates and Charges. A. No schedules of rates or tariffs involving rates under the jurisdiction of the commission shall be changed until after proposed change has been approved by the commission, unless they are exempt from such approval by statute, order…

103-604. Territory and Certificated Area. Each telephone utility shall provide regulated service only within the areas authorized by the commission, unless exempt by commission action, order or statute. HISTORY: Amended by State Register Volume 31, Issue No. 4, eff April 27, 2007…

103-605. Telephone Utility Rules and Regulations. Each telephone utility shall adopt such rules, regulations, operating procedures, policies and instructions as may be necessary to govern all aspects of telephone service to its customers so long as those rules and regulations, op…

103-606. Service Offerings. Each telephone utility is authorized to offer such types, class, grades, classification and forms of service as it may deem necessary. HISTORY: Amended by State Register Volume 31, Issue No. 4, eff April 27, 2007.

103-607. Bonds or Other Security Mechanisms. This regulation applies to telephone utilities who provide retail residential local exchange services and who individually or together with their affiliates, have not invested at least five million dollars in telecommunications facilit…

103-610. Location of Records and Reports. All records required by these rules or necessary for the administration thereof, shall be kept within the State, unless otherwise authorized by the commission. These records shall be available for examination by the ORS, or its authorized…

103-611. Retention of Records. Retention of records shall be as specified in the Federal Communications Commission’s Rules and Regulations, Part 42, unless otherwise directed by the commission. Further, the telephone utility shall maintain sufficient records necessary to verify a…

103-612. Data to Be Filed with the Commission and Provided to the ORS. The telephone utility shall file the following documents and information: 1. Annual Report. Each telephone utility operating in the State shall file an annual report with the commission and provide a copy to t…

103-614. Interruption of Service. Each telephone utility shall keep a record of any condition resulting in any interruption of service affecting its entire system or major division of a telephone exchange, including a statement of the time, duration, cause of any such interruptio…

103-615. Accidents. Each telephone utility shall maintain adequate and accurate records of each accident happening in connection with the operation of its property, facilities, or service wherein any person shall have been killed or whereby any serious property damage shall have …

103-616. Complaints Received from the ORS. Each telephone utility shall keep a record of all complaints received from the ORS. This record shall show the name and address of the complainant, the date, the nature of the complaint, and the adjustment or disposal thereof. HISTORY: A…

103-617. Tests. Each telephone utility shall keep a record of all tests procedures which are performed as a result of these rules, unless otherwise directed by the commission. HISTORY: Amended by State Register Volume 31, Issue No. 4, eff April 27, 2007.

103-618. Service Reports. Each telephone utility shall provide the following service reports to the ORS on a quarterly basis within thirty (30) days of the end of each calendar quarter. A. Trouble reports per hundred access lines: The report shall contain the total number of actu…

103-619. Held Applications/Availability of Service. The following information shall be provided to the ORS on a quarterly basis within thirty (30) days of the end of each calendar quarter. Reported information which indicates that the commission’s specified objectives have not be…

103-620. Customer Information. Each telephone utility shall: a. Maintain up-to-date maps, plans, or records of its entire system, with other information as may be necessary to enable the telephone utility to advise prospective customers, and others entitled to the information, as…

103-621. Customer Deposits. A. Each telephone utility may require from any customer or from any prospective customer, a deposit intended to guarantee payment of bills for regulated service, if any of the following conditions exist: 1. The customer has had two 30-day arrearages in…

103-621.1. Deposit Receipt. Each utility shall maintain records of each deposit it receives from a customer and shall provide means whereby a customer may establish a claim regarding his deposit.

103-621.2. Amount of Deposit. A. For a new customer, a maximum deposit may be required up to an amount equal to an estimated two (2) months (60 days) total bill (including toll and taxes). For an existing customer, a maximum deposit may be required up to an amount equal to the to…

103-621.3. Interest on Deposits. A. Simple interest on deposits at the rate not less than that as prescribed by the commission shall be paid by the telephone utility to each customer required to make such deposit for the time it is held by the telephone utility. B. The interest s…

103-621.4. Deposit Records. Each telephone utility shall keep records to show: a. The name and address of each depositor. b. The amount and date of the deposit. c. The last transaction concerning the deposits. d. The reasons why deposit retained after two year retention period. (…

103-621.5. Deposit Retention. Deposits shall be refunded completely with interest after two years unless the customer has had two 30-day arrearages in the past 24 months, or has had service denied or interrupted for non- payment of bills, or has been sent more than two late payme…