Title 58, Public Utilities, Services and Carriers

(A) To the extent necessary to carry out regulatory staff responsibilities, the executive director is authorized to employ expert witnesses and other professional expertise as the executive director may consider necessary to assist the regulatory staff in its participation in com…

The regulatory staff must make and publish annual reports to the General Assembly on its activities in the interest of the using and consuming public.

Rules governing the internal administration and operations of the Office of the Regulatory Staff must be promulgated by the office and subject to review by the General Assembly as are rules of procedure promulgated by the Supreme Court under Article V of the Constitution. After s…

The executive director must not interview or seek employment with a public utility while serving as executive director. The executive director may not represent or appear on behalf of a public utility in any proceeding before the commission in any matter within the commission's j…

(A) To further advance and expand upon Executive Order 2023-18 which established the PowerSC Energy Resources and Economic Development Interagency Working Group, the Office of Regulatory Staff, in consultation with a stakeholder group that includes representatives of consumer, en…

(A)(1) The Office of Regulatory Staff must conduct a study to evaluate the potential costs and benefits of the various administrator models for energy efficiency programs and other demand-side management programs funded by, or potentially funded by, electrical utilities in this S…

(A) The Office of Regulatory Staff shall consist of the executive director, transportation inspectors, pipeline safety inspectors, railway safety inspectors, and other professional, administrative, technical, and clerical personnel as may be necessary in order for the regulatory …

(A) The Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff must be an attorney qualified to practice in all courts of this State with a minimum of eight years' practice experience and must be appointed pursuant to the procedure set forth in Section 58-3-530(1)(b). (B) The revie…

(A) Unless otherwise provided by law, no person may serve as the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff if the commission regulates any business with which that person is associated. (B) If the commission regulates a business with which an employee of the Office of …

As used in this chapter: (1) "Business with which he is associated" means a business of which the person or a member of his immediate family is a director, an officer, owner, employee, a compensated agent, or holder of stock. (2) "Immediate family" means an individual who is: (a)…

(A) It is the duty and responsibility of the regulatory staff to: (1) when considered necessary by the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff and in the public interest, review, investigate, and make appropriate recommendations to the commission with respect to the …

(A) Regulatory staff shall have the following duties and responsibilities concerning the Public Service Authority to: (1) when considered necessary by the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff, review, investigate, and make appropriate recommendations to the approp…

(A) The regulatory staff, in accomplishing its responsibilities under Section 58-4-50 and Section 58-4-51, may require the production of books, records, and other information to be produced at the regulatory staff's office, that, upon request of the regulatory staff, must be subm…

(A) The Office of Regulatory Staff must be staffed and equipped to perform the functions described in Section 58-4-50. The expenses of the office must be paid as set forth in Section 58-3-100 and this section. The executive director, within established budgetary limits and as all…

The executive director representing the regulatory staff is considered to have an interest sufficient to maintain actions for judicial review from commission orders or decisions and may, as of right and in a manner prescribed by law, intervene or otherwise participate in any civi…

Except as required by Section 58-4-50, decisions relating to whether, when, or how to initiate, continue, participate, or intervene in proceedings pursuant to Section 58-4-50 are in the sole discretion of the executive director, except as modified by order of a court of competent…

When used in Articles 1, 3, and 5 of this chapter: (1) The term "commission" means the Public Service Commission. (2) The term "corporation" includes joint stock companies, corporations, associations and commissions and boards, whether public or private, having any powers or priv…

(a) Each gas utility that engages in the transportation of gas or which owns or operates pipeline facilities not subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Power Commission under the Natural Gas Act shall file with the Office of Regulatory Staff a plan for inspection and maintena…

(a) Each gas utility which engages in the transportation of gas or which owns or operates pipeline facilities shall establish and maintain such records, make such reports, and provide such information as the Office of Regulatory Staff may reasonably require to enable it to determ…

Each gas utility which engages in the transportation of gas or which owns or operates pipeline facilities shall: (a) At all times after the date any applicable safety standard established under this article takes effect, comply with the requirements of such standard; and (b) File…

(a) A gas utility which violates a provision of Section 58-5-1020 or a regulation under this article is subject to a civil penalty of not more than the maximum civil penalty provided pursuant to 49 U.S.C. Section 60122 and 49 C.F.R. 190.223. (b) A civil penalty may be compromised…

(a) The court of common pleas shall have jurisdiction to restrain violations of this article (including the restraining of transportation of gas or the operation of a pipeline facility) or to enforce standards established hereunder upon petition by the Office of Regulatory Staff.…

(a) As soon as practicable after April 23, 1970, and every year thereafter, the Office of Regulatory Staff shall submit an annual certification to the Secretary of the Department of Transportation as provided for in Section 5(a) of the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 (P.L…

Nothing in this article shall be applicable to the regulation of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to the extent that this subject is regulated by Sections 39-43-10 through 39-43-180 and the regulations issued pertinent thereto.

The provisions of this article shall not be applicable to the regulation of anhydrous ammonia to the extent that this subject is regulated by Sections 39-47-10 to 39-47-70 and the regulations issued thereunder.

For purposes of this article: (1) "Licensed health care provider" means a licensed medical doctor, physician's assistant, nurse practitioner, or advanced-practice registered nurse. (2) "Special needs account customer" means the account of a residential customer: (a) when the cust…

(A) Each public utility furnishing natural gas to residential customers must establish written procedures for termination of service due to nonpayment for a special needs account customer at any time and for all residential customers during weather conditions marked by extremely …

Each public utility furnishing natural gas must consider establishing and maintaining a third-party notification program to allow a residential customer to designate a third party to be notified if the natural gas service is scheduled for termination.

Notwithstanding another provision of this article, a public utility furnishing natural gas may disconnect a customer when it is determined that a public safety emergency exists.

Nothing in the article prohibits the commission from promulgating detailed regulations governing termination of service by a public utility furnishing natural gas so long as the regulations include the termination and third-party notification protections provided by this article.

This article does not create a new private right of action or a new duty of care. This article does not diminish, increase, affect, or evidence any duty of care existing under the laws of this State prior to the effective date of this article.

Any corporation or person not engaged in business exclusively as a public utility shall be governed by the provisions of Articles 1, 3 and 5 of this chapter in respect only of the public utility owned, leased, operated or managed by it or him and not in respect to any other busin…

The Public Service Commission is hereby, to the extent granted, vested with power and jurisdiction to supervise and regulate the rates and service of every public utility in this State, together with the power, after hearing, to ascertain and fix such just and reasonable standard…

The Office of Regulatory Staff may, in its discretion, subject to approval of the commission: (a) establish a standardized system of accounts to be kept by the public utilities subject to its jurisdiction; (b) classify such public utilities and establish a standardized system of …

The books and accounts of all public utilities shall be subject to the examination of the regulatory staff at any time.

(A) Whenever a public utility desires to put into operation a new rate, toll, rental, charge, or classification or a new regulation, it shall give to the commission and the regulatory staff not less than thirty days' notice of its intention to file and shall, after the expiration…

Within ten days after the filing of any new or changed schedule by a public utility the Commission shall give general notice thereof by publication.

Applications may be made by any corporation, public or private, person, chamber of commerce or board of trade, by any civic, commercial, mercantile, traffic, agricultural, or manufacturing association or by any body politic, commission, board, or municipal corporation by petition…

Whenever the Commission shall find, after hearing, that the rates, fares, tolls, rentals, charges or classifications or any of them, however or whensoever they shall have theretofore been fixed or established, demanded, observed, charged or collected by any public utility for any…

Except as provided in Article 23, Chapter 9 of Title 58, nothing contained in Articles 1, 3, and 5 of this chapter shall give the commission or the regulatory staff any power to regulate or interfere with public utilities owned or operated by or on behalf of any municipality or r…

In connection with a determination under Section 58-5-290 the commission may consider all facts which in its judgment have a bearing upon a proper determination of the question, although not set forth in the application and not within the allegations contained therein.

The commission shall cause a record to be kept of all proceedings and all testimony shall be taken down by a competent stenographer, designated by the commission, and a copy or transcript thereof, verified by the oath of such stenographer, shall be furnished on terms fixed by the…

The commission may, at any time, upon notice and opportunity to the public utility affected and the regulatory staff to be heard, rescind, alter, or amend any order or decision made by it. Any order rescinding, altering, or amending a prior order or decision shall, when served up…

Within twenty days after an order or decision is made by the commission, any party to the action or proceeding may apply for a rehearing as to any matter determined in the action or proceeding and specified in the application for rehearing and a rehearing must be granted if in th…

A decision of the commission may be reviewed by the Supreme Court or court of appeals as provided by statute and the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules upon questions of both law and fact, as provided pursuant to this section. The commission must not be a party to the action. N…

Public utilities and pipeline companies engaged in the extraction, processing, distribution, or sale of landfill gas (LFG) derived from sanitary landfills, which provide this gas to no more than twenty customers from any single landfill, are exempt from regulation by the commissi…