Title 37, Public Utilities

Offices, equipment and facilities. The principal office of the commission shall be at the state capitol, and the commission shall be provided by the state with such offices, equipment and facilities as may be necessary for the performance of its duties.

Assessment regarding telecommunications, gas, electric, water and pipeline service; disposition of revenue. Monies derived from an assessment of persons subject to assessment under W.S. 37-2-107, except motor carriers as defined in W.S. 31-18-101(a)(x), shall be credited to the p…

Assessment regarding telecommunications, gas, electric, water and pipeline service; assessment generally. (a) On or before the first day of July of each year the director of revenue shall, by requiring special reports or otherwise, determine the total aggregate amount of the gros…

Uniform assessment regarding telecommunications, gas, electric, water and pipeline service; exempt persons. Any person subject to the provisions of this act shall be exempt from any payments or assessments to be made hereunder for the fiscal budget year following the calendar yea…

Uniform assessment regarding telecommunications, gas, electric, water and pipeline service; penalty for violations. Any person who violates or fails to comply with any provision of this act, or fails, omits, neglects, or refuses to observe or comply with any requirement, directio…

Secretary and other employees. (a) The commission is authorized to employ a secretary and such other persons as may be necessary to enable it to perform the duties imposed upon it by this act and to designate the duties of such employees. (b) Repealed By Laws 2003, Ch. 172, § 2.

Attorney general to be legal adviser; duties; representation by commission attorneys. The attorney general shall be the legal adviser of the commission and it shall be his duty to represent the commission in all proceedings in any court, before any other agency or before any depa…

Powers. The commission shall have general and exclusive power to regulate and supervise every public utility within the state in accordance with the provisions of this act.

Arbitration of controversies. Whenever any Wyoming public utility has a controversy with any other person and all the parties to such controversy agree in writing to submit such controversy to the commission as arbitrators, the commission may act as such arbitrators, and after du…

Authority to confer with other state and federal commissions; expenses. (a) The commission may confer in person, by attending conventions or otherwise, with the members of railroad or other public utility commissions of other states and with the surface transportation board on an…

Examination of records of intrastate business of utilities; authority generally. The commission, or upon order of the commission, any commissioner, or any person or persons employed by the commission, shall upon demand have the right, insofar as applies to intrastate business, to…

Ordering production of records. The commission, by order, may require any public utility or any officer or agent thereof to produce within the state at such time and place as it may designate, any accounts, records, memoranda, books or papers kept in any office or place without o…

Commission may initiate investigation. Whenever the commission shall believe that an investigation of any act or omission to act, accomplished or proposed, or an investigation of any rate, service, facility or service regulation of any public utility should be made in order to se…

Who may make complaint. Any public utility, person, municipality or the attorney general may complain to the commission of anything, actual or proposed, done or omitted to be done in violation of W.S. 37-1 through 37- 64 [§§ 37-1-101 through 37-3-114] or W.S. 37-260 through 37-27…

Matters to be considered and determined in investigation. In conducting any investigation pursuant to the provisions of this act the commission may investigate, consider and determine such matters as the cost or value, or both, of the property and business of any public utility, …

Order in case of violation; public hearing required for change in rate or service. Whenever, after investigation in accordance with the provisions of this act, the commission shall be of the opinion that any provisions or requirements of this act, or any order of the commission i…

When rate to be changed by commission; nontraditional rate making. If upon hearing and investigation, any rate shall be found by the commission to be inadequate or unremunerative, or to be unjust, or unreasonable, or unjustly discriminatory, or unduly preferential or otherwise in…

Matters considered in fixing rates; order changing services or facilities; qualifying facilities contracts. (a) In determining what are just and reasonable rates the commission may take into consideration availability and reliability of service, depreciation of plant, technologic…

Order apportioning expenses between joint public utilities. Whenever any order of the commission involves expenditures of any sum or sums by public utilities rendering any joint service or services, and the public utilities affected thereby shall fail to agree upon the division o…

Records open to inspection by public; exceptions. All reports, records and accounts in the possession of the commission shall be open to inspection by the public at all times except as otherwise provided in this act or as ordered by the commission and under rules prescribed by th…

Collection and disposition of fees. (a) The public service commission is hereby authorized and empowered in the conduct of business coming before it to collect in advance the following fees: (i) For filing application for permit, five dollars ($5.00) and for certificate of conven…

Report to the governor. The commission shall, as required by W.S. 9-2-1014, report to the governor, including in such detail as the commission may deem expedient all proceedings and investigations of the commission during such period and shall contain abstracts of the reports of …

Implied and incidental powers; requiring information from local utilities. In addition to the powers herein specifically granted, the commission shall have such implied or incidental powers as may be necessary and proper, effectually to carry out, perform and execute all the powe…

Civil penalty for violation of federal Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011; generally. Where the commission has exercised authority under the provisions of the federal Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty and Job Creation Act of 2011, 49 U.S.C. § …

Civil penalty for violation of federal Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968; compromise and recovery thereof. (a) Such civil penalty may be compromised by the commission, and such determination shall be in the nature of a final order appealable by the person alleged to have co…

Right of review. A person adversely affected or aggrieved by any action, findings, conclusions or decision of the public service commission is entitled to judicial review thereof according to the procedures established by the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act and the Wyoming R…

Supplemental safety jurisdiction of commission. (a) The commission shall have regulatory safety jurisdiction over any "intrastate gas pipeline facility" as defined under the Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement, and Safety Act of 2006, 49 U.S.C. § 60101, et seq., as amend…

Determination of telephone prefixes; report to national do-not-call list. The public service commission may determine which prefixes or telephone numbers are used in Wyoming primarily for cellular telephone service by determining prefixes or telephone numbers or by utilizing info…

Exemption for purchase of coal fired generation facilities that would otherwise have been retired; public utility purchase requirements; conditions for exemption. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the provisions of this chapter and chapters 1 and 3 of this title s…

Electric generation facility closures; presumption; commission review. (a) As used in this section: (i) "Dispatchable" means as defined in W.S. 37-18- 101(a)(ii) and includes dispatchability; (ii) "Retirement" or "retired" means the closure of or the complete and permanent cessat…

Review of integrated resource plan action plans. (a) The commission shall engage in long-range planning regarding public utility regulatory policy in order to facilitate the well-planned development and conservation of utility resources. Pursuant to this subsection, the commissio…

Energy resource procurement. (a) An affected electrical utility shall comply with this section to acquire or construct a significant energy resource after July 1, 2024, provided that this section shall not apply to a significant energy resource for which the affected electrical u…

Fixing time and place of public hearing; notice and conduct. Whenever the commission shall determine to conduct an investigation of any matter provided for in W.S. 37-1-101 through 37-3-114 and 37-12-201 through 37-12-213, either with or without complaint as in such chapter provi…

Service of notice. Service on any person of any notice or order or other matter under the provisions of this act may be made by mailing such notice, or order or other matter, or a certified copy thereof, in a registered letter requiring receipt, directed to the public utility at …

Separate hearings; hearings to be open; representation by attorney; reports, investigations. (a) When complaint is made of more than one matter or thing the commission may order separate hearings thereon and may hear and determine the several matters complained of separately and …

Rules for proceedings and investigations. The commission may from time to time make, publish or amend rules for the order and regulation of all proceedings and investigations which under the provisions of this act it is authorized to conduct.

Certificate of convenience and necessity; hearings. (a) Except as provided in this subsection, no public utility shall begin construction or complete the purchase of a line or plant, or of any extension of a line or material addition to a plant, without having first obtained from…

Nonsitus certificate of public convenience and necessity. (a) Subject to subsection (b) of this section and unless otherwise waived by the commission, no public utility shall begin construction or complete the purchase of a line or plant, or of any extension of a line or material…

Powers of commission; court to compel obedience to lawful orders. The commission, commissioner or commission employee acting in the capacity of a hearing officer for the purpose mentioned in W.S. 37-1-101 through 37-3-114, and 37-12-201 through 37-12-213, may administer oaths, ce…

Attendance of witnesses, production of books. Any party to a proceeding before the commission with the consent of the commission shall have process to enforce the attendance of witnesses, and the production of books, papers, maps, contracts, reports and records of every descripti…

Witness fees. Witnesses who are summoned before the commission shall be paid the same fees and mileage that are paid to witnesses in the district courts of this state. Witnesses whose depositions are taken pursuant to the provisions of this act and the magistrate or officer takin…

Plea of self-incrimination unavailable; use of testimony in criminal prosecution prohibited; exception. No person shall be excused from testifying or from producing books, accounts and papers in any investigation or inquiry by or hearing before the commission or any commissioner,…

Depositions; rules as to hearings and investigations. The commission, or with the consent of the commission, any party to the proceedings before the commission, may, in any investigation, cause the depositions of witnesses residing within or without the state to be taken in the m…

Minutes of hearings; parties entitled to transcripts. The minutes of all hearings had before or by the commission shall be kept, and shall include the names of all persons who appear and witnesses who are sworn, with the identification of any documentary evidence produced. Partie…

Orders to be in writing; opinions to be published. Every order of the commission shall be in writing and in cases of importance may be accompanied by an opinion setting forth in brief the facts on which the commission has based its order. The commission shall provide for the publ…

Orders effective within 30 days; notice to parties; amendment or annulment of order. Unless a different time is prescribed by the commission, every order of the commission shall be effective within thirty (30) days after the service thereof. Straightway after the entry of record …