Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-102

§812 Public-service Licensee; Regulations by State or by Commission as to Service, Rates, Charges, Etc.

Title 16 › CHAPTER 12 — FEDERAL REGULATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF POWER › SUBCHAPTER I — REGULATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF WATER POWER AND RESOURCES › § 812

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

To keep their license, public-service power companies and anyone who builds, moves, or sells power for public use must follow the state's reasonable rules about the service they give, the rates and charges customers pay, and the kinds and amounts of financial securities they issue. These rules are those made by the state agency where the power is used or billed. If a State has not set up an agency to regulate those things, the federal commission can step in to regulate them after a complaint or on its own. The federal commission stops regulating any specific issue as soon as the State creates its own agency for that issue.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §812

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

As a condition of the license, every licensee under this chapter which is a public-service corporation, or a person, association, or corporation owning or operating any project and developing, transmitting, or distributing power for sale or use in public service, shall abide by such reasonable regulation of the services to be rendered to customers or consumers of power, and of rates and charges of payment therefor, as may from time to time be prescribed by any duly constituted agency of the State in which the service is rendered or the rate charged. That in case of the development, transmission, or distribution, or use in public service of power by any licensee under this chapter or by its customer engaged in public service within a State which has not authorized and empowered a commission or other agency or agencies within said State to regulate and control the services to be rendered by such licensee or by its customer engaged in public service, or the rates and charges of payment therefor, or the amount or character of securities to be issued by any of said parties, it is agreed as a condition of such license that jurisdiction is conferred upon the commission, upon complaint of any person aggrieved or upon its own initiative, to exercise such regulation and control until such time as the State shall have provided a commission or other authority for such regulation and control: Provided, That the jurisdiction of the commission shall cease and determine as to each specific matter of regulation and control prescribed in this section as soon as the State shall have provided a commission or other authority for the regulation and control of that specific matter.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 812

Title 16, Conservation

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102