Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73not60

§825 Accounts and Records

Title 16 › Chapter 12— FEDERAL REGULATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF POWER › Subchapter III— LICENSEES AND PUBLIC UTILITIES; PROCEDURAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS › § 825

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Regulated companies must make and keep the accounts and records the Commission says are needed to run this law. That includes records about making, moving, delivering, or selling electricity, related services, and the money received and spent. The Commission can set account systems, put companies into classes, and, after notice and a hearing, order how particular expenses or receipts are recorded. If the Commission questions an entry, the person who made or approved it must prove it is correct. The Commission can suspend a charge or credit until it gets acceptable proof. State record requirements still apply. The Commission may inspect and copy these books and papers. Companies must give requested information within a reasonable time, such as maps, contracts, or engineer reports, and must let Commission agents access their property and records when asked. Commission staff must keep examination information secret unless the Commission or a court allows disclosure. The Commission can also examine the books of any person or company that controls a regulated company when those books relate to the regulated business.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §825

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Every licensee and public utility shall make, keep, and preserve for such periods, such accounts, records of cost-accounting procedures, correspondence, memoranda, papers, books, and other records as the Commission may by rules and regulations prescribe as necessary or appropriate for purposes of the administration of this chapter, including accounts, records, and memoranda of the generation, transmission, distribution, delivery, or sale of electric energy, the furnishing of services or facilities in connection therewith, and receipts and expenditures with respect to any of the foregoing: Provided, however, That nothing in this chapter shall relieve any public utility from keeping any accounts, memoranda, or records which such public utility may be required to keep by or under authority of the laws of any State. The Commission may prescribe a system of accounts to be kept by licensees and public utilities and may classify such licensees and public utilities and prescribe a system of accounts for each class. The Commission, after notice and opportunity for hearing, may determine by order the accounts in which particular outlays and receipts shall be entered, charged, or credited. The burden of proof to justify every accounting entry questioned by the Commission shall be on the person making, authorizing, or requiring such entry, and the Commission may suspend a charge or credit pending submission of satisfactory proof in support thereof.

(b)The Commission shall at all times have access to and the right to inspect and examine all accounts, records, and memoranda of licensees and public utilities, and it shall be the duty of such licensees and public utilities to furnish to the Commission, within such reasonable time as the Commission may order, any information with respect thereto which the Commission may by order require, including copies of maps, contracts, reports of engineers, and other data, records, and papers, and to grant to all agents of the Commission free access to its property and its accounts, records, and memoranda when requested so to do. No member, officer, or employee of the Commission shall divulge any fact or information which may come to his knowledge during the course of examination of books or other accounts, as hereinbefore provided, except insofar as he may be directed by the Commission or by a court.

(c)The books, accounts, memoranda, and records of any person who controls, directly or indirectly, a licensee or public utility subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission, and of any other company controlled by such person, insofar as they relate to transactions with or the business of such licensee or public utility, shall be subject to examination on the order of the Commission.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 825

Title 16 — Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60