65-5-101 - Power to fix rates of public utilities.
65-5-101. Power to fix rates of public utilities.
(a) The Tennessee regulatory authority has the power after hearing upon notice, by order in writing, to fix just and reasonable individual rates, joint rates, tolls, fares, charges or schedules thereof, as well as commutation, mileage, and other special rates which shall be imposed, observed, and followed thereafter by any public utility as defined in § 65-4-101, whenever the authority shall determine any existing individual rate, joint rate, toll, fare, charge, or schedule thereof or commutation, mileage, or other special rates to be unjust, unreasonable, excessive, insufficient, or unjustly discriminatory or preferential, howsoever the same may have heretofore been fixed or established. In fixing such rates, joint rates, tolls, fares, charges or schedules, or commutation, mileage or other special rates, the authority shall take into account the safety, adequacy and efficiency or lack thereof of the service or services furnished by the public utility.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of state law, special rates and terms negotiated between public utilities that are telecommunications providers and business customers shall not constitute price discrimination. Such rates and terms shall be presumed valid. The presumption of validity of such special rates and terms shall not be set aside except by complaint or by action of the Tennessee regulatory authority directors, which Tennessee regulatory authority action or complaint is supported by substantial evidence showing that such rates and terms violate applicable legal requirements other than the prohibition against price discrimination. Records of such special rates and terms shall be retained by the telecommunications provider for the length of time that such rates and terms apply, but shall not be filed with the authority. Such rates shall be effective upon execution by the parties.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the tariffs of incumbent local exchange telephone companies establishing rates or terms, or both, for telecommunications services shall be filed with the authority and shall be effective twenty-one (21) days after filing, subject to the following requirements:
(1) Tariffs establishing rates or terms that are valid only for one hundred eighty (180) days or less shall be effective one (1) business day after filing;
(2) Tariffs may be revoked by the authority after notice and a hearing;
(3) Tariffs may be suspended pending such hearing on a showing by a complaining party that:
(A) The complaining party has filed a complaint before the authority alleging with particularity that the tariff violates a specific law;
(B) The complaining party would be injured as a result of the tariff and has specifically alleged how it would be so injured; and
(C) (i) The complaining party has a substantial likelihood of prevailing on the merits of its complaint;
(ii) The authority may suspend a tariff pending a hearing, on its own motion, upon finding such suspension to be in the public interest. The standard established herein for suspension of tariffs shall apply at all times including the twenty-one (21) or one (1) day period between filing and effectiveness;
(iii) The standard established herein for suspension of tariffs shall not be applicable in any way to the determination by the authority of whether to convene a contested case to consider revocation of a tariff. The authority may choose to convene a contested case, or decline to convene a contested case, in its own discretion, to promote the public interest. The standard established in this subsection (c) for suspension of tariffs shall not be applicable in any way to any decision by the authority regarding revocation of a tariff;
(4) Nothing in this subsection (c) shall alter the existing power of the authority to review those rate increases that are governed by price regulation or rate of return; and
(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection (c), the authority may, in its discretion, shorten the twenty-one (21) day period between filing and effectiveness for good cause shown.
(d) In fixing rates, joint rates, tolls, fares, charges, or schedules for service, no privately owned public utility that supplies water to municipal governments is allowed to charge rates, joint rates, tolls, fares, charges, or schedules of any kind whatsoever in connection with fire hydrant service to a municipal government providing fire protection services within the service area. The utility, however, may recover its costs of providing fire hydrant service by charging rates, joint rates, tolls, fares, charges or schedules to its non-municipal government customers within the service area as approved by the Tennessee regulatory authority. New rates shall take effect as prescribed by the Tennessee regulatory authority in a rate proceeding. Such rate proceeding shall be initiated by the utility or the Tennessee regulatory authority itself. Such rate proceeding shall be commenced within 120 days after May 18, 2004. The utility shall continue to collect its current authorized rates from a municipality until new rates are placed into effect by the Tennessee regulatory authority. The municipal government will reimburse the state of Tennessee for any consequent increase in expenditures to the state of Tennessee, up to fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), which results directly from this subsection (d).
[Acts 1919, ch. 49, § 4; Shan. Supp., § 3059a87; Code 1932, § 5450; Acts 1974, ch. 470, § 1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 65-518; Acts 1995, ch. 305, § 23; 2003, ch. 41, § 1; T.C.A. § 65-5-201; Acts 2004, ch. 545, § 1; 2004, ch. 716, § 1; 2005, ch. 173, § 1.]