Assembly Bill No. 257-Committee on Government Affairs
March 12, 1997
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Referred to Committee on Government Affairs
SUMMARY--Authorizes public utility to recover costs of promotional advertising. (BDR 58-1286)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: No.
EXPLANATION - Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to public utilities; authorizing a public utility to recover the costs of promotional advertising; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1 NRS 704.110 is hereby amended to read as follows:
704.110 Except as otherwise provided in NRS 704.075 or as otherwise provided by the commission pursuant to NRS 704.095 or 704.097:
1. Whenever there is filed with the commission any schedule stating a new or revised individual or joint rate, fare or charge, or any new or revised individual or joint regulation or practice affecting any rate, fare or charge, or any schedule resulting in a discontinuance, modification or restriction of service, the commission may, upon complaint or upon its own motion without complaint, at once, without answer or formal pleading by the interested utility, investigate or, upon reasonable notice, conduct a hearing concerning the propriety of the rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, discontinuance, modification, restriction or practice.
2. Pending the investigation or hearing and the decision thereon, the commission, upon delivering to the utility affected thereby a statement in writing of its reasons for the suspension, may suspend the operation of the schedule and defer the use of the rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, discontinuance, modification, restriction or practice, but not for more than 150 days beyond the time when the rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, discontinuance, modification, restriction or practice would otherwise go into effect.
3. Whenever there is filed with the commission any schedule stating an increased individual or joint rate, fare or charge for service or equipment, the public utility shall submit with its application a statement showing the recorded results of revenues, expenses, investments and costs of capital for its most recent 12 months for which data were available when the application was prepared. During any hearing concerning the increased rates, fares or charges determined by the commission to be necessary, the commission shall consider evidence in support of the increased rates, fares or charges based upon actual recorded results of operations for the same 12 months, adjusted for increased revenues, any increased investment in facilities, increased expenses for depreciation, increased expenses for promotional advertising, certain other operating expenses as approved by the commission and changes in the costs of securities which are known and are measurable with reasonable accuracy at the time of filing and which will become effective within 6 months after the last month of those 12 months, but no new rates, fares or charges may be placed into effect until the changes have been experienced and certified by the utility to the commission. The commission shall also consider evidence supporting expenses for depreciation, calculated on an annual basis, applicable to major components of the public utility's plant placed into service during the recorded test period or the period for certification as set forth in the application. Adjustments to revenues, operating expenses and costs of securities must be calculated on an annual basis. Within 90 days after the filing with the commission of the certification required in this subsection, or before the expiration of any period of suspension ordered pursuant to subsection 2, whichever time is longer, the commission shall make such order in reference to those rates, fares or charges as is required by this chapter.
4. After full investigation or hearing, whether completed before or after the date upon which the rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, discontinuance, modification, restriction or practice is to go into effect, the commission may make such order in reference to the rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, discontinuance, modification, restriction or practice as would be proper in a proceeding initiated after the rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, discontinuance, modification, restriction or practice has become effective.
5. Whenever an application is filed by a public utility for an increase in any rate, fare or charge based upon increased costs in the purchase of fuel or power, and the public utility has elected to use deferred accounting for costs of the purchase of fuel or power in accordance with the commission's regulations, the commission, by appropriate order after a public hearing, shall allow the public utility to clear the deferred account not more often than every 6 months by refunding any credit balance or recovering any debit balance over a period not to exceed 1 year as determined by the commission. The commission shall not allow a recovery of a debit balance or any portion thereof in an amount which would result in a rate of return in excess of the rate of return most recently granted the public utility.
6. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 7 or in NRS 707.350, whenever a general rate application for an increased rate, fare or charge for, or classification, regulation, discontinuance, modification, restriction or practice involving service or equipment has been filed with the commission, a public utility shall not submit another general rate application until all pending general rate applications for increases in rates submitted by that public utility have been decided unless, after application and hearing, the commission determines that a substantial financial emergency would exist if the other application is not permitted to be submitted sooner.
7. A public utility may not file an application to recover the increased cost of purchased fuel, purchased power, or natural gas purchased for resale more often than once every 30 days.
8. A utility facility identified in a 3-year plan submitted pursuant to NRS 704.741 or 704.755 and accepted by the commission for acquisition or construction pursuant to NRS 704.751 or 704.755 and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto shall be deemed to be a prudent investment. The utility may recover all just and reasonable costs of planning and constructing such a facility. For the purposes of this subsection, "utility facility" has the meaning ascribed to it in subsections 1, 2 and 3 of NRS 704.860.