NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1975 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 243

SENATE BILL 133

 

 

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 62 OF THE GENERAL STATUTES TO ENLARGE THE NORTH CAROLINA UTILITIES COMMISSION TO ALLOW THE COMMISSION TO SIT IN PANELS OF THREE ' TO ALLOW THE PANELS TO MAKE VALID AND BINDING DECISIONS AND TO REQUIRE A SEPARATE HEARING ON RATE INCREASES BASED SOLELY UPON FUEL COSTS.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1  This act shall not terminate the pre-existing commission or appointments thereto, or any certificates, permits, orders, rules or regulations issued by it or any other action taken by it, unless and until revoked by it, nor affect in any manner the existing franchise, territories, tariffs, rates, contracts, service regulations and other obligations and rights of public utilities, unless and until altered or modified by or in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 62 of the General Statutes.

Sec. 2.  G.S. 62-3 is hereby amended by adding to it a subsection (30) to read as follows:

"(30)    'Panel' means a panel of three commissioners, a division of the Utilities Commission authorized for the purpose of carrying out certain functions of the commission."

Sec. 3.  Article 2 of Chapter 62 of the General Statutes is hereby amended by deleting the present G.S. 62-10 in its entirety and adding a new G.S. 62-10 to read as follows:

"§ 62-10.  Number, appointment and terms of commissioners; chairmen; vacancies; compensation; practice of law prohibited. — (a) The North Carolina Utilities Commission shall consist of seven commissioners who shall be appointed by the Governor subject to confirmation by the General Assembly in joint session. The names of commissioners to be appointed by the Governor shall be submitted by the Governor to the General Assembly for confirmation by the General Assembly on or before May 1 of the year in which the terms for which the appointments are to be made are to expire. Upon failure of the Governor to submit names as herein provided, the Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House jointly shall submit the names of a like number of commissioners to the General Assembly on or before May 15 of the same year for confirmation by the General Assembly. Regardless of the way in which names of commissioners are submitted, confirmation of commissioners must be accomplished prior to adjournment of the then current session of the General Assembly. This subsection shall be subject to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section.

(b)        The terms of the commissioners now serving shall expire at the conclusion of the term for which they were appointed which shall remain as before with two regular eight-year terms expiring on July 1 of each fourth year after July 1, 1965, and the fifth term expiring on July 1 of each eighth year after July 1, 1963. The terms of office of utilities commissioners thereafter shall be eight years commencing on July 1 of the year in which the predecessor terms expired, and ending on July 1 of the eighth year thereafter.

(c)        In order to increase the number of commissioners to seven, the names of two additional commissioners shall be submitted to the General Assembly on or before May 27, 1975, for confirmation by the General Assembly as provided in G.S. 62-10(a). The commissioners so appointed and confirmed shall serve new terms commencing on July 1, 1975, one of which shall be for a period of two years (with the immediate successor serving for a period of six years), and one of which shall be for a period of two years.

Thereafter, the terms of office of the additional commissioners shall be for eight years as provided in G.S. 62-10(b).

(d)        A commissioner in office shall continue to serve until his successor is duly confirmed and qualified but such holdover shall not affect the expiration date of such succeeding term.

(e)        On July 1, 1965, and every four years thereafter, one of the commissioners shall be designated by the Governor to serve as chairman of the commission for the succeeding four years and until his successor is duly confirmed and qualifies.

(f)         In case of death, incapacity, resignation or vacancy for any other reason in the office of any commissioner prior to the expiration of his term of office, the name of his successor shall be submitted by the Governor within four weeks after the vacancy arises to the General Assembly for confirmation by the General Assembly. Upon failure of the Governor to submit the name of the successor, the Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House jointly shall submit the name of a successor to the General Assembly within six weeks after the vacancy arises. Regardless of the way in which names of commissioners are submitted, confirmation of commissioners must be accomplished prior to the adjournment of the then current session of the General Assembly. If the General Assembly is not in session and the appointment is deemed urgent by the Governor, the commissioner may be appointed and serve on an interim basis pending confirmation by the General Assembly.

(g)        The salary of each commissioner shall be the same as that fixed from time to time for judges of the superior court except that the commissioner designated as chairman shall receive one thousand dollars ($1,000) additional per annum.

(h)        The prohibition of the practice of law by judges provided in G.S. 84-2 shall also apply to all of the commissioners."

Sec. 4.  Article 4 of Chapter 62 of the General Statutes is hereby amended by adding a new section to be designated G.S. 62-60.1, and to read as follows:

"§ 62-60.1.  Commission to sit in panels of three. — (a) The Utilities Commission shall sit in panels of three commissioners each unless the chairman by order shall set the proceeding for hearing by the full commission. The chairman of the commission insofar as practicable shall assign the members to panels in such fashion that each member sits a substantially equal number of times with each other member and that each member sits a substantially equal number of times on different types of proceedings. The chairman shall designate the presiding commissioner of all panels in a rotating manner.

(b)        Any order or decision made unanimously by a panel of three commissioners shall constitute the order or decision of the commission, except as otherwise provided in this Chapter; provided, however, that upon motion of any three commissioners not sitting on the panel, made within 10 days of issuance of such order or decision of the panel, with notice to parties of record, the order or decision of the panel shall thereby be stayed and the full commission shall review the order or decision of the panel and shall within 30 days of said motion either affirm or modify the order or decision of the panel or remand the matter to the panel for further proceedings; provided that the foregoing shall not limit the right of parties to seek review of such order or decision under G.S. 62-90.

(c)        In the event an order or decision of the panel of three is not made unanimously, such order or decision shall be a recommended order only subject to review by the full commission, with all commissioners eligible to participate in the final arguments and decision. Review shall take place in accordance with the provisions of G.S. 62-78 and the commission shall decide the matter in controversy and make appropriate order or decision thereon within 60 days of the date of the recommended order. If within the filing period specified by the panel no exception has been filed by a party, or if the commission within the same period has not advised the parties that it will conduct a review upon its own motion, the recommended order or decision shall become the final order or decision of the commission. Nothing in this section shall amend or repeal the provisions of G.S. 62-134.

(d)        This section shall become effective July 1, 1975, and shall not affect the utilization of or the procedures outlined for utilization of a hearing commissioner or a hearing examiner as provided for elsewhere in Chapter 62."

Sec. 5.  G.S. 62-76(b) is hereby deleted in its entirety.

Sec. 6.  G.S. 62-81(a), as the same appears in the 1974 Cumulative Supplement to Volume 2B, is hereby amended as follows:

(1)        by inserting after the words "The Commission" at the beginning of the second sentence the words "shall hear such cases as provided in G.S. 62-60.1 and"

(2)        by designating the entire paragraph as subsection "(a)".

(3)        by adding a subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b)      In matters where the total annual revenue requested or where the total annual revenue increase requested is less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), even though all or a substantial portion of the rate structure is being initially established or is under review, the chairman of the commission may refer the matter to a panel of three commissioners, or to a hearing commissioner or to a hearing examiner for hearing."

Sec. 7.  G.S. 62-82(a), as the same appears in the 1974 Cumulative Supplement to Volume 2B, is hereby amended as follows:

(1)        by deleting the words and punctuation "by the full commission," from lines 14 and 15, and substituting therefor the words and punctuation "as provided in G.S. 62-60.1".

(2)        by inserting after the word "commission" on lines 17, 18, 19, 20 and 22 the words "or panel".

Sec. 8.  G.S. 62-134 is hereby amended by adding a new subsection (e) to read as follows:

"(e)       Notwithstanding the provisions of this Article, upon application by any public utility for permission and authority to increase its rates and charges based solely upon the increased cost of fuel used in the generation or production of electric power, the commission shall suspend such proposed increase for a period not to exceed 90 days beyond the date of filing of such application to increase rates. Upon motion of the commission or application of any person having an interest in said rate, the commission shall set for hearing any request for decrease in rates or charges based solely upon a decrease in the cost of fuel. The commission shall promptly investigate applications filed pursuant to provisions of this subsection and shall hold a public hearing within 30 days of the date of the filing of the application to consider such application, and shall base its order upon the record adduced at the hearing, such record to include all pertinent information available to the commission at the time of hearing. The order responsive to an application shall be issued promptly by the commission but in no event later than 90 days from the date of filing of such application. A proceeding under this subsection shall not be considered a general rate case. All monthly fuel adjustment rate increases based solely upon the increased cost of fuel, as to each public utility, as presently approved by the commission shall fully terminate effective September 1, 1975, except that the same shall be earlier terminated as to each such public utility upon the effective date of any final order of the commission under this section; provided, however, that the termination date of September 1, 1975, shall not apply to any public utility which has filed an application under this subsection on or before July 1, 1975, and where the commission has not issued a final order by September 1, 1975."

Sec. 9.  Conforming changes. Chapter 62 of the General Statutes is hereby amended by adding the words "panel of three commissioners" for the words "division of the commission", or the words "hearing division of commission", or the words "hearing division", as such words now appear in the following sections and subsections and on the following lines:

(a)        G.S. 62-13(b), lines two and three;

(b)        G.S. 62-71(a), line two;

(c)        G.S. 62-76, section title;

(d)        G.S. 62-76(a), lines three and six;

(e)        G.S. 62-77, section title;

(f)         G.S. 62-77, lines one and two;

(g)        G.S. 62-78(a), line three;

(h)        G.S. 62-78(b), line one;

(i)         G.S. 62-78(c), line one; and

(j)         G.S. 62-81(b), as the same appears in the 1974 Cumulative Supplement to Volume 2B, line five.

Sec. 10.  Further conforming changes. Chapter 62 of the General Statutes is hereby further amended by adding the word "panel" for the word "division" as such word now appears in the following subsections and on the following lines:

(a)        G.S. 62-13(b), line five;

(b)        G.S. 62-76(a), line ten; and

(c)        G.S. 62-78(a), line six.

Sec. 11.  Except as herein amended, the provisions of Chapter 62 of the General Statutes of North Carolina shall remain in full force and effect. To the extent that other laws or clauses of laws are in conflict with the provisions of this act, such laws and clauses are, to that extent, hereby repealed.

Sec. 12.  This act shall become effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 9th day of May, 1975.