| (a) Application. This section applies to all electric utilities.
(b) Effective tariff. No utility shall directly or indirectly
offer any service, collect any rate or charge, give any compensation or discount
to a customer, or impose any classification, practice, or regulation different
from that which is prescribed in its effective tariff filed with the commission.
The tariff may include mathematical formulas that express the pricing terms
for service. Every contract for electric service between an electric utility
and a customer shall be deemed to be part of the effective tariff, and shall
be filed with the commission upon request.
(c) Requirements as to size, form, identification and filing
of tariffs.
(1) Every public utility shall file with the commission filing
clerk five copies of its tariff containing schedules of all its rates, tolls,
charges, rules, and regulations pertaining to all of its utility service .
It shall also file five copies of each subsequent revision. Each revision
shall be accompanied by a cover page which contains a list of pages being
revised, a statement describing each change, its effect if it is a change
in an existing rate, and a statement as to impact on rates of the change by
customer class, if any. If a proposed tariff revision constitutes an increase
in existing rates of a particular customer class or classes, then the commission
may require that notice be given.
(2) All tariffs shall be in loose-leaf form of size 8
1/2 inches by 11 inches and shall be plainly printed or reproduced on paper
of good quality. The front page of the tariff shall contain the name of the
utility and location of its principal office and the type of service rendered
(telephone, electric, etc.).
(3) Each rate schedule must clearly state the territory,
city, county, or exchange wherein said schedule is applicable.
(4) Tariff sheets are to be numbered consecutively per
schedule. Each sheet shall show an effective date, a revision number, section
number, sheet number, page number, name of the utility, the name of the tariff,
and title of the section in a consistent manner. Sheets issued under new numbers
are to be designated as original sheets. Sheets being revised should show
the number of the revision, and the sheet numbers shall be the same.
(d) Composition of tariffs. The tariff shall contain sections
and subsections setting forth:
(1) a table of contents;
(2) a list of the cities and counties in which service
is provided;
(3) a brief description of the utility's operations;
(4) the rate schedules; and
(5) the service regulations, including the service agreement
forms.
(e) Tariff filings in response to commission orders. Tariff
filings made in response to an order issued by the commission shall include
a transmittal letter stating that the tariffs attached are in compliance with
the order, giving the docket number, date of the order, a list of tariff
sheets filed, and any other necessary information. The tariff sheets shall
comply with all other rules in this chapter and shall include only changes
ordered. The effective date and/or wording of said tariffs shall comply with
the provisions of the order.
(f) Symbols for changes. Each proposed tariff sheet shall
contain notations in the right-hand margin indicating each change made on
these sheets. Notations to be used are: (C) to denote a change in regulations;
(D) to denote discontinued rates or regulations; (E) to denote the correction
of an error made during a revision (the revision which resulted in the error
must be one connected to some material contained in the tariff prior to the
revision); (I) to denote a rate increase; (N) to denote a new rate or regulation;
(R) to denote a rate reduction; and (T) to denote a change in text, but no
change in rate or regulation. In addition to symbols for changes, each changed
provision in the tariff shall contain a vertical line in the right-hand margin
of the page, which clearly shows the exact number of lines being changed.
(g) Availability of tariffs. Each utility shall make available
to the public at each of its business offices or designated sales offices
within Texas all of its tariffs currently on file with the commission, and
its employees shall lend assistance to persons seeking information on its
tariffs and afford inquirers an opportunity to examine any tariff upon request.
The utility also shall provide copies of any portion of its tariffs at a
reasonable cost.
(h) Rejection. If a tariff filed with the commission is found
not to be in compliance with these sections, commission Staff shall file a
brief explanation of the reasons for rejection.
(i) Effective date of tariff change. No jurisdictional tariff
change may take effect prior to 35 days after filing without commission approval.
The requested date will be assumed to be 35 days after filing unless a different
date is requested in the application. The commission may suspend the effective
date of the tariff change for 120 days after the requested effective date
and may extend that suspension another 30 days if required for final determination.
In the case of an actual hearing on the merits of a case that exceeds 15
days, the suspension date is extended two days for each one day of actual
hearing in excess of 15 actual hearing days.
(j) Compliance. Electric utilities that file new tariffs or
tariff revisions shall comply with the 1998 amendments to this section with
respect to the new or revised tariffs.
|
