Missouri Statute | Act | Code |Incorporation And Regulation Of Certain Utilities And Carriers| US Code - US Statute

This chapter* shall be known as the "Public Service Commission
Law", and shall apply to the public services herein described and the
commission herein created, and to the public service corporations,
persons and public utilities mentioned and referred to in this chapter.
(RSMo 1939 § 5577)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5121; 1919 § 10410

*Reference to "chapter" is taken from RSMo 1939 and includes all of
chapter 386, sections 387.010 to 387.340, 389.640, 389.780, 390.020 to
390.170, 391.070, 392.190 to 392.360 and 393.110 to 393.290

As used in this chapter, the following words and phrases mean:

(1) "Alternative local exchange telecommunications company", a local
exchange telecommunications company certified by the commission to
provide basic or nonbasic local telecommunications service or switched
exchange access service, or any combination of such services, in a
specific geographic area subsequent to December 31, 1995;

(2) "Alternative operator services company", any certificated
interexchange telecommunications company which receives more than forty
percent of its annual Missouri intrastate telecommunications service
revenues from the provision of operator services pursuant to operator
services contracts with traffic aggregators;

(3) "Basic interexchange telecommunications service" includes, at a
minimum, two-way switched voice service between points in different local
calling scopes as determined by the commission and shall include other
services as determined by the commission by rule upon periodic review and
update;

(4) "Basic local telecommunications service", two-way switched voice
service within a local calling scope as determined by the commission
comprised of any of the following services and their recurring and
nonrecurring charges:

(a) Multiparty, single line, including installation, touchtone dialing,
and any applicable mileage or zone charges;

(b) Assistance programs for installation of, or access to, basic local
telecommunications services for qualifying economically disadvantaged or
disabled customers or both, including, but not limited to, lifeline
services and link-up Missouri services for low-income customers or
dual-party relay service for the hearing impaired and speech impaired;

(c) Access to local emergency services including, but not limited to, 911
service established by local authorities;

(d) Access to basic local operator services;

(e) Access to basic local directory assistance;

(f) Standard intercept service;

(g) Equal access to interexchange carriers consistent with rules and
regulations of the Federal Communications Commission;

(h) One standard white pages directory listing.

Basic local telecommunications service does not include optional
toll-free calling outside a local calling scope but within a community of
interest, available for an additional monthly fee or the offering or
provision of basic local telecommunications service at private
shared-tenant service locations;

(5) "Cable television service", the one-way transmission to subscribers
of video programming or other programming service and the subscriber
interaction, if any, which is required for the selection of such video
programming or other programming service;

(6) "Carrier of last resort", any telecommunications company which is
obligated to offer basic local telecommunications service to all
customers who request service in a geographic area defined by the
commission and cannot abandon this obligation without approval from the
commission;

(7) "Commission", the "Public Service Commission" hereby created;

(8) "Commissioner", one of the members of the commission;

(9) "Competitive telecommunications company", a telecommunications
company which has been classified as such by the commission pursuant to
section 392.361, RSMo;

(10) "Competitive telecommunications service", a telecommunications
service which has been classified as such by the commission pursuant to
section 392.245, RSMo, or to section 392.361, RSMo, or which has become a
competitive telecommunications service pursuant to section 392.370, RSMo;

(11) "Corporation" includes a corporation, company, association and joint
stock association or company;

(12) "Customer-owned pay telephone", a privately owned telecommunications
device that is not owned, leased or otherwise controlled by a local
exchange telecommunications company and which provides telecommunications
services for a use fee to the general public;

(13) "Effective competition" shall be determined by the commission based
on:

(a) The extent to which services are available from alternative providers
in the relevant market;

(b) The extent to which the services of alternative providers are
functionally equivalent or substitutable at comparable rates, terms and
conditions;

(c) The extent to which the purposes and policies of chapter 392, RSMo,
including the reasonableness of rates, as set out in section 392.185,
RSMo, are being advanced;

(d) Existing economic or regulatory barriers to entry; and

(e) Any other factors deemed relevant by the commission and necessary to
implement the purposes and policies of chapter 392, RSMo;

(14) "Electric plant" includes all real estate, fixtures and personal
property operated, controlled, owned, used or to be used for or in
connection with or to facilitate the generation, transmission,
distribution, sale or furnishing of electricity for light, heat or power;
and any conduits, ducts or other devices, materials, apparatus or
property for containing, holding or carrying conductors used or to be
used for the transmission of electricity for light, heat or power;

(15) "Electrical corporation" includes every corporation, company,
association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person,
their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever,
other than a railroad, light rail or street railroad corporation
generating electricity solely for railroad, light rail or street railroad
purposes or for the use of its tenants and not for sale to others,
owning, operating, controlling or managing any electric plant except
where electricity is generated or distributed by the producer solely on
or through private property for railroad, light rail or street railroad
purposes or for its own use or the use of its tenants and not for sale to
others;

(16) "Exchange", a geographical area for the administration of
telecommunications services, established and described by the tariff of a
telecommunications company providing basic local telecommunications
service;

(17) "Exchange access service", a service provided by a local exchange
telecommunications company which enables a telecommunications company or
other customer to enter and exit the local exchange telecommunications
network in order to originate or terminate interexchange
telecommunications service;

(18) "Gas corporation" includes every corporation, company, association,
joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their
lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, owning,
operating, controlling or managing any gas plant operating for public use
under privilege, license or franchise now or hereafter granted by the
state or any political subdivision, county or municipality thereof;

(19) "Gas plant" includes all real estate, fixtures and personal property
owned, operated, controlled, used or to be used for or in connection with
or to facilitate the manufacture, distribution, sale or furnishing of
gas, natural or manufactured, for light, heat or power;

(20) "Heating company" includes every corporation, company, association,
joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their
lessees, trustees or receivers, appointed by any court whatsoever,
owning, operating, managing or controlling any plant or property for
manufacturing and distributing and selling, for distribution, or
distributing hot or cold water, steam or currents of hot or cold air for
motive power, heating, cooking, or for any public use or service, in any
city, town or village in this state; provided, that no agency or
authority created by or operated pursuant to an interstate compact
established pursuant to section 70.370, RSMo, shall be a heating company
or subject to regulation by the commission;

(21) "High-cost area", a geographic area, which shall follow exchange
boundaries and be no smaller than an exchange nor larger than a local
calling scope, where the cost of providing basic local telecommunications
service as determined by the commission, giving due regard to recovery of
an appropriate share of joint and common costs as well as those costs
related to carrier of last resort obligations, exceeds the rate for basic
local telecommunications service found reasonable by the commission;

(22) "Incumbent local exchange telecommunications company", a local
exchange telecommunications company authorized to provide basic local
telecommunications service in a specific geographic area as of December
31, 1995, or a successor in interest to such a company;

(23) "Interexchange telecommunications company", any company engaged in
the provision of interexchange telecommunications service;

(24) "Interexchange telecommunications service", telecommunications
service between points in two or more exchanges;

(25) "InterLATA", interexchange telecommunications service between points
in different local access and transportation areas;

(26) "IntraLATA", interexchange telecommunications service between points
within the same local access and transportation area;

(27) "Light rail" includes every rail transportation system in which one
or more rail vehicles are propelled electrically by overhead catenary
wire upon tracks located substantially within an urban area and are
operated exclusively in the transportation of passengers and their
baggage, and including all bridges, tunnels, equipment, switches, spurs,
tracks, stations, used in connection with the operation of light rail;

(28) "Line" includes route;

(29) "Local access and transportation area" or "LATA", contiguous
geographic area approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia in United States v. Western Electric, Civil Action No. 82-0192
that defines the permissible areas of operations for the Bell Operating
companies;

(30) "Local exchange telecommunications company", any company engaged in
the provision of local exchange telecommunications service. A local
exchange telecommunications company shall be considered a "large local
exchange telecommunications company" if it has at least one hundred
thousand access lines in Missouri and a "small local exchange
telecommunications company" if it has less than one hundred thousand
access lines in Missouri;

(31) "Local exchange telecommunications service", telecommunications
service between points within an exchange;

(32) "Long-run incremental cost", the change in total costs of the
company of producing an increment of output in the long run when the
company uses least cost technology, and excluding any costs that, in the
long run, are not brought into existence as a direct result of the
increment of output. The relevant increment of output shall be the level
of output necessary to satisfy total current demand levels for the
service in question, or, for new services, demand levels that can be
demonstrably anticipated;

(33) "Municipality" includes a city, village or town;

(34) "Nonbasic telecommunications services" shall be all regulated
telecommunications services other than basic local and exchange access
telecommunications services, and shall include the services identified in
paragraphs (d) and (e) of subdivision (4) of this section. Any retail
telecommunications service offered for the first time after August 28,
1996, shall be classified as a nonbasic telecommunications service,
including any new service which does not replace an existing service;

(35) "Noncompetitive telecommunications company", a telecommunications
company other than a competitive telecommunications company or a
transitionally competitive telecommunications company;

(36) "Noncompetitive telecommunications service", a telecommunications
service other than a competitive or transitionally competitive
telecommunications service;

(37) "Operator services", operator-assisted interexchange
telecommunications service by means of either human or automated call
intervention and includes, but is not limited to, billing or completion
of calling card, collect, person-to-person, station-to-station or third
number billed calls;

(38) "Operator services contract", any agreement between a traffic
aggregator and a certificated interexchange telecommunications company to
provide operator services at a traffic aggregator location;

(39) "Person" includes an individual, and a firm or copartnership;

(40) "Private shared tenant services" includes the provision of
telecommunications and information management services and equipment
within a user group located in discrete private premises as authorized by
the commission by a commercial-shared services provider or by a user
association, through privately owned customer premises equipment and
associated data processing and information management services and
includes the provision of connections to the facilities of local exchange
telecommunications companies and to interexchange telecommunications
companies;

(41) "Private telecommunications system", a telecommunications system
controlled by a person or corporation for the sole and exclusive use of
such person, corporation or legal or corporate affiliate thereof;

(42) "Public utility" includes every pipeline corporation, gas
corporation, electrical corporation, telecommunications company, water
corporation, heat or refrigerating corporation, and sewer corporation, as
these terms are defined in this section, and each thereof is hereby
declared to be a public utility and to be subject to the jurisdiction,
control and regulation of the commission and to the provisions of this
chapter;

(43) "Railroad" includes every railroad and railway, other than street
railroad or light rail, by whatsoever power operated for public use in
the conveyance of persons or property for compensation, with all bridges,
ferries, tunnels, equipment, switches, spurs, tracks, stations, real
estate and terminal facilities of every kind used, operated, controlled
or owned by or in connection with any such railroad;

(44) "Railroad corporation" includes every corporation, company,
association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person,
their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever,
owning, holding, operating, controlling or managing any railroad or
railway as defined in this section, or any cars or other equipment used
thereon or in connection therewith;

(45) "Rate", every individual or joint rate, fare, toll, charge,
reconsigning charge, switching charge, rental or other compensation of
any corporation, person or public utility, or any two or more such
individual or joint rates, fares, tolls, charges, reconsigning charges,
switching charges, rentals or other compensations of any corporation,
person or public utility or any schedule or tariff thereof;

(46) "Resale of telecommunications service", the offering or providing of
telecommunications service primarily through the use of services or
facilities owned or provided by a separate telecommunications company,
but does not include the offering or providing of private shared tenant
services;

(47) "Service" includes not only the use and accommodations afforded
consumers or patrons, but also any product or commodity furnished by any
corporation, person or public utility and the plant, equipment,
apparatus, appliances, property and facilities employed by any
corporation, person or public utility in performing any service or in
furnishing any product or commodity and devoted to the public purposes of
such corporation, person or public utility, and to the use and
accommodation of consumers or patrons;

(48) "Sewer corporation" includes every corporation, company,
association, joint stock company or association, partnership or person,
their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court, owning,
operating, controlling or managing any sewer system, plant or property,
for the collection, carriage, treatment, or disposal of sewage anywhere
within the state for gain, except that the term shall not include sewer
systems with fewer than twenty-five outlets;

(49) "Sewer system" includes all pipes, pumps, canals, lagoons, plants,
structures and appliances, and all other real estate, fixtures and
personal property, owned, operated, controlled or managed in connection
with or to facilitate the collection, carriage, treatment and disposal of
sewage for municipal, domestic or other beneficial or necessary purpose;

(50) "Street railroad" includes every railroad by whatsoever type of
power operated, and all extensions and branches thereof and supplementary
facilities thereto by whatsoever type of vehicle operated, for public use
in the conveyance of persons or property for compensation, mainly
providing local transportation service upon the streets, highways and
public places in a municipality, or in and adjacent to a municipality,
and including all cars, buses and other rolling stock, equipment,
switches, spurs, tracks, poles, wires, conduits, cables, subways,
tunnels, stations, terminals and real estate of every kind used, operated
or owned in connection therewith but this term shall not include light
rail as defined in this section; and the term "street railroad" when used
in this chapter shall also include all motor bus and trolley bus lines
and routes and similar local transportation facilities, and the rolling
stock and other equipment thereof and the appurtenances thereto, when
operated as a part of a street railroad or trolley bus local
transportation system, or in conjunction therewith or supplementary
thereto, but such term shall not include a railroad constituting or used
as part of a trunk line railroad system and any street railroad as
defined above which shall be converted wholly to motor bus operation
shall nevertheless continue to be included within the term "street
railroad" as used herein;

(51) "Telecommunications company" includes telephone corporations as that
term is used in the statutes of this state and every corporation,
company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and
person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court
whatsoever, owning, operating, controlling or managing any facilities
used to provide telecommunications service for hire, sale or resale
within this state;

(52) "Telecommunications facilities" includes lines, conduits, ducts,
poles, wires, cables, crossarms, receivers, transmitters, instruments,
machines, appliances and all devices, real estate, easements, apparatus,
property and routes used, operated, controlled or owned by any
telecommunications company to facilitate the provision of
telecommunications service;

(53) "Telecommunications service", the transmission of information by
wire, radio, optical cable, electronic impulses, or other similar means.
As used in this definition, "information" means knowledge or intelligence
represented by any form of writing, signs, signals, pictures, sounds, or
any other symbols. Telecommunications service does not include:

(a) The rent, sale, lease, or exchange for other value received of
customer premises equipment except for customer premises equipment owned
by a telephone company certificated or otherwise authorized to provide
telephone service prior to September 28, 1987, and provided under tariff
or in inventory on January 1, 1983, which must be detariffed no later
than December 31, 1987, and thereafter the provision of which shall not
be a telecommunications service, and except for customer premises
equipment owned or provided by a telecommunications company and used for
answering 911 or emergency calls;

(b) Answering services and paging services;

(c) The offering of radio communication services and facilities when such
services and facilities are provided under a license granted by the
Federal Communications Commission under the commercial mobile radio
services rules and regulations;

(d) Services provided by a hospital, hotel, motel, or other similar
business whose principal service is the provision of temporary lodging
through the owning or operating of message switching or billing equipment
solely for the purpose of providing at a charge telecommunications
services to its temporary patients or guests;

(e) Services provided by a private telecommunications system;

(f) Cable television service;

(g) The installation and maintenance of inside wire within a customer's
premises;

(h) Electronic publishing services; or

(i) Services provided pursuant to a broadcast radio or television license
issued by the Federal Communications Commission;

(54) "Telephone cooperative", every corporation defined as a
telecommunications company in this section, in which at least ninety
percent of those persons and corporations subscribing to receive local
telecommunications service from the corporation own at least ninety
percent of the corporation's outstanding and issued capital stock and in
which no subscriber owns more than two shares of the corporation's
outstanding and issued capital stock;

(55) "Traffic aggregator", any person, firm, partnership or corporation
which furnishes a telephone for use by the public and includes, but is
not limited to, telephones located in rooms, offices and similar
locations in hotels, motels, hospitals, colleges, universities, airports
and public or customer-owned pay telephone locations, whether or not coin
operated;

(56) "Transitionally competitive telecommunications company", an
interexchange telecommunications company which provides any
noncompetitive or transitionally competitive telecommunications service,
except for an interexchange telecommunications company which provides
only noncompetitive telecommunications service;

(57) "Transitionally competitive telecommunications service", a
telecommunications service offered by a noncompetitive or transitionally
competitive telecommunications company and classified as transitionally
competitive by the commission pursuant to section 392.361 or 392.370,
RSMo;

(58) "Water corporation" includes every corporation, company,
association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person,
their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever,
owning, operating, controlling or managing any plant or property, dam or
water supply, canal, or power station, distributing or selling for
distribution, or selling or supplying for gain any water;

(59) "Water system" includes all reservoirs, tunnels, shafts, dams,
dikes, headgates, pipes, flumes, canals, structures and appliances, and
all other real estate, fixtures and personal property, owned, operated,
controlled or managed in connection with or to facilitate the diversion,
development, storage, supply, distribution, sale, furnishing or carriage
of water for municipal, domestic or other beneficial use. (RSMo 1939 §
5578, A.L. 1947 V. II p. 338, A.L. 1957 p. 502, A.L. 1967 p. 578, A.L.
1983 S.B. 401, A.L. 1987 H.B. 360, A.L. 1988 S.B. 481, A.L. 1990 H.B.
1315, A.L. 1996 H.B. 876 merged with S.B. 507 merged with S.B. 780, A.L.
2005 S.B. 237)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5122; 1919 § 10411

(1963) The publication of the classified directory by a telephone company
and the advertising thereunder is a method, procedure and operation which
is designed for and actually does facilitate the business of affording
telephonic communication and the public service commission has
jurisdiction to regulate advertising in the classified directory. Videon
Corp. v. Burton (A.), 369 S.W.2d 264

(1972) Although CATV system does not specifically fall within definition
of public utility under Missouri law, it could be included and under
authority granted cities to regulate public franchises or privileges a
city may regulate CATV and must follow procedures specified in ordinance.
Springfield Television, Inc. v. City of Springfield (C.A.Mo.), 462 F.2d
21.

Neither this chapter, nor any provision of this chapter, except
when specifically so stated, shall apply to or be construed to apply to
commerce with foreign nations or commerce among the several states of
this union, except insofar as the same may be permitted under the
provisions of the Constitution of the United States and the acts of
Congress. (RSMo 1939 § 5718, A.L. 1984 S.B. 596, A.L. 1987 H.B. 360)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5262; 1919 § 10549

A "Public Service Commission" is hereby created and established,
which said public service commission shall be vested with and possessed
of the powers and duties in this chapter specified, and also all powers
necessary or proper to enable it to carry out fully and effectually all
the purposes of this chapter. (RSMo 1939 § 5579)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5123; 1919 § 10412

The commission shall consist of five members who shall be
appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, and
one of whom shall be designated by the governor to be chair of the
commission. Each commissioner, at the time of the commissioner's
appointment and qualification, shall be a resident of the state of
Missouri, and shall have resided in the state for a period of at least
five years next preceding the appointment and qualification, and shall
also be a qualified voter therein and not less than twenty-five years of
age. Upon the expiration of each of the terms of office of the first
commissioners, the term of office of each commissioner thereafter
appointed shall be six years from the time of the commissioner's
appointment and qualification and until his successor shall qualify.
Vacancies in the commission shall be filled by the governor for the
unexpired term. (RSMo 1939 § 5580, A. 1949 H.B. 2099, A.L. 2003 H.B. 208)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5124; 1919 § 10413

The governor may remove any commissioner for inefficiency,
neglect of duty, or misconduct in office, giving to him a copy of the
charges against him and an opportunity of being publicly heard in person
or by counsel, in his own defense, upon not less than ten days' notice.
If such commissioner shall be removed, the governor shall file in the
office of the secretary of state a complete statement of all charges made
against such commissioner, and his findings thereon, together with a
complete record of the proceedings. The legislature also shall have the
power, by a two-thirds vote of all members elected to each house, after
ten days' notice in writing of the charges and a public hearing, to
remove any one or more of said commissioners from office for dereliction
of duty, or corruption, or incompetency. (RSMo 1939 § 5581)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5125; 1919 § 10414

The public service commission may appoint and fix the
compensation of a general counsel to serve at the pleasure of the
commission. He shall be an attorney at law and shall have resided in this
state prior to his* appointment. It shall be the duty of the general
counsel for the commission to represent and appear for the commission in
all actions and proceedings involving any question under this or any
other law, or under or in reference to any act, order, decision or
proceeding of the commission, and if directed to do so by the commission,
to intervene, if possible, in** any action or proceeding in which any
such question is involved; to commence and prosecute in the name of the
state all actions and proceedings, authorized by law and directed or
authorized by the commission, and to expedite in every way possible, to
final determination all such actions and proceedings; to advise the
commission and each commissioner, when so requested, in regard to all
matters in connection with the powers and duties of the commission and
the members thereof, and generally to perform all duties and services as
attorney and counsel to the commission which the commission may
reasonably require of him. (L. 1977 H.B. 42 & 157)

*Word "this" appears in original rolls.

**Word "if" appears in original rolls.

The commission may appoint a secretary who shall serve during
the pleasure of the commission. It shall be the duty of the secretary to
keep a full and true record of all the proceedings of the commission, of
all books, maps, documents and papers ordered filed by the commission,
and of all orders made by each of the commissioners, and of all orders
made by the commission or approved and confirmed by it and ordered filed,
and he shall be responsible to it for the safe custody and preservation
of all such documents at its office. Under the direction of the
commission the secretary shall have general charge of its office,
superintend its clerical business and perform such other duties as the
commission may prescribe. He shall have power and authority to administer
oaths in all parts of the state, so far as the exercise of such authority
is properly incidental to the performance of his duties or that of the
commission. The secretary shall designate from time to time one of the
clerks appointed by the commission to perform the duties of secretary
during his absence, and during such time the clerk so designated shall,
at the office, possess the powers of the secretary of the commission.
(RSMo 1939 § 5584)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5128; 1919 § 10417

Each commissioner and each person appointed to office or
employment by the governor or by the commission shall, before entering
upon the duties of the commissioner's office or employment, take and
subscribe to an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the
United States and of this state, and to faithfully and honestly discharge
the duties of such office. No person shall be eligible to appointment or
shall hold the office of commissioner, or be appointed by the commission,
or hold any office or position under the commission, who holds any
official relation to any gas corporation, electrical corporation,
telephone corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, heat and
refrigerating corporation, sewer corporation, or other public service or
public utility corporation or person subject to any of the provisions of
this chapter, or who owns stocks or bonds therein, or who has any
pecuniary interest therein. (RSMo 1939 § 5586, A.L. 1967 p. 578, A.L.
1996 S.B. 780)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5130; 1919 § 10419

1. The principal office of the commission shall be at the state
capital at the city of Jefferson City. The commissioners shall reside
within a forty-mile radius of the city of Jefferson City during their
respective terms of office. The office required by this subsection shall
be provided and assigned by the board of public buildings.

2. The commission shall at all times, except Saturdays, Sundays and legal
holidays, be open and in session for the transaction of business and the
commissioners shall devote their entire time to the duties of their
office.

3. The commission shall have an official seal bearing the following
inscription: "Public Service Commission of the State of Missouri". The
seal shall be affixed to all writs and authentications of copies of
records and to such other instruments as the commission shall direct. All
courts shall take judicial notice of such seal.

4. The commission may sue and be sued in its official name. The offices
of said commission shall be supplied with all necessary books, maps,
charts, stationery, office furniture, telephone and telegraph
connections, and all other necessary appliances and incidentals, to be
paid for in the same manner as other expenses authorized by this chapter.

5. The offices of the commission shall be open during business hours on
all days except Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, and one or more
responsible persons, designated by the commission or by the secretary,
under the direction of the commission, shall be on duty at all times, in
immediate charge thereof.

6. Any summons or other writ issued by any court of this state or of the
federal government shall be served upon the secretary of the commission
or on any commissioner at the principal office of the commission in
Jefferson City. Service of any summons or other writ upon the secretary
of the commission, or upon any single commissioner, shall constitute
service upon the entire commission. (RSMo 1939 § 5587, A.L. 1984 H.B.
1477)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5131; 1919 § 10420

Beginning January 1, 2007, any rule or portion of a rule, as
that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is created under
authority delegated to the public service commission shall become
effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the
provisions of chapter 536, RSMo, and, if applicable, section 536.028,
RSMo. This section and chapter 536, RSMo, are nonseverable and if any of
the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536,
RSMo, to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul
a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of
rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after January 1,
2007, shall be invalid and void. (L. 2005 S.B. 237 § 1)

The commission shall promptly and duly organize. A majority of
the commissioners shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any
business, for the performance of any duty or for the exercise of any
power of the commission, and may hold meetings of the commission at any
time or place within the state. Any investigation, inquiry or hearing
which the commission has power to undertake or to hold may be undertaken
or held by or before any commissioner. All investigations, inquiries,
hearings and decisions of a commissioner shall be and be deemed to be the
investigations, inquiries, hearings and decisions of the commission, and
every order and decision made by a commissioner, when approved and
confirmed by the commission and ordered filed in its office, shall be and
be deemed to be the order of the commission. (RSMo 1939 § 5588)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5132; 1919 § 10421

(1977) Public service commission must meet and act as a body. A report
and order cannot be adopted by notational voting. State ex rel. Philipp
Transit Lines, Inc. Public Service Commission (Mo.), 552 S.W.2d 696.

1. The commission shall have an independent technical advisory
staff of up to six full-time employees. The advisory staff shall have
expertise in accounting, economics, finance, engineering/utility
operations, law, or public policy.

2. In addition, each commissioner shall also have the authority to retain
one personal advisor, who shall be deemed a member of the technical
advisory staff. The personal advisors will serve at the pleasure of the
individual commissioner whom they serve and shall possess expertise in
one or more of the following fields: accounting, economics, finance,
engineering/utility operations, law, or public policy.

3. The commission shall only hire technical advisory staff pursuant to
subsections 1 and 2 of this section if there is a corresponding
elimination in comparable staff positions for commission staff to offset
the hiring of such technical advisory staff on a cost-neutral basis. Such
technical advisory staff shall be hired on or before July 1, 2005.

4. It shall be the duty of the technical advisory staff to render advice
and assistance to the commissioners and the commission's administrative
law judges on technical matters within their respective areas of
expertise that may arise during the course of proceedings before the
commission.

5. The technical advisory staff shall also update the commission and the
commission's administrative law judges periodically on developments and
trends in public utility regulation, including updates comparing the use,
nature, and effect of various regulatory practices and procedures as
employed by the commission and public utility commissions in other
jurisdictions.

6. Each member of the technical advisory staff shall be subject to any
applicable ex parte or conflict of interest requirements in the same
manner and to the same degree as any commissioner, provided that neither
any person regulated by, appearing before, or employed by the commission
shall be permitted to offer such member a different appointment or
position during that member's tenure on the technical advisory staff.

7. No employee of a company or corporation regulated by the public
service commission, no employee of the office of public counsel or the
public counsel, and no staff members of either the utility operations
division or utility services division who were an employee or staff
member on, during the two years immediately preceding, or anytime after
August 28, 2003, may be a member of the commission's technical advisory
staff for two years following the termination of their employment with
the corporation, office of public counsel or commission staff member.

8. The technical advisory staff shall never be a party to any case before
the commission. (L. 2003 H.B. 208, A.L. 2004 H.B. 1548)

The chairman of the commission shall designate from time to
time, by order entered of record, some member of the commission to act as
chairman during the absence or sickness of such chairman appointed by the
governor, and during such time the commissioner so appointed shall
possess all the powers of the regular chairman. No vacancy in the
commission shall impair the right of the remaining commissioners to
exercise all the powers of the commission. (RSMo 1939 § 5589)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5133; 1919 § 10422

The chairman of the public service commission, in the presence
of the speaker of the house of representatives or some member of the
house of representatives designated in writing by said speaker and the
president pro tem of the senate or some member of the senate designated
in writing by said president pro tem, may destroy by burning, or
otherwise dispose of as ordered by the public service commission, such
records, financial statements and such public documents which shall at
the time of destruction or disposal have been on file in the office of
the public service commission for a period of five years or longer and
which are determined by the public service commission to be obsolete or
of no further public use or value, except such records and documents as
may at the time be the subject of litigation or dispute. (L. 1953 p. 520
§ 1)

The annual salary of each commissioner shall be fifty-five
hundred dollars plus any salary adjustment provided pursuant to section
105.055, RSMo. The salary of the secretary to the commission and the
salaries of all other commission employees shall be such as may from time
to time be fixed by the commission. The commissioners and all employees
of the commission shall have reimbursed to them all actual and necessary
traveling and other expenses and disbursements incurred or made by them
in the discharge of their official duties while away from their regular
offices in the performance of such duties. (RSMo 1939 § 5590, A.L. 1947
V. I p. 467, A.L. 1977 H.B. 42 & 157, A.L. 1984 S.B. 528)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5134; 1919 § 10423

Revisor's note: Salary adjustment index is printed, as required by RSMo
105.005, in Appendix E.

All salaries and expenses of the commission shall be audited and
allowed by the commissioner of administration and paid by the state
treasurer upon warrants out of the funds provided therefor. (RSMo 1939 §
5591, A. 1949 H.B. 2099, A.L. 1980 H.B. 1266)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5135; 1919 § 10424

The members of the public service commission are hereby made and
constituted a publications commission to select and designate what
findings, orders and decisions of the public service commission shall be
published in a series of volumes designated "Reports of the Public
Service Commission of the State of Missouri" and to supervise and cause
to be prepared the syllabi for the findings, orders and decisions, and to
select and designate such other works, papers or studies of the public
service commission relating to the field of public utilities regulation
that may be of interest to the public and to cause them to be published
in pamphlet or book form. (L. 1947 V. I p. 467 § 5595, A.L. 1977 H.B. 42
& 157)

1. It shall be the duty of the publications commission to meet
from time to time, as occasion may demand, and select from the findings,
orders and decisions of the public service commission the decisions which
in the judgment of the publications commission should, for public
information and use, be officially reported and published and when
sufficient of such decisions have been designated to constitute a volume
to cause same to be published in a bound volume numbered serially and
designated, "Reports of the Public Service Commission of the State of
Missouri".

2. The publications commission shall cause to be published from time to
time an advance sheet of the public service commission reports containing
all decisions of the public service commission theretofore selected and
designated by the publications commission for official publication and
not before officially published. Such reports shall be competent evidence
of the findings, orders and decisions of the public service commission
therein contained without any further proof or authentication thereof.

3. The publications commission shall also supervise and cause to be
prepared all syllabi or headnotes prefixed to such published findings,
orders and decisions of the public service commission and shall cause to
be prepared and published as a part of each publication herein provided
an adequate index, table of cases and digest of the cases reported
therein.

4. The publications commission shall also from time to time select and
designate such other works, papers or studies of the public service
commission relating to the field of public utilities regulation that may
in the judgment of the publications commission be of interest to the
public and cause same to be published in pamphlet or book form. The
official reports, advance sheets and other publications published by the
publications commission shall be made available for sale to the public at
a price to be fixed by the publications commission, which price shall
approximate the actual cost of printing. (L. 1947 V. I p. 467 § 5595a)

1. For his services each member of the publications commission
shall annually receive from the state the sum of fifty-two thousand
dollars, to be paid in equal monthly installments. One-half of the
compensation shall be paid from the special fund created under the
provisions of section 386.370, known and designated as the "Public
Service Commission Fund", and one-half shall be paid out of the state
highway department fund.

2. Each member of the publications commission serving on August 13, 1984,
shall prepare and submit to the governor a report on the effect of
federal actions upon state regulation under the provisions of chapters
386 to 393, RSMo. Such report shall be submitted annually by each member
until the expiration of the term that he is serving on August 13, 1984.

3. For the performance of the duties imposed under the provisions of
subsection 2 of this section, each member of the publications commission
shall receive a sum that, when added to the other compensation paid to
that commissioner prior to August 13, 1984, will equal the sum provided
by adding together the compensation specified in section 386.150 and
subsection 1 of this section. (L. 1947 V. I p. 467 § 5595b, A.L. 1951 p.
546, A.L. 1957 p. 501, A.L. 1963 p. 500, A.L. 1965 p. 587, A.L. 1971 S.B.
15, A.L. 1974 S.B. 486, A.L. 1977 H.B. 841, A.L. 1980 S.B. 604, A.L. 1984
S.B. 528)

Revisor's note: Salary adjustment index is printed, as required by RSMo
105.005, in Appendix E.

1. Every commissioner, the public counsel and every person
employed or appointed to office, either by the commission or by the
public counsel, is hereby forbidden and prohibited to solicit, suggest,
request or recommend, directly or indirectly, to any public utility,
corporation or person subject to the supervision of the commission, or to
any officer, attorney, agent or employee thereof, the appointment of any
person to any office, place, position or employment. And every such
public utility, corporation and person, and every officer, attorney,
agent and employee thereof, is hereby forbidden and prohibited to offer
to any commissioner, the public counsel, or to any person employed by the
commission or by the public counsel, any office, place, appointment or
position, or to offer or give to any commissioner, to the public counsel,
or to any person employed or appointed to office by the commission or by
the public counsel, any free pass or transportation or any reduction in
fare to which the public generally are not entitled or free carriage for
property or any present, gift, entertainment or gratuity of any kind.

2. If any commissioner, the public counsel, or any person employed or
appointed to office by the commission or the public counsel, shall
violate any provision of this section he shall be removed from the office
held by him. Every commissioner, the public counsel, and every person
employed or appointed to office by the commission, or by the public
counsel, shall be and be deemed to be a public officer.

3. If any public utility violates any provision of this section, it shall
be liable to the state of Missouri in a civil action in any court of
competent jurisdiction for the assessment of a civil penalty not to
exceed twenty thousand dollars. The penalty provided in this subsection
shall be in addition to any other penalty provided for violation of the
provisions of this chapter. The attorney general shall bring the action
authorized in this subsection. The action may be brought in any county
where the defendant public utility's principal place of business is
located or where the violation occurred, or where the public utility's
registered agent is located. The penalty assessed under the provisions of
this subsection shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of
general revenue.

4. Any officer, agent or employee of any public utility who violates any
provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand
dollars, or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or
by both such fine and imprisonment. (RSMo 1939 § 5593, A.L. 1977 H.B. 42
& 157)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5137; 1919 § 10426

1. The commission may confer in person, or by correspondence, by
attending conventions, or in any other way, with the members of the
public, any public utility or similar commission of this and other states
and the United States of America, or any official, agency or
instrumentality thereof, on any matter relating to the performance of its
duties.

2. Such communications may address any issue that at the time of such
communication is not the subject of a case that has been filed with the
commission.

3. Such communications may also address substantive or procedural matters
that are the subject of a pending filing or case in which no evidentiary
hearing has been scheduled, provided that the communication:

(1) Is made at a public agenda meeting of the commission where such
matter has been posted in advance as an item for discussion or decision;

(2) Is made at a forum where representatives of the public utility
affected thereby, the office of public counsel, and any other party to
the case are present; or

(3) If made outside such agenda meeting or forum, is subsequently
disclosed to the public utility, the office of the public counsel, and
any other party to the case in accordance with the following procedure:

(a) If the communication is written, the person or party making the
communication shall no later than the next business day following the
communication file a copy of the written communication in the official
case file of the pending filing or case and serve it upon all parties of
record;

(b) If the communication is oral, the party making the oral communication
shall no later than the next business day following the communication
file a memorandum in the official case file of the pending case
disclosing the communication and serve such memorandum on all parties of
record. The memorandum must contain a summary of the substance of the
communication and not merely a listing of the subjects covered.

4. Nothing in this section or any other provision of law shall be
construed as imposing any limitation on the free exchange of ideas,
views, and information between any person and the commission or any
commissioner, provided that such communications relate to matters of
general regulatory policy and do not address the merits of the specific
facts, evidence, claims, or positions presented or taken in a pending
case unless such communications comply with the provisions of subsection
3 of this section.

5. The commission and any commissioner may also advise any member of the
general assembly or other governmental official of the issues or factual
allegations that are the subject of a pending case, provided that the
commission or commissioner does not express an opinion as to the merits
of such issues or allegations, and may discuss in a public agenda meeting
with parties to a case in which an evidentiary hearing has been
scheduled, any procedural matter in such case or any matter relating to a
unanimous stipulation or agreement resolving all of the issues in such
case.

6. The commission may enter into and establish fair and equitable
cooperative agreements or contracts with or act as an agent or licensee
for the United States of America, or any official, agency or
instrumentality thereof, or any public utility or similar commission of
other states, that are proper, expedient, fair and equitable and in the
interest of the state of Missouri and the citizens thereof, for the
purpose of carrying out its duties pursuant to section 386.250 as limited
and supplemented by section 386.030 and to that end the commission may
receive and disburse any contributions, grants or other financial
assistance as a result of or pursuant to such agreements or contracts.
Any contributions, grants or other financial assistance so received shall
be deposited in the public service commission utility fund or the state
highway commission fund depending upon the purposes for which they are
received.

7. The commission may make joint investigations, hold joint hearings
within or without the state, and issue joint or concurrent orders in
conjunction or concurrence with any railroad, public utility or similar
commission, of other states or the United States of America, or any
official, agency or any instrumentality thereof, except that in the
holding of such investigations or hearings, or in the making of such
orders, the commission shall function under agreements or contracts
between states or under the concurrent power of states to regulate
interstate commerce, or as an agent of the United States of America, or
any official, agency or instrumentality thereof, or otherwise. (RSMo 1939
§ 5701, A.L. 1971 H.B. 381, A.L. 1996 S.B. 780, A.L. 2003 H.B. 208)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5245; 1919 § 10533

The commission may engage in any conferences with officials of
any and all other states and the District of Columbia, territories and
possessions of the United States and foreign countries for the purpose of
promoting, entering into, and establishing fair and equitable reciprocal
agreements or arrangements that in the judgment of the commission are
proper, expedient, fair, and equitable and in the interest of the state
of Missouri and the citizens thereof to the end that any motor carrier of
passengers or property which operates motor vehicles and trailers into,
out of, or through this state as a for hire motor carrier and which has
paid all regulatory fees required by the state, District of Columbia,
territory or possession of the United States or foreign country where the
motor vehicles and trailers are duly licensed or registered pursuant to
an agreement or arrangement entered into by the Missouri highway
reciprocity commission, or if no such agreement or arrangement has been
entered into, where the owner is a resident, shall not be required to pay
fees prescribed in section 390.136, RSMo; but the provisions of this
section shall be operative as to a motor vehicle and trailer duly
licensed or registered in a state, District of Columbia, territory or
possession of the United States or foreign country pursuant to an
agreement or arrangement entered into by the Missouri highway reciprocity
commission and if no such agreement or arrangement has been entered into,
where the owner is a resident, upon which all regulatory fees have been
paid, when operated for hire in Missouri only to the extent that, under
the laws of the state, District of Columbia, territory or possession of
the United States or foreign country, wherein such motor vehicle and
trailer are registered like exemptions are granted motor vehicles and
trailers duly licensed or registered in Missouri which may be conducting
similar motor carrier operations for hire in such other state, District
of Columbia, territory or possession of the United States, or foreign
country. (L. 1943 p. 867 § 5728a, A.L. 1959 H.B. 101, A.L. 1965 p. 588)

CROSS REFERENCE:

Highway reciprocity commission abolished, duties and functions
transferred to highways and transportation commission, RSMo 226.008

Whenever any public utility has a controversy with another
public utility or person and all the parties to such controversy agree in
writing to submit such controversy to the commission as arbitrators, the
commission shall act as such arbitrators, and after due notice to all
parties interested shall proceed to hear such controversy, and their
award shall be final. Parties may appear in person or by attorney before
such arbitrators. (RSMo 1939 § 5697)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5241; 1919 § 10529

The commission may authorize any person employed by it to do or
perform any act, matter or thing which the commission is authorized by
this chapter to do or perform; provided, that no order, rule or
regulation of any person employed by the commission shall be binding on
any public utility or any person unless expressly authorized or approved
by the commission. (RSMo 1939 § 5698) Prior revisions: 1929 § 5242; 1919
§ 10530

The jurisdiction, supervision, powers and duties of the public
service commission herein created and established shall extend under this
chapter:

(1) To the manufacture, sale or distribution of gas, natural and
artificial, and electricity for light, heat and power, within the state,
and to persons or corporations owning, leasing, operating or controlling
the same; and to gas and electric plants, and to persons or corporations
owning, leasing, operating or controlling the same;

(2) To all telecommunications facilities, telecommunications services and
to all telecommunications companies so far as such telecommunications
facilities are operated or utilized by a telecommunications company to
offer or provide telecommunications service between one point and another
within this state or so far as such telecommunications services are
offered or provided by a telecommunications company between one point and
another within this state, except that nothing contained in this section
shall be construed as conferring jurisdiction upon the commission over
the rates charged by a telephone cooperative for providing
telecommunications service within an exchange or within a local calling
scope as determined by the commission, except for exchange access service;

(3) To all water corporations, and to the land, property, dams, water
supplies, or power stations thereof and the operation of same within this
state, except that nothing contained in this section shall be construed
as conferring jurisdiction upon the commission over the service or rates
of any municipally owned water plant or system in any city of this state
except where such service or rates are for water to be furnished or used
beyond the corporate limits of such municipality;

(4) To all sewer systems and their operations within this state and to
persons or corporations owning, leasing, operating or controlling the
same;

(5) To all public utility corporations and persons whatsoever subject to
the provisions of this chapter as herein defined, except that the public
service commission may, upon application of any interested person,
decline jurisdiction and supervision over the sale and distribution of
electricity and the owning, operating, and controlling of related plant
if such sale and distribution is by a person authorized to provide such
services in an adjoining state with fewer than twenty residential
customers in Missouri, all of whom are located within two miles of the
borders of the state of Missouri and if such customers are unable to
receive utility services from an investor-owner utility or rural electric
cooperative due to a natural barrier. If the public service commission
shall decline such jurisdiction and supervision, the Missouri customers
of such out-of-state utility shall receive services under the same terms
and conditions as the utility provides service to its customers in the
nearest adjoining state;

(6) To the adoption of rules as are supported by evidence as to
reasonableness and which prescribe the conditions of rendering public
utility service, disconnecting or refusing to reconnect public utility
service and billing for public utility service. All such proposed rules
shall be filed with the secretary of state and published in the Missouri
Register as provided in chapter 536, RSMo, and a hearing shall be held at
which affected parties may present evidence as to the reasonableness of
any proposed rule; and

(7) To such other and further extent, and to all such other and
additional matters and things, and in such further respects as may herein
appear, either expressly or impliedly. (RSMo 1939 § 5592, A.L. 1963 p.
500, A.L. 1967 p. 578, A.L. 1977 S.B. 136, A.L. 1980 H.B. 1335, A.L. 1987
H.B. 360, A.L. 1988 S.B. 676 merged with S.B. 481, A.L. 1991 S.B. 269,
A.L. 1993 S.B. 52, A.L. 1995 S.B. 420, A.L. 1996 S.B. 630)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5136; 1919 § 10425

CROSS REFERENCE: Structures over or contiguous to railroad tracks created
only with permission of commission, RSMo 389.580

(1963) The publication of the classified directory by a telephone company
and the advertising thereunder is a method, procedure and an operation
which is designed for and actually does facilitate the business of
affording telephonic communication and the public service commission has
jurisdiction to regulate advertising in the classified directory. Videon
Corp. v. Burton (A.), 369 S.W.2d 264.

(1967) The public service commission is without power to order a
telephone company to provide services in an area in which it has not
offered, proffered or undertaken to provide service because such
compulsion would be tantamount to an appropriation of the telephone
company's property to a public service to which it has not dedicated such
property, a taking of private property for public use without just
compensation. State v. Public Service Commission (Mo.), 416 S.W.2d 109.

The commission shall ascertain, determine and fix for each kind
of public utility suitable and convenient standard commercial units of
service, product or commodity, which units shall be lawful units for the
purposes of this chapter. (RSMo 1939 § 5705)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5249; 1919 § 10537

1. Subject to the requirements of this section, any electrical
corporation may make an application to the commission to approve rate
schedules authorizing an interim energy charge, or periodic rate
adjustments outside of general rate proceedings to reflect increases and
decreases in its prudently incurred fuel and purchased-power costs,
including transportation. The commission may, in accordance with existing
law, include in such rate schedules features designed to provide the
electrical corporation with incentives to improve the efficiency and
cost- effectiveness of its fuel and purchased-power procurement
activities.

2. Subject to the requirements of this section, any electrical, gas, or
water corporation may make an application to the commission to approve
rate schedules authorizing periodic rate adjustments outside of general
rate proceedings to reflect increases and decreases in its prudently
incurred costs, whether capital or expense, to comply with any federal,
state, or local environmental law, regulation, or rule. Any rate
adjustment made under such rate schedules shall not exceed an annual
amount equal to two and one-half percent of the electrical, gas, or water
corporation's Missouri gross jurisdictional revenues, excluding gross
receipts tax, sales tax and other similar pass-through taxes not included
in tariffed rates, for regulated services as established in the utility's
most recent general rate case or complaint proceeding. In addition to the
rate adjustment, the electrical, gas, or water corporation shall be
permitted to collect any applicable gross receipts tax, sales tax, or
other similar pass-through taxes, and such taxes shall not be counted
against the two and one-half percent rate adjustment cap. Any costs not
recovered as a result of the annual two and one-half percent limitation
on rate adjustments may be deferred, at a carrying cost each month equal
to the utilities net of tax cost of capital, for recovery in a subsequent
year or in the corporation's next general rate case or complaint
proceeding.

3. Subject to the requirements of this section, any gas corporation may
make an application to the commission to approve rate schedules
authorizing periodic rate adjustments outside of general rate proceedings
to reflect the nongas revenue effects of increases or decreases in
residential and commercial customer usage due to variations in either
weather, conservation, or both.

4. The commission shall have the power to approve, modify, or reject
adjustment mechanisms submitted under subsections 1 to 3 of this section
only after providing the opportunity for a full hearing in a general rate
proceeding, including a general rate proceeding initiated by complaint.
The commission may approve such rate schedules after considering all
relevant factors which may affect the costs or overall rates and charges
of the corporation, provided that it finds that the adjustment mechanism
set forth in the schedules:

(1) Is reasonably designed to provide the utility with a sufficient
opportunity to earn a fair return on equity;

(2) Includes provisions for an annual true-up which shall accurately and
appropriately remedy any over- or under-collections, including interest
at the utility's short-term borrowing rate, through subsequent rate
adjustments or refunds;

(3) In the case of an adjustment mechanism submitted under subsections 1
and 2 of this section, includes provisions requiring that the utility
file a general rate case with the effective date of new rates to be no
later than four years after the effective date of the commission order
implementing the adjustment mechanism. However, with respect to each
mechanism, the four-year period shall not include any periods in which
the utility is prohibited from collecting any charges under the
adjustment mechanism, or any period for which charges collected under the
adjustment mechanism must be fully refunded. In the event a court
determines that the adjustment mechanism is unlawful and all moneys
collected thereunder are fully refunded, the utility shall be relieved of
any obligation under that adjustment mechanism to file a rate case;

(4) In the case of an adjustment mechanism submitted under subsection 1
or 2 of this section, includes provisions for prudence reviews of the
costs subject to the adjustment mechanism no less frequently than at
eighteen-month intervals, and shall require refund of any imprudently
incurred costs plus interest at the utility's short-term borrowing rate.

5. Once such an adjustment mechanism is approved by the commission under
this section, it shall remain in effect until such time as the commission
authorizes the modification, extension, or discontinuance of the
mechanism in a general rate case or complaint proceeding.

6. Any amounts charged under any adjustment mechanism approved by the
commission under this section shall be separately disclosed on each
customer bill.

7. The commission may take into account any change in business risk to
the corporation resulting from implementation of the adjustment mechanism
in setting the corporation's allowed return in any rate proceeding, in
addition to any other changes in business risk experienced by the
corporation.

8. In the event the commission lawfully approves an incentive- or
performance-based plan, such plan shall be binding on the commission for
the entire term of the plan. This subsection shall not be construed to
authorize or prohibit any incentive- or performance-based plan.

9. Prior to August 28, 2005, the commission shall have the authority to
promulgate rules under the provisions of chapter 536, RSMo, as it deems
necessary, to govern the structure, content and operation of such rate
adjustments, and the procedure for the submission, frequency,
examination, hearing and approval of such rate adjustments. Such rules
shall be promulgated no later than one hundred fifty days after the
initiation of such rulemaking proceeding. Any electrical, gas, or water
corporation may apply for any adjustment mechanism under this section
whether or not the commission has promulgated any such rules.

10. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed as affecting any
existing adjustment mechanism, rate schedule, tariff, incentive plan, or
other ratemaking mechanism currently approved and in effect.

11. Each of the provisions of this section is severable. In the event any
provision or subsection of this section is deemed unlawful, all remaining
provisions shall remain in effect.

12. The provisions of this section shall take effect on January 1, 2006,
and the commission shall have previously promulgated rules to implement
the application process for any rate adjustment mechanism under this
section prior to the commission issuing an order for any rate adjustment.

13. The public service commission shall appoint a task force, consisting
of all interested parties, to study and make recommendations on the cost
recovery and implementation of conservation and weatherization programs
for electrical and gas corporations. (L. 2005 S.B. 179)

All rates, tolls, charges, schedules and joint rates fixed by
the commission shall be in force and shall be prima facie lawful, and all
regulations, practices and services prescribed by the commission shall be
in force and shall be prima facie lawful and reasonable until found
otherwise in a suit brought for that purpose pursuant to the provisions
of this chapter. (RSMo 1939 § 5702)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5246; 1919 § 10534

1. Every order, authorization or certificate issued or approved
by the commission under any provision of this chapter shall be in writing
and entered on the records of the commission. Any such order,
authorization or certificate, or any part thereof, or a copy of the
record of any such order, authorization or certificate, certified by a
commissioner or by the secretary under the seal of the commission to be a
true copy of the original order, authorization, certificate or entry, may
be recorded in the office of the recorder of any county or city, in which
is located the principal office and place of business of any corporation,
person or public utility affected thereby, or in which is situated any
property of any such corporation, person or public utility, and such
record shall impart notice of its provisions to all persons. A
certificate under the seal of the commission that any such order,
authorization or certificate has not been modified, stayed, suspended or
revoked may also be recorded in the same offices in the same manner and
with the same effect.

2. Every public utility shall have an office in this state, in which all
accounts, records, memoranda, books and papers carried in pursuance of
the requirements of law shall be kept. No such accounts, records,
memoranda, books or papers shall at any time be removed from the state
except upon such conditions as may be prescribed by the commission. (RSMo
1939 § 5696)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5240; 1919 § 10528

Copies of all official documents and orders filed or deposited
according to law in the office of the commission, certified by a
commissioner or by the secretary of the commission to be true copies of
the originals, under the official seal of the commission, shall be
evidence in like manner as the originals. (RSMo 1939 § 5596)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5140; 1919 § 10429

1. The commission may adopt rules establishing charges for
copies of papers and records, official documents and orders filed with
the commission, certificates under seal, certified copies of the annual
report of the commission, certified copies of evidence and proceedings
taken before the commission, the transmission by electronic transmittal
of papers, records, evidence and transcripts, diskettes and other
documents or papers for which requests for copies are received. Fees
charged for copies of papers and records shall comply with the provisions
of section 610.026, RSMo Supp. 1993.

2. For certificate authorizing an issue of bonds, notes or other
evidences of indebtedness, the commission shall charge one dollar for
each thousand dollars of the face value of the authorized issue, or
fraction thereof, up to one million dollars, and fifty cents for each one
thousand dollars over one million dollars and up to ten million dollars,
and twenty-five cents for each one thousand dollars over ten million
dollars, with a minimum fee in any case of twenty-five dollars; provided,
that no fee shall be charged when such issue is made for the purpose of
guaranteeing, taking over, refunding, discharging or retiring any bond,
note or other evidence of indebtedness up to the amount of the issue
guaranteed, taken over, refunded, discharged or retired.

3. No fees shall be charged or collected for copies of papers, records or
official documents furnished to public officers for use in their official
capacity, or for the annual reports of the commission in the ordinary
course of distribution, but the commission may fix reasonable charges for
publications issued under its authority. All fees charged and collected
under this section shall be paid, at least once each month, accompanied
by a detailed statement thereof, to the state director of revenue.

4. All fees collected pursuant to subsection 1 of this section shall be
deposited to the credit of the fund of the commission from which the
expenses of furnishing the copies listed in subsection 1 of this section
are paid and shall be used by the commission to offset such expenses. All
fees collected pursuant to subsection 2 of this section shall be
forwarded as provided by law for deposit in the state's general revenue
fund. (RSMo 1939 § 5597, A.L. 1947 V. I p. 463, A.L. 1984 H.B. 1477, A.L.
1995 S.B. 64)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5141; 1919 § 10430

1. The commission shall have power, after a hearing had upon its
own motion or upon complaint, by general or special orders, rules or
regulations, or otherwise, to require every person, corporation,
municipal gas system and public utility to maintain and operate its line,
plant, system, equipment, apparatus, and premises in such manner as to
promote and safeguard the health and safety of its employees, customers,
and the public, and to this end to prescribe, among other things, the
installation, use, maintenance and operation of appropriate safety and
other devices or appliances, to establish uniform or other standards of
equipment, and to require the performance of any other act which the
health or safety of its employees, customers or the public may demand,
including the power to minimize retail distribution electric line
duplication for the sole purpose of providing for the safety of employees
and the general public in those cases when, upon complaint, the
commission finds that a proposed retail distribution electric line cannot
be constructed in compliance with commission safety rules. The commission
may waive the requirements for notice and hearing and provide for
expeditious issuance of an order in any case in which the commission
determines that the failure to do so would result in the likelihood of
imminent threat of serious harm to life or property, provided that the
commission shall include in such an order an opportunity for hearing as
soon as practicable after the issuance of such order.

2. The commission shall not make any rule, regulation, decree or order
with respect to allocation of territory or territorial rights among
electric suppliers pursuant to sections 386.310 and 394.160, RSMo.

3. For the purposes of gas pipeline safety regulation, the jurisdiction,
supervision, powers and duties created and established by this chapter
will extend to the following:

(1) Operators and owners of distribution systems where natural gas,
excluding petroleum gas, is measured by a single meter and distributed to
other users within a single structure or to multiple structures;

(2) Operators and owners of high pressure pipelines which are supplied,
directly or indirectly, by an intrastate and interstate pipeline, where
natural gas, excluding petroleum gas, is supplied to the owner or
operator of the high pressure pipeline solely for consumption by the
owner or operator;

(3) Intrastate natural gas facilities owned and operated by interstate
natural gas pipeline companies serving direct sales customers would be
subject to enforcement of federally mandated pipeline safety standards;
and

(4) Operators and owners of gas plants where natural gas is supplied
directly or indirectly, other than for consumption by and on the property
of the supplier, to institutional buildings including, but not limited
to, schools and hospitals. (RSMo 1939 § 5695, A.L. 1979 H.B. 186, A.L.
1989 H.B. 938, A.L. 1996 S.B. 589 merged with S.B. 780)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5239; 1919 § 10527

1. In establishing public utility rates, the commission shall
not reduce or otherwise change any wage rate, benefit, working condition,
or other term or condition of employment that is the subject of a
collective bargaining agreement between the public utility and a labor
organization. Additionally, the commission shall not disallow or refuse
to recognize the actual level of expenses the utility is required by
Financial Accounting Standard 106 to record for postretirement employee
benefits for all the utility's employees, including retirees, if the
assumptions and estimates used by a public utility in determining the
Financial Accounting Standard 106 expenses have been reviewed and
approved by the commission, and such review and approval shall be based
on sound actuarial principles.

2. A public utility which uses Financial Accounting Standard 106 shall be
required to use an independent external funding mechanism that restricts
disbursements only for qualified retiree benefits. In no event shall any
funds remaining in such funding mechanism revert to the utility after all
qualified benefits have been paid; rather, the funding mechanism shall
include terms which require all funds to be used for employee or retiree
benefits. This section shall not in any manner be construed to limit the
authority of the commission to set rates for any service rendered or to
be rendered that are just and reasonable pursuant to sections 392.240,
393.140 and 393.150, RSMo.

3. Any public utility which was the subject of a rate proceeding
resulting in the issuance of a report and order subsequent to January 1,
1993, and prior to August 28, 1994, directing or permitting the
establishment of new rates by such utility, may file one set of tariffs
modifying its rates to reflect the revenue requirement associated with
the utility's expenses for postretirement employee benefits other than
pensions, as determined by Financial Accounting Standard 106, including
the utility's transition benefit obligation, regardless of whether the
deferral or immediate expense recognition method was used, if such
utility is funding the full extent of its Financial Accounting Standard
106 obligation at the time such tariffs are filed. The tariffs shall
reflect the annual level of expenses as determined in accordance with
Financial Accounting Standard 106. The commission may suspend such
tariffs for no longer than one hundred fifty days to examine the
assumptions and estimates used and to review and approve the expenses
required by Financial Accounting Standard 106, including an amortization
of the transition benefit obligation over no greater amortization period
than twenty years based upon sound actuarial principles, and to address
any rate design issues associated with the utility's Financial Accounting
Standard 106-based revenue requirement. The commission shall not examine
any other revenue requirement issues. (L. 1993 S.B. 289, A.L. 1994 H.B.
1405)

1. The commission shall have the general supervision of all
telegraph corporations or telephone corporations, and telegraph and
telephone lines, as herein defined, and shall have power to and shall
examine the same and keep informed as to their general condition, their
capitalization, their franchises and the manner in which their lines and
property, owned, leased, controlled or operated are managed, conducted
and operated, not only with respect to the adequacy, security and
accommodation afforded by their service, but also with respect to their
compliance with all the provisions of law, orders and decisions of the
commission and charter and franchise requirements.

2. The commission shall have power, either through its members or
responsible engineers or inspectors or employees duly authorized by it,
to enter in and upon and to inspect the property, equipment, buildings,
plants, factories, powerhouses, offices, apparatus, machines, devices and
lines of any of such corporations or persons.

3. The commission and each commissioner shall have power to examine all
books, contracts, records, documents and papers of any person or
corporation subject to its supervision, and by subpoena duces tecum to
compel production thereof. In lieu of requiring production of originals
by subpoena duces tecum, the commission or any commissioner may require
sworn copies of any such books, records, documents, contracts and papers
or parts thereof to be filed with it. (RSMo 1939 §§ 5619, 5667, A. 1949
H.B. 2099, A.L. 1996 S.B. 780)

Prior revisions: 1929 §§ 5163, 5211; 1919 §§ 10452, 10499

CROSS REFERENCES: Rural electric cooperatives, regulations of commission
applicable, RSMo 394.160 Telegraph and telephone companies generally,
Chap. 392, RSMo

1. The commission may, of its own motion, investigate or make
inquiry, in a manner to be determined by it, as to any act or thing done
or omitted to be done by any telecommunications company subject to its
supervision, and the commission shall make such inquiry in regard to any
act or thing done or omitted to be done by any such public utility,
person or corporation in violation of any provision of law or in
violation of any order or decision of the commission.

2. Complaints may be made to the commission by the public counsel or any
person or corporation aggrieved, by petition or complaint, in writing,
setting forth any thing or act done or omitted to be done by any
telecommunications company in violation, or claimed to be in violation,
of any provision of law or of the terms and conditions of its franchise
or charter or of any order or decision of the commission. Upon the
presentation of such a complaint the commission shall cause a copy
thereof to be forwarded to the public utility, person or corporation
complained of, which may be accompanied by an order, directed to such
public utility, person or corporation, requiring that the matters
complained of be satisfied, or that the charges be answered in writing
within a time to be specified by the commission. If the public utility,
person or corporation complained of shall make reparation for any injury
alleged and shall cease to commit, or to permit, the violation of law,
franchise, order or decision charged in the complaint, and shall notify
the commission of that fact before the time allowed for answer, the
commission need take no further action on the charges. If, however, the
charges contained in such petition be not thus satisfied, and it shall
appear to the commission that there are reasonable grounds therefor, it
shall investigate such charges in such manner and by such means as it
shall deem proper, and take such action within its powers as the facts
justify.

3. Whenever the commission shall investigate any matter complained of by
the public counsel or by any person or corporation aggrieved by any act
or omission of a telecommunications company under this section, it shall
be its duty, within sixty days after final submission, to make and file
an order either dismissing the petition or complaint or directing the
public utility, person or corporation complained of to satisfy the cause
of complaint in whole or to the extent which the commission may specify
and require.

4. Notwithstanding the power of the commission over telecommunications
companies, the commission shall not have jurisdiction over complaints
concerning yellow page listings and advertisements; however, this
subsection shall not be construed in any manner to limit the commission's
authority in the ratemaking process to impute to the telecommunications
company the revenues and costs of the telecommunications company's parent
corporation, affiliated corporations, subsidiary corporations or
divisions to the extent that those revenues and costs are associated with
yellow page listings or advertisements in the state of Missouri. The
commission shall not have jurisdiction over complaints concerning the
rates charged by a telephone cooperative for providing telecommunications
service within an exchange or within a local calling scope as determined
by the commission, except the rates for providing exchange access
service. (RSMo 1939 §§ 5622, 5669, A. 1949 H.B. 2099, A.L. 1977 H.B. 42 &
157, A.L. 1985 S.B. 376, A.L. 1988 S.B. 481, A.L. 1991 S.B. 269, A.L.
1996 S.B. 630 merged with S.B. 780)

Prior revisions: 1929 §§ 5166, 5213; 1919 §§ 10455, 10501

1. Whenever the commission shall be of the opinion that a public
utility, municipal gas system, person or corporation is failing or
omitting or about to fail or omit to do anything required of it by law or
by order or decision of the commission, or is doing anything or about to
do anything or permitting anything or about to permit anything to be
done, contrary to or in violation of law or of any order or decision of
the commission, it shall direct the general counsel to the commission to
commence an action or proceeding in any circuit court of the state of
Missouri in the name of the commission for the purpose of having such
violations or threatened violations stopped and prevented either by
mandamus or injunctions. The commission's general counsel shall thereupon
begin such action or proceeding by a petition to such court alleging the
violation complained of and praying for appropriate relief by way of
mandamus or injunction. Such relief shall not be limited to permanent
forms of mandamus and injunction, but shall include all available forms
of injunction and mandamus, including temporary restraining orders,
preliminary injunctions, permanent injunctions, preliminary orders of
mandamus, and permanent orders of mandamus.

2. It shall thereupon be the duty of the court to specify the time, not
exceeding thirty days after service of a copy of the petition, within
which the public utility, person, municipal gas system or corporation
complained of, must answer the petition in cases where an answer is
contemplated by Missouri Rules of Court. In case of default in answer or
after answer, the court shall immediately inquire into the facts and
circumstances in such manner as the court shall direct without other or
formal pleadings, and without respect to any technical requirement.

3. Such other persons, public utilities, municipal gas systems or
corporations as the court shall deem necessary or proper to join as
parties in order to make its order, judgment or writs effective may be
joined as parties upon application of the commission's general counsel.

4. The final judgment in any such action or proceeding shall either
dismiss the action or proceeding or direct that a writ of mandamus or an
injunction, or both, issue as prayed for in the petition or in such
modified or other form as the court may determine will afford appropriate
relief. (RSMo 1939 §§ 5641, 5661, 5683, A. 1949 H.B. 2099, A.L. 1967 p.
578, A.L. 1977 H.B. 42 & 157, A.L. 1989 H.B. 938)

Prior revisions: 1929 §§ 5185, 5205, 5227; 1919 §§ 10473, 10493, 10515

Effective 6-13-89

1. The commission shall, prior to the beginning of each fiscal
year beginning with the fiscal year commencing on July 1, 1947, make an
estimate of the expenses to be incurred by it during such fiscal year
reasonably attributable to the regulation of public utilities as provided
in chapters 386, 392 and 393, RSMo, and shall also separately estimate
the amount of such expenses directly attributable to such regulation of
each of the following groups of public utilities: Electrical
corporations, gas corporations, water corporations, heating companies and
telephone corporations, telegraph corporations, sewer corporations, and
any other public utility as defined in section 386.020, as well as the
amount of such expenses not directly attributable to any such group.

2. The commission shall allocate to each such group of public utilities
the estimated expenses directly attributable to the regulation of such
group and an amount equal to such proportion of the estimated expenses
not directly attributable to any group as the gross intrastate operating
revenues of such group during the preceding calendar year bears to the
total gross intrastate operating revenues of all public utilities subject
to the jurisdiction of the commission, as aforesaid, during such calendar
year. The commission shall then assess the amount so allocated to each
group of public utilities, subject to reduction as herein provided, to
the public utilities in such group in proportion to their respective
gross intrastate operating revenues during the preceding calendar year,
except that the total amount so assessed to all such public utilities
shall not exceed one-fourth of one percent of the total gross intrastate
operating revenues of all utilities subject to the jurisdiction of the
commission.

3. The commission shall render a statement of such assessment to each
such public utility on or before July first and the amount so assessed to
each such public utility shall be paid by it to the director of revenue
in full on or before July fifteenth next following the rendition of such
statement, except that any such public utility may at its election pay
such assessment in four equal installments not later than the following
dates next following the rendition of said statement, to wit: July
fifteenth, October fifteenth, January fifteenth and April fifteenth. The
director of revenue shall remit such payments to the state treasurer.

4. The state treasurer shall credit such payments to a special fund,
which is hereby created, to be known as "The Public Service Commission
Fund", which fund, or its successor fund created pursuant to section
33.571, RSMo, shall be devoted solely to the payment of expenditures
actually incurred by the commission and attributable to the regulation of
such public utilities subject to the jurisdiction of the commission, as
aforesaid. Any amount remaining in such special fund or its successor
fund at the end of any fiscal year shall not revert to the general
revenue fund, but shall be applicable by appropriation of the general
assembly to the payment of such expenditures of the commission in the
succeeding fiscal year and shall be applied by the commission to the
reduction of the amount to be assessed to such public utilities in such
succeeding fiscal year, such reduction to be allocated to each group of
public utilities in proportion to the respective gross intrastate
operating revenues of the respective groups during the preceding calendar
year.

5. In order to enable the commission to make the allocations and
assessments herein provided for, each public utility subject to the
jurisdiction of the commission as aforesaid shall file with the
commission, within ten days after August 28, 1996, and thereafter on or
before March thirty-first of each year, a statement under oath showing
its gross intrastate operating revenues for the preceding calendar year,
and if any public utility shall fail to file such statement within the
time aforesaid the commission shall estimate such revenue which estimate
shall be binding on such public utility for the purpose of this section.
(RSMo 1939 § 5706, A.L. 1947 V. I p. 469, A.L. 1957 p. 507, A.L. 1965 p.
588, A.L. 1967 p. 578, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1078, A.L. 1996 S.B. 780)

Prior revision: 1929 § 5250

CROSS REFERENCE: Public service commission fund abolished subject to
exemption, RSMo 33.571

All taxes and costs of financing taxes which are paid subsequent
to August 1, 1992, by a public utility, as defined in chapter 386, RSMo,
on real property in the rate base of the public utility caused by a
reclassification of personal property to real property may be recoverable
in the service rates of the public utility, and the public service
commission shall utilize administrative remedies available to it under
statute and previous commission orders to consider the recoverability of
such tax rates. (L. 1991 H.B. 608 § 1)

*Transferred 1993; formerly 368.371

1. All proceedings of the commission and all documents and
records in its possession shall be public records. The commission shall
make and submit to the governor on or before the second Monday in January
in each year a report containing a full and complete account of its
transactions and proceedings for the preceding fiscal year, together with
such other facts, suggestions and recommendations as it may deem of value
to the people of the state, which report shall be laid before the next
succeeding legislature.

2. The commission shall conduct a hearing and take testimony relative to
any pending legislation with respect to any person, corporation or matter
within the jurisdiction of the commission, if requested to do so by the
legislature or by either branch thereof or by the governor, and shall
report its conclusions to the legislature, or to the governor if the
request was made by him. The commission may also recommend the enactment
of such legislation with respect to any matter within its jurisdiction as
it deems wise or necessary in the public interest. (RSMo 1939 § 5594)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5138; 1919 § 10427

1. Complaint may be made by the commission of its own motion, or
by the public counsel or any corporation or person, chamber of commerce,
board of trade, or any civic, commercial, mercantile, traffic,
agricultural or manufacturing association or organization, or any body
politic or municipal corporation, by petition or complaint in writing,
setting forth any act or thing done or omitted to be done by any
corporation, person or public utility, including any rule, regulation or
charge heretofore established or fixed by or for any corporation, person
or public utility, in violation, or claimed to be in violation, of any
provision of law, or of any rule or order or decision of the commission;
provided, that no complaint shall be entertained by the commission,
except upon its own motion, as to the reasonableness of any rates or
charges of any gas, electrical, water, sewer, or telephone corporation,
unless the same be signed by the public counsel or the mayor or the
president or chairman of the board of aldermen or a majority of the
council, commission or other legislative body of any city, town, village
or county, within which the alleged violation occurred, or not less than
twenty-five consumers or purchasers, or prospective consumers or
purchasers, of such gas, electricity, water, sewer or telephone service.

2. All matters upon which complaint may be founded may be joined in one
hearing, and no motion shall be entertained against a complaint for
misjoinder of causes of action or grievances or misjoinder or nonjoinder
of parties; and in any review by the courts of orders or decisions of the
commission the same rule shall apply with regard to the joinder of causes
and parties as herein provided.

3. The commission shall not be required to dismiss any complaint because
of the absence of direct damage to the complainant. Upon the filing of a
complaint, the commission shall cause a copy thereof to be served upon
the public utility, corporation or person complained of.

4. Service in all hearings, investigations and proceedings pending before
the commission may be made upon any person upon whom summons may be
served in accordance with the provisions of the code of civil procedure
of this state, and may be made personally or by mailing in a sealed
envelope with postage prepaid.

5. The commission shall fix the time when and the place where a hearing
will be had upon the complaint and shall serve notice thereof, not less
than ten days before the time set for such hearing, unless the commission
shall find that the public necessity requires that such hearing be held
at an earlier date. (RSMo 1939 § 5686, A.L. 1967 p. 578, A.L. 1977 H.B.
42 & 157)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5230; 1919 § 10518

(1976) File and suspend method of seeking rate increase by utility did
not result in denial of due process of law or equal protection to utility
consumers. State ex rel. Jackson v. Public Service Commission (Mo.), 532
S.W.2d 20.

(1976) Sections 386.390 and 393.260 specifically enumerate the parties
qualified to file a complaint as to the reasonableness of a utility's
rates and charges, and utilities the right to file complaints only on
matters other than as to reasonableness of their rates. State ex. rel.
Jackson County v. Public Service Commission (Mo.), 532 S.W.2d 20.

Any corporation, person or public utility shall have the right
to complain on any of the grounds upon which complaints are allowed to be
filed by other parties, and the same procedure shall be adopted and
followed as in other cases, except that the complaint may be served upon
any parties designated by the commission. (RSMo 1939 § 5687, A.L. 1977
H.B. 42 & 157)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5231; 1919 § 10519

(1976) This section was intended to give public utilities the right to
file complaints only on matters other than as to the reasonableness of
their rates. State ex rel. Jackson County v. Public Service Commission
(Mo.), 532 S.W.2d 20.

1. All hearings before the commission or a commissioner shall be
governed by rules to be adopted and prescribed by the commission. And in
all investigations, inquiries or hearings the commission or commissioner
shall not be bound by the technical rules of evidence.

2. No formality in any proceeding nor in the manner of taking testimony
before the commission or any commissioner shall invalidate any order,
decision, rule or regulation made, approved or confirmed by the
commission. (RSMo 1939 § 5600, A.L. 1947 V. I p. 463, A.L. 1977 H.B. 42 &
157, A.L. 1996 S.B. 780)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5144; 1919 § 10433

1. At the time fixed for any hearing before the commission or a
commissioner, or the time to which the same may have been continued, the
complainant, the public counsel and the corporation, person or public
utility complained of, and such corporations and persons as the
commission may allow to intervene, shall be entitled to be heard and to
introduce evidence. The commission shall issue process to enforce the
attendance of all necessary witnesses.

2. Whenever an investigation shall be made by the commission, it shall be
its duty, to make a report in writing in respect thereto, which shall
state the conclusions of the commission, together with its decision,
order or requirement in the premises. The commission or any commissioner
or any party may, in any investigation or hearing before the commission,
cause the deposition of witnesses residing within or without the state to
be taken in the manner prescribed by law for like depositions in civil
actions in the circuit courts of this state and to that end may compel
the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, waybills,
documents, papers, memoranda and accounts. Witnesses whose depositions
are taken as provided in this section and the officer taking the same
shall severally be entitled to the same fees as are paid for like
services in the circuit courts of this state.

3. If an order cannot, in the judgment of the commission, be complied
with within thirty days, the commission may grant and prescribe such
additional time as in its judgment is reasonably necessary to comply with
the order, and may, on application and for good cause shown, extend the
time for compliance fixed in its order.

4. A full and complete record shall be made of all proceedings before the
commission or any commissioner on any formal hearing had, and all
testimony shall be taken down by a reporter appointed by the commission,
and the parties shall be entitled to be heard in person or by attorney.
Preparation of a printed transcript may be waived by unanimous consent of
all the parties. In case of an action to review any order or decision of
the commission, a transcript of such testimony, together with all
exhibits or copies thereof introduced and all information secured by the
commission on its own initiative and considered by it in rendering its
order or decision, and of the pleadings, record and proceedings in the
cause, shall constitute the record of the commission; provided, that on
review of an order or decision of the commission, the petitioner and the
commission may stipulate that a certain question or questions alone and a
specified portion only of the evidence shall be certified to the circuit
court for its judgment, whereupon such stipulation and the question or
questions and the evidence therein specified shall constitute the record
on review. (RSMo 1939 § 5688, A.L. 1977 H.B. 42 & 157, A.L. 1978 H.B.
1634, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1315)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5232; 1919 § 10520

Effective 7-10-90

CROSS REFERENCE: Administrative procedure and review, Chap. 536, RSMo

(1960) Commission did not abuse its discretion in denying application of
water user and protestant against allowance of water rate increase to be
made a party to the proceedings since he had no interest in the case
different from that of the general public. Smith v. Public Service
Commission of Missouri (Mo.), 336 S.W.2d 491.

In all trials, actions, suits and proceedings arising under the
provisions of this chapter or growing out of the exercise of the
authority and powers granted herein to the commission, the burden of
proof shall be upon the party adverse to such commission or seeking to
set aside any determination, requirement, direction or order of said
commission, to show by clear and satisfactory evidence that the
determination, requirement, direction or order of the commission
complained of is unreasonable or unlawful as the case may be. (RSMo 1939
§ 5703)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5247; 1919 § 10535

1. All subpoenas shall be signed and issued by a commissioner or
by the secretary of the commission, and shall extend to all parts of the
state, and may be served by any person authorized to serve process of
courts of record or by any person of full age designated for that purpose
by the commission or by a commissioner. The person executing any such
process shall receive the fees now prescribed by law for similar services
in civil cases in the circuit courts in this state, and shall be paid in
the same manner as provided herein for the payment of the fees of the
witnesses. Each witness who shall appear before the commission or a
commissioner by its or his order, shall receive for his attendance the
fees and mileage now provided for witnesses in civil cases in the circuit
courts of this state, which shall be audited and paid by the state in the
same manner as other expenses of the commission are audited and paid,
upon the presentation of proper vouchers sworn to by such witnesses and
approved by the commission.

2. Whenever a subpoena is issued at the instance of a complainant,
respondent, or other party, except the public counsel to any proceeding
before the commission, the cost of service thereof and the fee of the
witness shall be borne by the party at whose instance the witness is
summoned. Any witness subpoenaed except one whose fees and mileage may be
paid from the funds of the commission may, at the time of service, demand
the fee to which he is entitled for travel to and from the place at which
he is required to appear, and one day's attendance. If such witness
demands such fees at the time of service, and they are not at that time
paid or tendered, he shall not be required to attend before the
commission or commissioner, as directed in the subpoena. No witness
furnished with free transportation shall receive mileage for the distance
he may have traveled on such free transportation.

3. It shall be the duty of every public officer, without exacting or
receiving charge or fee of any kind, to furnish to the commission, or the
public counsel, upon application, a certified copy of any document or
part thereof, on file in his office, and no public officer shall be
entitled to receive from the commission or the public counsel any fee for
entering, filing, docketing or recording any document required or
authorized by law to be filed in his office.

4. Each witness who appears under subpoena before the commission or a
commissioner at the instance of the public counsel shall receive for his
attendance the fees and mileage now provided for witnesses in civil cases
in the circuit courts of this state, which shall be audited and paid by
the state in the same manner as other expenses of the public counsel are
audited and paid, upon the presentation of proper vouchers sworn to by
such witnesses and approved by the public counsel. (RSMo 1939 § 5598,
A.L. 1977 H.B. 42 & 157)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5142; 1919 § 10431

At the request of the public counsel and upon good cause shown
by him the commission shall require or on its own initiative the
commission may require, by order served upon any corporation, person or
public utility in the manner provided herein for the service of orders,
the production within this state at such time and place as it may
designate, of any books, accounts, papers or records kept by said
corporation, person or public utility in any office or place within or
without this state, or, at its option, verified copies in lieu thereof,
so that an examination thereof may be made by the public counsel when the
order is issued at his request or by the commission or under its
direction. (RSMo 1939 § 5700, A.L. 1977 H.B. 42 & 157)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5244; 1919 § 10532

If a person subpoenaed to appear before the commission or a
commissioner fails to obey the command of such subpoena, without
reasonable cause, or if a person in attendance upon the commission or a
commissioner shall, without a reasonable cause, refuse to be sworn or to
be examined, or answer a question, or to produce a book or paper when
ordered to do so by the commission or a commissioner, or to subscribe or
swear to his deposition after it has been correctly produced in writing,
he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be punished by a fine of
not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars or
by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by both
such fine and imprisonment, and may be prosecuted therefor in any court
of competent jurisdiction; and in case of a continuing violation each
day's continuance thereof shall be and be deemed to be a separate and
distinct offense. (RSMo 1939 § 5599)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5143; 1919 § 10432

No person shall be excused from testifying or from producing any
books or papers in any investigation or inquiry by or upon any hearing
before the commission or any commissioner, when ordered to do so by the
commission, upon the ground that the testimony or evidence, books or
documents required of him may tend to incriminate him or subject him to
penalty or forfeiture, but no person shall be prosecuted, punished or
subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any act,
transaction, matter or thing concerning which he shall under oath have
testified or produced documentary evidence; provided, however, that no
person so testifying shall be exempt from prosecution or punishment for
any perjury committed by him in his testimony. Nothing herein contained
is intended to give, or shall be construed as in any manner giving unto
any corporation immunity of any kind. (RSMo 1939 § 5704)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5248; 1919 § 10536

No information furnished to the commission by a corporation,
person or public utility, except such matters as are specifically
required to be open to public inspection by the provisions of this
chapter, or chapter 610, RSMo, shall be open to public inspection or made
public except on order of the commission, or by the commission or a
commissioner in the course of a hearing or proceeding. The public counsel
shall have full and complete access to public service commission files
and records. Any officer or employee of the commission or the public
counsel or any employee of the public counsel who, in violation of the
provisions of this section, divulges any such information shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor. (RSMo 1939 § 5699, A.L. 1977 H.B. 42 & 157)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5243; 1919 § 10531

1. Every order of the commission shall be served upon every
person or corporation to be affected thereby, either by personal delivery
of a certified copy thereof, or by mailing a certified copy thereof, in a
sealed package with postage prepaid, to the person to be affected
thereby, or, in the case of a corporation, to any officer or agent
thereof upon whom a summons may be served in accordance with the
provisions of the code of civil procedure.

2. It shall be the duty of every person and corporation to notify the
commission forthwith, in writing, of the receipt of the certified copy of
every order so served, and in the case of a corporation such notification
must be signed and acknowledged by a person or officer duly authorized by
the corporation to admit such service. Within a time specified in the
order of the commission every person and corporation upon whom it is
served must if so required in the order notify the commission in like
manner whether the terms of the order are accepted and will be obeyed.

3. Every order or decision of the commission shall of its own force take
effect and become operative thirty days after the service thereof, except
as otherwise provided, and shall continue in force either for a period
which may be designated therein or until changed or abrogated by the
commission, unless such order be unauthorized by this law or any other
law or be in violation of a provision of the constitution of the state or
of the United States. (RSMo 1939 § 5601)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5145; 1919 § 10434

1. After an order or decision has been made by the commission,
the public counsel or any corporation or person or public utility
interested therein shall have the right to apply for a rehearing in
respect to any matter determined therein, and the commission shall grant
and hold such rehearing, if in its judgment sufficient reason therefor be
made to appear; if a rehearing shall be granted the same shall be
determined by the commission within thirty days after the same shall be
finally submitted.

2. No cause or action arising out of any order or decision of the
commission shall accrue in any court to any corporation or the public
counsel or person or public utility unless that party shall have made,
before the effective date of such order or decision, application to the
commission for a rehearing. Such application shall set forth specifically
the ground or grounds on which the applicant considers said order or
decision to be unlawful, unjust or unreasonable. The applicant shall not
in any court urge or rely on any ground not so set forth in its
application for rehearing.

3. An application for a rehearing shall not excuse any corporation or
person or public utility from complying with or obeying any order or
decision or any requirement of an order or decision of the commission, or
operate in any manner to stay or postpone the enforcement thereof except
as the commission may by order direct.

4. If, after a rehearing and a consideration of the facts, including
those arising since the making of the order or decision, the commission
shall be of the opinion that the original order or decision or any part
thereof is in any respect unjust or unwarranted, or should be changed,
the commission may abrogate, change or modify the same. An order made
after any such rehearing, abrogating, changing or modifying the original
order or decision shall have the same force and effect as an original
order or decision but shall not affect any right or the enforcement of
any right arising from or by virtue of the original order or decision.
(RSMo 1939 § 5689, A.L. 1977 H.B. 42 & 157)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5233; 1919 § 10521

Within thirty days after the application for a rehearing is
denied, or, if the application is granted, then within thirty days after
the rendition of the decision on rehearing, the applicant may apply to
the circuit court of the county where the hearing was held or in which
the commission has its principal office for a writ of certiorari or
review (herein referred to as a writ of review) for the purpose of having
the reasonableness or lawfulness of the original order or decision or the
order or decision on rehearing inquired into or determined. The writ
shall be made returnable not later than thirty days after the date of the
issuance thereof, and shall direct the commission to certify its record
in the case to the court. On the return day the cause shall be heard by
the circuit court, unless for a good cause shown the same be continued.
No new or additional evidence may be introduced upon the hearing in the
circuit court but the cause shall be heard by the court without the
intervention of a jury on the evidence and exhibits introduced before the
commission and certified to by it. The commission and each party to the
action or proceeding before the commission shall have the right to appear
in the review proceedings. Upon the hearing the circuit court shall enter
judgment either affirming or setting aside the order of the commission
under review. In case the order is reversed by reason of the commission
failing to receive testimony properly proffered, the court shall remand
the cause to the commission, with instructions to receive the testimony
so proffered and rejected, and enter a new order based upon the evidence
theretofore taken, and such as it is directed to receive. The court may,
in its discretion, remand any cause which is reversed by it to the
commission for further action. No court in this state, except the circuit
courts to the extent herein specified and the supreme court or the court
of appeals on appeal, shall have jurisdiction to review, reverse, correct
or annul any order or decision of the commission or to suspend or delay
the executing or operation thereof, or to enjoin, restrain or interfere
with the commission in the performance of its official duties. The
circuit courts of this state shall always be deemed open for the trial of
suits brought to review the orders and decisions of the commission as
provided in the public service commission law and the same shall be tried
and determined as suits in equity. (RSMo 1939 § 5690, A.L. 1961 p. 413,
A.L. 1973 S.B. 263) Prior revisions: 1929 § 5234; 1919 § 10522

(1960) On second appeal from orders of commission refusing authority to
discontinue operation of two local passenger trains where facts were
substantially the same as on prior appeal, the prior opinion that order
was unreasonable and arbitrary was the law of the case. State ex rel.
C.R.I. & P. Ry. Co. v. Public Service Commission (Mo.), 335 S.W.2d 182.

(1962) Order of commission requiring telephone company to construct at a
cost of more than $300,000, two exchanges to furnish nontoll dial service
to serve area outside its certificated franchise area was unreasonable as
unsupported by substantial evidence with respect to company's ability to
finance the project. State ex rel. Bolivar Telephone Co. v. Public
Service Commission (Mo.), 357 S.W.2d 96.

(1963) County residents who had sufficient interest to institute one
proceeding before public service commission to require one telephone
company to provide service in area and to intervene in consolidated
proceedings by two other contesting telephone companies seeking authority
to serve the disputed area, had right to judicial review of commission's
final orders in the consolidated proceedings. State ex rel. Summers v.
Public Service Commission (A.), 366 S.W.2d 738.

(1973) Held no jurisdiction in circuit court to enjoin utility from
collecting rate set by commission when court was not "of the county where
the hearing was held or in which the commission has its principal
office." State ex rel. Spanish Lake Service, Inc. v. Luten (A.), 500
S.W.2d 46.

(1974) Held that order prohibiting all gas and electric companies from
soliciting business by making cash payments and other inducement was an
"original order or decision" and this section provides exclusive method
of review. Union Electric Co. v. Clark (Mo.), 511 S.W.2d 822.

(2000) Circuit court lacks jurisdiction to review interlocutory orders of
Public Service Commission denying motions to dismiss. State ex rel.
Riverside Pipeline Co., L.P. v. Public Service Commission of State of
Missouri, 26 S.W.3d 396 (Mo.App.W.D.).

(2001) Section does not require notice of petition for review to
interested parties and thus violates constitutional right of due process.
In re Osage Water Company, 51 S.W.3d 58 (Mo.App. W.D.).

Prior to August 28, 2001, in proceedings before the Missouri
public service commission, consistent with the decision of the supreme
court of Missouri in State ex rel. Anderson Motor Service Co., Inc. v.
Public Service Commission, 97 S.W.2d 116 (Mo. banc 1936) the review
procedure provided for in section 386.510 is exclusive to any other
procedure. An application for rehearing is required to be served on all
parties and is a prerequisite to the filing of an application for writ of
review. The application for rehearing puts the parties to the proceeding
before the commission on notice that a writ of review can follow and any
such review may proceed without formal notification or summons to said
parties. On and after August 28, 2001, the review procedure provided for
in section 386.510 continues to be exclusive except that a copy of any
such writ of review shall be provided to each party to the proceeding
before the commission, or his or her attorney of record, by hand delivery
or by registered mail, and proof of such delivery or mailing shall be
filed in the case as provided by subsection 2 of section 536.110, RSMo.
(L. 2001 S.B. 267)

1. The pendency of a writ of review shall not of itself stay or
suspend the operation of the order or decision of the commission, but
during the pendency of such writ, the circuit court in its discretion may
stay or suspend, in whole or in part, the operation of the commission's
order or decision. No order so staying or suspending an order or decision
of the commission shall be made by any circuit court otherwise than on
three days' notice and after hearing, and if the order or decision of the
commission is suspended the same shall contain a specific finding based
upon evidence submitted to the court and identified by reference thereto,
that great or irreparable damage would otherwise result to the petitioner
and specifying the nature of the damage. In case the order or decision of
the commission is stayed or suspended, the order or judgment of the court
shall not become effective until a suspending bond shall first have been
executed and filed with, and approved by, the circuit court, payable to
the state of Missouri, and sufficient in amount and security to secure
the prompt payment, by the party petitioning for the review, of all
damages caused by the delay in the enforcement of the order or decision
of the commission, and of all moneys which any person or corporation may
be compelled to pay, pending the review proceedings, for transportation,
transmission, product, commodity or service in excess of the charges
fixed by the order or decision of the commission, in case such order or
decision is sustained.

2. The circuit court, in case it stays or suspends the order or decision
of the commission in any manner affecting rates, fares, tolls, rentals,
charges or classifications, shall also by order direct the corporation,
person or public utility affected to pay into court, from time to time,
there to be impounded until the final decision of the case, or into some
bank or trust company paying interest on deposits, under such conditions
as the court may prescribe, all sums of money which it may collect from
any corporation or person in excess of the sum such corporation or person
would have been compelled to pay if the order or decision of the
commission had not been stayed or suspended.

3. In case any circuit court stays or suspends any order or decision of
the commission lowering any rate, fare, toll, rental, charge or
classification, upon the execution and approval of said suspending bond,
shall forthwith require the corporation, person or public utility
affected, under penalty of the immediate enforcement of the order or
decision of the commission, pending the review and notwithstanding the
suspending order, to keep such accounts, verified by oath, as may, in the
judgment of the court, suffice to show the amounts being charged or
received by such corporation, person or public utility, pending the
review, in excess of the charges allowed by the order or decision of the
commission, together with the names and addresses of the corporations and
persons to whom overcharges will be refundable in case the charges made
by the corporation, person or public utility, pending the review, be not
sustained by the circuit court; provided, that street railroad
corporations shall not be required to keep a record of the names and
addresses of such persons paying such overcharge of fares, but such
street railroad corporations shall give to such persons printed receipts
showing such overcharges of fares, the form of such printed receipts to
be approved by the commission.

4. The court may, from time to time, require said party petitioning for a
review to give additional security on, or to increase, the said
suspending bond, whenever in the opinion of the court the same may be
necessary to secure the prompt payment of said damages or said
overcharges.

5. Upon the decision of the circuit court, all moneys which the
corporation, person or public utility may have collected pending the
appeal, in excess of those authorized by such decision, together with
interest, in case the court ordered the deposit of such moneys in a bank
or trust company, shall be promptly paid to the corporations or persons
entitled thereto, in such manner and through such methods of distribution
as may be prescribed by the court, unless an appeal be granted such
corporation, person or public utility, as herein provided. (RSMo 1939 §
5691, A. 1949 H.B. 2099)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5235; 1919 § 10523

CROSS REFERENCE: Unclaimed deposits in court to escheat to state, Chap.
470, RSMo

(1951) Subsections 2, 3 and 5 of this section apply only in cases wherein
an order reducing rates is under review. State ex. rel. Kansas City v.
P.S.C., 362 Mo. 786, 244 S.W.2d 110.

All actions or proceedings under this or any other chapter, and
all actions and proceedings commenced or prosecuted by order of the
commission, and all actions and proceedings to which the commission, the
public counsel or the state may be parties, and in which any question
arises under this or any other chapter, or under or concerning any order
or decision or action of the commission, shall be preferred over all
other civil causes except election contests in all the circuit courts of
the state of Missouri, and shall be heard and determined in preference to
all other civil business pending therein except election contests,
irrespective of position on the calendar. The same preference shall be
granted upon application of the public counsel or the commission counsel
in any action or proceeding in which either or both may be allowed to
intervene. (RSMo 1939 § 5692, A.L. 1977 H.B. 42 & 157)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5236; 1919 § 10524

1. The commission and any party, including the public counsel,
who has participated in the commission proceeding which produced the
order or decision may, after the entry of judgment in the circuit court
in any action in review, prosecute an appeal to a court having appellate
jurisdiction in this state. Such appeal shall be prosecuted as appeals
from judgment of the circuit court in civil cases except as otherwise
provided in this chapter. The original transcript of the record and
testimony and exhibits, certified to by the commission and filed in the
circuit court in any action to review an order or decision of the
commission, together with a transcript of the proceedings in the circuit
court, shall constitute the record on appeal to the supreme court or any
court of appeals.

2. Where an appeal is taken to the supreme court or the court of appeals,
the cause shall, on the return of the papers to the supreme court or
court of appeals, be immediately placed on the docket of the then pending
term by the clerk of the court and shall be assigned and brought to a
hearing in the same manner as other causes on the then pending term
docket, but shall have precedence over all civil causes of a different
nature pending in the court. No appeal shall be effective when taken by a
corporation, person or public utility unless a cost bond of appeal in the
sum of five hundred dollars shall be filed within ten days after the
entry of judgment in the circuit court appealed from.

3. The circuit court may in its discretion suspend its judgment pending
the hearing in the supreme court or court of appeals on appeal, upon the
filing of a bond by the corporation, person or public utility with good
and sufficient security conditioned as provided for bonds upon actions
for review and by further complying with all terms and conditions of this
law for the suspension of any order or decision of the commission pending
the hearing or review in the circuit court. This bond shall be in
addition to the cost bond heretofore provided in this section.

4. The general laws relating to appeals to the supreme court and the
court of appeals in this state shall, so far as applicable and not in
conflict with the provisions of this chapter, apply to appeals taken
under the provisions of this chapter. (RSMo 1939 § 5693, A.L. 1973 S.B.
263, A.L. 1977 H.B. 42 & 157)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5237; 1919 § 10525

(1967) Provisions requiring filing of cost bond within ten days of
rendition of judgment in circuit court on review of decision of public
service commission are for the protection of the commission, and are
directory, not mandatory. State v. Public Service Commission of Missouri
(A.), 414 S.W.2d 322.

In all collateral actions or proceedings the orders and
decisions of the commission which have become final shall be conclusive.
(RSMo 1939 § 5694)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5238; 1919 § 10526

(1955) Public service commission had power to require city of third class
to pay part of costs of installations at street crossings and its order
could not be questioned in action by railroad against city to recover
such part. Wabash R. Co. v. City of Wellston (Mo.), 379 S.W.2d 208.

(1964) Ruling of court limiting the authority granted water company by
prior order of public service commission to area described in county
franchise did not constitute collateral attack on the order in violation
of this section since it in no way questions validity of the order but
acknowledged its validity. State ex rel. Public Water Supply District No.
2 of Jackson County v. Burton (Mo.), 379 S.W.2d 593.

Any person who shall willfully make any false entry in the
accounts, books of account, records or memoranda kept by any corporation,
person or public utility governed by the provisions of this chapter, or
who shall willfully destroy, mutilate, alter or by any other means or
device falsify the record of any such account, book of accounts, record
or memoranda, or who shall willfully neglect or fail to make full, true
and correct entries of such account, book of accounts, record or
memoranda of all facts and transactions appertaining to the business of
such corporations, persons or public utilities, or who shall falsely make
any statement required to be made to the public service commission, in
which a penalty has not heretofore been provided for, shall be deemed
guilty of a felony, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of
not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars,
or by imprisonment for not less than two years nor more than five years,
or by both such fine and imprisonment; provided, that the commission may,
in its discretion, issue orders specifying such operating, accounting or
financial papers, records, books, blanks, tickets, stubs or documents, of
carriers which may after a reasonable time be destroyed, and prescribing
the length of time such books, papers or documents shall be preserved;
and provided further, that such orders shall be in harmony with those of
the Interstate Commerce Commission. (RSMo 1939 § 5708)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5252; 1919 § 10539

1. Any corporation, person or public utility which violates or
fails to comply with any provision of the constitution of this state or
of this or any other law, or which fails, omits or neglects to obey,
observe or comply with any order, decision, decree, rule, direction,
demand or requirement, or any part or provision thereof, of the
commission in a case in which a penalty has not herein been provided for
such corporation, person or public utility, is subject to a penalty of
not less than one hundred dollars nor more than two thousand dollars for
each offense.

2. Every violation of the provisions of this or any other law or of any
order, decision, decree, rule, direction, demand or requirement of the
commission, or any part or portion thereof, by any corporation or person
or public utility is a separate and distinct offense, and in case of a
continuing violation each day's continuance thereof shall be and be
deemed to be a separate and distinct offense.

3. In construing and enforcing the provisions of this chapter relating to
penalties, the act, omission or failure of any officer, agent or employee
of any corporation, person or public utility, acting within the scope of
his official duties of employment, shall in every case be and be deemed
to be the act, omission or failure of such corporation, person or public
utility. (RSMo 1939 § 5710)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5254; 1919 § 10541

Every officer, agent or employee of any corporation or public
utility, who violates or fails to comply with, or who procures, aids or
abets any violation by any corporation, person or public utility of any
provision of the constitution of this state or of this or any other law,
or who fails to obey, observe or comply with any order, decision, decree,
rule, direction, demand or requirement, or any part or provision thereof,
of the commission, or who procures, aids or abets any corporation, person
or public utility in their or its failure to obey, observe and comply
with any such order, decision, decree, rule, direction, demand or
requirement, or any part or provision thereof, in a case in which a
penalty has not herein been provided for such officer, agent or employee,
is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine not exceeding one
thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one
year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. (RSMo 1939 § 5711)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5255; 1919 § 10542

All penalties accruing under this chapter shall be cumulative of
each other, and the suit for the recovery of one penalty shall not be a
bar to or affect the recovery of any other penalty or forfeiture or be a
bar to any original prosecution against any corporation, person or public
utility, or any officer, director, agent or employee thereof. (RSMo 1939
§ 5709)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5253; 1919 § 10540

An action to recover a penalty or a forfeiture under this
chapter or to enforce the powers of the commission under this or any
other law may be brought in any circuit court in this state in the name
of the state of Missouri and shall be commenced and prosecuted to final
judgment by the general counsel to the commission. No filing or docket
fee shall be required of the general counsel. In any such action all
penalties and forfeitures incurred up to the time of commencing the same
may be sued for and recovered therein, and the commencement of an action
to recover a penalty or forfeiture shall not be, or be held to be, a
waiver of the right to recover any other penalty or forfeiture; if the
defendant in such action shall prove that during any portion of the time
for which it is sought to recover penalties or forfeitures for a
violation of an order or decision of the commission the defendant was
actually and in good faith prosecuting a suit to review such order or
decision in the manner as provided in this chapter, the court shall remit
the penalties or forfeitures incurred during the pendency of such
proceeding. All moneys recovered as a penalty or forfeiture shall be paid
to the public school fund of the state. Any such action may be
compromised or discontinued on application of the commission upon such
terms as the court shall approve and order. (RSMo 1939 § 5685, A.L. 1977
H.B. 42 & 157)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5229; 1919 § 10517

(1964) The venue of actions to recover penalties or forfeitures, when
instituted by summons, is determined by the provisions of section
501.010, RSMo. State v. Thompson (A.), 379 S.W.2d 824.

A substantial compliance with the requirements of this chapter
shall be sufficient to give effect to all the rules, orders, acts and
regulations of the commission, and they shall not be declared
inoperative, illegal or void for any omission of a technical nature in
respect thereto. The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally
construed with a view to the public welfare, efficient facilities and
substantial justice between patrons and public utilities. (RSMo 1939 §
5707)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 5251; 1919 § 10538

The director of the department of economic development shall
appoint a public counsel to serve at the pleasure of the director of the
department. The public counsel shall be an attorney at law licensed to
practice law in this state and whose salary shall be fixed by the
department director within the appropriation made therefor. (L. 1977 H.B.
42 & 157)

1. The public counsel shall have the following powers and duties:

(1) He shall employ a staff or hire on a contract basis such employees
and experts as are necessary to carry out the purposes and
responsibilities of his office, and shall set their compensation within
the appropriation made for that purpose;

(2) He may represent and protect the interests of the public in any
proceeding before or appeal from the public service commission;

(3) He shall have discretion to represent or refrain from representing
the public in any proceeding. He shall consider in exercising his
discretion the importance and the extent of the public interest involved
and whether that interest would be adequately represented without the
action of his office. If the public counsel determines that there are
conflicting public interests involved in a particular matter, he may
choose to represent one such interest based upon the considerations of
this section, to represent no interest in that matter, or to represent
one interest and certify to the director of the department of economic
development that there is a significant public interest which he cannot
represent without creating a conflict of interest and which will not be
protected by any party to the proceeding. The director of the department
shall select an attorney, to be paid from funds appropriated for this
purpose, to represent that segment of the public certified to him by the
public counsel as unrepresented. Nothing in this section shall be
construed to limit the right of any person, firm or corporation specified
in subsection 1 of section 386.390 to petition or make complaint to the
commission or otherwise intervene in proceedings or other matters before
the commission.

2. The public counsel shall be served with all proposed tariffs, initial
pleadings, and applications, in all proceedings before the public service
commission, and shall be served with a copy of all orders of the
commission.

3. Nothing in sections 386.071, 386.150, 386.155, 386.170, 386.200,
386.330, 386.360, 386.390, 386.400, 386.410, 386.420, 386.440, 386.450,
386.480, 386.500, 386.530, 386.540, 386.600, 386.700 and 386.710, shall
be construed or interpreted to mean that the public counsel shall not
have the right to appeal any and all orders of the public service
commission to the courts which right of appeal exists and has existed
since the time of transfer as provided in section 386.500.

4. He shall have all powers necessary or proper to carry out the duties
specified in this section. (L. 1977 H.B. 42 & 157)

For the purposes of sections 386.754 to 386.764, the following
terms mean:

(1) "Affiliate", any entity not regulated by the public service
commission which is owned, controlled by or under common control with a
utility and is engaged in HVAC services;

(2) "HVAC services", the warranty, sale, lease, rental, installation,
construction, modernization, retrofit, maintenance or repair of heating,
ventilating and air conditioning equipment;

(3) "Utility", an electrical corporation, gas corporation or heating
company, as defined in section 386.020;

(4) "Utility contractor", a person, including an individual, corporation,
firm, incorporated or unincorporated association or other business or
legal entity, that contracts, whether in writing or not in writing, with
a utility to engage in or assist any entity in engaging in HVAC services,
but does not include employees of a utility. (L. 1998 H.B. 1038)

1. Except by an affiliate, a utility may not engage in HVAC
services, unless otherwise provided in subsection 7 or 8 of this section.

2. No affiliate or utility contractor may use any vehicles, service
tools, instruments, employees, or any other utility assets, the cost of
which are recoverable in the regulated rates for utility service, to
engage in HVAC services unless the utility is compensated for the use of
such assets at cost to the utility.

3. A utility may not use or allow any affiliate or utility contractor to
use the name of such utility to engage in HVAC services unless the
utility, affiliate or utility contractor discloses, in plain view and in
bold type on the same page as the name is used on all advertisements or
in plain audible language during all solicitations of such services, a
disclaimer that states the services provided are not regulated by the
public service commission.

4. A utility may not engage in or assist any affiliate or utility
contractor in engaging in HVAC services in a manner which subsidizes the
activities of such utility, affiliate or utility contractor to the extent
of changing the rates or charges for the utility's regulated services
above or below the rates or charges that would be in effect if the
utility were not engaged in or assisting any affiliate or utility
contractor in engaging in such activities.

5. Any affiliates or utility contractors engaged in HVAC services shall
maintain accounts, books and records separate and distinct from the
utility.

6. The provisions of this section shall apply to any affiliate or utility
contractor engaged in HVAC services that is owned, controlled or under
common control with a utility providing regulated utility service in this
state or any other state.

7. A utility engaging in HVAC services in this state five years prior to
August 28, 1998, may continue providing, to existing as well as new
customers, the same type of services as those provided by the utility
five years prior to August 28, 1998. The provisions of this section only
apply to the area of service which the utility was actually supplying
service to on a regular basis prior to August 28, 1993. The provisions of
this section shall not apply to any subsequently expanded areas of
service made by a utility through either existing affiliates or
subsidiaries or through affiliates or subsidiaries purchased after August
28, 1993, unless such services were being provided in the expanded area
prior to August 28, 1993.

8. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to prohibit a
utility from providing emergency service, providing any service required
by law or providing a program pursuant to an existing tariff, rule or
order of the public service commission.

9. A utility that violates any provision of this section is guilty of a
civil offense and may be subject to a civil penalty of up to twelve
thousand five hundred dollars for each violation. The attorney general
may enforce the provisions of this section pursuant to any powers granted
to him or her pursuant to any relevant provisions provided by Missouri
statutes or the Missouri Constitution.

10. Any utility claiming an exemption as provided in subsection 7 of this
section shall comply with all applicable state and local laws, ordinances
or regulations relating to the installation or maintenance of HVAC
systems including all permit requirements. A continuing pattern of
failure to comply with said requirements shall provide the basis for a
finding by any court of competent jurisdiction or the public service
commission that the utility has waived its claim of exemption pursuant to
subsection 7 of this section. (L. 1998 H.B. 1038, A.L. 2003 H.B. 208)

1. The public service commission shall have full authority to
administer and ensure compliance with sections 386.754 to 386.764,
provided that the commission shall not impose, by rule or otherwise,
requirements regarding HVAC services that are inconsistent with or in
addition to those set forth in sections 386.754 to 386.764 or with
requirements set forth in section 386.315.

2. No rule or portion of a rule promulgated pursuant to the provisions of
sections 386.754 to 386.764 shall become effective unless it has been
promulgated pursuant to the provisions of chapter 536, RSMo. (L. 1998
H.B. 1038)

The public service commission shall have authority to:

(1) Review, inspect and audit books, accounts and other records kept by a
utility or affiliate for the sole purpose of ensuring compliance with
sections 386.754 to 386.764 and make findings available to the
commission; and

(2) Investigate the operations of a utility or affiliate and their
relationship to each other for the sole purpose of ensuring compliance
with sections 386.754 to 386.764. (L. 1998 H.B. 1038)

Nothing in sections 386.754 to 386.764 shall be construed as
modifying existing legal standards regarding which party has the burden
of proof in commission proceedings. (L. 1998 H.B. 1038)

1. No municipally owned electric utility may provide electric
energy at retail to any structure located outside the municipality's
corporate boundaries after July 11, 1991, unless:

(1) The structure was lawfully receiving permanent service from the
municipally owned electric utility prior to July 11, 1991; or

(2) The service is provided pursuant to an approved territorial agreement
under section 394.312, RSMo;

(3) The service is provided pursuant to lawful municipal annexation and
subject to the provisions of this section; or

(4) The structure is located in an area which was previously served by an
electrical corporation regulated under chapter 386, and chapter 393,
RSMo, and the electrical corporation's authorized service territory was
contiguous to or inclusive of the municipality's previous corporate
boundaries, and the electrical corporation's ownership or operating
rights within the area were acquired in total by the municipally owned
electrical system prior to July 11, 1991. In the event that a municipally
owned electric utility in a city with a population of more than one
hundred twenty-five thousand located in a county of the first class not
having a charter form of government and not adjacent to any other county
of the first class desires to serve customers beyond the authorized
service territory in an area which was previously served by an electrical
corporation regulated under the provisions of chapter 386, and chapter
393, RSMo, as provided in this subdivision, the municipally owned utility
shall apply to the public service commission for an order assigning
nonexclusive service territories. The proposed service area shall be
contiguous to the authorized service territory which was previously
served by an electrical corporation regulated under the provisions of
chapter 386, and chapter 393, RSMo, as a condition precedent to the
granting of the application. The commission shall have one hundred twenty
days from the date of application to grant or deny the requested order.
The commission may grant the order upon a finding that granting of the
applicant's request is not detrimental to the public interest. In
granting the applicant's request the commission shall give due regard to
territories previously granted to other electric suppliers.

2. Any municipally owned electric utility may extend, pursuant to lawful
annexation, its service territory to include any structure located within
a newly annexed area which has not received permanent service from
another supplier within ninety days prior to the effective date of the
annexation.

3. When a municipally owned electric utility desires to extend its
service territory to include any structure located within a newly annexed
area which has received permanent service from another supplier within
ninety days prior to the effective date of the annexation, it shall:

(1) Notify by publication in a newspaper of general circulation the
record owner of said structure, and notify in writing any affected
electric supplier and the public service commission, within sixty days
after the effective date of the annexation its desire to extend its
service territory to include said structure; and

(2) Within six months after the effective date of the annexation receive
the approval of the municipality's governing body to begin negotiations
pursuant to section 394.312, RSMo, with any affected electric supplier.

4. Upon receiving approval from the municipality's governing body
pursuant to subsection 3 of this section, the municipally owned electric
utility and the affected electric supplier shall meet and negotiate in
good faith the terms of the territorial agreement and any transfers or
acquisitions, including, as an alternative, granting the affected
electric supplier a franchise or authority to continue providing service
in the annexed area. In the event that the affected electric supplier
does not provide wholesale electric power to the municipality, if the
affected electric supplier so desires, the parties shall also negotiate,
consistent with applicable law, regulations and existing power supply
agreements, for power contracts which would provide for the purchase of
power by the municipality from the affected electric supplier for an
amount of power equivalent to the loss of any sales to customers
receiving permanent service at structures within the annexed areas which
are being sought by the municipally owned electric utility. The parties
shall have no more than one hundred eighty days from the date of
receiving approval from the municipality's governing body within which to
conclude their negotiations and file their territorial agreement with the
commission for approval under the provisions of section 394.312, RSMo.
The time period for negotiations allowed under this subsection may be
extended for a period not to exceed one hundred eighty days by a mutual
agreement of the parties and a written request with the public service
commission.

5. For purposes of this section, the term "fair and reasonable
compensation" shall mean the following:

(1) The present-day reproduction cost, new, of the properties and
facilities serving the annexed areas, less depreciation computed on a
straight-line basis; and

(2) An amount equal to the reasonable and prudent cost of detaching the
facilities in the annexed areas and the reasonable and prudent cost of
constructing any necessary facilities to reintegrate the system of the
affected electric supplier outside the annexed area after detaching the
portion to be transferred to the municipally owned electric utility; and

(3) Four hundred percent of gross revenues less gross receipts taxes
received by the affected electric supplier from the twelve-month period
preceding the approval of the municipality's governing body under the
provisions of subdivision (2) of subsection 3 of this section, normalized
to produce a representative usage from customers at the subject
structures in the annexed area; and

(4) Any federal, state and local taxes which may be incurred as a result
of the transaction, including the recapture of any deduction or credit;
and

(5) Any other costs reasonably incurred by the affected electric supplier
in connection with the transaction.

6. In the event the parties are unable to reach an agreement under
subsection 4 of this section, within sixty days after the expiration of
the time specified for negotiations, the municipally owned electric
utility may apply to the commission for an order assigning exclusive
service territories within the annexed area and a determination of the
fair and reasonable compensation amount to be paid to the affected
electric supplier under subsection 5 of this section. Applications shall
be made and notice of such filing shall be given to all affected parties
pursuant to the rules and regulations of the commission governing
applications for certificates of public convenience and necessity. Unless
otherwise ordered by the commission for good cause shown, the commission
shall rule on such applications not later than one hundred twenty days
after the application is properly filed with the secretary of the
commission. The commission shall hold evidentiary hearings to assign
service territory between affected electric suppliers inside the annexed
area and to determine the amount of compensation due any affected
electric supplier for the transfer of plant, facilities or associated
lost revenues between electric suppliers in the annexed area. The
commission shall make such determinations based on findings of what best
serves the public interest and shall issue its decision by report and
order. Review of such commission decisions shall be governed by sections
386.500 to 386.550. The payment of compensation and transfer of title and
operation of the facilities shall occur within ninety days after the
order and any appeal therefrom becomes final unless the order provides
otherwise.

7. In reaching its decision under subsection 6 of this section, the
commission shall consider the following factors:

(1) Whether the acquisition or transfers sought by the municipally owned
electric utility within the annexed area from the affected electric
supplier are, in total, in the public interest, including consideration
of rate disparities between the competing electric suppliers and issues
of unjust rate discrimination among customers of a single electric
supplier if the rates to be charged in the annexed areas are lower than
those charged to other system customers; and

(2) The fair and reasonable compensation to be paid by the municipally
owned electric utility, to the affected electric supplier with existing
system operations within the annexed area, for any proposed acquisitions
or transfers; and

(3) Any effect on system operation, including, but not limited to, loss
of load and loss of revenue; and

(4) Any other issues upon which the municipally owned electric utility
and the affected electric supplier might otherwise agree, including, but
not limited to, the valuation formulas and factors contained in
subsections 4, 5 and 6, of this section, even if the parties could not
voluntarily reach an agreement thereon under those subsections.

8. The commission is hereby given all necessary jurisdiction over
municipally owned electric utilities and rural electric cooperatives to
carry out the purposes of this section consistent with other applicable
law; provided, however, the commission shall not have jurisdiction to
compel the transfer of customers or structures with a connected load
greater than one thousand kilowatts. The commission shall by rule set
appropriate fees to be charged on a case-by-case basis to municipally
owned electric utilities and rural electric cooperatives to cover all
necessary costs incurred by the commission in carrying out its duties
under this section. (L. 1991 S.B. 221)

Effective 7-11-91

1. This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Consumer
Clean Energy Act".

2. As used in this section, the following terms mean:

(1) "Commission", the public service commission of the state of Missouri;

(2) "Customer-generator", a consumer of electric energy who purchases
electric energy from a retail electric energy supplier and is the owner
of a qualified net metering unit;

(3) "Local distribution system", facilities for the distribution of
electric energy to the ultimate consumer thereof;

(4) "Net energy metering", a measurement of the difference between the
electric energy supplied to a customer-generator by a retail electric
supplier and the electric energy generated by a customer-generator that
is delivered to a local distribution system at the same point of
interconnection;

(5) "Qualified net metering unit", an electric generation unit which:

(a) Is owned by a customer-generator;

(b) Is a hydrogen fuel cell or is powered by sun, wind or biomass;

(c) Has an electrical generating system with a capacity of not more than
one hundred kilowatts;

(d) Is located on the premises that are owned, operated, leased or
otherwise controlled by the customer-generator;

(e) Is interconnected and operates in parallel and in synchronization
with a retail electric supplier; and

(f) Is intended primarily to offset part or all of the
customer-generator's own electrical requirements;

(6) "Retail electric supplier" or "supplier", any person that sells
electric energy to the ultimate consumer thereof;

(7) "Value of electric energy", the total resulting from the application
of the appropriate rates, which may be time of use rates at the option of
the supplier, to the quantity of electric energy produced from qualified
net metering units or to the quantity of electric energy sold to
customer-generators.

3. By August 28, 2003, each retail electric supplier shall adopt rates,
charges, conditions and contract terms for the purchase from and the sale
of electric energy to customer-generators. The commission, in
consultation with the department and retail electric suppliers, shall
develop a simple contract for such transactions and make it available to
eligible customer-generators and retail electric suppliers. Upon
agreement of the wholesale generator supplying electric energy to the
retail electric supplier, at the option of the retail electric supplier,
the purchase from the customer-generator may be by the wholesale
generator. Any time of use or other rates charged for electric energy
sold to customer-generators shall be the same as those made available to
any other customers with the same net electric energy usage pattern
including minimum bills and service availability charges. Rates for
electric energy generated by the customer- generator from a qualified net
generating unit and sold to the retail electric supplier or its wholesale
generator shall be the avoided cost (time of use or nontime of use) of
the generation used by the retail electric supplier to serve its other
customers. Whenever a customer- generator with a qualified net generating
unit uses any energy generation method entitled to eligibility under a
minimum renewable energy generation requirement, the total amount of
energy generated by that method shall be treated as generated by the
generator providing electric energy to the retail electric supplier for
purposes of such requirement. The wholesale generator, at the option of
the retail electric supplier, shall receive credit for emissions avoided
by the wholesale generator because of electric energy purchased by the
wholesale generator or the retail electric supplier from a qualified net
metering unit. If the supplier is required to file tariffs with the
commission, the commission shall review the reasonableness of the charges
provided in such tariffs.

4. Each retail electric supplier shall calculate the net energy
measurement for a customer-generator in the following manner:

(1) The retail electric supplier shall individually measure both the
electric energy produced and the electric energy consumed by the
customer-generator during each billing period using an electric metering
capable of such function, either by a single meter capable of registering
the flow of electricity in two directions or by using multiple meters;

(2) If the value of the electric energy supplied by the retail electric
supplier exceeds the value of the electric energy delivered by the
customer-generator to the retail electric supplier during a billing
period, then the customer-generator shall be billed for the net value of
the electric energy supplied by the retail electric supplier in
accordance with the rates, terms and conditions established by the retail
electric supplier for customer-generators; and

(3) If the value of the electric energy generated by the
customer-generator exceeds the value of the electric energy supplied by
the retail electric supplier, then the customer-generator:

(a) Shall be billed for the appropriate customer charges for that billing
period; and

(b) Shall be credited for the excess value of the electric energy
generated and supplied to the retail electric supplier during the billing
period, with this credit appearing on the bill for the following billing
period.

5. A retail electric supplier shall not be required to provide net
metering service with respect to additional customer-generators after the
date during any calendar year on which the total generating capacity of
all customer-generators with qualified net metering units served by that
retail electric supplier is equal to or in excess of the lesser of ten
thousand kilowatts or one-tenth of one percent of the capacity necessary
to meet the company's aggregate customer peak demand for the preceding
calendar year.

6. Each retail electric supplier shall maintain and make available to the
public records of the total generating capacity of customer-generators of
the supplier that are using net metering, the type of generating systems
and energy source used by the electric generating systems which
customer-generators use. Each such retail electric supplier shall notify
the commission when the total generating capacity of such
customer-generators is equal to or in excess of the lesser of ten
thousand kilowatts or one-tenth of one percent of the capacity necessary
to meet the company's aggregate customer peak demand for the preceding
calendar year.

7. Each qualified net metering unit used by a customer-generator shall
meet all applicable safety, performance, synchronization, interconnection
and reliability standards established by the commission, the National
Electrical Safety Code, National Electrical Code, the Institute of
Electrical, Electronics Engineers, and Underwriters Laboratories. Each
qualified net metering unit used by a customer- generator shall also meet
all reasonable standards and requirements established by the retail
electric supplier to enhance employee, consumer and public safety and the
reliability of electric service to the customer-generator and other
consumers receiving electric service from the retail electric supplier.
Each qualified net metering unit used by a customer-generator shall also
comply with all applicable local building, electrical and safety codes.
The customer-generator shall obtain liability insurance coverage in
amounts and coverage as set by the commission by rule applicable to all
qualified net metering units.

8. The cost of meeting the standards of subsection 7 of this section and
any cost to install additional controls, to install additional metering,
to perform or pay for additional tests or analysis of the effect of the
operation of the qualified net metering unit on the local distribution
system shall be paid by the customer-generator.

9. Applications by a customer-generator for interconnection to the
distribution system shall include a copy of the plans and specifications
for the qualified net metering unit for review and acceptance by the
retail electric supplier. Prior to connection of the qualified net
metering unit to the distribution system, the customer-generator will
furnish the retail electric supplier a certification from a qualified
professional electrician or engineer that the installation meets the
requirements of subsection 7 of this section. Such applications shall be
reviewed and responded to by the retail electric supplier within ninety
days. If the application for interconnection is approved by the retail
electric supplier, the retail electric supplier shall complete the
interconnection within fifteen days if electric service already exists to
the premises, unless a later date is mutually agreeable to both the
customer-generator and the retail electric supplier.

10. The sale of qualified net metering units shall be subject to the
provisions of sections 407.700 to 407.720, RSMo. The attorney general
shall have the authority to promulgate in accordance with the provisions
of chapter 536, RSMo, rules regarding mandatory disclosures of
information by sellers of qualified net metering units. Such rules shall
as a minimum require disclosure or the standards of subsection 7 of this
section and potential liability of the owner or operator of a qualified
net metering unit to third persons for personal injury or property damage
as a result of negligent operation of a qualified net metering unit. Any
rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010,
RSMo, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall
become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the
provisions of chapter 536, RSMo, and, if applicable, section 536.028,
RSMo. This section and chapter 536, RSMo, are nonseverable and if any of
the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536,
RSMo, to review, to delay the effective date or to disapprove and annul a
rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking
authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2002, shall
be invalid and void. (L. 2002 H.B. 1402)

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