61-505. JOINT HEARINGS AND INVESTIGATIONS — RECIPROCITY — CONTRACTS WITH REGULATORY AGENCIES OF NEIGHBORING STATES. (1) The commission shall have full power and authority to make joint investigations, hold joint hearings within or without the state of Idaho with any official, board, commission, or agency of any state or of the United States, whether in the holding of the investigations or hearings the commission shall function under agreements or compacts between states or under the concurrent power of states to regulate the interstate commerce, or as an agency of the federal government, or otherwise.
(2) The commission shall have full power and authority to contract with the regulatory agencies of neighboring states to hold hearings and set rates and charges for customers in Idaho located in or nearby border communities served by utilities principally located in states other than Idaho. These contracts may have a term that extends beyond the terms of the current commissioners.
(3) The commission shall have this authority under subsection (2) of this section only if it finds that:
(a) The affected Idaho residents live in or nearby a border community that is or may be served by a utility principally located in a state other than Idaho;
(b) The provision of utility service to such a community by a utility located principally in a state other than Idaho is in the public interest;
(c) It is impractical or not in the public interest to conduct proceedings for these affected Idaho residents separate from proceedings conducted by the regulatory agency of the neighboring state for rate payers of that utility located in that state;
(d) The affected Idaho residents have full rights of participation in the hearings conducted by the regulatory agency with which the commission has contracted, as well as the same rights that customers in the neighboring state have to pursue service-related issues; and
(e) The rates, charges and service regulations for Idaho customers are not less favorable than those of similarly situated customers in the neighboring state.
(4) When the commission has entered into a contract authorized in subsection (2) of this section, the findings, decisions and orders of the regulatory agency of the neighboring state are presumptively correct and will take effect according to the terms of the order of the regulatory agency of the neighboring state. Affected Idaho customers may petition the commission for a review of the contract or the rates set under the contract upon a showing that:
(a) All remedies with the neighboring state’s utility have been exhausted;
(b) All remedies with the neighboring state’s regulatory agency with which the commission has signed a contract have been exhausted; and
(c) Idaho customers have been discriminatorily, preferentially or otherwise unlawfully treated by the regulatory agency of the neighboring state.
The commission, upon its preliminary finding that rates set by the regulatory agency of the neighboring state are prima facie discriminatory, preferential or otherwise unlawful, and that all remedies with the neighboring state’s utility and commission have been exhausted, may initiate proceedings to review the decision of the regulatory agency of the neighboring state. Any subsequent order of the commission altering the decision of the regulatory agency of the neighboring state will be of prospective effect only.
(5) The contract authorized in subsection (2) of this section, may be revoked if the commission finds that the affected Idaho residents have been unreasonably, discriminatorily, preferentially or otherwise unlawfully treated by the neighboring state’s regulatory agency.
History:
[(61-505) 1929, ch. 29, sec. 1, p. 31; I.C.A., sec. 59-505; rep. and reen. 1969, ch. 229, sec. 1, p. 737; am. 1982, ch. 258, sec. 1, p. 669; am. 1990, ch. 79, sec. 1, p. 161.]