South Carolina General Assembly
119th Session, 2011-2012
S. 944
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Senators Peeler and Hayes
Document Path: l:\council\bills\agm\19165ab11.docx
Introduced in the Senate on June 1, 2011
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary
Summary: Water or sewer service revised rate schedule
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date Body Action Description with journal page number
6/1/2011 Senate Introduced and read first time (Senate Journal-page 7)
6/1/2011 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary (Senate Journal-page 7)
View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
6/1/2011
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9 A BILL
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11 TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
12 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 58-5-267 SO AS TO REQUIRE
13 AS PART OF THE FILING OF A PROPOSED NEW OR
14 REVISED RATE SCHEDULE FOR WATER OR SEWER
15 SERVICE PROVIDED BY A PRIVATELY OWNED PUBLIC
16 UTILITY, THAT THE UTILITY SHALL MAKE CERTAIN
17 INDEPENDENTLY PREPARED AND AUDITED FINANCIAL
18 STATEMENTS REGARDING INDIVIDUAL AND
19 SEPARABLE OPERATING ENTITIES OF THE UTILITY.
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21 Whereas, some amount of subsidization based on the direct
22 operational sharing of certain aspects of public utility operations is
23 endemic. This sharing and the resultant effective subsidization is
24 fair and necessary within and among certain public utility
25 operating entities due to the necessary and practical sharing of
26 physical infrastructure such as pipes, pumps, hydrants, water
27 towers, lift stations, holding tanks, valves, and controls among the
28 customers of the utility; and
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30 Whereas, subsidization is not, in all cases, endemic, fair, and
31 necessary within and among the individual or a group of operating
32 entities of a public utility where the sharing of physical
33 infrastructure is not present or where the sharing of support
34 equipment, personnel, and facilities, or all of these are not present,
35 required, or reasonably accounted for separately; and
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37 Whereas, a separate accounting in the form of audited financial
38 statements, in the same form and for the same time period as are
39 provided for the consolidated operations of the utility as part of a
40 filing of a new or changed rate schedule, may be provided for the
41 operations of an individual and separable operating entity or
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1 entities of a privately owned public utility for the benefit and
2 knowledge of the public and the appropriate regulators; and
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4 Whereas, the rates charged by a private-public utility in the
5 operating area of an individual and separable operating entity or
6 entities must relate closely and directly to the investment, costs,
7 and revenues associated with that individual and separable
8 operating entity; and
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10 Whereas, the Public Service Commission, pursuant to Sections
11 58-5-290 and 58-5-300 of the 1976 Code, has the option and
12 implicit responsibility to correct rate structures which may be
13 “unjust, unreasonable,…discriminatory or preferential” and to
14 consider all facts that the commission believes to have a bearing
15 upon a proper determination of these rate structures. Now,
16 therefore,
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18 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South
19 Carolina:
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21 SECTION 1. Article 3, Chapter 5, Title 58 of the 1976 Code is
22 amended by adding:
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24 “Section 58-5-267. (A) In conjunction with and as a required
25 part of the filing of a new or changed rate schedule for water or
26 sewer service provided by a privately owned public utility, or if
27 requested by the Office of Regulatory Staff, or by the commission,
28 the utility shall provide to the public, the Office of Regulatory
29 Staff, and the commission:
30 (1) audited financial statements including balance sheet,
31 income and expense statement, and calculations of the rate base of
32 return for each operating division, subsidiary, or other individual
33 and separable operating entity or a group of these entities as
34 appropriate and as specified by the Office of Regulatory Staff or
35 the commission. The audited financial statements must be
36 provided:
37 (a) for an operating entity or a group of these entities
38 within a public utility that do not directly share physical
39 infrastructure such as hydrants, pipes, pumps, water towers, lift
40 stations, holding tanks, valves, or controls with other operating
41 entities within the utility, or where shared infrastructure reasonably
42 must be accounted for separately, without regard to whether the
43 operating entity or a group of these entities may share support
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1 equipment, operating personnel, management personnel, and
2 certain other operating facilities such as trucks, storage facilities,
3 account systems, corporate overhead, must be separated from the
4 consolidated form of the utility;
5 (b) notwithstanding the requirements of subitem (a), for
6 an operating entity or a group of these entities that, in the judgment
7 of the Office of Regulatory Staff or the commission, reasonably
8 must be separated from the consolidated form of the utility;
9 (c) in the same form and detail and for the same time
10 period as the consolidated statements of the utility that are
11 routinely provided as part of the filing of a new or changed rate
12 schedule; and
13 (d) as part of the procedure required in this item, in the
14 same form and detail, for the remainder of the utility covered
15 under the filing and not included in the financial statements
16 provided for the individual and separable operating entity or a
17 group of these entities as specified in this section; and
18 (2) audited consolidated financial statements for the utility
19 that include, in consolidated form, the data contained in the audited
20 financial statements provided for in item (1).
21 (B) The utility shall continue to make the specified and
22 requested financial statements as covered in subsection (A)
23 available to the public for two years:
24 (1) on the utility’s Internet website; and
25 (2) in each office the utility maintains in a county or
26 franchise district in which the utility operates or seeks a new or
27 changed rate schedule, or both.
28 (C) The Office of Regulatory Staff and the commission shall
29 make the financial statements required in subsection (A) available
30 for public inspection within twenty-four hours of receiving the
31 financial statements from the utility and shall continue to make the
32 financial statements available for two years:
33 (1) on their respective Internet websites; and
34 (2) in each office they maintain in this State.”
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36 SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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