Sec 40-250. Hearing on rate or other change in operations by public service corporation; establishment of rates or other practices by order of commission; rates for telecommunications markets

A. No public service corporation shall raise any rate, fare, toll, rental or charge, or alter any classification, contract, practice, rule or regulation to result in any increase thereof, except upon a showing before the commission and a finding by the commission that an increase is justified. The showing before the commission by a public service corporation with gross operating revenues derived from intrastate operations of less than one million dollars, including the requested rate relief, by a telecommunications corporation or by a member-owned nonprofit cooperative corporation may be made with or without a hearing as determined by order or rule of the commission.

B. When any schedule is filed with the commission stating an individual or joint rate, fare, toll, rental, charge, classification, contract, practice, rule or regulation not increasing or resulting in an increase, the commission, without answer or other pleadings by the interested corporation, but upon reasonable notice, may conduct a hearing concerning the propriety of the rate, fare, toll, rental, charge, classification, contract, practice, rule or regulation, and pending the hearing and the decision thereon, it shall not go into effect. The period of suspension thereof shall not extend one hundred twenty days beyond the time when it would otherwise go into effect, unless the commission extends the period of suspension for a further period not exceeding six months.

C. On the hearing the commission shall by order establish the rates, fares, tolls, rentals, charges, classifications, contracts, practices, rules or regulations proposed, in whole or in part, or establish others in lieu thereof, that it finds just and reasonable, and that, if not suspended, shall, on the expiration of thirty days from the time of filing the order, or in such lesser time as the commission grants, become effective and be established, subject to the power of the commission to alter or modify the order.

D. In establishing just and reasonable rates in competitive long-distance telecommunications markets, the commission need not use exclusively the rate of return evaluation traditionally used in establishing rates for noncompetitive telecommunications markets but may consider other factors that the commission deems more appropriate for a long-distance competitive market. The commission may establish a rate for a particular service of a long-distance telecommunication corporation without a hearing and without reviewing all of the rates for all of the long-distance telecommunication corporation's services if the particular service is in a competitive market.