Legislative Requirements

 The complete TITLE 39: Public Utilities and Carriers

The section below (39-1-18) highlights the requirements which specifically pertain to this web site.

39-1-18. Hearings and records – Certified copies

(a) All hearings and orders of the commission and of the division, and the records thereof, shall be public and as such, any person shall be permitted to record all or any portion of a hearing by way of camera, video or tape recorder of any kind, unless a party to the hearing requests, and the chairperson or administrator grants the request, that such recording be prohibited for the protection of attorney-client privilege, confidentiality or other interest of the parties. All reports, records, files, books, and accounts in the possession of the commission or the division shall be open to inspection by the public at all reasonable times. The division may charge and collect reasonable fees for copies of official documents, orders, papers, and records, and for authenticating or certifying the same; provided that no fee shall be charged for single copies of official documents, orders, papers, and records, furnished to public officers of the state for use in their official capacity, nor for the annual reports in the ordinary course of distribution.

(b) Effective as of September 1, 2003, all filings made to the division or commission shall also be provided digitally in a manner established by the division. The commission may adopt rules exempting filings from this requirement provided that (i) no such exemption shall be made for filings by a state agency or by a utility serving fifty thousand (50,000) or more customers in the state and (ii) any filing so exempted shall be converted to digital format by the division so as to facilitate public access to such filings using the internet.

(c) In order to support the ability of the public and interested parties to stay informed of the activities of the commission and the division, and to promote awareness of utility restructuring, the division shall maintain a site on the internet through which the public may access:

(1) notices of and agendas of hearings;
(2) all filings that are available in digital format and that are not subject to protective orders;
(3) all orders, rules and regulations of the commission or administrator;
(4) announcements of, agendas for, and minutes of open meetings;
(5) a calendar of all forthcoming public meetings and hearings;
(6) current tariffs of all public utilities;
(7) a listing of all public utilities and nonregulated power producers, together with consumer contact information for each;
(8) consumer information on billing dispute resolution, retail access, conservation, and consumer assistance programs;
(9) demand side management programs available to residential, commercial and industrial customers;
(10) other information as the division deems relevant and useful to the public.