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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>81743</law_id><section_number>56-264.3</section_number><catch_line>Cost allocation and rate design</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="56">Public Service Companies</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="10">Heat, Light, Power, Water and Other Utility Companies Generally</unit><unit label="article" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="6">Water and Sewerage Companies</unit></structure><text>
						<section id="A"><p><span class="prefix-number">A.</span> The provisions of this section shall apply in any proceeding in which the <span class="dictionary">Commission</span> is required to determine, pursuant to &#xA7; <a class="law" title="Duty to furnish adequate service at reasonable and uniform rates" href="/56-234/">56-234</a>, if (i) <span class="dictionary">rates</span> charged by water and sewerage companies with fewer than 10,000 customer accounts, inclusive of their subsidiaries, are reasonable and just and (ii) customers using water and sewerage services under like conditions are being charged uniformly for such services. <a id="paragraph-292823" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/56-264.3/#A"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="B"><p><span class="prefix-number">B.</span> Any <span class="dictionary">rate</span> application or proposal submitted to the <span class="dictionary">Commission</span> that would allocate the revenue requirement of a water or sewerage <span class="dictionary">company</span> with fewer than 10,000 customer accounts, inclusive of their subsidiaries, among more than one class of customers shall be supported by a class cost-of-service study that is designed to allocate revenues on the basis of cost causation and to assign credit for contributions in aid of construction, not previously addressed in a utility acquisition transaction or the most recent approved <span class="dictionary">rate</span> case application, to the customer class that made the contributions. <a id="paragraph-292824" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/56-264.3/#B"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="C"><p><span class="prefix-number">C.</span> In setting <span class="dictionary">rates</span>, the <span class="dictionary">Commission</span> shall not find that any allocation of the revenue requirement to a particular class of customers that is greater than the portion of the revenue requirement that can be attributed to that class on the basis of a cost-of-service study of the type described in subsection B is just and reasonable unless the allocation is otherwise supported by substantial <span class="dictionary">evidence</span>. <a id="paragraph-292825" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/56-264.3/#C"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="D"><p><span class="prefix-number">D.</span> In any proceeding pursuant to &#xA7; <a class="law" title="Duty to furnish adequate service at reasonable and uniform rates" href="/56-234/">56-234</a> regarding the <span class="dictionary">rates</span> charged by water and sewerage companies, the revenues to be produced by <span class="dictionary">rates</span> as designed for any particular class of customers shall not provide an anticipated return on <span class="dictionary">equity</span> more than 25 percent greater or less than the return on <span class="dictionary">equity</span> used to set <span class="dictionary">rates</span> for the <span class="dictionary">company</span> as a whole, unless otherwise supported by clear and convincing <span class="dictionary">evidence</span>. The effect of this provision on class <span class="dictionary">rate</span> design shall not be considered in establishing the return on <span class="dictionary">equity</span> used to set <span class="dictionary">rates</span> for the <span class="dictionary">company</span> as a whole. <a id="paragraph-292826" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/56-264.3/#D"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>2019, c. 715.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
