                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

SUSPENSION OF PROPOSED RATES, ETC.; INVESTIGATION; EFFECTIVENESS OF RATES
PENDING INVESTIGATION AND SUBJECT TO BOND; FIXING REASONABLE RATES, ETC (§
56-238)

The Commission, either upon complaint or on its own motion, may suspend the
enforcement of any or all of the proposed rates, tolls, charges, rules or
regulations for schedules required to be filed under § 56-236 of any public
utility, except an investor-owned electric public utility, for a period not
exceeding 150 days, or if the public utility is an investor-owned water utility
not subject to Chapter 10.2:1 (§ 56-265.13:1 et seq.) for a period not
exceeding 180 days, from the date of filing, and the Commission shall suspend
the enforcement of all of the proposed rates, tolls, charges, rules or
regulations of an investor-owned electric public utility until the
Commission&#8217;s final order in the proceeding, during which times the
Commission shall investigate the reasonableness or justice of such proposed
rates, tolls, charges, rules and regulations and thereupon fix and order
substituted therefor such rates, tolls, charges, rules and regulations as shall
be just and reasonable. The Commission&#8217;s final order in such a proceeding
involving an investor-owned electric public utility that is filed after January
1, 2010, shall be entered not more than nine months after the date of filing, at
which time the suspension period shall expire, and any revisions in rates or
credits so ordered shall take effect not more than 60 days after the date of the
order. Notice of the suspension of any such proposed rate, toll, charge, rule or
regulation shall be given by the Commission to the public utility, prior to the
expiration of the 30 days&#8217; notice to the Commission and the public
heretofore provided for. If the proceeding has not been concluded and an order
made at the expiration of the suspension period, after notice to the Commission
by the public utility making the filing, the proposed rates, tolls, charges,
rules or regulations shall go into effect. Where increased rates, tolls or
charges are thus made effective, the Commission shall, by order, require the
public utility to furnish a bond, to be approved by the Commission, to refund
any amounts ordered by the Commission, to keep accurate accounts in detail of
all amounts received by reason of such increase, and upon completion of the
hearing and decision, to order such public utility to refund, with interest at a
rate set by the Commission, the portion of such increased rates, tolls or
charges by its decision found not justified. The Commission shall prescribe all
necessary rules and regulations to effectuate the purposes of this section on or
before September 1, 1980. This section shall not apply to proceedings conducted
pursuant to § 56-245 or 56-249.6.

HISTORY: Code 1919, § 4066; 1918, p. 674; 1924, p. 539; 1927, p. 123; 1980, c.
446; 2010, cc. 1, 2; 2011, cc. 738, 740; 2017, c. 619.