Colorado § 40-6-108 - Complaints - service - notice of hearing - rules.

§ 40-6-108. Complaints - service - notice of hearing - rules.

(1) (a) Complaint may be made by the commission on its own motion or by any corporation, person, chamber of commerce, or board of trade, or by any civic, commercial, mercantile, traffic, agricultural, or manufacturing association or organization, or by any body politic or municipal corporation by petition or complaint in writing, setting forth any act or thing done or omitted to be done by any public utility, including any rule, regulation, or charge heretofore established or fixed by or for any public utility, in violation, or claimed to be in violation, of any provision of law or of any order or rule of the commission.

(b) No complaint shall be entertained by the commission, except upon its own motion, as to the reasonableness of any rates or charges of any gas, electric, water, or telephone public utility, unless the same is signed by the mayor or the president or chairman of the board of trustees or a majority of the council, commission, or other legislative body of the county, city and county, city, or town, if any, within which the alleged violation occurred, or not less than twenty-five customers or prospective customers of such public utility.

(c) All matters upon which complaint may be founded may be joined in one hearing, and no motion shall be entertained against a complaint for misjoinder of causes of action or grievances or misjoinder or nonjoinder of parties. In any review by the courts of orders or decisions of the commission, the same rule shall apply with regard to the joinder of causes and parties.

(d) The commission is not required to dismiss any complaint because of the absence of direct damage to the complainant.

(e) Upon the filing of any complaint, the commission shall cause a copy thereof to be served upon the person complained of, together with an order requiring such defendant to satisfy or answer said complaint within a time to be fixed by the commission.

(2) (a) Notice of all applications, petitions, and orders instituting investigations or inquiries shall be given to all persons, firms, or corporations who, in the opinion of the commission, are interested in, or who would be affected by, the granting or denial of any such application, petition, or other proceeding. Except for good cause shown, any person desiring to file an objection or intervene in or participate as a party in any such proceeding shall file his or her objection or petition for leave to intervene or, under such rules as the commission may prescribe, file other appropriate pleadings to become a party, within thirty days after the date of the notice, or such lesser time as the commission may prescribe. No final action shall be taken by the commission in any proceeding during the time any such filing is permitted.

(b) Any public utility giving notice of a proposed gas or electric tariff shall serve such notice upon the Colorado energy office or its successor agency. The office shall be granted leave to intervene as a matter of right, upon a timely filing of a petition or other pleading in accordance with this section, in adjudicatory matters affecting gas or electric utilities; except that the office shall not be a party to any individual complaint between a utility and an individual.

(3) (a) Service in all applications, petitions, complaints, hearings, investigations, and other proceedings pending before the commission may be made upon any person upon whom a summons may be served in accordance with the provisions of the Colorado rules of civil procedure or may be made personally or by first-class mail. In all cases wherein service is obtained by mail by the commission, the certificate of the director of the commission of the mailing is prima facie evidence that service has been obtained, and the time fixed in any order or notice commences to run from the date of mailing as shown in the certificate. The mailing of any notice or other paper by any other party to a proceeding shall be evidenced by the certificate of the person mailing the notice or other paper, and the time fixed in any notice or other paper commences to run from the date of mailing as shown in the certificate.

(b) The service described in this subsection (3) may instead be made electronically. If the service is made electronically, the electronic certificate of the director of the commission is prima facie evidence that service has been obtained, and the time fixed in an order or notice runs from the date of the electronic communication as shown in the certificate.

(4) The commission shall fix the time when and place where any hearing required by this title or by article 4 of title 24, C.R.S., will be had upon any application, complaint, petition, investigation, or other proceeding, and shall serve notice thereof to the parties not less than ten days before the time set for such hearing, unless the commission finds that public interest or necessity requires that any such hearing be held at an earlier date. The commission shall hold a hearing and issue a final order in complaint cases within two hundred ten days after the filing of testimony and exhibits by the complainant. In extraordinary circumstances, the commission may extend the time an additional ninety days following a hearing in which such extraordinary circumstances are established. The complainant may waive the time limits established in this section, in which case the time limits are not binding on the commission.

Source: L. 13: p. 493, § 45. C.L. § 2954. CSA: C. 137, § 45. L. 45: p. 528, § 6. CRS 53: § 115-6-8. C.R.S. 1963: § 115-6-8. L. 69: p. 943, § 40. L. 89: (2) and (4) amended, p. 1529, § 12, effective April 12. L. 93: (4) amended, p. 2064, § 17, effective July 1. L. 2003: (3) amended, p. 1707, § 22, effective May 14. L. 2008: (2) amended, p. 1796, § 14, effective July 1. L. 2012: (2)(b) amended, (HB 12-1315), ch. 224, p. 981, § 50, effective July 1. L. 2026: (3) amended, (HB 26-1326), ch. 210, p. 1218, § 11, effective August 12.

Editor's note: Section 50(2) of chapter 210 (HB 26-1326), Session Laws of Colorado 2026, provides that the act changing this section applies to conduct occurring on or after August 12, 2026.

Cross references: For service of summons, see Rule 4(e), Colorado rules of civil procedure.

ANNOTATION

This section authorizes a complaint to be made by the commission on its own motion and it may institute investigations or inquiries concerning violations of any of its rules or orders. Eveready Freight Serv., Inc. v. Pub. Utils. Comm'n, 131 Colo. 172, 280 P.2d 442 (1955); Peoples Natural Gas Div. v. Pub. Utils. Comm'n, 698 P.2d 255 (Colo. 1985).

Jurisdiction over motor carriers is expressly conferred on the commission by §§ 40-10-102, 40-10-103, 40-10-104, 40-10-105, and this section. Eveready Freight Serv., Inc. v. Pub. Utils. Comm'n, 131 Colo. 172, 280 P.2d 442 (1955).

Administrative proceeding not to be equated with equity action. An administrative proceeding before the public utilities commission (PUC), a quasi-judicial, regulatory agency, is not to be equated with an historical equity action. Ephraim Freightways, Inc. v. Red Ball Motor Freight, Inc., 376 F.2d 40 (10th Cir. 1967).

Opportunity to be heard means opportunity to prove allegations. When one relies on this section and § 40-6-109, which provide opportunity to be heard, one is justified in believing that means opportunity to prove the allegations of the complaint or protest. Consol. Freightways Corps. v. Pub. Utils. Comm'n, 158 Colo. 239, 406 P.2d 83 (1965).

Challenger has burden of proof. An organization, such as the Colorado municipal league, may file a complaint and establish that any new or existing rate does not comply with the statutory mandate. Under this procedure, the challenger has the burden of proof. Pub. Utils. Comm'n v. District Court, 186 Colo. 278, 527 P.2d 233 (1974).

When the PUC decides to suspend the rates and hold hearings, the burden is on the public utility to establish that the proposed rates comply with law, and, unless a challenger exhausts this administrative remedy, it has no basis for district court review. Pub. Utils. Comm'n v. District Court, 186 Colo. 278, 527 P.2d 233 (1974).

Applied in Cottrell v. City & County of Denver, 636 P.2d 703 (Colo. 1981).