Connecticut § 16-26 - Public hearing to be held in locality affected.

§ 16-26. Public hearing to be held in locality affected.

Sec. 16-26. Public hearing to be held in locality affected. (a) In any matter within the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority involving rates, charges or accommodation of the public, which concerns:

(1) An electric distribution company that has a service area of not more than seventeen towns, the authority shall hold hearings on such matter in at least two towns within the service area of such company;

(2) An electric distribution company that has a service area of eighteen or more towns, the authority shall hold hearings on such matter in at least three towns within the service area of such company; or

(3) Any other public service company, the authority shall hold a hearing or hearings on such matter in at least one town within the service area of such company.

(b) The authority shall select each town described in subsection (a) of this section for a hearing to suit as nearly as practicable the convenience of persons affected by the matter. Upon petition of not fewer than twenty-five persons affected by the matter, any such hearing shall be held in the evening. The authority shall have the discretion to hold the remainder of its hearings on a matter, if any, anywhere within the state of Connecticut.

(1949 Rev., S. 5416; P.A. 75-486, S. 19, 69; P.A. 77-614, S. 162, 610; P.A. 79-429, S. 1; P.A. 80-482, S. 65, 348; P.A. 11-80, S. 1; P.A. 15-135, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 75-486 replaced public utilities commission with public utilities control authority, required that at least one hearing be held within a town in the company's service area rather than in “county where such town [i.e. town to be affected] is located” and further clarified provisions; P.A. 77-614 replaced authority with division of public utility control within the department of business regulation, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 79-429 required petition by at least twenty-five people for evening session rather than for hearing to be held in town within service area; P.A. 80-482 made division of public utility control an independent department and deleted reference to abolished department of business regulation; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Department of Public Utility Control” and “department” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “Public Utilities Regulatory Authority” and “authority”, respectively, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 15-135 designated existing provisions re hearings on certain matters within jurisdiction of Public Utilities Regulatory Authority as Subsec. (a) and amended same to add Subdiv. (1) re electric distribution company that has service area of not more than 17 towns and Subdiv. (2) re electric distribution company that has service area of 18 or more towns and to designate existing provision re hearings for other public service company as Subdiv. (3), designated existing provisions re hearings to suit convenience of persons affected as Subsec. (b) and amended same to add provision re authority to select town for hearing, and made technical changes.

Petitioner did not have the right to have a hearing in a particular town when a whole county was affected. 29 CS 151.