Montana § 69-3-221 - Public Utility Errors In Billing Customers

§ 69-3-221. Public Utility Errors In Billing Customers

Public utility errors in billing customers. (1) For the purposes of this section: (a) "public utility" does not include a municipal utility as defined in chapter 7 of this title; (b) a "customer billing error": (i) includes any bill issued by the utility that is not designated as an estimated bill and that understates the amount owed by the customer; (ii) includes a utility's failure to bill a customer for service provided that would be billed to the customer under the utility's normal billing practices; (iii) excludes errors that result from the theft of service by the customer; (iv) excludes errors involving a utility's industrial class customers; and (v) excludes errors incurred in the billing of long-distance services by a telecommunications utility. (2) Whenever a public utility discovers a customer billing error, the utility may submit a bill to the customer for a period not to exceed the 6 months preceding the date the billing error is discovered. (3) The commission may adopt rules to implement subsections (1) and (2).