CHAPTER 4905: PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION -- GENERAL POWERS

As used in this chapter:

(A) “Railroad” has the meaning set forth in section 4907.02 of the Revised Code.

(B) “Motor transportation company” has the meaning set forth in sections 4905.03 and 4921.02 of the Revised Code.

(C) “Trailer,” “public highway,” “fixed termini,” “regular route,” and “irregular route” have the meanings set forth in section 4921.02 of the Revised Code.

(D) “Private motor carrier,” “contract carrier by motor vehicle,” “motor vehicle,” and “charter party trip” have the meanings set forth in section 4923.02 of the Revised Code.

(E) “Ohio coal research and development costs” means all reasonable costs associated with a facility or project undertaken by a public utility for which a recommendation to allow the recovery of costs associated therewith has been made under division (B)(7) of section 1551.33 of the Revised Code, including, but not limited to, capital costs, such as costs of debt and equity; construction and operation costs; termination and retirement costs; costs of feasibility and marketing studies associated with the project; and the acquisition and delivery costs of Ohio coal used in the project, less any expenditures of grant moneys.

Effective Date: 01-01-2001

As used in this chapter, “public utility” includes every corporation, company, copartnership, person, or association, their lessees, trustees, or receivers, defined in section 4905.03 of the Revised Code, including all public utilities that operate their utilities not for profit, except the following:

(A) Electric light companies that operate their utilities not for profit;

(B) Public utilities, other than telephone companies, that are owned and operated exclusively by and solely for the utilities’ customers, including any consumer or group of consumers purchasing, delivering, storing, or transporting, or seeking to purchase, deliver, store, or transport, natural gas exclusively by and solely for the consumer’s or consumers’ own intended use as the end user or end users and not for profit;

(C) Public utilities that are owned or operated by any municipal corporation;

(D) Railroads as defined in sections 4907.02 and 4907.03 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 09-17-1996

As used in this chapter:

(A) Any person, firm, copartnership, voluntary association, joint-stock association, company, or corporation, wherever organized or incorporated, is:

(1) A telegraph company, when engaged in the business of transmitting telegraphic messages to, from, through, or in this state;

(2) A telephone company, when engaged in the business of transmitting telephonic messages to, from, through, or in this state and as such is a common carrier;

(3) A motor transportation company, when engaged in the business of carrying and transporting persons or property or the business of providing or furnishing such transportation service, for hire, in or by motor-propelled vehicles of any kind, including trailers, for the public in general, over any public street, road, or highway in this state, except as provided in section 4921.02 of the Revised Code;

(4) An electric light company, when engaged in the business of supplying electricity for light, heat, or power purposes to consumers within this state, including supplying electric transmission service for electricity delivered to consumers in this state, but excluding a regional transmission organization approved by the federal energy regulatory commission;

(5) A gas company, when engaged in the business of supplying artificial gas for lighting, power, or heating purposes to consumers within this state or when engaged in the business of supplying artificial gas to gas companies or to natural gas companies within this state, but a producer engaged in supplying to one or more gas or natural gas companies, only such artificial gas as is manufactured by that producer as a by-product of some other process in which the producer is primarily engaged within this state is not thereby a gas company. All rates, rentals, tolls, schedules, charges of any kind, or agreements between any gas company and any other gas company or any natural gas company providing for the supplying of artificial gas and for compensation for the same are subject to the jurisdiction of the public utilities commission.

(6) A natural gas company, when engaged in the business of supplying natural gas for lighting, power, or heating purposes to consumers within this state. Notwithstanding the above, neither the delivery nor sale of Ohio-produced natural gas by a producer or gatherer under a public utilities commission-ordered exemption, adopted before, as to producers, or after, as to producers or gatherers, January 1, 1996, or the delivery or sale of Ohio-produced natural gas by a producer or gatherer of Ohio-produced natural gas, either to a lessor under an oil and gas lease of the land on which the producer’s drilling unit is located, or the grantor incident to a right-of-way or easement to the producer or gatherer, shall cause the producer or gatherer to be a natural gas company for the purposes of this section.

All rates, rentals, tolls, schedules, charges of any kind, or agreements between a natural gas company and other natural gas companies or gas companies providing for the supply of natural gas and for compensation for the same are subject to the jurisdiction of the public utilities commission. The commission, upon application made to it, may relieve any producer or gatherer of natural gas, defined in this section as a gas company or a natural gas company, of compliance with the obligations imposed by this chapter and Chapters 4901., 4903., 4907., 4909., 4921., and 4923. of the Revised Code, so long as the producer or gatherer is not affiliated with or under the control of a gas company or a natural gas company engaged in the transportation or distribution of natural gas, or so long as the producer or gatherer does not engage in the distribution of natural gas to consumers.

Nothing in division (A)(6) of this section limits the authority of the commission to enforce sections 4905.90 to 4905.96 of the Revised Code.

(7) A pipe-line company, when engaged in the business of transporting natural gas, oil, or coal or its derivatives through pipes or tubing, either wholly or partly within this state;

(8) A water-works company, when engaged in the business of supplying water through pipes or tubing, or in a similar manner, to consumers within this state;

(9) A heating or cooling company, when engaged in the business of supplying water, steam, or air through pipes or tubing to consumers within this state for heating or cooling purposes;

(10) A messenger company, when engaged in the business of supplying messengers for any purpose;

(11) A street railway company, when engaged in the business of operating as a common carrier, a railway, wholly or partly within this state, with one or more tracks upon, along, above, or below any public road, street, alleyway, or ground, within any municipal corporation, operated by any motive power other than steam and not a part of an interurban railroad, whether the railway is termed street, inclined-plane, elevated, or underground railway;

(12) A suburban railroad company, when engaged in the business of operating as a common carrier, whether wholly or partially within this state, a part of a street railway constructed or extended beyond the limits of a municipal corporation, and not a part of an interurban railroad;

(13) An interurban railroad company, when engaged in the business of operating a railroad, wholly or partially within this state, with one or more tracks from one municipal corporation or point in this state to another municipal corporation or point in this state, whether constructed upon the public highways or upon private rights-of-way, outside of municipal corporations, using electricity or other motive power than steam power for the transportation of passengers, packages, express matter, United States mail, baggage, and freight. Such an interurban railroad company is included in the term “railroad” as used in section 4907.02 of the Revised Code.

(14) A sewage disposal system company, when engaged in the business of sewage disposal services through pipes or tubing, and treatment works, or in a similar manner, within this state.

(B) “Motor-propelled vehicle” means any automobile, automobile truck, motor bus, or any other self-propelled vehicle not operated or driven upon fixed rails or tracks.

Effective Date: 01-01-2001

(A) The public utilities commission is hereby vested with the power and jurisdiction to supervise and regulate public utilities and railroads, to require all public utilities to furnish their products and render all services exacted by the commission or by law, and to promulgate and enforce all orders relating to the protection, welfare, and safety of railroad employees and the traveling public, including the apportionment between railroads and the state and its political subdivisions of the cost of constructing protective devices at railroad grade crossings.

(B) Subject to sections 4905.041 and 4905.042 of the Revised Code, division (A) of this section includes such power and jurisdiction as is reasonably necessary for the commission to perform pursuant to federal law, including federal regulations, the acts of a state commission as defined in 47 U.S.C. 153.

Effective Date: 06-18-1996; 11-04-2005

(A) The public utilities commission shall not establish any requirements for the unbundling of network elements, for the resale of telecommunications services, or for network interconnection that exceed or are inconsistent with or prohibited by federal law, including federal regulations.

(B) The commission shall not establish pricing for such unbundled elements, resale, or interconnection that is inconsistent with or prohibited by federal law, including federal regulations, and shall comply with federal law, including federal regulations, in establishing such pricing.

Effective Date: 11-04-2005

Regarding advanced services or internet protocol-enabled service as defined by federal law, including federal regulations, the public utilities commission shall not exercise any jurisdiction over those services that is prohibited by, or is inconsistent with its jurisdiction under, federal law, including federal regulations.

Effective Date: 11-04-2005

The jurisdiction, supervision, powers, and duties of the public utilities commission extend to every public utility and railroad, the plant or property of which lies wholly within this state and when the property of a public utility or railroad lies partly within and partly without this state to that part of such plant or property which lies within this state; to the persons or companies owning, leasing, or operating such public utilities and railroads; to the records and accounts of the business thereof done within this state; and to the records and accounts of any companies which are part of an electric utility holding company system exempt under section 3(a)(1) or (2) of the “Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935,” 49 Stat. 803, 15 U.S.C. 79c, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, insofar as such records and accounts may in any way affect or relate to the costs associated with the provision of electric utility service by any public utility operating in this state and part of such holding company system.

Nothing in this section, or section 4905.06 or 4905.46 of the Revised Code pertaining to regulation of holding companies, grants the public utilities commission authority to regulate a holding company or its subsidiaries which are organized under the laws of another state, render no public utility service in the state of Ohio, and are regulated as a public utility by the public utilities commission of another state or primarily by a federal regulatory commission, nor do these grants of authority apply to public utilities that are excepted from the definition of “public utility” under divisions (A) to (C) of section 4905.02 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 03-29-1988

The public utilities commission has general supervision over all public utilities within its jurisdiction as defined in section 4905.05 of the Revised Code, and may examine such public utilities and keep informed as to their general condition, capitalization, and franchises, and as to the manner in which their properties are leased, operated, managed, and conducted with respect to the adequacy or accommodation afforded by their service, the safety and security of the public and their employees, and their compliance with all laws, orders of the commission, franchises, and charter requirements. The commission has general supervision over all other companies referred to in section 4905.05 of the Revised Code to the extent of its jurisdiction as defined in that section, and may examine such companies and keep informed as to their general condition and capitalization, and as to the manner in which their properties are leased, operated, managed, and conducted with respect to the adequacy or accommodation afforded by their service, and their compliance with all laws and orders of the commission, insofar as any of such matters may relate to the costs associated with the provision of electric utility service by public utilities in this state which are affiliated or associated with such companies. The commission, through the public utilities commissioners or inspectors or employees of the commission authorized by it, may enter in or upon, for purposes of inspection, any property, equipment, building, plant, factory, office, apparatus, machinery, device, and lines of any public utility. The power to inspect includes the power to prescribe any rule or order that the commission finds necessary for protection of the public safety. In order to assist the commission in the performance of its duties under this chapter, authorized employees of the motor carrier enforcement unit, created under section 5503.34 of the Revised Code in the division of state highway patrol, of the department of public safety may enter in or upon, for inspection purposes, any motor vehicle of any motor transportation company or private motor carrier as defined in section 4923.02 of the Revised Code.

In order to inspect motor vehicles owned or operated by a motor transportation company engaged in the transportation of persons, authorized employees of the motor carrier enforcement unit, division of state highway patrol, of the department of public safety may enter in or upon any property of any motor transportation company, as defined in section 4921.02 of the Revised Code, engaged in the intrastate transportation of persons.

Effective Date: 09-01-2000; 09-16-2004

Except as provided in section 149.43 of the Revised Code and as consistent with the purposes of Title XLIX [49] of the Revised Code, all facts and information in the possession of the public utilities commission shall be public, and all reports, records, files, books, accounts, papers, and memorandums of every nature in its possession shall be open to inspection by interested parties or their attorneys.

Effective Date: 09-17-1996

Effective Date: 10-02-1953

A substantial compliance by the public utilities commission with the requirements of Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. of the Revised Code is sufficient to give effect to all its rules, orders, acts, and regulations. Such rules, orders, acts, and regulations shall not be declared inoperative, illegal, or void for an omission of a technical nature in respect to such requirements. Such chapters do not affect, modify, or repeal any law fixing the rate which a company operating a railroad may demand and receive for the transportation of passengers.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

(A) For the sole purpose of maintaining and administering the public utilities commission and exercising its supervision and jurisdiction over the railroads and public utilities of this state, an amount equivalent to the appropriation from the public utilities fund created under division (B) of this section to the public utilities commission for railroad and public utilities regulation in each fiscal year shall be apportioned among and assessed against each railroad and public utility within this state by the commission by first computing an assessment as though it were to be made in proportion to the intrastate gross earnings or receipts, excluding earnings or receipts from sales to other public utilities for resale, of the railroad or public utility for the calendar year next preceding that in which the assessment is made. The commission may include in that first computation any amount of a railroad’s or public utility’s intrastate gross earnings or receipts that were underreported in a prior year. In addition to whatever penalties apply under the Revised Code to such underreporting, the commission shall assess the railroad or public utility interest at the rate stated in division (A) of section 1343.01 of the Revised Code. The commission shall deposit any interest so collected into the public utilities fund. The commission may exclude from that first computation any such amounts that were overreported in a prior year.

The final computation of the assessment shall consist of imposing upon each railroad and public utility whose assessment under the first computation would have been one hundred dollars or less an assessment of one hundred dollars and recomputing the assessments of the remaining railroads and public utilities by apportioning an amount equal to the appropriation to the public utilities commission for administration of the utilities division in each fiscal year less the total amount to be recovered from those paying the minimum assessment, in proportion to the intrastate gross earnings or receipts of the remaining railroads and public utilities for the calendar year next preceding that in which the assessments are made.

In the case of an assessment based on intrastate gross receipts under this section against a public utility that is an electric utility as defined in section 4928.01 of the Revised Code, or an electric services company, electric cooperative, or governmental aggregator subject to certification under section 4928.08 of the Revised Code, such receipts shall be those specified in the utility’s, company’s, cooperative’s, or aggregator’s most recent report of intrastate gross receipts and sales of kilowatt hours of electricity, filed with the commission pursuant to division (F) of section 4928.06 of the Revised Code, and verified by the commission.

In the case of an assessment based on intrastate gross receipts under this section against a retail natural gas supplier or governmental aggregator subject to certification under section 4929.20 of the Revised Code, such receipts shall be those specified in the supplier’s or aggregator’s most recent report of intrastate gross receipts and sales of hundred cubic feet of natural gas, filed with the commission pursuant to division (B) of section 4929.23 of the Revised Code, and verified by the commission. However, no such retail natural gas supplier or such governmental aggregator serving or proposing to serve customers of a particular natural gas company, as defined in section 4929.01 of the Revised Code, shall be assessed under this section until after the commission, pursuant to section 4905.26 or 4909.18 of the Revised Code, has removed from the base rates of the natural gas company the amount of assessment under this section that is attributable to the value of commodity sales service, as defined in section 4929.01 of the Revised Code, in the base rates paid by those customers of the company that do not purchase that service from the natural gas company.

(B) Through calendar year 2005, on or before the first day of October in each year, the commission shall notify each such railroad and public utility of the sum assessed against it, whereupon payment shall be made to the commission, which shall deposit it into the state treasury to the credit of the public utilities fund, which is hereby created. Beginning in calendar year 2006, on or before the fifteenth day of May in each year, the commission shall notify each railroad and public utility that had a sum assessed against it for the current fiscal year of more than one thousand dollars that fifty per cent of that amount shall be paid to the commission by the twentieth day of June of that year as an initial payment of the assessment against the company for the next fiscal year. On or before the first day of October in each year, the commission shall make a final determination of the sum of the assessment against each railroad and public utility and shall notify each railroad and public utility of the sum assessed against it. The commission shall deduct from the assessment for each railroad or public utility any initial payment received. Payment of the assessment shall be made to the commission by the first day of November of that year. The commission shall deposit the payments received into the state treasury to the credit of the public utilities fund. Any such amounts paid into the fund but not expended by the commission shall be credited ratably, after first deducting any deficits accumulated from prior years, by the commission to railroads and public utilities that pay more than the minimum assessment, according to the respective portions of such sum assessable against them for the ensuing fiscal year. The assessments for such fiscal year shall be reduced correspondingly.

(C) Within five days after the beginning of each fiscal year through fiscal year 2006, the director of budget and management shall transfer from the general revenue fund to the public utilities fund an amount sufficient for maintaining and administering the public utilities commission and exercising its supervision and jurisdiction over the railroads and public utilities of the state during the first four months of the fiscal year. The director shall transfer the same amount back to the general revenue fund from the public utilities fund at such time as the director determines that the balance of the public utilities fund is sufficient to support the appropriations from the fund for the fiscal year. The director may transfer less than that amount if the director determines that the revenues of the public utilities fund during the fiscal year will be insufficient to support the appropriations from the fund for the fiscal year, in which case the amount not paid back to the general revenue fund shall be payable to the general revenue fund in future fiscal years.

(D) For the purpose of this section only, “public utility” includes:

(1) In addition to an electric utility as defined in section 4928.01 of the Revised Code, an electric services company, an electric cooperative, or a governmental aggregator subject to certification under section 4928.08 of the Revised Code, to the extent of the company’s, cooperative’s, or aggregator’s engagement in the business of supplying or arranging for the supply in this state of any retail electric service for which it must be so certified;

(2) In addition to a natural gas company as defined in section 4929.01 of the Revised Code, a retail natural gas supplier or governmental aggregator subject to certification under section 4929.20 of the Revised Code, to the extent of the supplier’s or aggregator’s engagement in the business of supplying or arranging for the supply in this state of any competitive retail natural gas service for which it must be certified.

(E) Each public utilities commissioner shall receive a salary fixed at the level set by pay range 49 under schedule E-2 of section 124.152 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 06-26-2001; 06-30-2005

Effective Date: 10-13-1953

A railroad company or telegraph company which violates section 4905.10, 4907.13, or 4907.15 of the Revised Code shall forfeit to the state one thousand dollars, and twenty-five dollars for each day such company fails to comply with a requirement of such sections. Such forfeiture does not release such company from the assessment provided in section 4905.10 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

The public utilities commission may establish a system of accounts to be kept by public utilities or railroads, including municipally owned or operated public utilities, or may classify said public utilities or railroads and establish a system of accounts for each class, and may prescribe the manner in which such accounts shall be kept. Such system shall, when practicable, conform to the system prescribed by the department of taxation. The commission may prescribe the forms of accounts, records, and memorandums to be kept by such public utilities or railroads, including the accounts, records, and memorandums of the movement of traffic as well as of the receipts and expenditure of moneys, and any other forms, records, and memorandums which are necessary to carry out Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., and 4923. of the Revised Code. The system of accounts established by the commission and the forms of accounts, records, and memorandums prescribed by it shall not be inconsistent, in the case of corporations subject to the act of congress entitled “An act to regulate commerce” approved February 4, 1887, and the acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, with the systems and forms established for such corporations by the interstate commerce commission. This section does not affect the power of the public utilities commission to prescribe forms of accounts, records, and memorandums covering information in addition to that required by the interstate commerce commission. The public utilities commission may, after hearing had upon its own motion or complaint, prescribe by order the accounts in which particular outlays and receipts shall be entered, charged, or credited. Where the public utilities commission has prescribed the forms of accounts, records, or memorandums to be kept by any public utility or railroad for any of its business, no such public utility or railroad shall keep any accounts, records, or memorandums for such business other than those so prescribed, or those prescribed by or under the authority of any other state or of the United States, except such accounts, records, or memorandums as are explanatory of and supplemental to the accounts, records, or memorandums prescribed by the commission. The commission shall at all times have access to all accounts kept by such public utilities or railroads and may designate any of its officers or employees to inspect and examine any such accounts. The auditor or other chief accounting officer of any such public utility or railroad shall keep such accounts and make the reports provided for in sections 4905.14 and 4907.13 of the Revised Code. Any auditor or chief accounting officer who fails to comply with this section shall be subject to the penalty provided for in division (B) of section 4905.99 of the Revised Code. The attorney general shall enforce such section upon request of the public utilities commission by mandamus or other appropriate proceedings.

Effective Date: 07-01-1996

(A) Every public utility shall file an annual report with the public utilities commission. The report shall be filed at the time and in the form prescribed by the commission, shall be duly verified, and shall cover the yearly period fixed by the commission. The commission shall prescribe the character of the information to be embodied in the annual report, and shall furnish to each public utility a blank form for it. Every public utility also shall file a copy of the annual report with the office of consumers’ counsel; the copy shall be filed at the same time that the original is filed with the commission. If any annual report filed with the commission is defective or erroneous, the commission may order that it be amended within a prescribed time. Any amendments made pursuant to such an order shall be filed with the commission and with the office of consumers’ counsel. Each annual report filed with the commission shall be preserved in the office of the commission. The commission may, at any time, require specific answers to questions upon which it desires information.

(B) On the first day of July and the first day of November of each year, each gas company and natural gas company shall file with the commission a report in quintuplicate stating:

(1) The total demand, stated in terms of cubic feet, that the company projects will be expected of the company for the following twelve months;

(2) The pertinent details of supply contracts with pipeline companies and producers for the following twelve months that they have executed and the quantity of the gas that they will possess in storage and will be available for delivery as of the first day of July and the first day of November;

(3) Where it appears from a comparison of the information reported in division (B)(1) of this section with that reported in division (B)(2) of this section that the total demand projected by the company for the twelve months following the date of the report will exceed the ability of the company to furnish it, the means which the company intends to employ in order to prevent any interruption or curtailment of service.

(C) The public utilities commission may require any telephone company to file with its annual report, supplementary reports of each exchange area owned or operated by it, in such detail as the commission may prescribe. Upon request of fifteen per cent of the subscribers of any telephone exchange, the public utilities commission shall require the report for such exchange area.

Effective Date: 01-01-2001

Each public utility shall furnish to the public utilities commission, in such form and at such times as the commission requires, such accounts, reports, and information as shall show completely and in detail the entire operation of the public utility in furnishing the unit of its product or service to the public.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

When and as required by the public utilities commission, every public utility shall file with it a copy of any contract, agreement, or arrangement, in writing, with any other public utility relating in any way to the construction, maintenance, or use of its plant or property, or to any service, rate, or charge.

Unless otherwise ordered by the commission each telephone company shall file with the commission a copy of any contract, agreement, note, bond, or other arrangement entered into with any telephone management, service or operating company.

Effective Date: 10-26-1953

The public utilities commission shall keep informed of all new construction, extensions, and additions to the property of public utilities, and may prescribe the necessary forms, regulations, and instructions to the officers and employees of such public utilities for the keeping of construction accounts. Such construction accounts shall clearly distinguish all operating expenses and new construction.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Every public utility shall carry a proper and adequate depreciation or deferred maintenance account, whenever the public utilities commission, after investigation, determines that a depreciation account can be reasonably required. The commission shall ascertain, determine, and prescribe what are proper and adequate charges for depreciation of the several classes of property for each public utility. The public utility commission shall require every telephone company to carry a proper and adequate depreciation or deferred maintenance account and shall ascertain, determine, and prescribe what are proper and adequate charges in each exchange area of such company. The charge for depreciation shall be such as will provide the amount required over the cost and expense of maintenance to keep the property of the public utility in a state of efficiency corresponding to the progress of the art or industry. The commission may prescribe such changes in such charges for depreciation as it finds necessary.

Effective Date: 10-26-1953

The moneys for depreciation charges provided for by section 4905.18 of the Revised Code shall be set aside out of the earnings and carried as a depreciation fund. The moneys in such fund may be expended in new construction, extensions, or additions to the property of the public utility, or may be invested. If such moneys are invested, the income from the investment shall also be carried in the depreciation fund. Such fund and its proceeds may be used for the purpose of renewing, restoring, replacing, or substituting depreciated property in order to keep the plant in a state of efficiency. Such fund and the proceeds or income from it shall be used for no purpose other than those purposes provided in this section except upon the approval of the public utilities commission.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

No railroad as defined in section 4907.02 of the Revised Code, operating any railroad in this state, and no public utility as defined in section 4905.02 of the Revised Code furnishing service or facilities within this state, shall abandon or be required to abandon or withdraw any main track or depot of a railroad, or main pipe line, gas line, telegraph line, telephone toll line, electric light line, water line, sewer line, steam pipe line, or any portion thereof, pumping station, generating plant, power station, sewage treatment plant, or service station of a public utility, or the service rendered thereby, which has once been laid, constructed, opened, and used for public business, nor shall any such facility be closed for traffic or service thereon, therein, or thereover except as provided in section 4905.21 of the Revised Code. Any railroad or public utility violating this section shall forfeit and pay into the state treasury not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, and shall be subject to all other legal and equitable remedies for the enforcement of this section and section 4905.21 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 09-19-1961

Any railroad or any political subdivision desiring to abandon, close, or have abandoned, withdrawn, or closed for traffic or service all or any part of a main track or depot, and any public utility or political subdivision desiring to abandon or close, or have abandoned, withdrawn, or closed for traffic or service all or any part of any line, pumping station, generating plant, power station, sewage treatment plant, or service station, referred to in section 4905.20 of the Revised Code, shall make application to the public utilities commission in writing. The commission shall thereupon cause reasonable notice of the application to be given, stating the time and place fixed by the commission for the hearing of the application.

Upon the hearing of the application, the commission shall ascertain the facts and make its findings thereon, and if such facts satisfy the commission that the proposed abandonment, withdrawal, or closing for traffic or service is reasonable, having due regard for the welfare of the public and the cost of operating the service or facility, it may allow such abandonment, withdrawal, or closing; otherwise it shall be denied, or if the facts warrant, the application may be granted in a modified form. If the application asks for the abandonment or withdrawal of any main track, main pipe line, gas line, telegraph line, telephone toll line, electric light line, water line, sewer line, steam pipe line, pumping station, generating plant, power station, sewage treatment plant, service station, or the service rendered thereby, in such manner as can result in the permanent abandonment of service between any two points on such railroad, or of service and facilities of any such public utility, no application shall be granted unless the railroad or public utility has operated the track, pipe line, gas line, telegraph line, telephone toll line, electric light line, water line, sewer line, steam pipe line, pumping station, generating plant, power station, sewage treatment plant, or service station for at least five years. Such notice shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation throughout any county or municipal corporation which has granted a franchise to the railroad or public utility, under which the track, pipe line, gas line, telegraph line, telephone toll line, electric light line, water line, sewer line, steam pipe line, pumping station, generating plant, power station, sewage treatment plant, or service station is operated or in which the same is located, once a week for two consecutive weeks before the hearing of the application. Notice of the hearing shall be given such county, municipal corporation, or public utility in the manner provided for the service of orders of the commission in section 4903.15 of the Revised Code. This section and section 4905.20 of the Revised Code do not apply to a gas company when it is removing or exchanging abandoned field lines.

This section applies to all service now rendered and facilities furnished or hereafter built and operated, and an order of the commission authorizing the abandonment or withdrawal of any such service or facility shall not affect rights and obligations of a railroad or public utility beyond the scope of the order, anything in its franchise to the contrary notwithstanding.

Effective Date: 09-29-1997

Every public utility shall furnish necessary and adequate service and facilities, and every public utility shall furnish and provide with respect to its business such instrumentalities and facilities, as are adequate and in all respects just and reasonable. All charges made or demanded for any service rendered, or to be rendered, shall be just, reasonable, and not more than the charges allowed by law or by order of the public utilities commission, and no unjust or unreasonable charge shall be made or demanded for, or in connection with, any service, or in excess of that allowed by law or by order of the commission.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

On or after January 1, 1955, it shall be deemed prima facie evidence of inadequate service by any telephone company, within the meaning of section 4905.22 of the Revised Code, for more than ten persons, parties, or subscribers to be served on any one telephone line. This section does not apply to telephone companies serving less than five hundred telephones.

Effective Date: 10-26-1953

The public utilities commission may make such investigations as it deems necessary and ascertain and prescribe reasonable standards of telephone service. Such standards shall be minimum requirements for the furnishing of adequate telephone service.

Effective Date: 10-26-1953

No telephone company shall exercise any permit, right, license, or franchise that was granted prior to June 30, 1911, but was not actually exercised, or granted after such date, to own or operate a plant for the furnishing of any telephone service, in any municipal corporation or locality where there is in operation a telephone company furnishing adequate service, unless such telephone company first secures from the public utilities commission a certificate, after public hearing of all parties interested, that the exercising of such license, permit, right, or franchise is proper and necessary for the public convenience.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Any telephone company may be authorized by the public utilities commission to furnish a telephone service in any area where no telephone service is being furnished upon filing a plat of the area proposed to be served.

Where the telephone service being furnished in an area by any company is inadequate, another telephone company proposing to serve such area shall file with the commission an application requesting authority to render such service.

The application shall be verified and shall state the service proposed, the area within which such service is to be furnished, the time within which such service will be available, the inadequacy of existing service, if any is being furnished, and such other information as the commission may by rule prescribe.

The commission upon the filing of such application, shall fix a date for hearing not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days after the date of filing and shall give notice thereof to the applicant and the telephone company, if any, then furnishing telephone service in the area, not less than fifteen days prior to the date of such hearing. If the commission finds that the telephone service, if any, being furnished in said area is inadequate and that the company serving such area is unable or unwilling to furnish an adequate service within a reasonable length of time and at a just rate, it shall authorize the applicant to render such service.

Effective Date: 10-26-1953

Whenever the public utilities commission finds after hearing that the service furnished by any telephone company in any portion of its territory is inadequate and that such telephone company is unable or unwilling to render adequate service, the commission may recommend that such company’s facilities in that portion of its territory be integrated, merged, consolidated, or otherwise combined with one or more telephone companies furnishing telephone service in adjoining areas. Such recommendation shall set forth in detail the suggested plan of integration, merger, consolidation or other combination.

In the event such integration, merger, consolidation or other combination is not effected within a time established by the commission, the commission may authorize any telephone company to provide telephone service in the area upon application and in the manner provided in section 4905.241 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 10-26-1953

In the event an application is not filed as authorized by section 4905.242 of the Revised Code, the public utilities commission, on the petition of residents in the area or on its own motion and after notice and hearing in the manner provided in section 4905.26 of the Revised Code, may order a telephone company serving an adjacent area to render service in the area receiving inadequate service; provided, however, no such order shall issue unless the commission finds that the rendition of such service in the area receiving inadequate service will not prevent the company so ordered to serve from earning a fair return on the value of the property devoted by it to the public service.

Effective Date: 10-26-1953

It is unlawful for a telephone company found under section 4905.241 or 4905.242 of the Revised Code to be unable or unwilling to render adequate telephone service to continue operations within such area of inadequate service after the date on which a telephone company authorized under section 4905.241 of the Revised Code or ordered under section 4905.243 of the Revised Code institutes service therein.

Effective Date: 10-26-1953

Any person, firm, corporation, or municipal corporation in a geographical territory not served by a telephone company may initiate a petition to the public utilities commission for telephone service. Within ten days after such petition is initiated, notice of such petition shall be served by the commission upon any telephone company adjacent or contiguous to such territory to show cause within fifteen days why it should not be ordered to incorporate such territory within its operating area and to furnish adequate service to all applicants in such area.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Upon complaint in writing against any public utility by any person, firm, or corporation, or upon the initiative or complaint of the public utilities commission, that any rate, fare, charge, toll, rental, schedule, classification, or service, or any joint rate, fare, charge, toll, rental, schedule, classification, or service rendered, charged, demanded, exacted, or proposed to be rendered, charged, demanded, or exacted, is in any respect unjust, unreasonable, unjustly discriminatory, unjustly preferential, or in violation of law, or that any regulation, measurement, or practice affecting or relating to any service furnished by the public utility, or in connection with such service, is, or will be, in any respect unreasonable, unjust, insufficient, unjustly discriminatory, or unjustly preferential, or that any service is, or will be, inadequate or cannot be obtained, and, upon complaint of a public utility as to any matter affecting its own product or service, if it appears that reasonable grounds for complaint are stated, the commission shall fix a time for hearing and shall notify complainants and the public utility thereof. Such notice shall be served not less than fifteen days before hearing and shall state the matters complained of. The commission may adjourn such hearing from time to time.

The parties to the complaint shall be entitled to be heard, represented by counsel, and to have process to enforce the attendance of witnesses.

Upon the filing of a complaint by one hundred subscribers or five per cent of the subscribers to any telephone exchange, whichever number be smaller, or by the legislative authority of any municipal corporation served by such telephone company that any regulation, measurement, standard of service, or practice affecting or relating to any service furnished by the telephone company, or in connection with such service is, or will be, in any respect unreasonable, unjust, discriminatory, or preferential, or that any service is, or will be, inadequate or cannot be obtained, the commission shall fix a time for the hearing of such complaint.

The hearing provided for in the next preceding paragraph shall be held in the county wherein resides the majority of the signers of such complaint, or wherein is located such municipal corporation. Notice of the date, time of day, and location of the hearing shall be served upon the telephone company complained of, upon each municipal corporation served by the telephone company in the county or counties affected, and shall be published for not less than two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county or counties affected.

Such hearing shall be held not less than fifteen nor more than thirty days after the second publication of such notice.

Effective Date: 09-29-1997

The public utilities commission shall operate a telephone call center for consumer complaints, to receive complaints by any person, firm, or corporation against any public utility. The commission shall expeditiously provide the consumers’ counsel with all information concerning residential consumer complaints received by the commission in the operation of the telephone call center and with any materials produced in the operation of the telephone call center by the commission concerning residential consumer complaints. If technology is reasonably available, the commission shall provide the consumers’ counsel with real-time access to the commission’s residential consumer complaint information.

Effective Date: 09-29-2005

The public utilities commission shall ascertain and prescribe suitable and convenient standard commercial units of the product or service of any public utility when the character of its product or service is such that it can be determined. Such units shall be the lawful units for the purposes of Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

The public utilities commission may ascertain and fix adequate and serviceable standards for the measurement of quality, pressure, initial voltage, or other conditions pertaining to the supply or quality of the product furnished or adequacy of service rendered by any public utility and may prescribe reasonable regulations for examination, testing, and measurement of such product or service. It may establish reasonable rules, regulations, specifications, and standards to secure the accuracy of all meters and appliances for measurements.

Effective Date: 10-26-1953

The public utilities commission may provide instruments for, and carry on, the examination and testing of all appliances used for the measurement of any product or service of a public utility or for the examination and testing of any devices or appliances of such public utility used for testing for accuracy any appliance used for the measurement of any product or service of such public utility. Any consumer or user may have any such appliance tested upon payment of the fees fixed by the commission. The commission may establish reasonable fees to be paid for testing such appliances on the request of the consumers or users. The fees shall be paid by the consumer or user at the time the request is made, but shall be paid by the public utility and repaid to the consumer or user if the appliance is found commercially defective or incorrect, to the disadvantage of the consumer or user.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Every public utility shall print and file with the public utilities commission schedules showing all rates, joint rates, rentals, tolls, classifications, and charges for service of every kind furnished by it, and all rules and regulations affecting them. Such schedules shall be plainly printed and kept open to public inspection. The commission may prescribe the form of every such schedule, and may prescribe, by order, changes in the form of such schedules. The commission may establish and modify rules and regulations for keeping such schedules open to public inspection. A copy of such schedules, or so much thereof as the commission deems necessary for the use and information of the public, shall be printed in plain type and kept on file or posted in such places and in such manner as the commission orders.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Effective Date: 01-01-2001

(A)(1) For the purpose of this section, the term “purchased gas adjustment clause” means:

(a) A provision in a schedule of a gas company or natural gas company that requires or allows the company to, without adherence to section 4909.18 or 4909.19 of the Revised Code, adjust the rates that it charges to its customers in accordance with any fluctuation in the cost to the company of obtaining the gas that it sells, that has occurred since the time any order has been issued by the public utilities commission establishing rates for the company pertaining to those customers;

(b) A provision in an ordinance adopted pursuant to section 743.26 or 4909.34 of the Revised Code or Section 4 of Article XVIII, Ohio Constitution, with respect to which a gas company or natural gas company is required or allowed to adjust the rates it charges under such an ordinance in accordance with any fluctuation in the cost to the company of obtaining the gas that it sells, that has occurred since the time of the adoption of the ordinance.

(2) For the purpose of this section, the term “special purchase” means any purchase of interstate natural gas, any purchase of liquified natural gas, and any purchase of synthetic natural gas from any source developed after the effective date of this section, April 27, 1976, provided that this purchase be of less than one hundred twenty days duration and the price for this purchase is not regulated by the federal power commission. For the purpose of this division, the expansion or enlargement of a synthetic natural gas plant existing at such date shall be considered a source so developed.

(3) For the purpose of this section, the term “residential customer” means urban, suburban, and rural patrons of gas companies and natural gas companies insofar as their needs for gas are limited to their residence. Such term includes those patrons whose rates have been set under an ordinance adopted pursuant to sections 743.26 and 4909.34 of the Revised Code or Section 4 of Article XVIII, Ohio Constitution.

(B) A purchased gas adjustment clause may not allow, and no such clause may be interpreted to allow, a gas company or natural gas company that has obtained an order from the public utilities commission permitting the company to curtail the service of any customer or class of customers other than residential customers, such order being based on the company’s inability to secure a sufficient quantity of natural gas, to distribute the cost of any special purchase made subsequent to the effective date of such order, to the extent that such purchase decreases the level of curtailment of any such customer or class of customers, to any class of customers of the company that was not curtailed, to any class of residential customers of the company, or to any class of customers of the company whose level of curtailment was not decreased and whose consumption increased as a result of, or in connection with, the special purchase.

(C)(1) The commission shall promulgate a purchased gas adjustment rule, consistent with this section, that establishes a uniform purchased gas adjustment clause to be included in the schedule of gas companies and natural gas companies subject to the jurisdiction of the public utilities commission and that establishes investigative procedures and proceedings including, but not limited to, periodic reports, audits, and hearings.

(2) Unless otherwise ordered by the commission for good cause shown:

(a) The commission’s staff shall conduct any audit or other investigation of a natural gas company having fifteen thousand or fewer customers in this state that may be required under the purchased gas adjustment rule.

(b) Except as provided in section 4905.10 of the Revised Code, the commission shall not impose upon such company any fee, expense, or cost of such audit or other investigation or any related hearing under this section.

(3) Unless otherwise ordered by the commission for good cause shown either by an interested party or by the commission on its own motion, no natural gas company having fifteen thousand or fewer customers in this state shall be subject under the purchased gas adjustment rule to any audit or other investigation or any related hearing, other than a financial audit or, as necessary, any hearing related to a financial audit.

(4) In issuing an order under division (C)(2) or (3) of this section, the commission shall file a written opinion setting forth the reasons showing good cause under such division and the specific matters to be audited, investigated, or subjected to hearing. Nothing in division (C)(2) or (3) of this section relieves such a natural gas company from the duty to file such information as the commission may require under the rule for the purpose of showing that a company has charged its customers accurately for the cost of gas obtained.

(D) Nothing in this section or any other provision of law shall be construed to mean that the commission, in the event of any cost distribution allowed under this section, may issue an order pursuant to which the prudent and reasonable cost of gas to a gas company or natural gas company of any special purchase may not be recovered by the company. For the purpose of this division, such cost of gas neither includes any applicable franchise taxes nor the ordinary losses of gas experienced by the company in the process of transmission and distribution.

(E) The commission shall not at any time prevent or restrain such costs as are distributable under this section from being so distributed, unless the commission has reason to believe that an arithmetic or accounting inaccuracy exists with respect to such a distribution or that the company has not accurately represented the amount of the cost of a special purchase, or has followed imprudent or unreasonable procurement policies and practices, has made errors in the estimation of cubic feet sold, or has employed such other practices, policies, or factors as the commission considers inappropriate.

(F) The cost of natural gas under this section shall not include any cost recovered by a natural gas company pursuant to section 4929.25 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 06-26-2001

(A) Before entering into an agreement to purchase synthetic natural gas or other fuels produced by a facility originated under the auspices of the federal government pursuant to a contract with the federal energy research and development administration or its successor agencies for the purpose of converting coal to gaseous, liquid, or solid fuels or by-products of such fuels, and the construction of which began on or after July 1, 1975, but not later than December 31, 1982, a gas company or natural gas company shall obtain approval of such agreement from the public utilities commission, which approval shall be granted if the purchase price is to be based on the total cost of service of the facility developer or developers in producing the synthetic natural gas or other fuels for a reasonable profit to said developer or developers, taking into account the desirability of encouraging energy research and development, the developmental nature of the facility involved, and the attendant risks for the developer or developers. Promptly after the filing with it of an application to obtain such approval, the public utilities commission shall set the matter for public hearing and shall render a final decision of such application within sixty days of its filing.

(B) Notwithstanding division (B) of section 4905.302 of the Revised Code, any gas company or natural gas company that, pursuant to terms approved by the public utilities commission, enters into an agreement to purchase synthetic natural gas or fuels produced by such a facility for distribution to some or all of its customers shall adjust its rates pursuant to and in accordance with a purchased gas adjustment rule promulgated by the commission pursuant to this section.

(C) The commission may adjust any proposed rate change under division (B) of this section on account of arithmetic or clerical error.

Effective Date: 12-14-1977

Once in every six months, the public utilities commission shall examine Ohio coal research and development costs incurred by a gas or natural gas company. The commission shall adopt a rule that:

(A) Requires periodic reports, audits, and hearings and establishes investigative procedures for the purposes of this section;

(B) Allows recovery on a uniform basis per unit of sale of the Ohio coal research and development costs incurred by a gas or natural gas company;

(C) Requires the reporting of such data by gas and natural gas companies as the commission considers necessary for the purposes of this section.

Effective Date: 04-05-1986

Except as provided in section 4933.29 of the Revised Code, Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., and 4923. of the Revised Code do not prohibit a public utility from filing a schedule or entering into any reasonable arrangement with another public utility or with its customers, consumers, or employees providing for:

(A) The division or distribution of its surplus profits;

(B) A sliding scale of charges, including variations in rates based upon either of the following:

(1) Stipulated variations in cost as provided in the schedule or arrangement;

(2) Any emissions fee levied upon an electric light company under Substitute Senate Bill No. 359 of the 119th general assembly as provided in the schedule. The public utilities commission shall permit an electric light company to recover the emissions fee pursuant to such a variable rate schedule.

(3) Any emissions fee levied upon an electric light company under division (C) or (D) of section 3745.11 of the Revised Code as provided in the schedule. The public utilities commission shall permit an electric light company to recover any such emission fee pursuant to such a variable rate schedule.

(4) Any schedule of variable rates filed under division (B) of this section shall provide for the recovery of any such emissions fee by applying a uniform percentage increase to the base rate charged each customer of the electric light company for service during the period that the variable rate is in effect.

(C) A minimum charge for service to be rendered unless such minimum charge is made or prohibited by the terms of the franchise, grant, or ordinance under which such public utility is operated;

(D) A classification of service based upon the quantity used, the time when used, the purpose for which used, the duration of use, and any other reasonable consideration;

(E) Any other financial device that may be practicable or advantageous to the parties interested. No such arrangement, sliding scale, minimum charge, classification, variable rate, or device is lawful unless it is filed with and approved by the commission.

Every such public utility is required to conform its schedules of rates, tolls, and charges to such arrangement, sliding scale, classification, or other device, and where variable rates are provided for in any such schedule or arrangement, the cost data or factors upon which such rates are based and fixed shall be filed with the commission in such form and at such times as the commission directs. The commission shall review the cost data or factors upon which a variable rate schedule filed under division (B)(2) or (3) of this section is based and shall adjust the base rates of the electric light company or order the company to refund any charges that it has collected under the variable rate schedule that the commission finds to have resulted from errors or erroneous reporting. After recovery of all of the emissions fees upon which a variable rate authorized under division (B)(2) or (3) of this section is based, collection of the variable rate shall end and the variable rate schedule shall be terminated.

Every such arrangement, sliding scale, minimum charge, classification, variable rate, or device shall be under the supervision and regulation of the commission, and is subject to change, alteration, or modification by the commission.

Effective Date: 10-29-1993

No public utility shall charge, demand, exact, receive, or collect a different rate, rental, toll, or charge for any service rendered, or to be rendered, than that applicable to such service as specified in its schedule filed with the public utilities commission which is in effect at the time.

No public utility shall refund or remit directly or indirectly, any rate, rental, toll, or charge so specified, or any part thereof, or extend to any person, firm, or corporation, any rule, regulation, privilege, or facility except such as are specified in such schedule and regularly and uniformly extended to all persons, firms, and corporations under like circumstances for like, or substantially similar, service.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

(A) No public utility shall directly or indirectly, or by any special rate, rebate, drawback, or other device or method, charge, demand, collect, or receive from any person, firm, or corporation a greater or lesser compensation for any services rendered, or to be rendered, except as provided in Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., and 4923. of the Revised Code, than it charges, demands, collects, or receives from any other person, firm, or corporation for doing a like and contemporaneous service under substantially the same circumstances and conditions.

(B) No public utility shall furnish free service or service for less than actual cost for the purpose of destroying competition.

Effective Date: 01-01-2001

Except as provided in sections 4905.33 and 4905.35 and Chapter 4928. of the Revised Code, Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., and 4923. of the Revised Code do not prevent any public utility or railroad from granting any of its property for any public purpose, or granting reduced rates or free service of any kind to the United States, to the state or any political subdivision of the state, for charitable purposes, for fairs or expositions, to a law enforcement officer residing in free housing provided pursuant to section 3735.43 of the Revised Code, or to any officer or employee of such public utility or railroad or the officer’s or employee’s family. All contracts and agreements made or entered into by such public utility or railroad for such use, reduced rates, or free service are valid and enforcible at law. As used in this section, “employee” includes furloughed, pensioned, and superannuated employees.

Effective Date: 01-01-2001

(A) No public utility shall make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any person, firm, corporation, or locality, or subject any person, firm, corporation, or locality to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage.

(B)(1) A natural gas company that is a public utility shall offer its regulated services or goods to all similarly situated consumers, including persons with which it is affiliated or which it controls, under comparable terms and conditions.

(2) A natural gas company that is a public utility and that offers to a consumer a bundled service that includes both regulated and unregulated services or goods shall offer, on an unbundled basis, to that same consumer the regulated services or goods that would have been part of the bundled service. Those regulated services or goods shall be of the same quality as or better quality than, and shall be offered at the same price as or a better price than and under the same terms and conditions as or better terms and conditions than, they would have been had they been part of the company’s bundled service.

(3) No natural gas company that is a public utility shall condition or limit the availability of any regulated services or goods, or condition the availability of a discounted rate or improved quality, price, term, or condition for any regulated services or goods, on the basis of the identity of the supplier of any other services or goods or on the purchase of any unregulated services or goods from the company.

Effective Date: 09-17-1996

When complaint is made of more than one rate, charge, or service, the public utilities commission may order separate hearings on such complaint and may consider and determine the matters complained of separately at such times and places as it prescribes. No complaint shall necessarily be dismissed because of the absence of direct damage to the complainant.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Whenever the public utilities commission is of the opinion, after hearing had upon complaint or upon its own initiative or complaint, served as provided in section 4905.26 of the Revised Code, that the rules, regulations, measurements, or practices of any public utility with respect to its public service are unjust or unreasonable, or that the equipment or service of such public utility is inadequate, inefficient, improper, insufficient, or cannot be obtained, or that a telephone company refuses to extend its lines to serve inhabitants within the telephone company operating area, the commission shall determine the regulations, practices, and service to be installed, observed, used, and rendered, and shall fix and prescribe them by order to be served upon the public utility. After service of such order such public utility and all of its officers, agents, and official employees shall obey such order and do everything necessary or proper to carry it into effect. This section does not give the commission power to make any order requiring the performance of any act which is unjust, unreasonable, or in violation of any law of this state or the United States.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Whenever the public utilities commission is of the opinion, after hearing had, as provided in section 4905.26 of the Revised Code, or upon its own initiative or complaint, that repairs, improvements, or additions to the plant or equipment of any public utility should reasonably be made, in order to promote the convenience or welfare of the public or of employees, or in order to secure adequate service or facilities, the commission may make and serve an appropriate order directing that such repairs, improvements, or additions be made within a reasonable time and in a manner specified in such order. Every such public utility, its officers, agents, and official employees, shall obey such order.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Whenever the public utilities commission finds after hearing in any proceedings instituted in the manner provided in section 4905.26 of the Revised Code that the service or equipment, or any part thereof, furnished by a telephone company is inadequate, insufficient, inefficient, or improper, or that the service of such company cannot be obtained in any part of its operating area, the commission shall determine the service and equipment thereafter to be furnished, installed and used, and prescribe the same by appropriate order to be served upon such company.

Whenever the commission finds after hearing in any proceedings instituted in the manner provided in section 4905.26 of the Revised Code that repairs, improvements or additions to the plant or equipment of a telephone company should reasonably be made in order to promote the convenience or welfare of the public or of employees or in order to secure adequate service the commission shall determine the repairs, improvements and additions to be made, and prescribe the same by appropriate order to be served upon such company.

Whenever the commission finds after hearing in any proceedings instituted in the manner provided in section 4905.26 of the Revised Code that the rules, regulations or practices of any telephone company with respect to its public service are unjust or unreasonable, the commission shall determine the rules, regulations and practices thereafter to be adopted and observed, and prescribe the same by appropriate order to be served upon such company.

The telephone company against which any order issued pursuant to this section is made shall comply with such order within the time stated in the order. This section does not give the commission power to make any order requiring the performance of any act which is unjust, unreasonable, or in violation of any law of this state or the United States.

Any telephone company which fails to comply with any order issued pursuant to section 4905.381 of the Revised Code shall forfeit and pay to the state not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five thousand dollars. Each day’s continuance of such failure is a separate offense.

The commission shall forthwith direct the attorney general to commence and prosecute an action to recover the forfeitures provided for in this section. Such action shall be prosecuted in the name of the state and may be brought either in the court of common pleas of the county in which such telephone company has its principal office or in the court of common pleas of Franklin county. Moneys recovered by such action shall be deposited in the state treasury to the credit of the general revenue fund.

On and after October 2, 1953, sections 4905.37 and 4905.38 of the Revised Code shall not apply to telephone companies, and sections 4905.54 and 4905.57 of the Revised Code shall not apply to orders issued pursuant to this section.

Effective Date: 10-26-1953

The legislative authority of any municipal corporation may, upon the filing of an application by any person, firm, or corporation, require of any public utility, by ordinance or otherwise, such additions or extensions to its distributing plant within such municipal corporation as the legislative authority deems reasonable and necessary in the interest of the public, and, subject to section 4951.06 of the Revised Code, such municipal corporation may designate the location and nature of all such additions and extensions, the time within which they must be completed, and all conditions under which they must be constructed and operated. Such requirements and orders of the legislative authority shall be subject to review by the public utilities commission, as provided in sections 4909.34 and 4909.39 of the Revised Code. The legislative authority and commission, in determining the practicability of such additions and extensions, shall take into consideration the supply of the product furnished by such public utility available, the returns upon the cost and expense of constructing such extensions, and the amount of revenue to be derived from such extensions, as well as the earning power of the public utility as a whole.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

(A) A public utility or a railroad may, when authorized by order of the public utilities commission, issue stocks, bonds, notes, and other evidences of indebtedness, payable at periods of more than twelve months after their date of issuance, when necessary:

(1) For the acquisition of property, the construction, completion, extension, renewal, or improvement of its facilities, or the improvement of its service; or

(2) For reorganization or readjustment of its indebtedness and capitalization, for the discharge or lawful refunding of its obligation, or for the reimbursement of moneys actually expended for such purposes from income or from any other moneys in the treasury of the public utility or railroad not secured or obtained from the issue of stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness of such public utility or railroad. No reimbursement of moneys expended for such purposes from income or other moneys in the treasury shall be authorized unless the applicant has kept its accounts and vouchers of such expenditures in such manner as to enable the commission to ascertain the amount and purposes of such expenditures.

(B) Any public utility, subject to the jurisdiction of the commission, may, when authorized by the commission, issue shares of common capital stock to acquire or pay for shares of common capital stock of a public utility of this or an adjoining state whose property is so located as to permit the operation of the properties of such utilities as an integrated system if the applicant owns, or by this issue will acquire, not less than sixty-five per cent of the issued and outstanding common capital shares of the company whose shares are to be acquired, and if the consideration to be capitalized by the acquiring company does not exceed the par or stated value at which the shares so acquired were issued.

(C) Any bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness payable at periods of more than twelve months after their date may be issued as provided in sections 4905.40 to 4905.43 of the Revised Code, regardless of the amount of the capital stock of the public utility or railroad, subject to the approval of the commission of the excess of such bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness above the amount of the capital stock of such public utility or railroad.

(D) The commission shall authorize on the best terms obtainable such issues of stocks, bonds, and other evidences of indebtedness as are necessary to enable any public utility to comply with any contract made between such public utility and any municipal corporation prior to June 30, 1911.

(E) The commission may authorize a public utility that is an electric light company to issue equity securities, or debt securities having a term of more than twelve months from the date of issuance, for the purpose of yielding to the company the capacity to acquire a facility that produces fuel for the generation of electricity.

(F) In any proceeding under division (A)(1) of this section initiated by a public utility, the commission shall determine and set forth in its order:

(1) Whether the purpose to which the issue or any proceeds of it shall be applied was or is reasonably required by the utility to meet its present and prospective obligations to provide utility service;

(2) Whether the amount of the issue and the probable cost of such stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness is just and reasonable;

(3) What effect, if any, the issuance of such stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness and the cost thereof will have upon the present and prospective revenue requirements of the utility.

(G) Sections 4905.40 to 4905.42 of the Revised Code do not apply to stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness issued for the purpose of financing oil or natural gas drilling, producing, gathering, and associated activities and facilities by a producer which supplies to no more than twenty purchasers only such gas as is produced, gathered, or purchased by such producer within this state.

(H) Each public utility seeking authorization from the commission for the issuance of securities to finance the installation, construction, extension, or improvement of an air quality facility, as defined in section 3706.01 of the Revised Code, shall consider the availability of financing therefor from the Ohio air quality development authority and shall demonstrate to the commission that the proposed financing will be obtained on the best terms obtainable.

Effective Date: 01-01-2001

A public utility which is an electric light company may, when authorized by an order of the public utilities commission and not otherwise, issue notes, or other evidences of indebtedness payable at periods of not more than twelve months. This section shall not apply to:

(A) The issue, renewal, or assumption of liability or notes, and other evidences of indebtedness maturing not more than twelve months after the date of such issue, renewal, or assumption of liability, and aggregating (together with all other then outstanding notes, and other evidences of indebtedness of a maturity of twelve months or less on which such electric light company is primarily or secondarily liable) not more than five per cent of the par value of the other stocks, bonds, notes, and other evidences of indebtedness of such electric light company then outstanding;

(B) The issue, renewal, or assumption of liability on such notes, or other evidences of indebtedness which have been, or are the subject of an order of the securities and exchange commission under the “Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935,” 49 Stat. 838, 15 U.S.C. 79, as amended.

In the case of stocks, bonds, notes, and other evidences of indebtedness having no par value, the “par value” for the purpose of this section shall be the fair market value as of the date of issue. Sections 4905.40 to 4905.43 of the Revised Code, shall be applicable to notes, and other evidences of indebtedness issued under this section, except the provision of section 4905.42 of the Revised Code exempting from the jurisdiction of the public utilities commission the issuance of notes of public utilities payable at periods of not more than twelve months insofar as such provision is applicable to electric light companies.

Effective Date: 07-01-1996

(A) As used in this section:

(1) “Control” means the possession of the power to direct the management and policies of a domestic telephone company or a holding company of a domestic telephone company, or the management and policies of a domestic electric utility or a holding company of a domestic electric utility, through the ownership of voting securities, by contract, or otherwise, but does not include the power that results from holding an official position or the possession of corporate office with the domestic company or utility or the holding company. Control is presumed to exist if any person, directly or indirectly, owns, controls, holds the power to vote, or holds with the power to vote proxies that constitute, twenty per cent or more of the total voting power of the domestic company or utility or the holding company.

(2) “Electric utility” has the same meaning as in section 4928.07 of the Revised Code.

(3) “Holding company” excludes any securities broker performing the usual and customary broker’s function.

(4) “Telephone company” means any company described in division (A)(2) of section 4905.03 of the Revised Code that is a public utility under section 4905.02 of the Revised Code and provides basic local exchange service, as defined in section 4927.01 of the Revised Code.

(B) No person shall acquire control, directly or indirectly, of a domestic telephone company or a holding company controlling a domestic telephone company or of a domestic electric utility or a holding company controlling a domestic electric utility unless that person obtains the prior approval of the public utilities commission under this section. To obtain approval the person shall file an application with the commission demonstrating that the acquisition will promote public convenience and result in the provision of adequate service for a reasonable rate, rental, toll, or charge. The application shall contain such information as the commission may require. If the commission considers a hearing necessary, it may fix a time and place for hearing. If, after review of the application and after any necessary hearing, the commission is satisfied that approval of the application will promote public convenience and result in the provision of adequate service for a reasonable rate, rental, toll, or charge, the commission shall approve the application and make such order as it considers proper. If the commission fails to issue an order within thirty days of the filing of the application, or within twenty days of the conclusion of a hearing, if one is held, the application shall be deemed approved by operation of law.

(C) The commission shall adopt such rules as it finds necessary to carry out this section.

(D) If it appears to the commission or to any person that may be adversely affected that any person is engaged in or about to engage in any acts or practices that would violate this section, the attorney general, when directed to do so by the commission, or the person claiming to be adversely affected may bring an action in any court of common pleas that has jurisdiction and venue to enjoin such acts or practices and enforce compliance with this section. Upon a proper showing, the court shall grant, without bond, a restraining order or temporary or permanent injunction.

(E) The courts of this state have jurisdiction over every person not a resident of or domiciled or authorized to do business in this state that files, or is prohibited from acting without first filing, an application under division (B) of this section, and over all actions involving such person arising out of violations of this section. The secretary of state shall be the agent for service of process for any such person in any action, suit, or proceeding arising out of violations of this section. Copies of all such lawful process shall be served upon the secretary of state and transmitted by certified mail, with return receipt requested, by the secretary of state to such person at the person’s last known address.

Effective Date: 01-01-2001

(A) As used in this section:

(1) “Control bid” means the purchase of, or offer to purchase, from a resident of this state, by tender offer, invitation for tenders, or otherwise, any equity security of a natural gas company in this state that is a public utility under section 4905.02 of the Revised Code or any equity security of a holding company controlling such a company, if, after that purchase, the offeror would be directly or indirectly the beneficial owner of more than ten per cent of any class of the issued and outstanding equity securities of the subject natural gas company or subject holding company. “Control bid” excludes any of the following:

(a) A bid made by a dealer for the dealer’s own account in the ordinary course of the business of buying and selling securities;

(b) An offer to acquire any equity security solely in exchange for any other security, or the acquisition of any equity security pursuant to an offer, for the sole account of the offeror, in good faith and not for the purpose of avoiding the provisions of this section, and not involving any public offering of the other security within the meaning of Section 4 of Title I of the “Securities Act of 1933,” 48 Stat. 77, 15 U.S.C.A. 77d(2), as amended;

(c) Pursuant to a merger, consolidation, combination, majority share acquisition, or other transaction, the acquisition of any equity security of a natural gas company in this state that is a public utility under section 4905.02 of the Revised Code or any equity security of a holding company controlling such a company, if, prior to the date upon which the offeror becomes the owner of more than ten per cent of any class of the issued and outstanding equity securities of the subject natural gas company or holding company, the directors of the subject natural gas company or subject holding company had approved the acquisition.

(2) “Dealer” has the same meaning as in section 1707.01 of the Revised Code.

(3) “Equity security” means any share or similar security, or any security convertible into any such security, or carrying any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase any such security, or any such warrant or right, or any other security that, for the protection of security holders, is deemed an equity security by the public utilities commission.

(4) “Offeror” means a person that makes, or in any way participates or aids in making, a control bid. “Offeror” includes persons acting jointly or in concert in exercising, or that intend to exercise jointly or in concert, any voting rights attached to the securities for which the control bid is made, but excludes a subject natural gas company in this state that is a public utility under section 4905.02 of the Revised Code or a subject holding company controlling such a company when making a control bid for its own securities.

(B) No offeror shall make a control bid for a natural gas company in this state that is a public utility under section 4905.02 of the Revised Code, or a holding company controlling such a company, without the offeror filing the control bid with the public utilities commission, in such form and pursuant to such procedures as the commission prescribes. Not later than three days after the date of the filing, the commission shall fix a time for a hearing and shall notify the offeror and the subject natural gas company or subject holding company. The exclusive purpose of the hearing shall be to determine whether acceptance of the control bid will promote public convenience in this state and result in the provision of adequate natural gas service in this state by the natural gas company at a reasonable rate, rental, toll, or charge. Not later than twenty days after the date of the filing or not later than such later date as is agreed to by both the offeror and the subject natural gas company or subject holding company, the commission shall issue a report of its findings and make the report available to the general public.

(C) With respect to a control bid to which division (B) of this section applies, the filing required by that division shall be made at the time of making the control bid in the case of a control bid initiated on or after the effective date of this section, and shall be made not later than five days after the effective date of this section in the case of a pending control bid initiated prior to the effective date of this section.

(D) The commission shall adopt rules to carry out this section, including rules identifying any additional securities that it deems equity securities under division (A)(3) of this section and rules prescribing the form and procedures pertaining to a filing under division (B) of this section.

(E) The authority conferred by this section is in addition to any authority of the commission under this chapter with respect to a natural gas company that is a public utility under section 4905.02 of the Revised Code or a holding company controlling such a company.

(F) This section does not apply to acquisitions that, prior to July 15, 1999, had received the approval of the board of directors of the subject natural gas company or subject holding company, or the approval of a majority of that company’s shareholders.

Effective Date: 11-11-1999

The proceedings for obtaining the authority of the public utilities commission for the issue of stocks, bonds, notes and other evidences of indebtedness, as provided in section 4905.40 of the Revised Code, shall be as follows:

(A) In case the stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness are to be issued for money only, the public utility or railroad shall file with the commission a statement, signed and verified by the president or vice president and the secretary or treasurer of such public utility or railroad, setting forth:

(1) The amount and character of the stocks, bonds, or other evidence of indebtedness;

(2) The purposes for which they are to be issued;

(3) The terms upon which they are to be issued;

(4) The total assets and liabilities and an income statement of the public utility or railroad in such detail as the commission requires;

(5) If the issue is desired for the purpose of the reimbursement of money expended from income, as provided by section 4905.40 of the Revised Code, the amount expended and when and for what purposes it was expended;

(6) If the application is filed by a telephone company, a statement that such company is not in violation of section 4905.23 of the Revised Code, and is not in violation of any order of the commission made under sections 4905.231 and 4905.381 of the Revised Code; or, if it is in violation thereof, that a portion or all of the proceeds will be used to correct such violation and that none of the proceeds will be used for expansion into or acquisition of any additional territory.[;]

(7) Such other facts and information pertinent to the inquiry as the commission requires.

(B) If the stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness are to be issued partly or wholly for property, services, or other consideration than money, the public utility or railroad shall file with the commission a statement, signed and verified by its president or vice president and its secretary, or treasurer setting forth:

(1) The amount and character of the stocks, bonds, or other evidence of indebtedness proposed to be issued;

(2) The purposes for which they are to be issued;

(3) The description and estimated value of the property or services for which they are to be issued;

(4) The terms on which they are to be issued or exchanged;

(5) The amount of money to be received in addition to the property, service, or other consideration;

(6) If the application is made by a telephone company, that the company is not in violation of section 4905.23 of the Revised Code and is not in violation of any order of the commission made under sections 4905.231 and 4905.381 of the Revised Code.[;]

(7) The total assets and liabilities and an income statement of the public utility or railroad in such detail as the commission requires;

(8) Such other facts and information pertinent to the inquiry as the commission requires.

This section and section 4905.40 of the Revised Code do not apply to union depot companies organized and under contract prior to June 30, 1911, until the same are completed.

Effective Date: 10-26-1953

To determine whether it should issue the order referred to in section 4905.40 of the Revised Code, the public utilities commission shall hold such hearings, make such inquiries or investigations, and examine such witnesses, books, papers, documents, and contracts as it deems proper.

An order issued under this section shall fix the amount, character, and terms of any issue of stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness, and the purposes to which the issue or any proceeds of it shall be applied, shall recite that the money, property, consideration, or labor procured or to be procured or paid for by such issue was or is reasonably required for the purposes specified in the order, and shall recite the value of any property, consideration, or service, as found by the commission, for which in whole or in part such issue is proposed to be made.

No public utility or railroad shall, without the consent of the commission, apply any such issue or its proceeds to any purpose not specified in the order. Such public utilities or railroads may issue notes for proper corporate purposes, payable at periods of not more than twelve months, without the consent of the commission, but no such notes shall, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, be refunded by any issue of stocks or bonds, or by any evidence of indebtedness, running for more than twelve months, without the consent of the commission.

All stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness issued by any public utility or railroad without the permission of the commission are void. No interstate railroad or public utility shall be required to apply to the commission for authority to issue stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness for the acquisition of property, the construction, completion, extension, or improvement of its facilities, or the improvement or maintenance of its service outside this state, or for authority for the discharge or refunding of obligations issued or incurred for such purposes or the reimbursement of moneys actually expended for such purposes outside this state.

No pipe-line company — when engaged in the business of transporting oil through pipes or tubing, either wholly or partly — within this state, shall be required to apply to the commission for authority to issue stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness for the purpose of acquiring or paying for stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness of any other corporation organized under the laws of this state, any other state, the District of Columbia, the United States, any territory of the United States, any foreign country, or otherwise.

No company that is both a pipe-line company engaged as such in the business of transporting natural gas through pipes or tubing in interstate commerce, wholly or partly within this state, and a natural gas company engaged as such in this state solely in the business of supplying natural gas to gas companies or to natural gas companies shall be required to apply to the commission for authority to issue stocks, bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness.

Effective Date: 01-01-2001

Where a public utility or railroad was, on June 30, 1911, in the possession of one or more receivers or its property was under foreclosure, and a reorganization of such public utility or railroad was pending, any new company organized after such date to acquire such property or any part of it, is exempt from Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. of the Revised Code with respect to the issue of bonds, stocks, and evidences of debt, but the total debts, obligations, and securities of such new or reorganized company exclusive of bonds, obligations, stocks, and other securities that may be issued or authorized for additional capital shall not exceed the debts, obligations, stocks, and other securities of the existing company. After its organization and the issue of such bonds, obligations, stocks, and other securities such chapters do apply to such new or reorganized company.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Effective Date: 07-01-1996

Public utility or railroad corporations may, incident to the sale or pledge of bonds, notes, or other securities owned by them, jointly or severally indorse such securities and guarantee due payment of them, in any case in which such indorsement and guarantee is authorized by the public utilities commission or the interstate commerce commission.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

(A) No public utility or railroad shall declare any stock, bond, or scrip dividend or distribution, or divide the proceeds of the sale of any stock, bond, or scrip among its stockholders, unless it is authorized to do so by the public utilities commission.

(B) No telephone company shall declare any cash, stock, bond, or scrip dividend or distribution, or divide the proceeds of the sale of any stock, bond, or scrip among its common or voting shareholders, while such telephone company is in violation of any order of the commission, or against which telephone company there exists a finding of inadequate service, except when the public utilities commission makes a finding after hearing and notice, as provided in section 4905.26 of the Revised Code that such dividend or distribution will in no way postpone compliance with any order or affect the adequacy of service rendered or to be rendered by such telephone company. If a telephone company, while in violation of any order of the commission, or against which there exists a finding of inadequate service, desires to declare a cash dividend or distribution without the consent of the commission, it shall set aside in a special reserve fund a sum of money equivalent to the amount necessary to pay the proposed dividend or distribution, which, while said company is in violation of said order or against which such finding exists, may be expended only with the consent of the commission.

Effective Date: 10-05-1999

The public utilities commission shall not authorize the capitalization of any franchise or right to own, operate, or enjoy any franchise in excess of the amount, exclusive of any tax or annual charge, actually paid to any political subdivision of the state or county as the consideration for the grant of such franchise or right, nor shall the capital stock of a public utility or railroad corporation formed by the merger or consolidation of two or more corporations exceed the sum of the capital stock of the corporations consolidated or merged, at the par value of such stock, and such sum or any additional sum actually paid in cash. No contract for consolidation or lease shall be capitalized in the stock of any public utility or railroad corporation, and no such corporation shall issue any bonds against or as a lien upon any contract for consolidation or merger. The aggregate amount of the debt of such consolidated companies by reason of such consolidation shall not be increased.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

With the consent and approval of the public utilities commission:

(A) Any two or more public utilities furnishing a like service or product and doing business in the same municipal corporation or locality within this state, or any two or more public utilities whose lines intersect or parallel each other within this state, may enter into contracts with each other that will enable them to operate their lines or plants in connection with each other.

(B) Any public utility may purchase or lease the property, plant, or business of any other such public utility.

(C) Any such public utility may sell or lease its property or business to any other such public utility.

(D) Any such public utility may purchase the stock of any other such public utility.

To obtain the consent and approval of the commission for such authority, a petition, joint or otherwise, signed and verified by the president and the secretary of the respective companies, clearly setting forth the object and purposes desired, and stating whether or not it is for the purchase, sale, lease, or making of contracts, or for any other purpose provided in this section, and also the terms and conditions of the same, shall be filed with the commission. If the commission deems it necessary, it shall, upon the filing of such petition, fix a time and place for a hearing.

If, after such hearing or in case no hearing is required, the commission is satisfied that the prayer of such petition should be granted and the public will thereby be furnished adequate service for a reasonable and just rate, rental, toll, or charge, it shall make such order as it deems proper and the circumstances require, and thereupon the things provided for in such order may be done.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

With the consent and approval of the public utilities commission, any two or more telephone companies, doing business in this state, or partly within and partly without this state, may consolidate when such telephone companies have complied with the orders and requirements of the commission and the provisions of the applicable sections of Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. of the Revised Code.

Such telephone companies shall file with the commission a joint petition for such consolidation, signed and verified by the president and the secretary of each such company, in which all of the terms, conditions, and proceedings pertaining to such consolidation shall be set forth in detail and in such form as the commission requires. Upon such filing the commission shall fix a time and place for the hearing of such petition.

If, after such hearing, the commission is satisfied that such consolidation will promote public convenience, and will furnish the public adequate service for a reasonable rate, rental, toll, or charge, it shall make an order authorizing such consolidation, which order shall not take effect until it is filed with the secretary of state. Other proceedings relating to such consolidation shall be in the manner and with the effect provided for in the consolidation of railroad companies under the laws of this state.

No consolidation, purchase, lease, or contract by which two or more telephone companies merge or operate their lines or plants jointly or in connection with each other, shall become valid or effective until after the commission has ascertained and determined the valuation, as provided in such chapters upon which the rates, tolls, charges, and rentals are based and has fixed and determined such rates, tolls, charges, and rentals to be so charged. Such valuations shall be at all times open to public inspection.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

In case the petition provided for in section 4905.48 or section 4905.49 of the Revised Code is filed by a telephone company, it shall be sufficient cause for refusal thereof if the commission finds that one or more of such telephone companies is in default of compliance with any order of the commission.

Effective Date: 10-26-1953

The public utilities commission may, upon complaint in writing by any person or on its own initiative, by order, require any two or more telephone companies whose lines or wires form a continuous line of communication, or could be made to form such a continuous line of communication by the construction and maintenance of suitable connections or the joint use of equipment, or by the transfer of messages at common points, between different localities which cannot be communicated with or reached by the lines of either company alone, where such service is not already established or provided for, unless public necessity requires additional service, to establish and maintain through lines within this state between two or more such localities.

The joint rate or charges for such service shall be just and reasonable. The commission may establish such joint rate or charge, and declare the portion of it to which each company affected is entitled and the manner in which it shall be secured and paid. All necessary construction, maintenance, and equipment to establish such service shall be constructed and maintained in such manner and under such rules, with such division of expense and labor, as is required by the commission.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Every public utility having any equipment on, over, or under any street or highway shall, subject to section 4951.04 of the Revised Code, for a reasonable compensation, permit the use of such equipment by any other public utility whenever the public utilities commission determines, as provided in section 4905.51 of the Revised Code, that public convenience, welfare, and necessity require such use or joint use, and that such use or joint use will not result in irreparable injury to the owner or other users of such equipment or any substantial detriment to the service to be rendered by such owners or other users.

In case of failure to agree upon such use or joint use, or upon the conditions or compensation for such use or joint use, any public utility may apply to the commission, and if after investigation the commission ascertains that the public convenience, welfare, and necessity require such use or joint use and that it would not result in irreparable injury to the owner or other users of such property or equipment or in any substantial detriment to the service to be rendered by such owner or other users, the commission shall direct that such use or joint use be permitted and prescribe reasonable conditions and compensation for such joint use.

Such use or joint use so ordered shall be permitted and such conditions and compensation so prescribed shall be the lawful conditions and compensation to be observed, followed, and paid, subject to recourse to the courts by any interested party as provided in Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907, 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. of the Revised Code. The commission may revoke or revise any such order.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

No officer, agent, or employee of a railroad company shall refuse to answer a question propounded to him by a public utilities commissioner in the course of an examination authorized by Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. of the Revised Code. The property of the railroad company of which such person is an officer, agent, or employee, is liable to be taken in execution to satisfy the fines and costs in case of a violation of this section.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

Effective Date: 10-02-1953

Every public utility or railroad and every officer of a public utility or railroad shall comply with every order, direction, and requirement of the public utilities commission made under authority of this chapter and Chapters 4901., 4903., 4907., 4909., 4921., and 4923. of the Revised Code, so long as they remain in force. Except as otherwise specifically provided in sections 4905.83, 4905.95, 4919.99, 4921.99, and 4923.99 of the Revised Code, the public utilities commission may assess a forfeiture of not more than ten thousand dollars for each violation or failure against a public utility or railroad that violates a provision of those chapters or that after due notice fails to comply with an order, direction, or requirement of the commission that was officially promulgated . Each day’s continuance of the violation or failure is a separate offense. All forfeitures collected under this section shall be credited to the general revenue fund.

Effective Date: 09-29-1995; 09-29-2005

The act, omission, or failure of any officer, agent, or other person, acting for or employed by a public utility or railroad, while acting within the scope of his employment, is the act or failure of the public utility or railroad.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

No officer, agent, or employee in an official capacity of a public utility or railroad shall knowingly violate sections 4905.01 to 4905.07, inclusive, 4905.14 to 4905.19, inclusive, 4905.22 to 4905.51, inclusive, 4905.54 to 4905.57, inclusive, or 4905.60 to 4905.63, inclusive, of the Revised Code, or willfully fail to comply with any lawful order or direction of the public utilities commission made with respect to any public utility or railroad. Each day’s continuance of such failure is a separate offense.

Effective Date: 02-21-1967

Except as otherwise specifically provided in sections 4905.83, 4905.96, 4919.99, 4921.99, and 4923.99 of the Revised Code, actions to recover forfeitures provided for in this chapter and Chapters 4901., 4903., 4907., 4909., 4921., and 4923. of the Revised Code shall be prosecuted in the name of the state and may be brought in the court of common pleas of any county in which the public utility or railroad is located. Such actions shall be commenced and prosecuted by the attorney general when he is directed to do so by the public utilities commission. Moneys recovered by such actions shall be deposited in the state treasury to the credit of the general revenue fund.

Effective Date: 09-29-1995

All prosecutions against a railroad or telegraph company, or an officer, agent, or employee thereof, under Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. and other sections of the Revised Code for penalties involving imprisonment shall be by indictment.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

If the public utilities commission, the officer requested by it, or a village solicitor or city director of law, when the cause of action arises in a municipal corporation, fails to prosecute a civil action for forfeiture against a railroad or telegraph company, or an officer, agent, or employee thereof as provided by law, the prosecuting attorney of the county in which a cause of action for forfeiture arises, upon the request of any taxpayer of the county, shall bring such action if he is furnished with evidence which in his judgment will sustain it. If the action fails, the costs of the action shall be adjudged against the county.

If a cause of action for forfeiture arises within a municipal corporation, and the commission, the officer requested by it, or the prosecuting attorney, fails to prosecute such action, the village solicitor or city director of law of the municipal corporation, when required by resolution of the legislative authority, shall institute the action and prosecute it to final judgment. If the action fails, the cost of the action shall be adjudged against the municipal corporation. The time for notice of appeal and giving a bond does not apply to cases within the meaning of this section.

Effective Date: 11-01-1977

Whenever the public utilities commission is of the opinion that any public utility or railroad has failed or is about to fail to obey any order made with respect to it, or is permitting anything or about to permit anything contrary to or in violation of law, or of an order of the commission, authorized under Chapters 4901., 4