The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Subchapter
001
:
GENERAL POWERS
(Cite as: 30 V.S.A. § 227)
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§ 227. Suspension; refund
(a) If the Commission orders that a change shall not go into effect until final determination
of the proceedings, it shall proceed to hear the matter as promptly as possible and
shall make its determination within seven months from the date that it orders the
investigation unless the company consents to waive the seven-month requirement. If
a company files for a change in rate design among classes of ratepayers, and the company
has a rate case pending before the Commission, the Commission shall make its determination
on the rate design change within seven months after the rate case is decided by the
Commission unless the company consents to waive the seven-month requirement. Except
when the company consents to waive the seven-month requirement, if the Commission
fails to make its determination within the time periods set by this subsection, the
changed rate schedules filed by the company shall become effective and final.
(b) The Commission, on its own motion, may order an investigation and hearing on the justness
and reasonableness of existing rates of a company, subject to supervision under this
chapter. The Commission shall proceed to hear the matter as promptly as possible
and shall make every effort to make its determination within seven months from the
date the proceeding was instituted. If the Commission does make its determination
within such seven months, then its final order shall be retroactive to the day that
the proceedings were instituted and such final order shall contain a directive that
the company, other than a common carrier of passengers by motor vehicle, shall repay
to the persons from whom collected between the time the proceedings were instituted
and the final order all sums that the Commission determines are in excess of the rates
ultimately found to be just and reasonable. If the Commission does not make its determination
within seven months of the institution of the proceedings, then its final order when
made shall be retroactive only to a date seven months after the institution of the
proceedings and the final order shall contain a directive that the company shall repay
to persons from whom collected between the date seven months after the institution
of the proceedings and the determination thereof all sums that the Commission determines
are in excess of the rates ultimately found to be just and reasonable. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 39(b), eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 263, § 4, eff. July 31, 1961; 1981, No. 226 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. May 6, 1982; 1995, No. 182 (Adj. Sess.), § 17, eff. May 22, 1996; 2019, No. 31, § 20; 2023, No. 33, § 5, eff. July 1, 2023.)