reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 8 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 8. Reports to Commission

 Each public utility shall furnish to the Commission in such form and at such time as the Commission shall require, such accounts, reports, and information as shall show in itemized detail: Depreciation; salaries and wages; legal expenses; taxes and rentals; quantity and value of material used; receipts from residuals, by-products, services or other sales; total and net costs; net and gross profits; dividends and interest; surplus or reserve; prices paid by consumers; and in addition such other items, whether of a nature similar to those hereinbefore enumerated or otherwise, as the Commission may prescribe, in order to show completely and in detail the entire operation of the public utility in furnishing its product or service to the public.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 9 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 9. Schedule of rates

 Every public utility shall file with the Commission, within a time to be fixed by the Commission, schedules, which shall be open to public inspection, showing all rates, tolls, and charges which it has established and which are in force at the time for any service performed by it within the Virgin Islands, or for any service in connection therewith or performed by any public utility controlled or operated by it. The rates, tolls, and charges shown on such schedules shall not exceed the rates, tolls and charges now allowed by law, and shall be the lawful rates, tolls, and charges within the Virgin Islands and shall remain and be in force until set aside by the Commission.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 9a (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 9a. Interest on customer deposits

 (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), every public utility which requires its customers, as a condition precedent to receiving the service offered by such public utility, to make cash deposits with such utility to secure payment of tolls and charges shall pay interest on such cash deposits at an annual compounded rate of four and three quarters (4¾%) percent, which shall be refunded to the customer with his cash deposit upon termination of service for any reason other than unjustifiable nonpayment of tolls or charges by such customer; provided that interest shall not be payable by the utility upon deposits held by such utility for less than six (6) months; and provided further, that the customer may, upon application therefor on forms prescribed and furnished by the utility, obtain periodic payments of accumulated interest prior to the termination of service when the interest on said deposit equals $10 or more. (b) The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority shall pay interest on cash deposits paid by customers, as a condition precedent to receiving service, at a rate equal to the average prevailing interest paid by local banks on saving accounts. (c) Every public utility affected by the provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall disclose to the customer, with its final billing statement in each calendar year, the amount of interest which has accumulated on the security deposit during that calendar year and the total amount of interest which has accumulated and has not been claimed by said customer as permitted in subsection (a) of this section.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 10 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 10. Filing of rules

 Every public utility shall file with and as a part of such schedule all rules and regulations that in any manner affect the rates charged or to be charged for any service.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 11 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 11. Publication of schedules

 A copy of so much of said schedules as the Commission shall deem necessary for the use of the public shall be printed in plain type and kept on file in every station and office of such public utility where payments are made by the consumers or users, open to the public, in such form and place as to be readily accessible to the public and so as to be conveniently inspected.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 12 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 12. Filing and publication of joint rates

 Where a schedule of joint rates or charges is, or may be, in force between two or more public utilities, such schedule shall in like manner be printed and filed with the Commission, and so much thereof as the Commission shall deem necessary for the use of the public shall be filed in every such station or office as provided in section 11 of this title.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 13 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 13. Changes in rates

 No change shall thereafter be made in any schedule, including schedules of joint rates, except upon thirty days' notice to the Commission and all such changes shall be plainly indicated upon existing schedules, or by filing new schedules in lieu thereof thirty days prior to the time the same are to take effect: provided, that the Commission, upon application of any public utility, may prescribe a less time within which a reduction may be made.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 14 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 14. Filing of new schedules

 Copies of all new schedules shall be filed as hereinafter provided, in every station and office of such public utility where payments are made by consumers or users thirty days prior to the time the same are to take effect, unless the Commission shall prescribe a less time.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 15 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 15. Schedules binding

 It shall be unlawful for any public utility to charge, demand, collect, or receive a greater or less compensation for any service performed by it within the Virgin Islands, or for any service in connection therewith, than is specified in such printed schedules, including schedules of joint rates, as may at the time be in force, or to demand, collect, or receive any rate, toll, or charge not specified in such schedules. The rates, tolls, and charges named therein shall be the lawful rates, tolls, and charges until the same are changed as provided in this chapter.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 15a (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 15a. Transportation rate reductions for the elderly

 The Commission shall not approve fare rates or schedules of any passenger services by motor buses or trucks or public marine passenger transportation services operating under government grant of exclusive franchise or any other mode of public passenger transportation service subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission, unless these rates or schedules include provisions granting reductions in rates of at least twenty-five percent (25%) for all residents of the Virgin Islands who are sixty (60) years of age or older and who present to the operator a Real ID card issued in compliance with the Real ID Act of 2005, 49 U.S.C. § 30301 - Notes, or an identification card issued to such person from the Information and Referral Services for the Elderly, Department of Human Services, during times fixed pursuant to section 15b of this title.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 15b (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 15b. Regulations governing periods during which rate reductions are applicable

 The Commission shall establish reasonable regulations concerning the day or days, or parts of days, of the week during which reduced rates for the elderly apply and prescribing the use of some form of age identification.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 15c (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 15c. Rules governing rate reductions

 The Commission shall promulgate rules for the prompt, fair, and efficient establishment and maintenance of reductions in the fare rates and schedules for elderly persons of any passenger services by motor buses or trucks or public marine transportation services operating under government grant of exclusive franchise or any other mode of public passenger transportation service subject to its jurisdiction.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 15d (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 15d. Rate reduction for residential users

 (a) The Commission shall establish a standard base rate for the first five hundred (500) kilowatt-hours (KWH) of electricity used by a residential customer per month. This standard base rate per KWH shall be sixty percent (60%) of the standard base rate per KWH charged to such customers on September 30, 1984. (b) The Commission is authorized and directed to change the rate schedule for all users of electricity to compensate for the reduced standard base rate under subsection (a) of this section. The standard residential base rate established under subsection (a) may not be increased until October 1, 1987.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 16 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 16. Inspection of records

 The Commission or any member thereof or any person or persons employed by the Commission for that purpose shall, upon demand, have the right to inspect the books, accounts, papers, records, and memoranda of any public utility, and to examine, under oath, any officer, agent, or employee of such public utility in relation to its business and affairs. Any person other than one of said members who shall make such demand shall produce his authority to make such inspection or examination.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 17 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 17. Subpoena of records

 (a) The Commission may require, by order or subpoena, to be served upon any public utility in the same manner that a summons is served in a civil action in the District Court of the Virgin Islands, the production within the Virgin Islands at such time and place as it may designate of any books, accounts, papers, or records kept by such public utility in any office or place without the Virgin Islands, or verified copies in lieu thereof if the Commission shall so order, in order that an examination thereof may be made by the Commission under its direction. (b) Attendance of witnesses and the production of such documentary evidence may be required from any place in the United States. In case of disobedience to a subpoena the Commission, or any party to a proceeding before the Commission may invoke the aid of any court of the United States or the District Court of the Virgin Islands in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books, papers, and documents under the provisions of this section. The said Commission is hereby given power to call on the Attorney General of the Virgin Islands to enforce the provisions of this chapter in the proper courts and in the District Court of the Virgin Islands.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 18 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 18. Appointment of agents

 For the purpose of making any investigation with regard to any public utility the Commission shall have power to appoint, by an order in writing, an agent whose duties shall be prescribed in such order. In the discharge of his duties such agent shall have every power whatsoever granted in this chapter to the Commission, except the power to issue any order for which a hearing is required, and said agent shall have power to administer oaths and take depositions. The Commission may conduct any number of such investigations contemporaneously through different agents, and may delegate to such agent or agents the taking of all testimony bearing upon any investigation or hearing. The decision of the Commission shall be based upon its examination of all testimony and records. The recommendations made by such agents shall be advisory only, and shall not preclude the taking of further testimony, if the Commission so order, nor further investigation.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 19 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 19. Answer to inquiries

 Every public utility shall furnish to the Commission all information required by it to carry into effect the provisions of this chapter, and shall make specific answers to all specific questions submitted by the Commission. Any public utility receiving from the Commission any blanks with directions to fill the same shall cause the same to be properly filled out so as to answer, fully and correctly, each question therein propounded, and in case it is unable to answer any question it shall give a good and sufficient reason for such failure; and said answer shall be verified under oath by the president, secretary, superintendent, or general manager of such public utility, and returned to the Commission at its office within the period fixed by the Commission. Whenever required by the Commission, every public utility shall deliver to the Commission any or all maps, profiles, contracts, reports of engineers, and all documents, books, accounts, papers, and records or copies of any or all of the same, with a complete inventory of all its property in such form as the Commission may direct.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 20 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 20. Investigations of rates and services

 (a) Upon its own initiative or upon reasonable complaint made against any public utility including the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority that any of the rates, tolls, charges, or schedules, or services, or time and conditions of payment, or any joint rate or rates, schedules, or services, are in any respect unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory, or any service in connection therewith, is in any respect unreasonable, insufficient, or unjustly discriminatory, or that any service is inadequate or cannot be obtained, or any billing for service inaccurate or erroneous the Commission may, in its discretion, proceed, with or without notice, to make such investigation as it may deem necessary or convenient. But no order affecting said rates, tolls, charges, schedules, regulations, or act complained of shall be entered by the Commission without a formal hearing. (b) Commencing July 30, 2001, the Commission shall conduct rate investigations of all regulated utilities every five years and hold formal hearings as required under subsection (a) of this section.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 21 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 21. Notice to utility of complaint

 The Commission shall prior to such formal hearing notify the public utility complained of that a complaint has been made, and ten days after such notice has been given the Commission may proceed to set a time and place for a hearing and an investigation as hereinafter provided.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 22 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 22. Notice to utility of hearing

 The Commission shall give the public utility and the complainant, if any, ten days' notice of the time and place when and where such hearing and investigation will be held and such matters considered and determined. Both the public utility and the complainant shall be entitled to be heard and shall have process to enforce the attendance of witnesses.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 23 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 23. Power of Commission to fix rates and services

 (a) If upon such investigation the rates, tolls, charges, schedules, or joint rates shall be found to be unjust, unreasonable, insufficient, or unjustly discriminatory, or to be preferential or otherwise in violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, the Commission shall have power to determine and by order fix and order to be substituted therefor such rate or rates, charges, or schedules as shall be just and reasonable. If upon such investigation, it shall be found that any regulation, time schedule, act, or service, complained of is unjust, unreasonable, unsafe, inadequate, preferential, unjustly discriminatory, or otherwise in violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, or if it be found that reasonable service is not supplied, the Commission shall have power to determine and substitute therefor such other regulations, time schedule, service, or acts and to make such orders respecting any such changes in such regulations, time schedules, service, or acts as shall be just and reasonable. The Commission shall have power to fix, determine and require such extensions, expansions, or increases in facilities or service as the Commission finds are in the furtherance of the public convenience and necessity, and the terms and conditions upon which the same shall be made: provided, that no hearing shall be had and no order shall be made with respect thereto without notice to the public utility affected thereby, as provided in section 22 of this title. (b) In exercising its authority to prescribe just and reasonable rates, the Commission shall provide a return of not less than six (6) nor more than eight (8) percent on the net investment in the property prudently acquired for and devoted to the public use, unless the Commission makes a special finding that a different return is imperative, so as to be fair to the consumer interest, and to be fair to the investor interest by providing a return commensurate with returns in other enterprises having corresponding risks, and which will assure confidence in the financial integrity of the enterprise, so as to maintain its credit and to attract capital.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 24 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 24. Suspension of rates

 Whenever there is filed with the Commission any new charge, classification, or practice, the Commissioner may either upon complaint or upon its own initiative without complaint, upon reasonable notice, enter upon a hearing concerning the lawlessness thereof; and pending such hearing and the decision thereon, the Commission, upon delivering to the utility affected thereby a statement in writing of its reasons for such suspension, may suspend the operation of such charge, classification, regulation, or practice, but not for a longer period than eight months beyond the time when it would otherwise go into effect; and after full hearing, the Commission may make such order with reference thereto as would be proper in a proceeding initiated after it had become effective. If the proceeding has not been concluded and an order made within the period of the suspension, the proposed change of charge, classification, regulation, or practice shall go into effect at the end of such period, but in case of a proposed increased charge, the Commission may, by order, require the interested utility to keep accurate account of all amounts received by reason of such increase, specifying, to the extent feasible, by whom and in whose behalf such amounts are paid and upon completion of the hearing and decision may, by further order, require the interested utility to refund, with interest to the persons in whose behalf such amounts were paid, such portion of such increased charges as by its decision shall be found not justified. At any hearing involving a charge increased, or sought to be increased, the burden of proof to show that the increased charge, or proposed increased charge, is just and reasonable, shall be upon the utility, and the Commission shall give to the hearing and decision of such questions preference over all other questions pending before it and decide the same as speedily as possible.
V.I. Code tit. 30, § 25 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 30 - Public Service|Chapter 1 - Public Utilities Generally|Subchapter I - Public Utilities|§ 25. Expenses of investigation

 In connection with any proceeding involving a public utility with a net investment of $1,000,000 or more, the expenses of any investigation or proceeding of any nature by the Commission of or concerning any public utility operating in the Virgin Islands, and all expenses of any litigation, including appeals, arising from any such investigation, valuation, revaluation, or proceeding, or from any order or action of the said Commission, shall be borne by the public utility investigated, or otherwise affected as a special franchise tax in addition to all other taxes imposed by law, and such expenses with interest at 6 per centum per annum may be charged to operating expenses and amortized over such period as the Commission shall deem proper and be allowed for in the rates to be charged by such utility except any cost or expenses associated with any investigation or proceedings regarding the certification or interconnection of a “Qualifying Cogeneration Facility or, Qualifying Small Power Production Facility”, as defined in 30 V.I.C., § 46, is governed solely by 30 V.I.C., §§ 47 and 48. When any such investigation, or other proceeding is begun the said Commission may call upon the utility in question for the deposit of such reasonable sum or sums as in the opinion of said Commission, it may deem necessary from time to time, until the said proceeding or the litigation arising therefrom is completed, the money so paid to be deposited in the Treasury of the Virgin Islands in a special account to be maintained and administered by the Commissioner of Finance and to be designated the “Special Public Utility Deposit Account”; provided, that the amount so assessed by the Commission to any one company in any one year, in any rate case shall not exceed one-half of one per centum of the existing net investment of the company investigated, and that the amount so assessed in all other investigations shall not exceed one-tenth of one per centum of the existing net investment.