Opinion ID: 2186259
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The PSC Proceedings

Text: Empire, a public utility and electrical corporation authorized under section 386.020(15), [1] filed a petition with the PSC on February 1, 2006, proposing new tariffs that would have resulted in a ten percent increase in consumer electricity rates. The PSC issued a report and order on December 21, 2006, rejecting Empire's proposed tariffs and directing the company to file tariffs conforming to the substantive rulings in the report and order. Empire filed a new tariff proposal on December 27, 2006 and then withdrew that proposal the following day. Later on December 28, Empire filed a new tariff proposal to replace the withdrawn proposal, along with a request that the PSC expedite approval so that Empire could put the new rates into effect by January 1, 2007. On December 28, 2006, public counsel filed an objection to Empire's proposed tariffs, arguing that the tariffs did not conform to the requirements of the December 21 report and order. Further, public counsel asserted that there was no need for expediting approval, since there was no local requirement that the new tariffs be put into effect by January 1, 2007. In an order issued on Friday, December 29, 2006, at 3:40 p.m., the PSC approved Empire's proposed tariffs and made the rates effective as of the following Monday, January 1, 2007. The PSC has two filing mechanisms: electronic and paper. The electronic filing system time-stamps all filings made after regular business hours, considered any time after 5 p.m. on weekdays, [2] with the date of the next business day. See 4 CSR 240-2.045.2. Paper filings that are received by the commission's records room after 4 p.m. are stamped as filed on the next business day. See 4 CSR 240-2.080.11. The PSC's records room closes by 5 p.m. and is not open on weekends. State offices were closed for New Year's Day, and so any electronic filing made after 5 p.m. or paper filing made after 4 p.m. on Friday, December 29 would have been stamped as filed on Tuesday, January 2, 2007, one day after the proposed rates under the tariffs would have gone into effect. Public counsel maintains that the tariffs put into effect by the December 29 PSC order are not in compliance with the December 21 report and order. Because public counsel received the tariffs order at 3:40 p.m. on December 29, the last business day before the January 1 effective date, the December 29 order left public counsel with, at most, one hour and 20 minutes in which to file an application for rehearing. Public counsel filed a petition for writ of mandamus with the court of appeals on January 4, 2007. The court of appeals denied the writ without opinion. Public counsel then filed its petition for a writ of mandamus from this Court to direct the PSC to vacate and rescind its December 29, 2006 order and, further, to direct the PSC to provide an effective date for any subsequent tariff approval orders that allows public counsel at least ten days to prepare and file an application for rehearing. This Court issued its alternative (i.e., preliminary) writ of mandamus May 1, 2007, which the Court now makes peremptory (i.e., final, absolute).