Montana Code 69-3-811. Costs for services provided — jurisdiction over complaints
69-3-811. Costs for services provided — jurisdiction over complaints. (1) Prices charged for a regulated telecommunications service must be above relevant costs unless otherwise ordered by the commission. If the commission determines that a price is below relevant costs, it may ensure that shareholders and not ratepayers are responsible for any relevant costs not recovered through prices.
Terms Used In Montana Code 69-3-811
- Commission: means the public service commission. See Montana Code 69-3-803
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Regulated telecommunications service: means two-way switched, voice-grade access and transport of communications originating and terminating in this state and nonvoice-grade access and transport if intended to be converted to or from voice-grade access and transport. See Montana Code 69-3-803
- Telecommunications: means the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user's choosing without a change in the form or content of the information upon receipt. See Montana Code 69-3-803
(2)With regard to competitive services, the term “relevant costs” includes the price for any components that are used by the telecommunications provider and that would be essential for alternative providers to use in providing the competitive services pursuant to commission-approved methodology.
(3)The commission has jurisdiction to consider complaints and initiate investigations to determine whether the price charged by a provider of regulated telecommunications service is above relevant costs. The commission may also consider complaints that a pricing or promotional practice violates any provision of this title.