The Public Service Commission's website and an annual report relating to its dockets

The bill requires PSC, in its website that offers public access to docket information, to establish a function that allows a person to sign up to receive email notifications relating to a single docket or a single utility and to specify the type of activity relating to that docket or utility about which the person would like to receive notifications.

The bill requires PSC to produce a report each year that shows each docket that either was opened or had a decision issued on it during the prior calendar year, organized into the following two lists: one list that includes dockets relating to investor-owned utilities and one list that includes dockets relating to municipal water, electric, gas and sewer utilities. Under the bill, PSC must organize each list by utility and include for each docket the docket identification number, the title of the proceeding, the number of public comments received in the docket if a public comment period was held, the date of the application, and, if applicable, the dates of the notice of investigation and the decision.

The bill also requires the annual report to include for each docket in which a PSC decision was issued during the prior calendar year an opinion on the likely impact on ratepayers, based on how the decision will impact public utility costs.

Under the bill, each opinion must state whether the impact on public utility costs, and therefore on ratepayers, is likely to be positive (will lower public utility costs), negligible (will have little to no impact), negative (will increase the public utility costs), or other (will have both increased and decreased costs—for example, if the early retirement of a plant increases costs but the use of environmental trust financing in that retirement decreases costs). The bill provides that such an opinion is for informational purposes only, is not on the merits of the proceeding, and is not binding on future PSC decisions.

The bill authorizes PSC to allow for public comments on these reports, including comments from the public utility referenced in the report, and to adjust the reports based on comments received. The bill requires PSC, no later than April 30 of the year after the year that is the subject of the report, to submit the reports to the standing committees of the legislature with jurisdiction over energy and utilities and to make the reports available to the public on PSC's website.