Upon the filing of an informal complaint, which shall
be captioned as "(Complainant) v. (public utility)," Commission staff will
immediately notify the public utility; review the dispute; and, within a
reasonable period of time, issue to the public utility and the complaining
party an informal report with findings and a decision. Parties may represent
themselves or be represented by counsel or other person of their choice, and
may bring witnesses to appear on their behalf. The reports will be in writing
and a summary will be sent to the parties if a party requests it or if the
Commission staff finds that a summary is necessary.
(1)
Review techniques.
Review will be by an appropriate means, including, but not limited to, public
utility company reports, telephone calls, conferences, written statements,
research, inquiry and investigation. Procedures will be designed to ensure a
fair and reasonable opportunity to present pertinent evidence and to challenge
evidence submitted by the other party to the dispute, to examine a list of
witnesses who will testify and documents, records, files, account data, records
of meter tests and other material that the Commission staff will determine may
be relevant to the issues, and to question witnesses appearing on behalf of
other parties. Information and documents requested by Commission staff as part
of the review process shall be provided by the public utility within 30 days of
the request. If the complainant is without public utility service, or in other
emergency situations as identified by Commission staff, the information
requested by Commission staff shall be provided by the public utility within 5
business days of the request.
(2)
Settlement. Prior to the issuance of an informal decision,
Commission staff may facilitate discussions between the parties in an effort to
settle the dispute. If a settlement is reached, Commission staff will confirm
that all parties understand the terms of the settlement and document the
informal complaint as closed.
(3)
Resolution. Commission staff resolution of informal complaints
is binding upon the parties unless formal proceedings are initiated under §
§
56.171-
56.174 (relating to formal
complaints).
Notes
The
provisions of this § 56.163 adopted June 16, 1978, effective
6/17/1978, 8 Pa.B. 1655; amended
April 8, 1983, effective 4/9/1983, 13 Pa.B. 1250; amended October 7,
2011, effective 10/8/2011, 41
Pa.B. 5473; amended May 31, 2019, effective 6/1/2019, 49 Pa.B.
2815.
The provisions of this § 56.163 amended under the
Public Utility Code,
66 Pa.C.S. §
§
331,
501,
504,
1301,
1305,
1401-1419,
1501,
1504 and
1509.
This section cited in 52 Pa. Code §
56.100 (relating to winter
termination procedures); 52 Pa. Code §
56.165 (relating to conference
procedures); 52 Pa. Code §
57.257 (relating to disputes
concerning advanced metering); and 52 Pa. Code §
69.265 (relating to CAP design
elements).
