SB 377 - This act establishes the Missouri Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Resilience Act, which specifies that a water or sewer corporation may file a petition and proposed rate schedules with the Public Service Commission to create or change an infrastructure resilience rate adjustment (IRRA) that provides for the recovery of pretax revenues associated with eligible infrastructure projects, provided that the IRRA produces IRRA revenues of at least $1 million annually. The IRRA and any future changes must meet specific requirements as set forth in the act. The Commission shall not approve an IRRA for a water or sewer corporation that has not had a general rate proceeding decided or dismissed in the 3 years before the filing of an IRRA petition unless the water or sewer corporation has filed for or is the subject of a new general rate proceeding.
At the time the water or sewer corporation files a petition for an IRRA, it shall submit proposed IRRA rate schedules and supporting documentation, and the corporation shall also serve the Office of Public Counsel with a copy of the petition, rate schedules, and documentation. Upon the filing of a petition, the Commission shall conduct an examination of the proposed IRRA, as specified in the act. The Commission may hold a hearing on the petition and any associated IRRA rate schedules. If the Commission finds that a petition complies with the requirements set forth in the act, the Commission shall enter an order authorizing the water or sewer corporation to implement the IRRA. A corporation may petition the Commission for a change in its IRRA no more than twice in a 12-month period.
The act lists what information the Commission may consider in determining the appropriate pretax revenues and how the IRRA is calculated. If this information is unavailable and the Commission has not provided it on an agreed-upon basis, the Commission shall use the last authorized overall pretax weighted average cost of capital in a general rate proceeding for the water or sewer corporation. At the end of each calendar year, the corporation shall reconcile the differences between the revenues from an IRRA and the appropriate pretax revenues found by the Commission for that period and submit the reconciliation and proposed IRRA to the Commission for approval to recover or credit the difference.
A water or sewer corporation that has an IRRA shall file revised IRRA schedules when new base rates and charges become effective following a general rate proceeding that includes the IRRA eligible costs in the base rates. Once the eligible costs are included in the water or sewer corporation's base rates, the corporation shall reconcile any previously unreconciled IRRA revenues to ensure that revenues resulting from the IRRA match as closely as possible the appropriate pretax revenues.
A water or sewer corporation's filing of a petition to establish or change an IRRA is not considered a request for a general increase in the corporation's base rates and charges. Nothing in the act impairs the authority of the Commission to review the prudence or eligibility of specific projects in the proposed IRRA.
This act is similar to HCS/HB 633 (2019).
JAMIE ANDREWS