1. (a) An electric distribution company may recover its costs and investments that have been prudently incurred as well as its revenues lost resulting from the provisions of sections 16-1, 16-19ff, 16-50k, 16-50x, 16-243h to 16-243q, inclusive, 16-244c, 16-244u, 16-244x, 16-245d, 16-245m, 16-245n, 16-245z, 16-262i, 16a-40l and 16a-40m and section 21 of public act 05-1 of the June special session*. The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall, after a hearing held pursuant to the provisions of chapter 54, determine the appropriate mechanism to obtain such recovery in a timely manner which mechanism may be one or more of the following:

   1. (1) Approval of rates as provided in sections 16-19 and 16-19e; (2) the energy adjustment clause as provided in section 16-19b; or (3) the federally mandated congestion charges, as defined in section 16-1.
2. (b) For any rate proceeding initiated on or after January 1, 2024, no electric distribution company, gas company, pipeline company or water company with more than seventy-five thousand customers shall recover through rates its direct or indirect costs associated with its attendance in, participation in, preparation for, or appeal of such rate proceeding. Such costs shall include, but need not be limited to, attorneys' fees, fees to engage expert witnesses or consultants, the portion of employee salaries associated with such attendance, participation, preparation or appeal of a rate proceeding and related costs identified by the authority.
3. (c) Electric distribution companies shall be authorized to earn an incentive, as provided in section 16-19kk, for costs prudently incurred by such companies pursuant to this section.

*Note: Section 21 of public act 05-1 of the June special session is special in nature and therefore has not been codified but remains in full force and effect according to its terms.

History: June Sp. Sess. P.A. 05-1 effective July 21, 2005; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Department of Public Utility Control” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Public Utilities Regulatory Authority” in Subsec. (a), effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 13-5 amended Subsec. (a) to make technical changes, effective May 8, 2013; P.A. 13-298 amended Subsec. (a) to add provision re recovery of revenues lost and make a technical change, to replace reference to Sec. 16-243i with reference to Sec. 16-243h, to add reference to Sec. 16-244u and to delete provision re recovery of earnings by electric distribution company earning return on equity below return authorized by the authority for 6 consecutive months, effective July 8, 2013; P.A. 14-94 amended Subsec. (a) by adding reference to Secs. 16a-40l and 16a-40m re revenues lost, effective June 6, 2014; P.A. 14-134 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting reference to Sec. 16-244e, effective June 6, 2014; P.A. 16-116 amended Subsec. (a) by adding reference to Sec. 16-244x, effective May 31, 2016; Sept. Sp. Sess. P.A. 20-5 added new Subsec. (b) preventing electric distribution companies from recovering costs associated with rate-making hearings and redesignated existing Subsec. (b) as Subsec. (c), effective November 1, 2020; P.A. 23-102 amended Subsec. (b) by replacing “No electric distribution company shall recover its” with “No public service company with more than seventy-five thousand customers shall recover through rates its direct or indirect”, and revising description of costs to include rate proceeding preparation and appeal costs, effective June 29, 2023; P.A. 23-204 amended Subsec. (b) by replacing reference to public service companies with reference to electric distribution, gas, pipeline and water companies, replacing “any” with “such” and deleting “conducted before the authority”, effective June 12, 2023.