Sec. 61.10. Restriction on rate filings

(a) Whenever the effective date of any change to any public utility company's tariff schedule is suspended by order of the commission pending an investigation of that company's revenue requirement, no change of any other tariff schedule in force at the time of the commission's suspension order shall be accepted for filing without the approval of the commission, except as provided by subdivision (c) of this section.

(b) No change of any tariff schedule shall be accepted for filing without the approval of the commission, unless the changed schedule:

(1) contains a tariff leaf setting forth a schedule of surcharges designed to allocate the expense of each utility gross revenue tax, imposed by a city, a village, or the State, to the customers whose service produces revenues subject to that tax; or

(2) contains no changes other than those set forth in subdivision (c) of this section.

(c) The following proposed tariff schedule changes shall not require the filing approval required in subdivision (a) of this section:

(1) changes made pursuant to or authorized by applicable orders of the commission, such as compliance filings following rate level or rate design investigations and expressly authorized second-stage rate increases;

(2) changes in formula rates, such as the fuel and gas adjustment clause, annual factor of adjustment, annual gas surcharge or refund, gross receipts tax surcharge, and two-tier telephone rate revisions;

(3) changes in special service charges, such as late payment, no access, meter recovery, connection, field collection, seasonal turn-on and turn-off, and undergrounding charges;

(4) changes designed to offer a new or expanded service or curtail an existing service, such as telephone base rate area expansions, locality zone changes, extended area service offerings and exchange area transfers; and

(5) changes in the terms and conditions of service, other than rates and charges, without substantial revenue or customer bill effects and changes made for the movement of text to other pages to accommodate other authorized changes.

(d) Petitions for the approval required by subdivisions (a) and (c) of this section shall be:

(1) submitted to the secretary with all matter to be filed in support of the proposed change, and shall explain why the filing should be accepted prior to completion of the suspension period;

(2) served upon all parties to any proceeding which is pending to investigate a suspended schedule; and

(3) approved or denied for filing, subject to such terms or conditions as the commission may prescribe.

(e) For the purposes of this section, tariff schedule shall mean any rate, charge, form of contract or agreement, rule, regulation, service, general privilege or facility of a public utility company, or other agency subject to the commission's jurisdiction. Separate departments of public utility companies providing gas, electric and steam service under separate tariff schedules shall be considered separate entities for the purpose of this section.