Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the experimental rate set pursuant to Section 58-34-20 shall remain in full force and effect during the pendency of the matters before the commission. However, the commission shall monitor the net effect of the experimental rate and may alter the experimental rate, on its own motion, only if it determines that an adjustment to the experimental rate is necessary to satisfy constitutional requirements of utility ratemaking. If required to adjust the rate, the commission shall, under applicable provisions of law, determine the just and reasonable rates for these ratepayers after considering all factors and evidence. In determining such rate and in considering the constitutionally allowable zone of reasonableness in which rates may properly fall, the commission is directed to set the lowest possible rate within the zone of reasonableness. Nothing herein prevents the commission from adopting as its own rate the experimental rate directed by the General Assembly in Section 58-34-10 and ordered pursuant to Section 58-34-20. HISTORY: 2018 Act No. 258 (H.4375), Section 3, eff June 28, 2018.
South Carolina Legal Code