Ariz. Admin. Code § 14-2-208

Current through Register Vol. 30, No. 25, June 21, 2024

Section R14-2-208 - Provision of Service

A. Utility responsibility

1. Each utility shall be responsible for the safe transmission and distribution of electricity until it passes the point of delivery to the customer.

2. The entity having control of the meter shall be responsible for maintaining in safe operating condition all meters, equipment, and fixtures installed on the customer's premises by the entity for the purposes of delivering electric service to the customer.

3. The Utility Distribution Company may, at its option, refuse service until the customer has obtained all required permits and inspections indicating that the customer's facilities comply with local construction and safety standards.

B. Customer responsibility

1. Each customer shall be responsible for maintaining all customer facilities on the customer's side of the point of delivery in safe operating condition.

2. Each customer shall be responsible for safeguarding all utility property installed in or on the customer's premises for the purpose of supplying utility service to that customer.

3. Each customer shall exercise all reasonable care to prevent loss or damage to utility property, excluding ordinary wear and tear. The customer shall be responsible for loss of or damage to utility property on the customer's premises arising from neglect, carelessness, or misuse and shall reimburse the utility for the cost of necessary repairs or replacements.

4. Each customer shall be responsible for payment for any equipment damage and estimated unmetered usage resulting from unauthorized breaking of seals, interfering, tampering, or bypassing the utility meter.

5. Each customer shall be responsible for notifying the utility of any equipment failure identified in the utility's equipment.

C. Continuity of service. Each utility shall make reasonable efforts to supply a satisfactory and continuous level of service. However, no utility shall be responsible for any damage or claim of damage attributable to any interruption or discontinuation of service resulting from:

1. Any cause against which the utility could not have reasonably foreseen or made provision for, that is, force majeure.

2. Intentional service interruptions to make repairs or perform routine maintenance.

3. Curtailment.

D. Service interruptions

1. Each utility shall make reasonable efforts to reestablish service within the shortest possible time when service interruptions occur.

2. Each utility shall make reasonable provisions to meet emergencies resulting from failure of service, and each utility shall issue instructions to its employees covering procedures to be followed in the event of emergency in order to prevent or mitigate interruption or impairment of service.

3. In the event of a national emergency or local disaster resulting in disruption of normal service, the utility may, in the public interest, interrupt service to other customers to provide necessary service to civil defense or other emergency service agencies on a temporary basis until normal service to these agencies can be restored.

4. When a utility plans to interrupt service for more than four hours to perform necessary repairs or maintenance, the utility shall attempt to inform affected customers and the Commission's Consumer Services Section, at least 48 hours in advance, of the scheduled date and time and of the estimated duration of the service interruption. A utility shall complete repairs in the shortest possible time to minimize the inconvenience to the customers of the utility.

5. A utility shall notify the Commission's Consumer Services Section of any interruption in service affecting a significant portion of a utility's system, as follows:

a. By telephone or by submitting a Service Interruption Report Form through the Commission's website, as soon as practicable after a representative of the utility becomes aware of the interruption; and

b. If the initial notice is made by telephone, by submitting a follow-up written report to the Commission's Consumer Services Section within 24 hours after the initial notice.

6. A utility's notification made under subsection (D)(5) shall include at least the following:

a. The names of the utility and of the utility representative making the report,

b. The telephone number of the utility representative,

c. The locations and number of customer connections affected by the service interruption,

d. The substations and feeders involved in the service interruption,

e. The date and start and end times of the service interruption,

f. The cause of the service interruption.

7. For purposes of subsection (D)(5), an "interruption in service affecting a significant portion of a utility's system" means:

a. A service interruption of 1,000 customer hours or more for a utility with more than 1,000,000 customer connections,

b. A service interruption of 500 customer hours or more for a utility with 400,000 to 1,000,000 customer connections, and

c. A service interruption of 100 customer hours or more for a utility with fewer than 400,000 customer connections.

E. Curtailment. Each utility shall file with the Commission, through Docket Control, as a part of its general tariffs a procedural plan for handling severe supply shortages or service curtailments. The plan shall provide for equitable treatment of individual customer classes in the most reasonable and effective manner given the existing circumstances. When the availability of service is so restricted that the reduction of service on a proportionate basis to all customer classes will not maintain the integrity of the total system, the utility shall develop procedures to curtail service giving service priority to those customers and customer classes where health, safety and welfare would be adversely affected.

F. Construction standard and safety

1. Each utility shall construct all facilities in accordance with the provisions of Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc., Pub. No. C2-2007, The National Electrical Safety Code (2007), which is incorporated by reference in R14-2-207(E)(3)(c), and American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Pub. No. ANSI/ASME B31.1-2007, Power Piping (2007), including no future editions or amendments, which is incorporated by reference, on file with the Commission, and published by and available from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 3 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10016, and through http://catalog.asme.org.

2. Each utility shall adopt a standard alternating nominal voltage or standard alternating nominal voltages (as may be required by its distribution system) for its entire service area or for each of the several districts into which the system may be divided, which standard voltage or voltages shall be stated in the rules and regulations of each utility and shall be measured at the customer's service entrance. Each utility shall, under normal operating conditions, maintain its standard voltage or voltages within the limits of National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Pub. No. ANSI C84.1-2006, American National Standard for Electric Power Systems and Equipment-Voltage Ratings (60 Hertz) (2006), including no future editions or amendments, which is incorporated by reference, on file with the Commission, and published by and available from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, 1300 North 17th Street, Suite 1752, Rosslyn, Virginia 22209, and through http://www.nema.org.

Ariz. Admin. Code § R14-2-208

Adopted effective March 2, 1982 (Supp. 82-2). Amended subsections (D)(5) and (F)(1) and (2) effective April 1, 1986 (Supp. 86-2). Amended effective February 8, 1991 (Supp. 91-1). Amended effective August 16, 1996 (Supp. 96-3). Amended by an emergency action effective August 10, 1998, pursuant to A.R.S. § 41-1026, in effect for a maximum of 180 days (Supp. 98-3). Emergency amendment replaced by exempt permanent amendment effective December 31, 1998 (Supp. 98-4). Amended by exempt rulemaking at 5 A.A.R. 2054, effective June 4, 1999 (Supp. 99-2). Amended by exempt rulemaking at 5 A.A.R. 3933, effective September 24, 1999 (Supp. 99-3). Amended to correct subsection numbering (Supp. 99-4). Amended by exempt rulemaking at 6 A.A.R. 4180, effective October 13, 2000 (Supp. 00-4). Amended by final rulemaking at 15 A.A.R. 1933, effective December 27, 2009 (Supp. 09-4). Amended by final rulemaking at 28 A.A.R. 564, effective 4/18/2022.

The following Section was amended under an exemption from the Attorney General approval provisions of the Arizona Administrative Procedure Act (State ex. rel. Corbin v. Arizona Corporation Commission, 174 Ariz. 216 848 P.2d 301 (App. 1992)), as determined by the Corporation Commission. This exemption means that the rules as amended were not approved by the Attorney General.