Section PSC 119.40 - Dispute Procedures(1) Applicants and public utilities shall attempt to resolve all disputes arising out of the interconnection process, including, but not limited to, the application and approval process under s. 119.04 and disconnection under s. 119.09, as described in this section.(2) The applicant shall attempt to resolve the issue with the public utility by informing the public utility of the issue under dispute and the relief requested. The public utility shall: (a) Investigate the issue promptly and completely.(b) Advise the applicant of the results of the investigation.(c) Attempt to resolve the dispute.(3) After the applicant has pursued available remedies with the public utility, the applicant may request that commission staff informally review the disputed issue and recommend terms of settlement.(a) The applicant's request for an informal review may be made in any reasonable manner, such as by written request or telephone request direct to the commission. By telephone or written request public service commission staff may request information from the public utility to investigate the dispute.(b) The public utility shall designate employees for responding to disputes who are readily available and have an appropriate and sufficient authority level for investigating concerns raised by the commission and its staff. The public utility shall respond to commission staff's request for investigation by providing a response to the commission within 10 business days. Commission staff may extend this time period if the public utility requests more time to complete its investigation. Based on the information provided by the applicant and the public utility, commission staff shall make an informal determination and communicate that determination in writing to both parties.(c) At least 7 days must elapse between the date commission staff communicates an informal determination and any disconnection of a distributed generation facility involved in the dispute.(4) After an informal determination is made, any party to the dispute may make a written request for a formal review by the commission. All requests for formal review shall be made within 30 days of the date commission staff communicates a written informal determination. To avoid disconnection of a DG facility from the distribution system pending a formal review, an applicant must request formal commission review within 7 days after the commission's informal determination.(5) The commission shall make a determination whether to grant the request for formal review. The commission shall base its determination on the request for formal review and the information previously collected for informal review. Commission staff shall provide the commission with a memorandum based on the information it has received from the parties. A copy of the commission staff memorandum shall be provided to the parties 30 days prior to consideration by the commission. Any party to the dispute may file a response to the commission staff's memorandum. Responses shall be filed with the commission 15 days prior to the date scheduled for consideration by the commission. The commission shall inform both parties of its decision.(6) Any party to the dispute may request that the commission reconsider its formal determination under this section. Such requests shall comply with s. 227.49, Stats., and must be received by the commission within 20 days of mailing of the commission's determination. A request for reconsideration shall include any additional information or arguments that the party believes were not considered in the original dispute. The commission may review and reaffirm its original decision, issue a new decision, or decide to hold a hearing on the matter for the gathering of additional information.(7)(a) If the commission decides to conduct a formal hearing under sub. (6) on the dispute, the commission may condition the terms of its granting a formal hearing. Failure to meet these conditions before hearing shall constitute waiver of the dispute by the disputing party.(am) The hearing shall confirm to the procedures of ss. 196.26 to 196.34, Stats.(b) Any such hearing shall be held not less than 60 days following a notice of hearing, and a decision thereon shall be rendered following the conclusion of the hearing.(8) A DG facility may not be disconnected from the distribution system because of any disputed matter while the disputed matter is being pursued in accordance with the provisions of this section. The utility shall inform the applicant that pursuing a disputed matter does not relieve the applicant of the obligation of paying charges which are not in dispute; relieve compliance with undisputed rules, terms or conditions; or prevent disconnection from the distribution system for nonpayment of undisputed charges, or any failure to comply with undisputed rules, terms, or conditions.Wis. Admin. Code Public Service Commission PSC 119.40
CR 03-003: renum. from PSC 113.0208 and am. Register January 2004 No. 577, eff. 2-1-04.Amended by, CR 22-077: r. and recr. Register April 2024 No. 820, eff. 5-1-24; correction in numbering in (7) (intro.), (a) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 1, Stats., and correction in (7) (a) made under s. 35.17, Stats., Register April 29 No. 820, eff. 5/1/2024