Title 39
Public Utilities and Carriers

Chapter 4
Hearings and Investigations

§ 39-4-3. Investigations on complaint against utility — “Safe and potable” defined.

(a) Upon a written complaint made against any public utility by any city or town council, or by the water supply management division of the department of environmental management, or by any corporation, or by any twenty-five (25) qualified electors, that any of the rates, tolls, charges, or any joint rate or rates of any public utility are in any respect unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory, or that any regulation, measurement, practice, or act whatsoever of any public utility, affecting or relating to the conveyance of persons or property, including sewage, or any service in connection therewith, or the conveyance of any telephone or telegraph message or any service in connection therewith, is in any respect unreasonable, insufficient, or unjustly discriminatory, or that any service is inadequate or cannot be obtained or is unsafe, or the public safety is endangered thereby, or in the case of drinking water that the water is either unsafe or nonpotable, or that the water supplier is in noncompliance with chapter 15.4 et seq. of title 46, the division shall proceed, with or without notice, to make such investigation as it may deem necessary or convenient. But no order affecting the rates, tolls, charges, regulations, measurements, practice, act, or service complained of shall be entered by the division without a formal public hearing. When any complaint shall be made by twenty-five (25) or more qualified electors, the complaint shall designate one of the complainants upon whom shall be served all notices, orders, and citations required by this chapter to be served upon complainants.

(b) The term “safe and potable” shall mean the suitability or fitness for human consumption of drinking water.