The commission shall establish the fee pursuant to Section 431 with the approval of the Department of Finance and in accordance with all of the following:
(a)
In its annual budget request, the commission shall specify both of the following:
(1)
The amount of its budget to be financed by the fee.
(2)
The dollar allocation of the amount of its budget shall be financed by the fee by each class of public utility subject to the fee. The fee allocation among classes of public utilities shall reflect expenditures by the commission on regulatory and other authorized activities affecting each respective class, and shall bear the same ratio that the commission’s workload for each class of public utility subject to the fee bears to the commission’s total workload for all public utilities subject to the fee.
(b)
The commission may establish different and distinct methods of assessing fees for each class of public utility, if the revenues collected are consistent with paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), except that the commission shall establish a uniform charge per kilowatt hour for sales in kilowatt hours for the class of electrical corporations and a uniform charge per therm for sales in therms for the class of gas corporations.
(c)
Within each class of public utility subject to the fee, the commission shall allocate among the members of the class the amount of its budget to be financed by the fee using the following methods:
(1)
For electrical corporations, the ratio that each corporation’s sales in kilowatt hours bears to the total sales in kilowatt hours for the class.
(2)
For gas corporations, the ratio that each corporation’s sales in therms bears to the total sales in therms for the class.
(3)
For telephone and telegraph corporations, the ratio that each corporation’s gross intrastate revenues bears to the total gross intrastate revenues for the class. If the commission determines that there is a need for consultants or advisory services to assist in determining the reasonableness of capital expenditures for a telephone corporation, the commission may adjust the fees within the class so that the expenses for the consultants and advisory services are fully allocated to that telephone corporation.
(4)
For water and sewer system corporations, the ratio that each corporation’s gross intrastate revenues bears to the total gross intrastate revenues for the class.
(5)
For all other public utilities, an appropriate measurement methodology determined by the commission.
(d)
Every public utility belonging to more than one class shall be subject to the fee for each class of which it is a member.
(e)
For every public utility with annual gross intrastate revenues of seven hundred fifty thousand dollars ($750,000) or less, the commission shall annually establish uniform fees to be paid by each such public utility, if the revenues collected thereby are consistent with paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) and subdivision (c).