1. This Act may be cited as the Public Utilities Act.

2. (1) In this Act

3. This Act does not apply to a public utility where

4. (1) This Act applies only to public utilities that are subject to the legislative authority of the province.

5. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may

6. (1) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall constitute a Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities, which shall consist of 3 full-time members and not more than 6 part-time members.

7. (1) A commissioner shall not be directly or indirectly employed by or interested in a public utility or interested in a share, stock, bond, mortgage, security or contract of a public utility that is subject to this Act.

8. Where a commissioner is interested in accordance with section 7 in a matter before the board, or where a commissioner is unable to act because of illness, absence or other cause, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may appoint a disinterested person to act as commissioner in his or her place and a person so appointed may complete any unfinished business in which he or she has taken part, even if the commissioner whom he or she has replaced has returned or has become able to act.

9. A commissioner is not disqualified from acting in a matter affecting a public utility because of being the lessee or user of a telephone, or the purchaser of power, water or electric current or service for his or her own personal use from a public utility.

10. (1) In the absence of the chairperson or if he or she is unable to act, the vice-chairperson shall exercise the powers of the chairperson and in that case all regulations, orders and other documents signed by the vice-chairperson have the same effect as if signed by the chairperson.

11. Two commissioners shall form a quorum and may exercise all powers of the board; but where there is no opposing party and no notice to be given to an interested party, 1 commissioner may act alone for the board.

12. A vacancy in the board does not impair the right of the remaining commissioners to act.

13. (1) The expenses of the board, including the salaries, pensions and allowances of the commissioners, clerk, counsel, experts, accountants, stenographers and other assistants, and reasonable allowances for travelling of all the persons shall be estimated by the board annually and assessed upon and borne by the several public utilities that carried on business during the whole or a part of the preceding calendar year in the proportion or at the rate that the board may determine on the gross earnings of each public utility in excess of $18,000 as shown by the balance sheets, reports and other information relating to the financial year of the public utility filed with the board by the public utilities respectively and the cost of inquiries chargeable to specific utilities under section 90 shall not be included.

14. (1) The amount assessed under section 13 on a public utility shall be paid by it within 1 month after it has been notified by the board of the amount, and in default of payment the board may sue for and recover the sum in a court in the name of the Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities as if the board were incorporated under that name, and the proceedings shall not be affected by a change in the membership of the board.

15. (1) Not later than December 31 in each year, the board shall prepare and submit to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council through the Minister of Justice, a budget containing estimates of all amounts required during the coming financial year.

16. The board shall have the general supervision of all public utilities, and may make all necessary examinations and inquiries and keep itself informed as to the compliance by public utilities with the law and shall have the right to obtain from a public utility all information necessary to enable the board to fulfil its duties.

17. The board may inquire into a violation of the laws or regulations in force in the province by a public utility doing business here, or by the officers, agents or employees, or by a person operating the plant of a public utility, and has the power and it is its duty to enforce this Act as well as all other laws relating to public utilities.

18. The board may publish annual reports showing its proceedings and showing in tabular form the details as provided by this Act for all the public utilities of each kind in the province.

19. The board may also publish in its annual report the value of the property actually used and useful for the convenience of the public, and the value of the physical property actually used and useful for the convenience of the public of every public utility as to whose rates, charges, service or regulations a public hearing has been held by the board under this Act, or the value of whose property has been ascertained by it under this Act.

20. The board may make, revoke and alter rules and regulations for the effective execution of its duties and of the intention and objects of this Act, and the regulations of the practice and procedure with regard to the matters over which it has jurisdiction and the rules and regulations, when approved by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, shall have the force of the law.

21. (1) Subject to the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, the board may make regulations

22. The board may prepare suitable forms for carrying out the purposes of this Act and shall when necessary provide the forms to each public utility.

23. Upon application of a person the board shall provide certified copies under the seal of the board of an order made by it, which shall be, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, evidence of the facts stated in the order.

24. The board or chairperson may authorize 1 of the commissioners to inquire into and report to the board upon a matter within the jurisdiction of the board or pending before it, and when so authorized he or she shall, for the purpose of taking evidence or obtaining information for the report, have the powers of a commissioner under the Public Inquiries Act.

25. The board may

26. The money authorized to be borrowed under section 25 may be borrowed and repaid in Canadian or United States of America currency, or in the currency of another country or partly in 1 currency and partly in another, as the board may approve, and authority for borrowing or repaying the money includes authority to pay the exchange charges that may be applicable to the currency and the interest and premium incurred in respect of the borrowing, and to make sinking fund payments.

27. The board shall not borrow money unless authorized by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to do so.

28. (1) Subject to the prior approval of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, the Minister of Finance, acting for and on behalf of the Crown, may unconditionally guarantee as to principal, interest, including interest on overdue interest, premium and sinking fund payments, loans, in Canadian or United States of America currency or in the currency of another country, or partly in 1 currency and partly in another, as the Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall determine, not exceeding in total the limit fixed under subsection (2), to be raised by the board by way of bonds, debentures or other securities issued by the board, the bonds, debentures or other securities to be issued

29. Notwithstanding the Financial Administration Act, where a guarantee is given under section 28 of this Act,

30. Notwithstanding subsection 28(4), where the payment of an interest, premium or sinking fund payment has been guaranteed under this Act, the Crown may incur liability, in excess of the principal sum of the loan in respect of which the payment was guaranteed, to the extent of the guarantee of the interest, premium and sinking fund payment.

31. The power conferred by section 28 to guarantee the repayment of bonds, debentures or other securities or an interim loan includes the power to guarantee the repayment of part of the bonds, debentures or other securities or part of the interim loan but, with respect to an individual loan, the total of the principal sums guaranteed by the Crown, exclusive of an interim loan guaranteed interest, premium and sinking fund payments shall not exceed the principal sum of an individual loan.

32. (1) The Minister of Finance, acting for the Crown, may unconditionally guarantee as to principal and interest temporary loans, other than the interim loans referred to in section 28, to be raised by the board, in Canadian or United States of America currency or in the currency of another country or partly in 1 currency and partly in another, not exceeding in total the limit fixed under subsection (2), every loan to be repaid by the board, within a period, not exceeding 24 months or a longer period that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may prescribe, and to be

33. The Minister of Finance acting on behalf of the Crown may enter into, execute and deliver a trust deed, trust indenture or an agreement with the board, a lender, a trustee acting for the holders of bonds, debentures or other securities or another person or company setting out the terms and conditions of a guarantee of a loan to be made under this Act.

34. A payment that the Crown may be required to make under this Act shall be paid by the Minister of Finance out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the province, or it may be paid out of funds provided in the manner prescribed in section 55 of the Financial Administration Act, or out of other funds appropriated for the purpose by the Legislature or it may be paid partly in one way and partly in another.

35. Notwithstanding the Financial Administration Act, or another Act or law, the province may purchase the securities of the board, and the Minister of Finance shall pay all expenses and charges of or incidental to a purchase made under this section out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the province.

36. Each public utility shall have an office in 1 of the cities, towns or settlements of the province in which its property or some part of it is located and shall keep in the office the books, accounts, papers or records that are required by the board to be kept within the province, and the books, accounts, papers or records shall not be removed from the province except upon the conditions that may be prescribed by the board.

37. (1) A public utility shall provide service and facilities which are reasonably safe and adequate and just and reasonable.

38. A public utility shall not abandon a part of its line, or works, after they have been operated, or discontinue a service without notice to the board, and without the written consent of the board, which consent shall only be given after notice to an incorporated municipal body interested, and after there has been an inquiry.

39. (1) A public utility shall not begin the construction of its line, plant or system or an extension of it in a territory already served or capable of being served by a public utility of similar character without first giving notice to the chief office in this province of the public utility of similar character.

40. (1) The board may order a public utility to remove, demolish or destroy, at its own cost and expense and within the period that may be prescribed in the order, a line, plant, system or extension referred to in subsection 39(1), which it constructs or begins to construct

41. (1) A public utility shall submit an annual capital budget of proposed improvements or additions to its property to the board for its approval not later than December 15 in each year for the next calendar year.

42. (1) A public utility shall not make an extension to or changes in its line, plant or system which are likely to be detrimental to the service supplied by another public utility without first giving reasonable notice in writing by prepaid post to the chief office in this province of the other public utility.

43. (1) Before supplying electrical energy to a customer a public utility shall declare, in writing signed by its proper officer or its agent, to the customer the constant voltage, and if from an alternating current source, the frequency, at which it proposes to supply electrical energy at the customer's terminals.

44. The public utility is responsible for all electric lines, fittings and apparatus belonging to it or under its control upon the customer's premises being maintained in a proper condition, and in all respects suitable for supplying energy, but it is not responsible for damages arising from the use of the electric current in lines, fittings and apparatus not belonging to it or under its control.

45. (1) An officer or agent of the public utility authorized in writing by the public utility may enter at reasonable times premises to which electrical energy is or has been supplied by the public utility, for the purpose of

46. Where on an inspection and test made under section 45 the officer or agent discovers that a leakage of electricity exists on the customer's premises or where the customer does not give all facilities for the inspection and test, the public utility shall immediately discontinue the supply of electrical energy to the premises of the customer, giving immediate notice of the discontinuance to the customer and shall not recommence the supply until it is satisfied that the leakage has been brought to an end.

47. Where a customer is dissatisfied with the action of the public utility; either as to the mode of making the test or in discontinuing the supply of electrical energy to his or her premises, the wires and fittings of the customer may, on application to the board, be tested for the existence of the leakage by an inspector appointed by the board.

48. A public utility shall not sell, assign or transfer the whole of its undertaking or a part of it to a person or corporation until the approval of the board has been obtained.

49. (1) A franchise or a right under a franchise to own or operate a public utility, shall not be assigned, transferred or leased, nor shall a contract or agreement with reference to or affecting the franchise or right be valid or have effect, unless the assignment, transfer, lease, contract or agreement has been made under the authority of a statute, or with the written approval of the board.

50. Sections 48 and 49 do not apply to a mortgage or charge approved by the board or to a right of entry, sale or other proceeding in the enforcement of the security constituted or in exercise of the rights or remedies granted or otherwise available at law.

51. (1) A public utility that owns, operates, manages or controls, or is incorporated for the purpose of owning, operating, managing or controlling a plant or equipment for the conveyance of telephone messages either directly or indirectly to or for the public shall not change the type of equipment installed in its exchanges without first obtaining the approval of the board.

52. (1) Where after investigation the board considers it in the best interests of the public to permit a person to attach terminal devices to a public utility that owns, operates, manages or controls a plant or equipment for the conveyance of telephone messages either directly or indirectly to or for the public, the board may, by order, direct the public utility to allow the terminal attachment to the plant or equipment subject to those terms and conditions that the board may prescribe notwithstanding a law to the contrary, including

53. (1) A public utility having conduits, poles, wires or similar equipment shall, for reasonable compensation,

54. (1) A power company shall supply electrical energy to premises situated within 100 metres of a transmission line, main supply-wire or cable suitable for that purpose, on being required by the owner or occupier of the premises to do so.

55. Upon the application of a person whose premises are situated at a greater distance than 100 metres from a transmission-line, main supply-wire, or cable suitable for that purpose, and who wishes to be supplied with electrical energy by the power company controlling or operating the transmission-line, supply-wire, or cable, the board may order the power company to supply, within the time that the board may direct, the electrical energy required by that person, and to make those extensions and install the equipment and apparatus that may be necessary to supply it upon the terms and conditions that the board may direct, including, if the board thinks advisable, provision for the cost or a portion of the cost of the extension, equipment, or apparatus to be borne by the person requiring the electrical energy.

56. (1) A public utility shall not, in a city, town or other incorporated municipality, erect or place a pole, wire, conduit or pipe or erect a building, substation, tower or other structure without first obtaining the consent of the council of the city, town or municipality, and the council may consent, or may refuse its consent, as it considers appropriate.

57. A public utility may make complaint as to matters affecting its own product or service in the same way that a municipal corporation may under this Act.

58. The board may prescribe the form of all books, accounts, papers and records to be kept by a public utility and a public utility shall keep its books, accounts, papers and records and make its returns in the manner and form prescribed by the board and comply with all directions of the board relating to those books, accounts, papers, records and returns.

59. (1) Unless the board otherwise orders, all accounts required to be kept by a public utility shall be closed annually on the last day of December in each year, and a balance sheet as of that date shall be promptly taken from the accounts.

60. (1) The board or a commissioner, or a person employed by the board for that purpose, shall upon demand have the right to inspect the books, accounts, papers, records and memoranda of a public utility, and the board or a commissioner shall have the power to examine under oath or affirmation an officer, agent or employee of the public utility in relation to its business and affairs.

61. (1) The board may provide for the examination and audit of all accounts, and all items shall be allocated to the accounts in the manner prescribed by the board.

62. (1) A public utility shall provide to the board all information required by it to give effect to this Act, and shall make specific answers to all specific questions submitted by the board.

63. At a hearing or inquiry the board may hear evidence upon oath or affirmation and may compel the attendance before it of witnesses by subpoena signed and sealed by the chairperson or a member of the board, and may by subpoena compel the production by a witness of papers, books or documents, and a witness who is served with a subpoena and paid the fees allowed to a witness for travel and attendance in the Trial Division shall be subject to the same penalties for disobeying the subpoena as he or she would be had the subpoena been issued out of the Supreme Court, and a member of the board may administer the oath or affirmation to a witness.

64. (1) The board may, with the assistance of the engineers, accountants, valuators, counsel and others that it thinks advisable to employ, inquire into and determine the extent, condition and value of the whole or a portion of the property and assets of a public utility used and useful in providing or supplying a particular service to or for the public, as of a date to be fixed by the board.

65. (1) Where the board orders

66. (1) A public utility shall provide to the board as the board may require, maps, profiles, contracts, reports of engineers, books, accounts and other documents and records of every kind, or copies of them and a complete inventory of all its property and other particulars the board may require with a view to determining the value of the property of the public utility.

67. Each public utility shall provide to the board whenever required in connection with an investigation by the board, in the form and at the times that the board requires, those accounts, reports and information that show in itemized detail, depreciation, salaries, wages, legal expenses, taxes and rentals, quantity and value of material used, receipts from residuals, by-products, services, or other sales, total and net costs, net and gross profits, dividends and interest, surplus or reserve, prices paid by consumers, and in addition the other items, whether of a similar nature to those enumerated or otherwise, that the board may prescribe, in order to show completely and in detail the entire operation of the public utility in providing its product or service to the public.

68. (1) A public utility shall make provision for proper and adequate annual depreciation of its property and assets used and useful in providing or supplying each kind of service, and shall keep proper accounts.

69. (1) A public utility, if so ordered by the board, shall, out of earnings, set aside all money required and carry it in a depreciation account.

70. (1) A public utility shall not charge, demand, collect or receive compensation for a service performed by it whether for the public or under contract until the public utility has first submitted for the approval of the board a schedule of rates, tolls and charges and has obtained the approval of the board and the schedule of rates, tolls and charges so approved shall be filed with the board and shall be the only lawful rates, tolls and charges of the public utility, until altered, reduced or modified as provided in this Act.

71. A public utility shall submit for the approval of the board the rules and regulations which relate to its service, and amendments to them, and upon approval by the board they are the lawful rules and regulations of the public utility until altered or modified by order of the board.

72. A copy of so much of the schedule referred to in section 70 and so much of the rules and regulations referred to in section 71 as the board considers necessary for the information of the public shall be printed in plain type and kept in every office of the public utility where payments are made by the consumers or users, open to the public in the form and place that is readily accessible to the public and so as to be conveniently inspected.

73. (1) All tolls, rates and charges shall always, under substantially similar circumstances and conditions in respect of service of the same description, be charged equally to all persons and at the same rate, and the board may by regulation declare what shall constitute substantially similar circumstances and conditions.

74. The board may prescribe those changes in the form in which schedules are issued by a public utility that may be expedient.

75. (1) The board may make an interim order unilaterally and without public hearing or notice, approving with or without modification, a schedule of rates, tolls and charges submitted by a public utility, upon the terms and conditions that it may decide.

76. The board may upon notice to the public utility and after hearing as provided in this Act, by order rescind, alter or amend an order fixing rates, tolls, charges or schedules, or other order made by the board, and certified copies of the order shall be served and take effect as provided in this Act for original orders.

77. (1) Where an industrial corporation utilizes telephone services, electrical power or water, whether provided, supplied, generated or collected by itself or by an allied corporation or purchased from some other producer, and where the industrial corporation provides telephone services, power or water to a community associated with or adjacent to its operation, and the providing is not the primary business of the industrial corporation but is done as a matter of convenience to a part of the public not otherwise served, and the providing is not in competition with a public utility whose primary business is to provide the telephone services, power or water, it shall be in the discretion of the board to exempt the industrial corporation from this Act, or to fix by agreement with the industrial corporation an arbitrary rate to be charged to the public.

78. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the board may fix and determine a separate rate base for each kind of service provided or supplied to the public by a public utility, and may revise the base.

79. (1) Where a public utility provides or supplies more than 1 kind of service, the board, unless it determines to treat the public utility as providing 1 kind of service, shall segregate those kinds of services into distinct classes of service, and for the purpose of determining the rate base for a particular service provided or supplied, and for the purposes of annual and other returns or reports to be made to the board, each distinct class or category of service shall be considered as a separate and self-contained unit, the rate base for which shall be determined and fixed without regard to the rate base determined and fixed for another class.

80. (1) A public utility is entitled to earn annually a just and reasonable return as determined by the board on the rate base as fixed and determined by the board for each type or kind of service supplied by the public utility but where the board by order requires a public utility to set aside annually a sum for or towards an amortization fund or other special reserve in respect of a service supplied, and does not in the order or in a subsequent order authorize the sum or a part of it to be charged as an operating expense in connection with the service, the sum or part of it shall be deducted from the amount which otherwise under this section the public utility would be entitled to earn in respect of the service, and the net earnings from the service shall be reduced accordingly.

81. A public utility that is a city, a municipality or local improvement district or a town, community, region or local service district established or continued under the Municipalities Act or a local public commission or board constituted by or under an Act of the Legislature which owns, operates, manages or controls in the province equipment and facilities for the collection, storage, transmission or providing of water through mains directly or indirectly to the public for compensation and owns, operates, manages or controls in the province equipment and facilities for the collection, treatment or disposal of sewage through mains directly or indirectly for or from the public for compensation shall for the purpose of fixing a rate base be considered to be or supplying one kind of service.

82. Where the board believes that a rate or charge is unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory, or that a reasonable service is not supplied, or that an investigation of a matter relating to a public utility should be made, it may, of its own motion, summarily investigate the rate or charge with or without notice.

83. Where a public utility or person proposes a change in a law relating directly or indirectly to the property or operations of a public utility, the proposed change may be submitted to the board, and the board may take evidence and give public hearings, and the board may recommend the bills that will in its judgment protect the interests of the public and the public utility, and transmit the bills to the attorney general.

84. (1) Upon a complaint made to the board against a public utility by an incorporated municipal body or the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Municipalities or by 5 persons, firms or corporations, that the rates, tolls, charges or schedules are unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory or that a regulation, measurement, practice or act affecting or relating to the operation of a public utility is unreasonable, insufficient or unjustly discriminatory or that the service is inadequate or unobtainable, the board shall proceed, with or without notice, to make the investigation that it considers necessary or expedient.

85. The board shall, before the hearing referred to in section 84, notify the public utility complained of that a complaint has been made and after reasonable notice has been given, the board may proceed to set a time and place for a hearing and an investigation as provided in this Act.

86. The board shall give the public utility and the complainant 10 days' notice of the time and place of the hearings and investigation referred to in section 85 and the matters considered and determined and both the public utility and the complainant are entitled to be heard and to have process to enforce the attendance of witnesses.

87. (1) Where upon an investigation the rates, tolls, charges or schedules are found to be unjust, unreasonable, insufficient or unjustly discriminatory, or to be preferential or in violation of this Act, the board has power to cancel those rates, tolls, charges or schedules and declare void all contracts or agreements, either oral or written, dealing with them upon and after a day named by the board, and to determine and by order substitute those rates, tolls or schedules that are reasonable.

88. Where after making a summary investigation, the board becomes satisfied that sufficient grounds exist to warrant a formal hearing being ordered as to matters so investigated, it shall provide the public utility interested with a statement notifying the public utility of the matters under investigation and 10 days after the notice has been given the board may set a time and place for a hearing and an investigation as provided in this Act.

89. Notice of the time and place for the hearing referred to in section 88 shall be given to the public utility and to other interested persons that the board considers necessary as provided in this Act and proceedings shall be held and conducted in reference to the matter investigated in the same manner as complaints filed with the board are investigated, and the same order may be made as if the investigation had been made on complaint.

90. (1) The costs of and incidental to a proceeding before the board shall be in the discretion of the board, and may be fixed at a definite amount, or may be taxed and the board may order by whom they are to be taxed and to whom they are to be allowed and the board may prescribe a scale under which costs shall be taxed.

91. (1) A public utility shall not issue shares, which for the purposes of this section shall include preferred shares, stocks, bonds, debentures or evidence of indebtedness payable in more than 1 year from the date of issue, except as provided in subsection (2) until it has obtained approval from the board for the proposed issue; except that

92. (1) Nothing in this Act shall be taken to prohibit a public utility from entering into a reasonable arrangement with its employees for the division or distribution of its surplus profits.

93. (1) A commissioner for the purposes mentioned in this Act, shall have power to administer oaths and affirmations, certify to official acts, issue subpoenas, compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, accounts, papers, records, documents and testimony.

94. In determining a question of fact, the board is not bound by the finding, order or judgment of a court in a suit, prosecution or proceeding involving the determination of the fact, but the finding, order or judgment shall in proceedings before the board, be presumptive evidence only.

95. The pending of a suit, prosecution or proceeding in a court involving questions of fact shall not deprive the board of jurisdiction to hear and determine the same questions of fact.

96. The board may, in an investigation, take the evidence of witnesses living within or outside the province in the manner prescribed by law for similar evidence in civil actions in the Trial Division.

97. A full and complete record shall be kept of all proceedings held before the board on formal investigations and all testimony shall be taken down by a stenographer appointed by the board or by means of a tape or similar recorder if so ordered by the board.

98. A person shall not be excused from testifying or from producing books, accounts, papers, records and documents in a proceeding based upon or growing out of a violation of this Act for the reason that the evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of the person may tend to incriminate or to subject him or her to penalty or forfeiture, but a person having so testified shall not be prosecuted or subjected to a penalty or forfeiture for a transaction, matter or thing concerning which the person may have testified or produced documentary evidence.

99. (1) An appeal lies to the Court of Appeal from an order of the board upon a question as to its jurisdiction or upon a question of law, but the appeal can be taken only by permission of a judge of the court, given upon an application presented within 15 days after the making of the decision and upon the terms that the judge may determine.

100. (1) Where the application for appeal has been granted, the appeal shall be brought by notice served on the chairperson or vice-chairperson of the board within 10 days after the permission to appeal has been granted.

101. The board may of its own motion or upon the application of a party, and upon the security being given as the board directs state a case in writing for the opinion of the Court of Appeal upon a question which in the opinion of the board is a question of law and a similar reference may also be made at the request of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

102. The Court of Appeal shall hear and determine the question of law arising in a case stated under section 101 and remit the matter to the board with the opinion of the court attached.

103. (1) A public utility that fails to obey an order of the board made under this Act is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine of not less than $20 and not more than $1,000.

104. A director, president, secretary or other official of a public utility who makes a false statement to the board to secure the issue of a share, stock, certificate of stock, bond, mortgage, or other evidence of indebtedness, or who, by a false statement knowingly made, procures of the board the making of the certificate provided for in this Act or with knowledge of the fraud, issues or negotiates the share, stock, certificate of stock, bond, mortgage or other evidence of indebtedness in violation of this Act is liable to a fine of not less than $500, or to imprisonment for a term of not less than 1 year, or to both a penalty and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

105. Where a public utility or its agent or officer directly or indirectly charges a person, firm or corporation a greater or less compensation for a service rendered by it than that prescribed in the public schedules or tariffs established, as provided in this Act, or than it charges another person, firm or corporation other than one conducting a similar business for a similar and contemporaneous service, the public utility is guilty of the offence of unjust discrimination, and upon conviction is liable to a fine of not less than $50 for each offence and the agent or officer so offending is upon conviction liable to a fine of not less than $25 for each offence.

106. A public utility shall not charge a person, firm or corporation less compensation for a service rendered by the public utility in consideration of the providing by the person, firm or corporation of a part of the facilities incident to the service, but this shall not prohibit a public utility from renting facilities incident to the production, transmission, delivery or providing of heat, light, water or power or the conveyance of telephone messages and paying a reasonable rental, or require a public utility to provide a part of those appliances which are situated in and upon the premises of a consumer or user, except telephone station equipment upon the subscriber's premises, and unless otherwise ordered by the board, meters and appliances for measurement of a product or service.

107. Where a public utility knowingly or wilfully makes or gives an undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to a particular person, firm or corporation, or subjects a particular person, firm or corporation to an undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage, the public utility is guilty of the offence of unjust discrimination and a person, firm or corporation violating this section is on conviction liable to a fine of not less than $50 for each offence.

108. (1) A person, firm or corporation shall not knowingly solicit or receive a rebate, concession or discrimination in respect of a service in or affecting or relating to a public utility by which the service is rendered free or at a lesser rate than that named in the schedules and tariffs in force as provided in this Act, or by which a service or advantage is received other than as specified in this Act.

109. (1) An officer, agent or employee of a public utility who fails to fill out and return a form as required by this Act, or fails to answer a question in the form, or wilfully gives a false answer to a question, or evades the answer to a question where he or she had the means of ascertaining the fact inquired of, or who, upon proper demand, fails to exhibit to the board or a commissioner, or an authorized person a book, paper, account, record or memoranda of the public utility, which is in his or her possession or control, or who fails to use properly and keep a system of accounting as prescribed by the board under this Act, or who refuses to do an act or thing in connection with the system of accounting when so directed by the board or its authorized representative is upon conviction liable to a fine of not less than $200 for each offence.

110. A person who destroys, injures or interferes with an apparatus or appliance owned or operated by or in the charge of the board or its agents, is upon conviction, liable to a fine not exceeding $100 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 30 days, or to both a fine and imprisonment.

111. (1) A public utility or person who

112. Every day during which a public utility, or its officer, agent or employee knowingly fails to observe and comply with an order of the board, or to perform a duty required by this Act, constitutes a separate and distinct violation of the order or of this Act.

113. (1) The penalties prescribed by this Act may be recovered or enforced

114. (1) The board may by regulations made in accordance with subsection (4) establish a pension scheme for the officers and employees of the board providing for

115. (1) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may establish a pension scheme for the award of a pension to a commissioner who is not eligible to receive a pension or gratuity under the Public Service Pensions Act or under a pension scheme established under section 114 or to a surviving spouse or both of them.

116. Notwithstanding other provisions of this Act relating to pensions for commissioners, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make regulations to have the Public Service Pensions Act apply to full-time commissioners appointed after February 16, 1990.

117. (1) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may appoint a consumer advocate under this Act upon those terms and conditions that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may determine.

118. (1) This Act shall be interpreted and construed liberally in order to accomplish its purposes, and where a specific power or authority is given the board by this Act, the enumeration of it shall not be held to exclude or impair a power or authority otherwise in this Act conferred on the board.

119. (1) A general, special, public or private Act, whenever enacted, relating to a public utility, as defined by this Act, shall be read and construed as subject in all respects to this Act, and where the general, special, public or private act conflicts with this Act, this Act shall prevail.