TITLE XXXIV
PUBLIC UTILITIES

CHAPTER 374
GENERAL REGULATIONS

Telephone Utilities Service Territories

Section 374:22-g

    374:22-g Service Territories Served by Certain Telephone Utilities. –
I. To the extent consistent with federal law and notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, all telephone franchise areas served by a telephone utility that provides local exchange service, subject to the jurisdiction of the department of energy, shall be nonexclusive. The department of energy, upon petition or on its own motion, shall have the authority to authorize the providing of telecommunications services, including local exchange services, and any other telecommunications services, by more than one provider, in any service territory, when the department of energy finds and determines that it is consistent with the public good unless prohibited by federal law.
II. In determining the public good, the department of energy shall consider the interests of competition with other factors including, but not limited to, fairness; economic efficiency; universal service; carrier of last resort obligations; the incumbent utility's opportunity to realize a reasonable return on its investment; and the recovery from competitive providers of expenses incurred by the incumbent utility to benefit competitive providers, taking into account the proportionate benefit or savings, if any, derived by the incumbent as a result of incurring such expenses.
III. The department of energy shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, relative to the enforcement of this section.

Source. 1995, 147:3. 2008, 350:1, eff. Sept. 5, 2008. 2021, 91:268, eff. July 1, 2021. 2022, 245:25, eff. Aug. 20, 2022.