PSC 134.02 Definitions.

PSC 134.02Definitions. In this chapter:#

(1)“Ability to pay” means a customer’s financial capacity to meet his or her utility service obligation, considering all of the following factors:#

(a)Size of the delinquent account.#

(b)Customer’s payment history.#

(c)Period of time the debt has been outstanding.#

(d)Reasons why the debt has been outstanding.#

(e)Any other relevant factors concerning the customer’s circumstances, as household size, income and expenses.#

(2)“Appliance” means any device which utilizes gas fuel to produce light, heat, or power.#

(3)“British thermal unit” or “Btu” means the quantity of heat that must be added to one avoirdupois pound of pure water to raise its temperature from 58.5° Fahrenheit to 59.5° Fahrenheit under standard pressure.#

(4)“Complaint” means a statement or question by any person, whether a utility customer or not, concerning a wrong, grievance, injury, dissatisfaction, illegal action or procedure, dangerous condition or action, or failure of a utility to meet a utility obligation.#

(5)“Customer” means the party billed for payment of bills issued for use of utility service at a given premises.#

(6)“Customer-requested termination” means that the customer or occupant has asked the utility to cease providing utility service to a premises.#

(7)“Demand” means the amount of gas required per unit of time, usually expressed in cubic feet, Btu, or therms per unit of time.#

(8)“Denied or refused service” means that a utility has refused to provide present or future service to a customer, occupant or premises.#

(9)“Disconnection” means an event or action taken by the utility to terminate or discontinue the provision of service, but does not include a customer-requested termination of service.#

(10)“Dry calorific value” means the value of the total or net calorific value of a gas divided by the volume of dry gas in a standard cubic foot.#

(11)“Dry gas” means a gas having a moisture and hydrocarbon dew point below any normal temperature to which the gas piping is exposed. As applied to determination of heating value or specific gravity dry gas means the complete absence of moisture or water vapor.#

(12)“Gas” means any gas or mixture of gases suitable for domestic or industrial fuel and transmitted or distributed to the user through a piping system.#

Note: The common types of gas are natural gas, manufactured gas, and liquefied petroleum gas distributed as a vapor with or without admixture of air.#

(13)“Installment payment agreement” means an arrangement between a utility and a commercial or farm customer for payment of a deposit in installments.#

(14)“Meter” means an instrument installed to measure the volume of gas delivered through it.#

(15)“Municipality” means a town, city or village.#

(16)“Net calorific value of a gas” means the number of British thermal units evolved by the complete combustion, at constant pressure, of one standard cubic foot of gas with air, the temperature of the gas, air, and products of combustion being 60° Fahrenheit and all water formed by the combustion reaction remaining in the vapor state.#

(17)“New residential customer” means a customer who has not received utility service in his or her name during the previous 6 months from the utility from which service is requested.#

(18)“Occupant” means the resident or residents of a premises to which utility service is provided.#

(19)“Prompt payment” means payment prior to the time when a utility could issue a notice of disconnection for nonpayment of an amount not in dispute.#

(20)“Protective service emergency” means a threat to the health or safety of a resident because of the infirmities of aging, other developmental or intellectual disabilities, or like infirmities incurred at any age, or the frailties associated with being very young.#

(21)“Public utility” has the meaning of s. 196.01 (5), Stats.#

(22)“Specific gravity of a gas” means the ratio of the molecular weight of a dry gas or gas mixture to the molecular weight of dry air.#

Note: This is the dry specific gravity.#

(23)“Standard cubic foot of gas” means the quantity of a gas that at standard temperature and under standard pressure will fill a space of 1 cubic foot when in equilibrium with liquid water.#

Note: According to Dalton’s law, this is equivalent to stating that the partial pressure of the gas is: 30-0.522 = 29.478 inches of mercury column.#

(24)“Standard pressure” means the absolute pressure of pure mercury 30 inches in height at 32° Fahrenheit and under standard gravity.#

Note: Standard gravity is 32.174 feet per second which results in a standard pressure of 14.735 pounds per square inch absolute.#

(25)“Standard service pressure” means the gas pressure which a utility undertakes to maintain on the meters of all customers, except the meters of customers utilizing high-pressure service, expressed in pounds per square inch above atmospheric pressure or psig.#

(26)“Standard temperature” means 60° Fahrenheit based on the international temperature scale.#

(27)“Therm” means 100,000 British thermal units.#

(28)“Total calorific value” means the number of British thermal units evolved by the complete combustion, at constant pressure, of one standard cubic foot of gas with air, the temperature of the gas, air, and products of combustion being 60° Fahrenheit and all water formed by the combustion reaction condensed to the liquid state.#

(29)“Unmeasured gas” means gas which has not been measured by a meter.#

(30)“Voucher agreement” means a payment agreement guaranteed by a third party who has access to or control over the benefits and/or finances of a public assistance recipient. Included without limitation are:#

(a)Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) restrictive payment arrangements.#

(b)Social Security representative payee.#

(c)General Relief voucher payment systems.#

(d)Legal guardian.#

History: History 1-2-56; r. and recr. Register, February, 1959, No. 38, eff. 3-1-59; r. and recr. Register, October, 1989, No. 406, eff. 11-1-89; 2019 Wis. Act 1: am. (20) Register May 2019 No. 761, eff. 6-1-19.#