service furnished or rendered by any such public utility; to prescribe reasonable regulations for the examination and testing of such service and for the measurement thereof; to establish reasonable rules, regulations, specifications, and standards to secure the accuracy of all meters and appliances for measurements; and to provide for the examination and testing of any and all appliances used for the measurement of any service of any such public utility. "(b) The Commissioners and their officers and employees shall have power to enter upon any premises occupied by any public utility for the purpose of making the examinations and tests and exercising any of the other powers provided for in this title and title III, and to set up and use on such premises any apparatus and appliances necessary therefor. The agents and employees of such public utility shall have the right to be present at the making of such examinations and tests.

"SEC. 211. (a) The Commission shall have power to ascertain for the purposes of this title and title III the actual legitimate, prudent cost of the property of every public utility, and every fact which in its judgment may or does have any bearing on the determination of such cost.

(b) The Commission may require any public utility to file with it an inventory of all or any part of the property of the utility and of the original cost thereof, including only those elements of cost that may be considered for purposes of determining just and reasonable rates under the provisions of this title and title III and the rules and regulations of the Commission. The Commission shall keep itself informed regarding the cost of all additions, betterments, extensions, and new construction of the property of every public utility. *(c) In determining just and reasonable rates, the Commission shall fix such rate as will allow a fair return upon the actual legitimate prudent cost of the property used and useful for the service in question.

SEC. 212. Any person, State, municipality, or State commission complaining of anything done or omitted to be done by any public utility in contravention of the provisions thereof may state the facts, whereupon a statement of the complaint thus made shall be forwarded by the Commission to such public utility, who shall be called upon to satisfy the complaint or to answer the sime in writing within a reasonable time to be specified by the Commission. If such public utility within the time specified shall make reparation for the injury alleged to have been caused, the public utility shall be relieved of liability to the complainant only for the particular violation of law thus complained of. If such public utility shall not satisfy the complaint within the time specifed or there shall appear to be any reasonable ground for investigating said complaint, it shall be the duty of the Commission to investigate the matters complained of in such manner and by such means as it shall deem proper. No complaint shall at any time be dismissed because of the absence of direct damage to the complainant.

"SEC. 213. (a) When complaint has been made to the Commission concerning any rate or charge for any service performed by any public utility, and the Commission has found after investigation that the public utility has charged an unreasonable, excessive, or discriminatory amount for such service in violation of any provision of this title, the Commission may order that the public tility make due reparation to the complainant thereunder, with interest from the date of collection. No such order shall be issued unless the complaint is filled with the Commission within two years from the date of the payment.

(b) If the public utility does not comply with the order for the payment of reparation within the time specified within such order, action may be begun in any court of competent jurisdiction to recover the same within one year from the date of the order, and not thereafter.

"SEC. 214. (a) The Commission may refer any matter arising in the administration of this title to a board representing the State or States affected or to be affected by such matter. Any such board shall be vested with the same power and be subject to the same duties and liabilities as in the case of a member of the Commission when designated by the Commission to hold any bearings. The action of such board shall have such force and effect and its proceedings shall be conducted in such manner as the Commission shall by regulations prescribe. The board shall be appointed by the Commission from persons nominated by the State commission of each State affected, or by the governor of such State if there is no State commission. Each State affected shall be entitled to the same number of representatives on the board unless the nominating power of such State waives such right. The Commission shall have discretion to reject any nominee. The board by unanimous agreement

may designate a member or members to conduct a hearing on its behalf. The members of a board shall receive such allowances for expenses as the Commission shall provide.

"(b) The Commission may confer with any State commission regarding the relationship between rate structures, costs, accounts, charges, practices, classifications, and regulations of public utilities subject to the jurisdiction of such State commission and of the Commission; and the Commission is authorized, under such rules and regulations as it shall prescribe, to hold joint hearings with any State commission in connection with any matter with respect to which the Commission is authorized to act. The Commission is authorized in the administration of this Act to avail itself of such cooperation, services, records, and facilities as may be afforded by any State commission.

"(e) The Commission shall make available to the several State commissions such information and reports as may be of assistance in State regulation of public utilities. When possible, the Commission may make available to the States as witnesses any of its trained rate, valuation, or other experts. The Commission may require the States to pay the traveling expenses of such witnesses, and such compensation as it may deem equitable, but in no event to exceed the actual compensation received by such witnesses under employment of the Commission.

"SEC. 215. It shall be unlawful for any person to make use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce to perform any service or negotiate, enter into, or take any steps in the performance of any contract with a company engaged in the business of selling or distributing electric energy in the public service in contravention of such rules or regulations or orders regarding reports, accounts, competitive bidding, disclosures of profits, duration of contracts, and similar matters as the Commission may prescribe or issue as necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of consumers of electric energy or to secure fair dealing in all transactions with companies engaged in selling electric energy in the publie interest. It shall be unlawful for any company owning 5 per centum or more of the voting securities of a company engaged in the business of selling or distributing electric energy in the public service to perform any service or negotiate or enter into or take any steps in the performance of any contract with such company at a protit. The Commission may approve, disapprove, alter, or modify any contract subject to its supervision under this section.

“Spc. 216. Ir shall be unlawful for any holding company, as defined in title I of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, to acquire securities or capital assets of any public utility until there shall have been obtained the approval of the Commission for such acquisition; and it shall be unlawful for any public utility to sell or transfer any securities or capital assets to any holding company until there shall have been obtained the approval of the Commission so to do: and every such acquisition or transfer made without authority of said Commission shall be utterly void and of no effect.

SEC. 217. Nothing in this title shall impair or diminish the powers of any State corumssion.

“TITLE III

“Sec. 301. (a) The Commission may prescribe the forms of any and all accounts, records, and memoranda to be kept by licensees and public utilities, including accounts, records, and memoranda of the generation, transmission, distribution, delivery, and/or sale of power, the furnishing of services or facilities in connection therewith, and receipts and expenditures with respect to any of the foregoing. It may establish a system of accounts to be kept by licensees and public utilities and may classify such licensees and publie utilities and establish a system of accounts for each class. The Commission, after notice and opportunity for hearing, may determine by order the accounts in which particular curlays and receipts shall be entered, charged, or edited. The burden of proof to justify every accounting entry questioned by the Commissiva shall be on the person making, authorizing, or requiring such entry.

*(b) The Commission still at all times have access to and the right to inspect and examine all accounts, records, and mereranda of Ficensees and public utilities. Wherever required by the Commission, a Feensee or public utility shall deliver to the Commission ecpies of any or all maps, profies, contracts, agreements, franchises, reports, becks, accounts, papers, and recents in Its possession or in any way relating to its property or affecting its business: Procided, That no information furnished to the Commission by any person.

except such matters as are specifically required to be open for public inspection by the provisions of this Act, shall be open to public inspection or made public except on order of the Commission, or by the Commission or a member thereof in the course of a hearing or proceeding. Any officer or employee of the Commission who, in violation of the provisions of this subsection, divulges any such information shall be guilty if a misdemeanor.

"(e) The books, accounts, memoranda, and records of any person who controls or influences in any manner, directly or indirectly, a licensee or public utility, and of any other company controlled by such person, insofar as they relate to transactions with or the business of such licensee or public utility, shall be subject to examination on the order of the Commission.

"SEC. 302. The Commission may, after hearing, require licensees and public utilities to carry a proper and adequate depreciation account in accordance with such rules, regulations, and forms of account as the Commission may prescribe. The Commission may, from time to time, ascertain and determine and by order fix the proper and adequate rates of depreciation of the several classes of property of each licensee and public utility. Each licensee and public utility shall conform its depreciation accounts to the rates so ascertained, determined, and fixed, and shall set aside the moneys so provided for out of earnings and carry the same in a depreciation fund and expend such fund only for such purposes and under such rules and regulations, both as to original expenditure and subsequent replacement as the Commission may prescribe. The income from investments of moneys in such fund shall likewise be carried in such fund.

“SEC. 303. (a) The Commission shall have power to require annual or other periodic or special reports from all licensees and public utilities, prescribe the manner and form in which such reports shall be made, and require from such persons specific answers to all questions upon which the Commission may need information. The Commission may require that reports shall include full information as to assets and liabilities, capitalization, net investment and reduction thereof, gross receipts, interest due and paid, depreciation and other reserves, cost of project and other facilities, cost of maintenance and operation of the project and other facilities, cost of renewals and replacement of the project works and other facilities, depreciation, production, transmission, distribution, delivery, use, and sale of power.

"(b) The Commission may require any such person to make adequate provision for currently determining said costs and other facts. Such reports shall be made under oath unless otherwise specified, and at such times as the Commission may require.

"(c) It shall be unlawful for any person without just cause to hinder, delay, or obstruct the making, filing, or keeping of any information, document, report, record, or account required to be made, filed, or kept under this Act or any rule, regulation, or order thereunder.

"SEC. 304. (a) It shall be unlawful for any officer or director of any licensee or public utility to receive for his own benefit, directly or indirectly, any money or thing of value in respect of the negotiation, hypothecation, or sale of any security issued or to be issued by such licensee or public utility, or to share in any of the proceeds thereof, or to participate in the making or paying of any dividends of such licensee or public utility from any funds properly included in capital account.

"(b) After six months from the date on which this title takes effect, it shall be unlawful for any person to hold the position of officer or director of more than one licensee and/or public utility subject to this Act, unless the holding of such positions shall have been authorized by order of the Commission, upon dne showing in form and manner prescribed by the Commission, that neither public nor private interests will be adversely affected thereby. The Commission shall not grant any such authorization to a person holding such positions on the date on which this title takes effect unless application for such authorization is filed with the Commission within sixty days after that date.

SEC. 305. (a) The Commission may investigate any facts, conditions, practices, or matters which it may deem necessary or proper in order to determine whether any person has violated or is about to violate any provision of this Act or any rule, regulation, or order thereunder; or to aid in the enforcement of the provisions of this Act or in prescribing rules or regulations thereunder or in obtaining information to aid State commissions in the regulation of licensees or public utilities or to serve as a basis for recommending further legislation concerning the matters to which this Act relates. The Commission may require 130254-35-4

or permit any person to file with it a statement in writing under oath or otherwise, as it shall determine, as to any or all facts and circumstances concerning a matter which may be the subject of investigation. The Commission, in its discretion, may publish or make available to State commissions information concerning any such subject.

"(b) For the purpose of any investigation or any other proceeding under this Act, any member of the Commission, or any officed designated by it, is empowered to administer oaths and affirmations, subpena witnesses, compel their attendance, take evidence, and require the production of any books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, contracts, agreements, or other records which the Commission deems relevant or material to the inquiry. Such attendance of witnesses and the production of any such records may be required from any place in the United States or any State at any designated place of hearing. "(c) In case of contumacy by, or refusal to obey a subpena issued to, any person, the Commission may invoke the aid of any court of the United States within the jurisdiction of which such investigation or proceedings is carried on, or where such person resides or carries on business, in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, contracts, agreements, and other records. And such court may issue an order requiring such person to appear before the Commission or member or officer designated by the Commission, there to produce records, if so ordered, or to give testimony touching the matter under investigation or in question; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof. All process in any such case may be served in the judicial district whereof such person is an inhabitant or wherever he may be found or may be doing business. Any person who, without just cause, shall fail or refuse to attend and testify or to answer any lawful inquiry or to produce books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, contracts, agreements, or other records, if in his or its power so to do, in obedience to the subpena of the Commission, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine of not more than $1,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than one year, or both.

"(d) No person shall be excused from attending and testifying or from producing books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, contracts, agreements, or other records and documents before the Commission, or in obedience to the subpena of the Commission or any member thereof or any officer designated by it, or in any cause or proceeding instituted by the Commission, on the ground that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of him may tend to incriminate him or subject him to a penalty or forfeiture; but no individual shall be prosecuted or subject to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which he is com pelled to testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, after having claimed his privilege against self-incrimination, except that such individual so testifying shall not be exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed in so testifying.

"SEC. 306. (a) Hearings may be held before the Commission, any member or members thereof or any representative of the Commission designated by it, and appropriate records thereof shall be kept. In any proceeding before it. the Commission, in accordance with such rules and regulations as it may prescribe, may admit as a party any interested State, State commission, municipality, or any representative of interested consumers or security holders, or any competitor of a party to such proceeding, or any other person whose participation in the proceeding may be in the public interest.

"(b) All hearings, investigations, and proceedings under this Act shall be governed by rules of practice and procedure to be adopted by the Commission, and in the conduct thereof the technical rules of evidence need not be applied. No informality in any hearing, investigation, or proceeding or in the manner of taking testimony shall invalidate any order, decision, rule, or regulation made, approved or confirmed by the Commission.

"SEC. 307. The Commission shall have power to perform any and all acts, and to prescribe, issue, make, amend, and rescind such orders, rules, and regulations as it may deem necessary or appropriate to carry out the provisions of this Act. Among other things, such rules and regulations may define accounting, technical, and trade terms used in this Act; and may prescribe the form or forms of all statements, declarations, applications, and reports to be filed with the Commission, the information which they shall contain, and the time within which they shall be filed. Unless a different date is specified

therein, the orders, rules, and regulations of the Commission shall be effective upon publication in the manner which the Commission shall prescribe. For the purposes of its rules and regulations, the Commission may classify persons and matters within its jurisdiction and prescribe different requirements for different classes of persons or matters.

"SEC. 308. The Commission is authorized to appoint and fix the compensation of such officers, attorneys, examiners, and other experts as may be necessary for carrying out its functions under this act, without regard to the provisions of other laws applicable to the employment and compensation of officers and employees of the United States, and the Commission may, subject to the civil-service laws, appoint such other officers and employees as are necessary in the execution of its functions and fix their salaries in accordance with the Classification Act of 1923, as amended.

"SEC. 309. The Commission is authorized and directed to conduct investigations regarding the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electric energy, however, produced, throughout the United States and its possessions, whether or not otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission. It shall, so far as practicable, secure and keep current information regarding the ownership, operation, management, and control of all facilities for such generation, transmission, distribution, and sale; the capacity and output thereof and the relationship between the two; the cost of generation, transmission, and distribution; the rates, charges, and contracts in respect of the sale of electric energy and its service to residential, commercial, and industrial consumers and other purchasers by private and public agencies; and the relation of any or all such facts to the development of navigation, industry, commerce, and the national defense. The Commission shall report annually to Congress as soon as practicable after the end of each calendar year the most recent information secured by such investigations.

"SEC. 310. (a) Any person aggrieved by an order issued by the Commission in a proceeding under this Act to which such person is a party may apply for a rehearing within thirty days after the issuance of such order. The application for rehearing shall set forth specifically the ground or grounds on which the applicant considers said order to be unlawful. Upon such application the Commission shall have power to grant or deny rehearing or to abrogate or modify its order without further hearing. Unless the Commission acts upon the application for rehearing within thirty days after it is filed, such application may be deemed to have been denied. No proceeding to review any order of the Commission shall be brought by any person unless such person shall have made application to the Commission for a rehearing.

"(b) Any person aggrieved by an order issued by the Commission in a proreeding under this Act to which such person is a party may obtain a review of such order in the Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States for any eirenit wherein such person resides or has his principal place of business, or in the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, by filing in such court, within sixty days after the order of the Commission upon his application for rebearing, a written petition praying that the order of the Commission be modified or set aside in whole or in part. A copy of such petition shall forthwith be served upon any member of the Commission and thereupon the Commission shall certify and file with the court a transcript of the record upon which the order complained of was entered. Upon the filing of such transcript such court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to affirm, modify, or set aside such order in whole or in part. No objection to the order of the Commission shall be considered by the court unless such objection shall have been arged before the Commission in the application for rehearing. The finding of the Commission as to the facts, if supported by evidence, shall be conclusive. If any party shall apply to the court for leave to adduce additional evidence, and shall show to the satisfaction of the court that such additional evidence s material and that there were reasonable grounds for failure to adduce such evidence in the proceeding before the Commission, the court may order such additional evidence to be taken before the Commission and to be adduced upon the hearing in such manner and upon such terms and conditions as to the court Tay seem proper. The Commission may modify its findings as to the facts by reason of the additional evidence so taken, and it shall file with the court mch modified or new findings, which, if supported by evidence, shall be conlusive, and its recommendation, if any, for the modification or setting aside the original order. The judgment and decree of the court, affirming, modify