ARTICLE 2. Tariff Schedules [486. - 495.7.]

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC 2.

in effect

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 486. Section 486.

(a) Every common carrier shall file with the commission and shall print and keep open to the public inspection schedules showing the rates, fares, charges, and classifications for the transportation between termini within this state of persons and property from each point upon its route to all other points thereon; and from each point upon its route to all points upon every other route leased, operated, or controlled by it; and from each point on its route or upon any route leased, operated, or controlled by it to all points upon the route of any other common carrier, whenever a through route and a joint rate has been established or ordered between any two such points. If no joint rate over a through route has been established, the schedules of the several carriers in such through route shall show the separately established rates, fares, charges, and classifications applicable to the through transportation. (b) Subdivision (a) is not applicable to network railroad transportation.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 487. Section 487.

The schedules shall plainly state the places between which property and persons will be carried, and the classification of passengers or property in force, and shall state separately all terminal charges, storage charges, icing charges, and all other charges which the commission may require to be stated, all privileges or facilities granted or allowed, and all rules which may in any wise change, affect, or determine any part, or the aggregate of, such rates, fares, charges, and classifications, or the value of the service rendered to the passenger, shipper, or consignee. Schedules shall be plainly printed, and copies thereof shall be kept by every such carrier at such stations or offices of the carrier and subject to such conditions as the commission may determine and prescribe by order or rule.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 488. Section 488.

(a) Subject to such rules as the commission may prescribe, the schedules of carriers shall be produced and made available for inspection upon the demand of any person. The form of every such schedule shall be prescribed by the commission and shall conform, in the case of any common carrier subject to federal regulation as nearly as possible to the form of schedules prescribed by the federal Surface Transportation Board. (b) Subdivision (a) is not applicable to network railroad transportation.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 489. Section 489.

(a) The commission shall, by rule or order, require every public utility other than a common carrier to file with the commission within the time and in the form as the commission designates, and to print and keep open to public inspection, schedules showing all rates, tolls, rentals, charges, and classifications collected or enforced, or to be collected or enforced, together with all rules, contracts, privileges, and facilities which in any manner affect or relate to rates, tolls, rentals, classifications, or service. Nothing in this section shall prevent the commission from approving or fixing rates, tolls, rentals, or charges, from time to time, in excess of or less than those shown by the schedules. (b) The commission shall, by rule or order, require every telephone corporation operating within a service area, on first contact by a prospective subscriber and in subsequent contacts by the subscriber for the purpose of changing service, to fully inform the subscriber of the basic services available to the class of subscribers to which the subscriber belongs. For eligible residential subscribers, these services shall include universal lifeline telephone service. The subscriber shall be presented with information orally, in print form, or in computer data form, according to the means by which contact is established. If after a hearing, the commission finds that any telephone corporation has not provided prospective subscribers with the information required by this section, the commission may make an appropriate adjustment of the telephone corporation’s rates or impose penalties pursuant to other provisions of law.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 490. Section 490.

(a) The commission may from time to time determine and prescribe by order changes in the form of the schedules referred to in this article as it finds expedient, and may modify the requirements of any of its orders or rules in respect to any matter referred to in this article. (b) If the rates for any commercial mobile radio service are not subject to regulation by the commission as a result of federal law, then the commission may exempt the service from any tariff-filing requirement.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 491. Section 491.

Unless the commission otherwise orders, no change shall be made by any public utility in any rate or classification, or in any rule or contract relating to or affecting any rate, classification, or service, or in any privilege or facility, except after 30 days’ notice to the commission and to the public. Notice shall be given by filing with the commission and keeping open for public inspection new schedules stating plainly the changes to be made in the schedule or schedules then in force, and the time when the changes will go into effect. The commission, for good cause shown, may allow changes without requiring the 30 days’ notice, by an order specifying the changes that may be made on less than 30 days’ notice, the time when they shall take effect, and the manner in which they shall be filed and published. When any change is proposed in any rate or classification, or in any form of contract or agreement or in any rule or contract relating to or affecting any rate, classification, or service, or in any privilege or facility, attention shall be directed to such change on the schedule filed with the commission, by some character to be designated by the commission, immediately preceding or following the item.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 491.1. Section 491.1.

Notwithstanding Section 491, the commission may authorize a passenger stage corporation, upon one day’s notice, to reduce its rates and charges to not less than those of a competing passenger transportation service operating over substantially the same route pursuant to federal operating authority. The commission may attach any conditions it finds reasonable or necessary.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 492. Section 492.

The names of the several public utilities which are parties to any joint tariff, rate, contract, or classification shall be specified in the schedule. Unless otherwise ordered by the commission, a schedule showing such joint tariff, rate, contract, or classification need be filed with the commission by only one of the parties to it, if there is also filed with the commission, in such form as it may require, a concurrence therein by each of the other parties thereto.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 493. Section 493.

(a) No common carrier subject to this part shall engage or participate in the transportation of persons or property, between points within this state, until its schedules of rates, fares, charges, and classifications have been filed and published in accordance with this part. (b) If any common carrier of property, in contravention of subdivision (a), transports any property for which it does not have schedules of rates, fares, charges, and classifications on file, the commission may establish a just and reasonable charge for the transportation. (c) This section is not applicable to network railroad transportation.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 494. Section 494.

(a) No common carrier shall charge, demand, collect, or receive a different compensation for the transportation of persons or property, or for any service in connection therewith, than the applicable rates, fares, and charges specified in its schedules filed and in effect at the time, nor shall any such carrier refund or remit in any manner or by any device any portion of the rates, fares, or charges so specified, except upon order of the commission as provided in this part, nor extend to any corporation or person any privilege or facility in the transportation of passengers or property except such as are regularly and uniformly extended to all corporations and persons. (b) Subdivision (a) is not applicable to network railroad transportation.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 495. Section 495.

Every telegraph and telephone corporation shall print and file with the commission schedules showing all the rates and classifications for the transmission of messages or conversations between all of the following points, unless otherwise exempted, in whole or in part, from the filing requirements of subdivision (a) of Section 489: (a) Between all points within this state and all points outside the state upon its route. (b) Between all points within this state and all points outside the state upon every route leased, operated, or controlled by it. (c) Between all points on its route or upon any route, leased, operated, or controlled by it within this state and all points outside the state upon the route of any other telegraph or telephone corporation, whenever a through route and joint rate have been established between any two of these points.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 495.6. Section 495.6.

(a) Any city, county, or city and county that levies a utility user tax on the consumption of telephone services, including, but not limited to, the tax authorized by Section 7284.2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, shall provide to the commission the rate of the tax, the manner in which the tax is collected, and the frequency with which the tax is collected. (b) The commission shall establish the periodic frequency at which information required by subdivision (a) shall be submitted to the commission. (c) The commission shall provide information received pursuant to subdivision (a) to any person or entity upon receiving a request for the information. The commission may charge a fee, at a level that shall not exceed the direct expenses of the commission in preparing and providing the information, to any person or entity that receives the information. (d) The commission shall not be responsible for the accuracy of the information that it receives from a city, county, or city and county and provides pursuant to this section.

Cal. Public Utilities Code - PUC § 495.7. Section 495.7.

(a) The commission may, by rule or order, establish procedures to allow telephone or telegraph corporations to apply for the exemption of certain telecommunications services from the tariffing requirements of Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495. (b) The commission may, by rule or order, partially or completely exempt certain telecommunications services, except basic exchange service offered by telephone or telegraph corporations, from the tariffing requirements of Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495 if either of the following conditions is met: (1) The commission finds that the telephone corporation lacks significant market power in the market for that service for which an exemption from Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495 is being requested. Criteria to determine market power shall include, but not be limited to, the following: company size, market share, and type of service for which an exemption is being requested. The commission shall promulgate rules for determining market power based on these and other appropriate criteria. (2) The Commission finds that a telephone corporation is offering a service in a given market for which competitive alternatives are available to most consumers, and the commission has determined that sufficient consumer protections exist in the form of rules and enforcement mechanisms to minimize the risk to consumers and competition from unfair competition or anticompetitive behavior in the market for the competitive telecommunications service for which a provider is requesting an exemption from Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495. This paragraph does not apply to monopoly services for which the commission retains exclusive authority to set or change rates. (c) Before implementing procedures to allow telephone corporations to apply for the exemption of certain telecommunications services from the tariffing requirements of Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495, and no later than September 30, 1996, the commission shall establish consumer protection rules for those exempted services that include, but are not limited to: (1) Rules regarding the availability of rates, terms, and conditions of service to consumers. (2) Rules regarding notices to consumers of rate increases and decreases, changes in terms and conditions of service, and change of ownership. (3) Rules to identify and eliminate unacceptable marketing practices including, but not limited to, fraudulent marketing practices. (4) Rules to assure that aggrieved consumers have speedy, low-cost, and effective avenues available to seek relief in a reasonable time. (5) Rules to assure consumers that their right to informational privacy for services over which the commission has oversight. (6) Rules to assure a telephone corporation’s cooperation with the commission investigations of customer complaints. (d) Prior to granting every exemption from the tariffing requirements of Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495, the commission shall find that there is no improper cross-subsidization or anticompetitive behavior in connection with the service for which an exemption is requested. (e) Nothing in this section shall require that the commission exempt any telecommunications service or telecommunications service provider from the requirements of Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495, nor shall this section limit the authority of the commission to require telephone corporations to provide it with contemporaneous information about the current terms, conditions, and prices under which telecommunications services that are exempted, in whole or in part, from Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495 are being offered to subscribers. (f) The commission, after notice and hearing if requested, may cancel, revoke, or suspend any exemption granted under subdivision (b) to any telephone corporation that fails to comply with any of the rules established by the commission pursuant to subdivision (c). (g) Any telecommunications service exempted from the tariffing requirements of Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495 shall not be subject to the limitation on damages that applies to tariffed telecommunications services. (h) The provisions of this section do not apply to commercial mobile services as defined by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-66).

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026