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§ 4-503. Rate, charge, or service discrimination prohibited

West's Annotated Code of MarylandPublic UtilitiesEffective: May 30, 2021

West's Annotated Code of Maryland
Public Utilities (Refs & Annos)
Division I. Public Services and Utilities [Titles 1-15] (Refs & Annos)
Title 4. Rate Regulation (Refs & Annos)
Subtitle 5. Prohibitions (Refs & Annos)
Effective: May 30, 2021
MD Code, Public Utilities, § 4-503
Formerly cited as MD PUBLIC UTIL COMP § 4-503
§ 4-503. Rate, charge, or service discrimination prohibited
Currentness
Application of section
(a) This section does not apply to service rendered or commodities furnished:
(1) to the officers, employees, pensioners, and immediate family members of the officers, employees, and pensioners of a public service company;
(2) to the United States, the State, or a local government;
(3) to provide relief in cases of general epidemic, pestilence, flood, or other similar calamity;
(4) in the case of common carriers, to transport:
(i) personnel of another common carrier that reciprocates for personnel of the transporting common carrier;
(ii) hospital patients;
(iii) indigent, destitute, and homeless individuals;
(iv) persons exclusively engaged in charitable work;
(v) residents of federal or State veterans homes, including those about to enter a home or those returning from a home;
(vi) railway mail service employees and baggage agents;
(vii) post office, customs, and immigration inspectors;
(viii) newspaper vendors;
(ix) property for exhibition carried to or from fairs and expositions;
(x) employees of sleeping car companies, express companies, telegraph companies, and telephone companies doing business along the line of the common carrier;
(xi) persons and property incident to or connected with contracts for construction, operation, or maintenance of the plant of the transportation company, to the extent provided in the contracts;
(xii) individuals injured in accidents and physicians, nurses, or other necessary caretakers attending the injured individuals in transit;
(xiii) children under the age of 5 years for no charge;
(xiv) children under 12 years for half fare; or
(xv) persons at free or reduced rates that are otherwise authorized by law;
(5) in the case of common carriers, for the issuance of mileage, excursion, or commuter tickets;
(6) to free steamboat excursion transportation from May through August of each year, from Baltimore City to any place in the State, in exchange for services rendered in advertising the excursion business;
(7) to obtain essential data by a method that uses a limited sample of customers, in connection with a rate structure study conducted under formal proceedings before the Commission;
(8) to telephone lifeline service provided to eligible subscribers under § 8-201 of this article; or
(9) to electricity or gas service provided to eligible limited-income customers through an approved limited-income mechanism under § 4-308 of this title.
Discrimination prohibited
(b) For any service rendered or commodity furnished, a public service company may not directly or indirectly, by any means, including special rates, rebates, drawbacks, or refunds:
(1) charge, demand, or receive from a person compensation that is greater or less than from any other person under substantially similar circumstances;
(2) extend a privilege or facility to a person, except those privileges and facilities that are extended uniformly to all persons under substantially similar circumstances;
(3) discriminate against a person, locality, or particular class of service; or
(4) give undue or unreasonable preference to or cause undue or unreasonable prejudice to a person, locality, or particular class of service.

Credits

Added by Acts 1998, c. 8, § 2, eff. Oct. 1, 1998. Amended by Acts 2021, c. 638, § 1, eff. May 30, 2021; Acts 2021, c. 639, § 1, eff. May 30, 2021.
Formerly Art. 78, § 26.
MD Code, Public Utilities, § 4-503, MD PUBLIC UTIL § 4-503
Current through legislation effective through April 9, 2023, from the 2024 Regular Session of the General Assembly. Some statute sections may be more current, see credits for details.
End of Document