Relating to establishing rates for and recovering costs of by public utilities

HB 5626 amends West Virginia law governing how public utilities set new rates and recover costs. It requires utilities to provide 30 days' notice before changing rates, with the Public Service Commission able to delay implementation for up to 270 days (shorter for smaller utilities with fewer than 5,000 customers). The bill also mandates that the Commission must use certain data submitted by utilities in rate cases and allows utilities to voluntarily submit future "test year" data for rate calculations. This directly affects electric, gas, water, and sewer utilities operating in West Virginia, particularly those with 2,500-7,500 customers.