An appeals process shall be established to resolve disputes over the application of a rule or order to specific individuals or business entities. The affected entities may have grounds for disputing the application of the rule or order to their specific situation. The grounds may be that the order is viewed as unlawful, may not apply because of special circumstances, or may cause an undesirable hardship. An appeals procedure is only required when mandatory actions are directed by the governor.

(1) Utility adjustment committees and a state appeals board shall be established and shall have certain responsibilities as specified in this rule.

(a) Each utility shall establish an adjustment committee. The utility shall have an at-large county and municipal seat on the committee to be filled by officials from the appellant's jurisdiction. The utility adjustment committee shall:

(i) receive and review all applications for exemption or adjustment;

(ii) act on matters relating to priority load customers; and,

(iii) act on adjustments to base period energy of nonmajor use customers.

(b) A state appeals board shall be established consisting of 12 members: the administrator of the energy division or his designee who shall serve as chairman, the chairman of the psc or his designee, and one representative appointed by the energy policy committee from each of the following groups-rural electric cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, county and municipal government, commercial and industrial users, and four citizens at large. The state appeals board shall:

(i) hear appeals from utility adjustment committee actions;

(ii) make recommendations to the governor on adjustments to base period energy of major use customers;

(iii) make recommendations to the governor on appeals of denial of priority load status;

(iv) act on adjustments to scheduling of curtailment by non-major use customers; and,;

(v) make recommendations to the governor on adjustments to scheduling of curtailment by major use customers.

(2) The appeals process shall be as follows:

(a) Any person who desires to contest the operation of a rule or order with respect to his or her individual situation should make application for an exemption or adjustment to the utility adjustment committee. The utility adjustment committee shall be empowered to grant certain exemptions and adjustments and will screen all applications. As required, the utility adjustment committee shall forward reports to the state appeals board which shall in turn made recommendations for the governor on certain exemptions and adjustments.

(b) Each appeal from an emergency action shall state:

(i) the action appealed from, including the entity taking the action, and the nature and date of the appeal;

(ii) the reason for the appeal, including the reason why the appellant believes the order to be unjust or unwise;

(iii) the nature of the relief sought, whether exemption, adjustment or some other relief; and

(iv) a demand for a hearing, or all appeal documents if no oral hearing is requested.

(c) Hearing procedures shall be established in accordance with the Montana Administrative Procedures Act.