§ 112-a. Appointment of temporary operator. (a) The commission may
appoint a temporary operator of a gas corporation with twenty thousand
or fewer customers or water-works corporation with one thousand or fewer
customers if the commission, after notice and an opportunity to be
heard, makes a determination that such gas corporation or water-works
corporation exhibits one or more of the following criteria:

(i) a failure to provide safe, adequate, or reliable service;

(ii) a lack of technical, financial, or managerial capacity or ability
to provide the service; or

(iii) actual or effective abandonment of any service or portion
thereof.

(b) In making a determination under this section, the commission may
take into consideration:

(i) the financial, managerial, and technical ability of the gas
corporation or water-works corporation;

(ii) the financial, managerial, and technical ability of persons or
entities providing the same type of service;

(iii) expenditures necessary to make improvements to assure compliance
with applicable statutory and regulatory standards; and

(iv) any other matter that the commission deems relevant.

(c) For the purposes of this section, a "temporary operator" shall
mean any person or entity that:

(i) is not an affiliated interest of the gas corporation or
water-works corporation;

(ii) agrees to operate the gas corporation or water-works corporation
under the terms and conditions established by the commission; and

(iii) is financially, managerially, and technically capable of
operating the gas corporation or water-works corporation in compliance
with applicable standards.

(d) The gas corporation or water-works corporation shall have the
burden of demonstrating that it is supplying and has the ability to
continue to supply safe, adequate, and reliable service at just and
reasonable rates, or that abandonment of service by its system is in the
public interest.

(e) The appointment of a temporary operator shall be in addition to
any other remedies provided by law.