25-7.015. Location and Preservation of Records

(1) All records that a utility is required to keep, by reason of these or other rules prescribed by the Commission, shall be kept at the office or offices of the utility within the state, unless otherwise authorized by the Commission. Such records shall be open for inspection by the Commission or its authorized representatives at any and all reasonable times.

(2) Any utility that keeps its records outside of the state shall reimburse the Commission for the reasonable travel expenses incurred by each Commission representative during any review of the out-of-state records of the utility or its affiliates. Reasonable travel expenses are those travel expenses that are equivalent to travel expenses paid by the Commission in the ordinary course of its business.

(a) The utility shall remit reimbursement for out-of-state travel expenses within 30 days from the date the Commission mails the invoice.

(b) The reimbursement requirement in subsection (2) shall be waived for any utility that makes its out-of-state records available at the utility’s office located in Florida or at another mutually agreed upon location in Florida within 10 working days from the Commission’s initial request. If the utility demonstrates that 10 working days is not reasonable because of the complexity and nature of the issues involved or the volume and type of material requested, the Commission will establish a different time frame for the utility to bring records into the state. For individual data requests made during an audit, the response time frame established in Rule 25-7.0151, F.A.C., shall control.

(3) All records shall be preserved in accordance with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s regulations, Title 18, Subchapter F, Part 225, Code of Federal Regulations, entitled “Preservation of Records of Natural Gas Companies” (2013), which is incorporated by reference into this rule, with the exception of the records listed in paragraph (3)(a) of this rule and may be accessed at http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-04829. Instead, utilities shall retain records listed in paragraph (3)(a) of this rule for the periods indicated.

(a) The Code of Federal Regulations Items listed below are exceptions to the Schedule of Records and Periods of Retention contained in Title 18, Subchapter F, Section 225.3, Code of Federal Regulations:

1. Item 2(a), minute books of stockholders’, directors’, and directors’ committee meetings, earlier of 20 years or termination of corporation’s existence;

2. Item 6(a)(1), general ledgers, 20 years;

3. Item 6(a)(2), ledgers subsidiary or auxiliary, 20 years;

4. Item 7, journals: general and subsidiary, 20 years;

5. Item 8(a), journal vouchers and journal entries, 20 years;

6. Item 20(a), appraisals and valuations made by the company of its properties or investments or of the properties or investments of any associated companies (includes all records essential thereto), 10 years after appraisal.

(b) All source documents retained as required by Title 18, Subchapter F, Part 225, Code of Federal Regulations, shall be maintained in their original form for a minimum of three years, or for any lesser period of time specified for that type of record in Title 18, Subchapter F, Part 225, Code of Federal Regulations, after the date the document was created or received by the utility. This paragraph does not require the utility to create paper copies of documents where the utility would not otherwise do so in the ordinary course of its business. The utility may request approval to waive the requirement that documents be retained in their original form. The utility must show that the utility employs a storage and retrieval system that consistently produces clear, readable copies that are identical to the originals, including any handwritten notations on documents.

(c) The utility shall maintain written procedures governing the conversion of source documents to a storage and retrieval system, which procedures ensure the authenticity of documents and the completeness of records. Records maintained in the storage and retrieval system must be searchable and readable.

Rulemaking Authority 366.05(1), 350.127(2) FS. Law Implemented 366.05(1), (9), (11), 366.08, 366.093(1) FS. History–New 7-19-72, Repromulgated 1-8-75, Amended 5-4-75, 12-30-75, 9-28-81, 11-18-82, Formerly 25-7.15, Amended 10-1-86, 4-3-88, 11-13-95, 12-8-03, 2-2-15.