(1) Any party aggrieved by any final finding, order or judgment of the commission in any utility rate proceedings involving a filing for a rate change of any public utility as described in Section 77-3-3(d)(i), (d)(ii), or (d)(iii), shall have the right, regardless of the amount involved, of direct appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. If an application for rehearing has been filed, an appeal must be filed within thirty (30) days after the application for rehearing has been refused or deemed refused because of the commission’s failure to act thereon within the time specified in Section 77-3-65 or, if the application is granted, within thirty (30) days after the rendition of the decision on rehearing. If an application for rehearing has not been filed, an appeal must be filed within thirty (30) days after the entry of the commission’s order. Every appeal shall state briefly the nature of the proceedings before the commission, and shall specify the order complained of. Any person whose rights may be directly affected by said appeal may appear and become a party or the court may, upon proper notice, order any person to be joined as a party.

(2) Upon the filing of an appeal the clerk of the supreme court shall serve notice thereof upon the commission, whereupon the commission shall, within sixty (60) days (or within such additional time as the court may for cause allow) from the service of such notice, certify to the court the record in the case, which record shall include a transcript of all testimony, together with all exhibits or copies thereof, all pleadings, proceedings, orders, findings and opinions entered in the case. However, the parties and the commission may stipulate that a specified portion only of the record shall be certified to the court as the record on appeal.

(3)

(a) Any utility aggrieved by an order of the public service commission with respect to a proceeding before the commission for determination of rates, and which has filed in the supreme court an appeal therefrom pursuant to this chapter, and which is not then collecting under refunding bond rates in excess of rates which have been ordered by the commission, may request upon motion filed in the supreme court an order allowing the utility to place into effect forthwith interim rates which may be charged and collected, subject to refund as hereinafter provided, pending final determination of the rate proceeding. The court may in its discretion, upon a hearing by not fewer than three (3) justices and upon a finding that undue hardship or irreparable injury to the utility or the public interest would probably result otherwise, allow the utility to place into effect such interim rates at a revenue level up to, but not exceeding, the proposed rates. The court may allow the utility to collect all or part of a proposed rate increase. However, before such increased rates can take effect, the utility shall file with the court a bond in a reasonable amount approved by the court, with sureties approved by the court, conditioned upon the refund, with interest at the same rate prescribed in Section 77-3-39, Section 77-3-69 and Section 77-3-71, to the parties entitled thereto, of the amount of the excess if the existing rate or rates or the rate or rates so put into effect are finally determined to be excessive. In lieu of payment, the utility may credit the service account with the amount due under this subsection if the consumer entitled to the refund is, at that time, a consumer of the utility.

(b) If the court does not dispose of the motion for interim rates as contemplated in paragraph (a) of this subsection within thirty (30) days of the filing of such motion, then the public utility, as a matter of right, may place into effect forthwith fifty percent (50%) of that portion of the proposed rate schedule not allowed by the commission’s order, pending final determination of the appeal, upon filing with the court a surety bond in the same manner as provided for in paragraph (a) of this subsection.

(4) If the court does not make a final determination and adjudication of the rate proceeding within one hundred eighty (180) days after the record has been certified and filed, or if the court remands the matter to the commission for further proceedings and the commission has not entered its order allowing rates within forty-five (45) days from the time of receipt of the mandate of the court, or if the commission has at any time entered its order after remand and an appeal therefrom has been taken, then, in any such case, the public utility may, as a matter of right, place into effect the entire proposed rate schedule, under refunding bond, as provided for in this section or in Section 77-3-39, whichever is applicable. Interim rates under refunding bond charged by the utility under this subsection shall terminate upon final disposition of the rate proceeding without timely appeal. The court may hear and dispose of the appeal in termtime or vacation and the court may sustain or dismiss the appeal, modify or vacate the order complained of in whole or in part, as the case may be. In case the order is wholly or partly vacated the court may also, in its discretion, remand the matter to the commission for such further proceedings, not inconsistent with the court’s order as, in the opinion of the court, justice may require. The order shall not be vacated or set aside either in whole or in part, except for errors of law, unless the court finds that the order of the commission is not supported by substantial evidence, is contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence, is in excess of the statutory authority or jurisdiction of the commission, or violates constitutional rights.