(A) In addition to the assessment required by section 4905.10 of the Revised Code, the public utilities commission shall assess against all operators an amount equal to the appropriation in each fiscal year from the pipe-line safety fund. The assessment against each operator shall be based on the total Mcfs of gas it supplied or delivered in this state during the calendar year next preceding the assessment. The commission shall not assess against any operator an amount exceeding five one-hundredths of one cent multiplied by such total Mcfs of gas it supplied or delivered, except that, if the commission determines that an assessment so computed will amount to seventy-five dollars or less, the commission shall assess the operator seventy-five dollars.

(B) For the purpose of computing the assessment under division (A) of this section, each operator designated by the commission shall notify the commission, no later than ninety days after the end of the calendar year next preceding the assessment, of the total Mcfs of gas it supplied or delivered in this state during that calendar year.

(C) On or before the first day of October in each year, the commission shall notify each operator of the amount assessed against it under this section. No later than thirty days after the date the notice is given, the operator shall pay the assessment to the commission.

(D) There is hereby created in the state treasury the pipe-line safety fund into which shall be deposited all assessments paid under this section. Money in the fund shall be for the exclusive use of the commission for the administration and enforcement of sections 4905.90 to 4905.96 of the Revised Code and the pipe-line safety code. Any such assessments paid into the pipe-line safety fund, but not expended by the commission, shall be credited ratably, after first deducting any deficits accumulated from prior years, by the commission to operators that pay more than the minimum assessment, according to the respective portions of the sums assessable against them for the ensuing calendar year. The assessments for that calendar year shall be reduced correspondingly.

Effective Date: 04-16-1993 .