Regulatory assessment and application fees.

(1) The commission shall set by rule a regulatory assessment fee that each utility must pay in accordance with s. 350.113(3); however, each small utility with annual revenues of less than $200,000 shall pay once a year in conjunction with filing its annual financial report required by commission rule. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the amount of the regulatory assessment fee shall not exceed 4.5 percent of the gross revenues of the utility derived from intrastate business, excluding sales for resale made to a regulated company.

(a) A governmental authority to which ownership or control of a utility is transferred is not liable for any fees owed the commission by the utility as of the date of transfer. However, whenever a purchase at wholesale is made of any water or wastewater service and a fee is paid or payable thereon by the selling utility and the utility purchasing such water or wastewater service resells the same directly to customers, the purchasing utility is entitled to, and must receive, credit on such fees as may be due by it under this section to the extent of the fee paid or payable upon such water or wastewater service by the utility from which such purchase was made. All such fee payments and penalties must be deposited in accordance with s. 350.113.

(b) In addition to the penalties and interest otherwise provided, the commission may impose a penalty upon a utility for failure to pay regulatory assessment fees in a timely manner in accordance with s. 367.161.

(2) Each utility shall pay an application fee, established by the commission, for an original certificate of authorization; an amendment to an existing certificate of authorization; a request for rate relief in accordance with s. 367.081 or s. 367.0814; a proceeding pursuant to s. 367.0822; service availability charges filed in accordance with s. 367.101; and when this chapter becomes applicable to a county in accordance with s. 367.171. The amount of the application fee determined by the commission may not exceed $4,500 and must be based upon the existing or proposed capacity of the system, extension, or deletion. All such fee payments must be deposited in accordance with s. 350.113.

(3) Fees collected by the commission pursuant to this section may only be used to cover the cost of regulating water and wastewater systems. Fees collected by the commission pursuant to chapters 364 and 366 may not be used to pay the cost of regulating water and wastewater systems.