---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 812"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "812"
heading: "Public-service licensee; regulations by State or by commission as to service, rates, charges, etc."
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/812"
units:
  - "Chapter 12 — Federal Regulation and Development of Power"
  - "Subchapter I — Regulation of the Development of Water Power and Resources"
---

# §812. Public-service licensee; regulations by State or by commission as to service, rates, charges, etc.


As a condition of the license, every [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5) under this chapter which is a public-service [corporation](/usc/16/796.md?p=3), or a [person](/usc/16/796.md?p=4), association, or [corporation](/usc/16/796.md?p=3) owning or operating any [project](/usc/16/796.md?p=11) and developing, transmitting, or distributing power for sale or use in public service, shall abide by such reasonable regulation of the services to be rendered to customers or consumers of power, and of rates and charges of payment therefor, as may from time to time be prescribed by any duly constituted agency of the [State](/usc/16/796.md?p=6) in which the service is rendered or the rate charged. That in case of the development, transmission, or distribution, or use in public service of power by any [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5) under this chapter or by its customer engaged in public service within a [State](/usc/16/796.md?p=6) which has not authorized and empowered a [commission](/usc/16/544.md?p=c) or other agency or agencies within said [State](/usc/16/796.md?p=6) to regulate and control the services to be rendered by such [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5) or by its customer engaged in public service, or the rates and charges of payment therefor, or the amount or character of [securities](/usc/16/796.md?p=16) to be issued by any of said parties, it is agreed as a condition of such license that jurisdiction is conferred upon the [commission](/usc/16/544.md?p=c), upon complaint of any [person](/usc/16/796.md?p=4) aggrieved or upon its own initiative, to exercise such regulation and control until such time as the [State](/usc/16/796.md?p=6) shall have provided a [commission](/usc/16/544.md?p=c) or other authority for such regulation and control: Provided, That the jurisdiction of the [commission](/usc/16/544.md?p=c) shall cease and determine as to each specific matter of regulation and control prescribed in this section as soon as the [State](/usc/16/796.md?p=6) shall have provided a [commission](/usc/16/544.md?p=c) or other authority for the regulation and control of that specific matter.


## Source credit

(June 10, 1920, ch. 285, pt. I, § 19, 41 Stat. 1073; renumbered pt. I, Aug. 26, 1935, ch. 687, title II, § 212, 49 Stat. 847.)