---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 813"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "813"
heading: "Power entering into interstate commerce; regulation of rates, charges, etc."
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/813"
units:
  - "Chapter 12 — Federal Regulation and Development of Power"
  - "Subchapter I — Regulation of the Development of Water Power and Resources"
---

# §813. Power entering into interstate commerce; regulation of rates, charges, etc.


When said power or any part thereof shall enter into interstate or foreign commerce the rates charged and the service rendered by any such [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5), or by any subsidiary [corporation](/usc/16/796.md?p=3), the stock of which is owned or controlled directly or indirectly by such [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5), or by any [person](/usc/16/796.md?p=4), [corporation](/usc/16/796.md?p=3), or association purchasing power from such [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5) for sale and distribution or use in public service shall be reasonable, nondiscriminatory, and just to the customer and all unreasonable discriminatory and unjust rates or services are prohibited and declared to be unlawful; and whenever any of the [States](/usc/16/544.md?p=r) directly concerned has not provided a [commission](/usc/16/544.md?p=c) or other authority to enforce the requirements of this section within such [State](/usc/16/796.md?p=6) or to regulate and control the amount and character of [securities](/usc/16/796.md?p=16) to be issued by any of such parties, or such [States](/usc/16/544.md?p=r) are unable to agree through their properly constituted authorities on the services to be rendered, or on the rates or charges of payment therefor, or on the amount or character of [securities](/usc/16/796.md?p=16) to be issued by any of said parties, jurisdiction is conferred upon the [commission](/usc/16/544.md?p=c), upon complaint of any [person](/usc/16/796.md?p=4), aggrieved, upon the request of any [State](/usc/16/796.md?p=6) concerned, or upon its own initiative to enforce the provisions of this section, to regulate and control so much of the services rendered, and of the rates and charges of payment therefor as constitute interstate or foreign commerce and to regulate the issuance of [securities](/usc/16/796.md?p=16) by the parties included within this section, and [securities](/usc/16/796.md?p=16) issued by the [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5) subject to such regulations shall be allowed only for the bona fide purpose of financing and conducting the business of such [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5).

The administration of the provisions of this section, so far as applicable, shall be according to the procedure and practice in fixing and regulating the rates, charges, and practices of railroad companies as provided in subtitle IV of [title 49](/usc/49.md), and the parties subject to such regulation shall have the same rights of hearing, defense, and review as said companies in such cases.

In any valuation of the property of any [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5) hereunder for purposes of rate making, no value shall be claimed by the [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5) or allowed by the [commission](/usc/16/544.md?p=c) for any [project](/usc/16/796.md?p=11) or [projects](/usc/16/796.md?p=11) under license in excess of the value or values prescribed in [section 807 of this title](/usc/16/807.md) for the purposes of purchase by the United States, but there shall be included the cost to such [licensee](/usc/16/796.md?p=5) of the construction of the lock or locks or other aids of navigation and all other capital expenditures required by the United States, and no value shall be claimed or allowed for the rights granted by the [commission](/usc/16/544.md?p=c) or by this chapter.


## Source credit

(June 10, 1920, ch. 285, pt. I, § 20, 41 Stat. 1073; renumbered pt. I, Aug. 26, 1935, ch. 687, title II, § 212, 49 Stat. 847.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

“Subtitle IV of title 49” substituted in text for “the Act to regulate commerce, approved February 4, 1887, as amended” on authority of Pub. L. 95–473, § 3(b), Oct. 17, 1978, 92 Stat. 1466, the first section of which enacted subtitle IV of Title 49, Transportation.