§ 112-a. Appointment of temporary operator. (a) The commission may appoint a temporary operator of a gas corporation with twenty thousand or fewer customers or water-works corporation with one thousand or fewer customers if the commission, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, makes a determination that such gas corporation or water-works corporation exhibits one or more of the following criteria:

(i) a failure to provide safe, adequate, or reliable service;

(ii) a lack of technical, financial, or managerial capacity or ability to provide the service; or

(iii) actual or effective abandonment of any service or portion thereof.

(b) In making a determination under this section, the commission may take into consideration:

(i) the financial, managerial, and technical ability of the gas corporation or water-works corporation;

(ii) the financial, managerial, and technical ability of persons or entities providing the same type of service;

(iii) expenditures necessary to make improvements to assure compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory standards; and

(iv) any other matter that the commission deems relevant.

(c) For the purposes of this section, a "temporary operator" shall mean any person or entity that:

(i) is not an affiliated interest of the gas corporation or water-works corporation;

(ii) agrees to operate the gas corporation or water-works corporation under the terms and conditions established by the commission; and

(iii) is financially, managerially, and technically capable of operating the gas corporation or water-works corporation in compliance with applicable standards.

(d) The gas corporation or water-works corporation shall have the burden of demonstrating that it is supplying and has the ability to continue to supply safe, adequate, and reliable service at just and reasonable rates, or that abandonment of service by its system is in the public interest.

(e) The appointment of a temporary operator shall be in addition to any other remedies provided by law.