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US West Communications12/13/1999
1995) (quoting Montana Dakota Utilities Co. v. Public Service Com=n, 847 P.2d 978, 983 (Wyo. 1993)). This legal principle applies with equal force to an agency=s authority to promulgate rules. State Dept. of Revenue and Taxation v. Pacificorp, 872 P.2d 1163, 1166 (Wyo. 1994). Rules promulgated in excess of an agency=s statutory authority are null and void. State Bd. of Equalization v. Jackson Hole Ski Corp., 737 P.2d 350, 356 (Wyo. 1987).
IV. DISCUSSION
Wyo. Stat. Ann. ' 37-15-402(a) and (d) (Lexis 1999), of the Wyoming Telecommunications Act of 1995, sets the price for non-competitive services as follows:
Cost-based pricing.
(a) Services provided by a telecommunications company that provides noncompetitive services shall be priced such that the service=s revenues from the sale of the service recover the total service long-run incremental cost of providing that service, except as provided in this section. Total service long-run incremental cost studies used by a telecommunications company shall be filed with the commission on an annual basis at the time and in the form required by commission rule * * *.
(d) A telecommunications company providing both noncompetitive switched access service and message toll service shall include in the amount recovered from message toll service the price it charges others for those elements of switched access which cannot be economically duplicated by competitors.
The term total service long-run incremental cost is statutorily defined as Athe total forward- looking cost, using least cost technology, for a telecommunications service or basic network function that the telecommunications provider would incur if it were to initially offer such telecommunications service or basic network function[.]@ Wyo. Stat. Ann. ' 37-15-103(a)(xiii) (Lexis 1999).
U S West claims that ' 547 and ' 548 of the TSLRIC rules adopted by the PSC contain specific requirements for setting floor prices which differ from the statutory requirements. For example, Wyo. Stat. Ann. ' 37-15-402(d) requires the TSLRIC to include the costs charged to others Afor those elements of switched access which cannot be economically duplicated by competitors.@ TSLRIC ' 547, however, expands the imputation of the rate charged to others to include the rates Afor the use of [the provider=s] local exchange facilities or basic network functions@ when the provider uses the facilities or functions in providing message toll services. In the same light, Wyo. Stat. Ann. ' 37-15-402(a) does not have any requirement that the TSLRIC calculation include imputed costs, but TSLRIC ' 548 requires providers of both competitive and non-competitive services to impute Athe rates which they charge others for the use of the component parts that are used in providing that retail service.@ These differences result in a rule-based TSLRIC which requires U S West to set retail rates at a higher price than that allowed by statute.
The PSC and AT&T;concede that the TSLRIC rules add costs to the calculation of TSLRIC, but contend that the PSC maintains the authority to do so because the imputed costs promote the legislative intent to facilitate competition and avoid potential discriminatory pricing. See Wyo. Stat. Ann. '' 37-15-102 and 37-15-404 (Lexis 1999). While these arguments are well taken, we must look to the statute as a whole and give effect to its plain meaning. In so doing, we find that the plain language found in the statutory definition of TSLRIC and the related provisions of Wyo. Stat. Ann. ' 37-15-402 preclude the PSC=s efforts to raise the price of services above the price allowed by statute by creating a TSLRIC methodology imputing addi
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