For a water or sewer system corporation or an entity merging with or acquiring control of a water or sewer system corporation with less than 2,000 service connections, the following shall apply to transactions valued at five million dollars ($5,000,000) or less, notwithstanding Sections 851 and 854:
(a)
(1)A water or sewer system corporation or an entity merging with or acquiring control of a water or sewer system corporation shall receive the commission’s approval before entering into a transaction that would otherwise be subject to Section 851 or 854.
(2)
If a water or sewer system corporation or an entity merging with or acquiring
control of a water or sewer system corporation fails to receive the commission’s approval pursuant to paragraph (1), the transaction is voidable by the commission until the commission does either of the following:
(A)
Retroactively approves the transaction upon a determination that the transaction is in the best interests of both the corporation and its ratepayers.
(B)
Conditionally approves the transaction, subject to the fulfillment of specified conditions that would ensure that the transaction is in the best interests of both the corporation and its ratepayers.
(b)
The commission may delegate the authority to make the determinations described in subdivision (a) to the director of the division that investigates water and sewer system service quality issues and analyzes and processes utility rate change
requests.