(1) The commission will consider commencing an EAS proceeding upon receipt of:

(a) a customer application for EAS accompanied by a customer petition signed by at least 30 percent of the qualifying customers within the petitioning exchange;

(b) an application by a regulated or unregulated local exchange company; or

(c) reasonable findings following a commission-initiated investigation.

(2) The customer petition shall be on a petition form approved by the commission prior to use, which shall include information deemed advisable and informative to the petitioners in the commission's discretion. Qualifying signatures shall be limited to one signature per main billed account and shall be accompanied by information deemed necessary by the commission, such as the account name, the printed name, address, and phone number of each person signing, and like information.

(3) EAS proceedings will be conducted in two phases, as described in ARM 38.5.1313 and 38.5.1315, below, and, when required pursuant to the rules, as contested cases under Title 2,chapter 4, MCA (MAPA) and ARM Title 38, chapter 2(commission procedural rules) .

(4) Following proceedings the commission will determine whether or not the proposed EAS arrangement is in the public interest (based on the record, applicable law, and proper judgment and discretion of the commission) and issue a final order on the matter.

(5) When deemed necessary by the commission the commission may, on its own motion or the motion of any party to an EAS application or pending EAS docket:

(a) set reasonable limits on the maximum number of EAS requests actively pending before the commission at any one time (based on available resources, including time, and other pertinent factors) ; and

(b) reasonably prioritize EAS applications and pending EAS dockets for processing (based on past interest expressed to the commission, the overall public interest at stake, and other pertinent factors) .