(a) Whenever the commission finds and determines that any electrical, gas, or telephone corporation has willfully made an imprudent payment to, or received a less than reasonable payment from, any subsidiary or affiliate of, or corporation holding a controlling interest in, the electrical, gas, or telephone corporation in violation of any rule or order of the commission, adopted and published by the commission prior to the transaction but after notice to, and an opportunity to comment by, the affected corporation, and the corporation has sought to recover the payment in any proceeding before the commission, the commission may , following a hearing, levy a penalty against the corporation not to exceed three times the required or prohibited payment, as the case may be, if the commission finds that the payment, in whole or part, was made or received by the corporation for the purpose of benefiting its subsidiary, affiliate, or holding corporation. This penalty is in addition to any criminal penalties which may apply.
(b) In determining whether to impose a civil penalty under this section, the commission may take into consideration multistate public utility diversification activities involving cross-subsidization which are permissible in other states or under federal jurisdiction although in violation of the commission’s rules and orders.