Chapter 164

Section 1. In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following words shall have the following meanings: ''Advanced metering infrastructure'', a meter and network communications technology that measures, records and transmits electricity usage by the end user at …

Section 10. A corporation subject to this chapter shall, upon an issue of its capital stock, other than stock issued upon conversion of convertible debentures authorized pursuant to section twelve A, within thirty days after the payment or collection of the last installment there…

Section 100. Any company subject to this chapter engaged both in the business of an electric company and of a gas company may, notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter or of any general or special law, sell and convey its properties used or useful in the electric busi…

Section 101. All applications for the approval by the department of purchases and sales or consolidations under sections twenty-six, ninety-six, ninety-seven and one hundred shall be filed with the department within four months after the passage by the contracting companies of vo…

Section 102. The six preceding sections shall not be construed to authorize the consolidation of the Boston Consolidated Gas Company and the Boston Edison Company.

Section 102A. Corporations desiring to consolidate or merge pursuant to sections ninety-six and ninety-seven shall enter into an agreement of consolidation or merger executed in the manner and setting forth the information prescribed in the first paragraph of subsection (b) of se…

Section 102B. Upon the payment of a fee to be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven, the state secretary shall issue a certificate in such form as he shall prescribe evidencing the filing and approval of …

Section 102C. (a) The attorney general is hereby authorized to bring an action under section 4 of chapter 93A to enforce the consumer protection provisions of sections 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, and 137 of this chapter and to obtain restitution, civil penalties, injunctive relief and an…

Section 103. The department, in accordance with its rules and regulations, shall make the inspections of gas required by section one hundred and nine and inspect, examine, ascertain and prove the accuracy of all meters which are to be used for measuring illuminating gas and which…

Section 104. For examining, comparing and testing gas meters, the department may collect a fee, the amount of which shall be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven, for each meter with a rated gas capacity…

Section 105A. Authority to regulate and control the storage, transportation and distribution of gas and the pressure under which these operations may respectively be carried on is hereby vested in the department. Upon the filing with the department of a written complaint of the m…

Section 106. The department shall, from time to time, ascertain the degree of purity that can reasonably be required in gas made and supplied by persons engaged in the manufacture or sale of gas, and shall report to the general court when it deems any change in the law relative t…

Section 107. To establish a calorific standard for gas, the department may from time to time, after notice and a public hearing, determine how many British thermal units shall thereafter be required of gas supplied to their consumers by gas companies or municipal lighting plants.…

Section 108. Every gas company or municipal lighting plant which distributes and sells to its consumers over fifteen million cubic feet of gas in a year shall, when required by the department, provide and maintain a suitable room not less than a quarter of a mile from the gas wor…

Section 109. The gas of every company which supplies more than fifty consumers shall be inspected at least twice a year and as much oftener as the department may determine. The department may, from time to time establish a new standard of purity for gas, after a public hearing, d…

Section 11. No gas or electric company shall declare any stock or scrip dividend or divide the proceeds of the sale of stock or scrip among its stockholders unless the department approves; nor shall any gas or electric company except as provided in this chapter issue any share of…

Section 110. If the gas of any gas company or of any city or town supplying gas is found on three consecutive inspections or on three inspections made within a period of thirty consecutive days, upon such averaging of inspections as the department may prescribe, to be below the s…

Section 111. The unit of measure for the sale of gas by meter shall be the cubic foot, containing sixty-two and two thousand nine hundred and ninety-three ten-thousandths pounds avoirdupois weight of air-free distilled water at sixty degrees Fahrenheit when weighed in dry air at …

Section 112. Every gas company with a capital paid in of one hundred thousand dollars or more, and every other gas company, if required by the department, and all makers and vendors of meters shall set up at some convenient place upon their premises one or more meter provers of a…

Section 113. A gas company providing a meter for measuring gas supplied to a customer which, if never before used, has not been duly sealed and stamped, or, if opened after being sealed and stamped, has not been again tested, sealed and stamped, shall be punished by a fine of fiv…

Section 114. Meters in use shall be tested by the department, on the request of the consumer or of the gas company, in the presence of the consumer if desired, and with sealed apparatus. If it finds that the meter is correct, the person requesting the inspection shall pay the fee…

Section 115. Meters for measuring gas supplied to consumers shall register the quantity of gas passing through them in cubic feet so that the number of cubic feet of gas consumed may be easily ascertained by the consumer thereof. No meter shall be used which may confuse or deceiv…

Section 115A. Each meter for measuring gas provided by a gas company or municipal lighting plant to a consumer shall, not later than seven years from the date of installation or replacement, be removed by the company or municipal lighting plant from the premises of the consumer a…

Section 116. An officer or servant of a gas or electric company who is duly authorized in writing by the president, treasurer, agent or secretary or municipal lighting plant manager of said company and who displays on his outer garment a suitable badge bearing his photograph, iss…

Section 116A. In the event of a fire, explosion or other disaster, fire fighters and police officers shall permit any officer or servant of a gas or electric company who is duly authorized and displays an identification badge, as provided in section one hundred and sixteen, to en…

Section 116B. Whenever the commonwealth or a city or town undertakes the repair of streets, roads or sidewalks the appropriate gas company shall provide for the maintenance and improvements of its gate boxes located in the streets, roads or sidewalks to be repaired, so that the g…

Section 116C. (a) Distribution companies deploying advanced metering infrastructure in their territories shall jointly establish a centralized data repository to allow customers and third parties, including competitive suppliers, access to advanced metering data, including billin…

Section 117. When a gas or electric meter in a building owned or used by a customer of a gas or electric company is read by an employee or agent of such company, he shall, upon request, deliver to the person using the gas or electricity measured by the meter a written statement o…

Section 118. Meters for measuring electricity for lighting purposes supplied to consumers shall register the quantity of electricity passing through them in kilowatt hours, so that the number of kilowatt hours consumed may easily be ascertained by the consumer.

Section 119. No charge for the use of a meter or for other similar purpose covering any portion of twelve consecutive months in connection with the supply of gas or electricity for domestic use only shall be made by a corporation, other than a municipality, furnishing the same, i…

Section 119A. When a consumer is charged for gas or electricity at several rates according to the quantity used, his bill, to the extent that the gas or electricity is used for domestic purposes, shall be so itemized as to show the quantity charged for at each rate, and where the…

Section 12. All certificates of stock or scrip issued in violation of the preceding section shall be void; and the directors of the corporation which issues them shall be liable to a penalty of one thousand dollars each, to be recovered by indictment in any county where any of th…

Section 120. A customer of a corporation subject to this chapter, or such corporation, may apply to the department for an examination and test of any electric meter, demand indicator, so called, and any other device or appliance installed by such corporation upon a customer's pre…

Section 121. The person designated to make such examination and test may at any reasonable time enter upon the premises where the meter to be inspected is placed for the purpose of making the inspection. He shall receive such compensation for his services as the department may de…

Section 122. Whoever, being engaged in the sale of electricity, maintains upon the premises of a customer for the purpose of determining the charge to be made for electricity supplied to him a meter, demand indicator or other mechanical device or appliance which is found upon exa…

Section 123. All gas and electric companies using prepayment meters shall be responsible for the loss by fire of any money deposited in said meters.

Section 124. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, a gas or electric company may stop gas or electricity from entering the premises of any person failing to pay the amount due therefor or for the use of the meter or instrument necessary to measure supply of service; and f…

Section 124A. No gas or electric company shall shut off or fail to restore gas or electric service in any residence during such time as there is a serious illness therein; provided, however, that a registered physician or the local board of health certifies in writing to the comp…

Section 124B. No gas or electric company shall shut off gas or electric service in any home for the reason that a person has failed to pay for an appliance purchased from such company.

Section 124C. No gas or electric utility intending to shut off gas or electricity in any licensed nursing home, home for the aged, convalescent home or hospital, shall do so without first giving fourteen days' notice in writing to the customer and to the department. Such utility …

Section 124D. No gas or electric company shall shut off gas or electric service to any tenant residing in a dwelling unit who, under a rental arrangement, receives the benefit of gas or electricity or heat, hot water, cooking or lighting, or any combination thereof, but who is no…

Section 124E. No gas or electric company shall shut off gas or electric service to any household in which all residents are sixty-five years of age or older, for failure to pay an outstanding indebtedness for said service without first complying with all rules and regulations of …

Section 124F. No gas or electric company shall between November fifteenth and March fifteenth shut off gas or electric service to any residential customer who cannot pay an overdue charge because of financial hardship, when such gas or electric service is used to provide heat or …

Section 124G. No gas or electric company which shuts off gas or electric service of a residential customer in compliance with the provisions of this chapter shall, upon receipt of full payment or such partial payment as such company deems satisfactory by such customer, fail to re…

Section 124H. No gas or electric company shall shut off gas or electric service in any residence in which there is domiciled a person under the age of twelve months provided that the customer cannot afford to pay any overdue bill because of financial hardship. The department may …

Section 124I. Any company found by the department to have wilfully violated sections one hundred and twenty-four A to one hundred and twenty-four H, inclusive, shall be assessed a penalty after a hearing by the department, in an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars.

Section 125. A gas or electric company shall not refuse to supply gas or electricity for any building or premises to a person applying therefor who is not in arrears to it for any gas or electricity previously supplied to him, because a bill for gas or electricity remains unpaid …

Section 125A. A gas or electric company, generation company, wholesale generation company, or supplier which has been furnishing gas or electricity to the commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof, under a contract that has expired may, until a new contract for supplying …

Section 126. Whoever wilfully or fraudulently injures, disconnects, removes or otherwise interferes with, or suffers to be injured, disconnected, removed or otherwise interfered with, any meter, pipes or fittings belonging to a gas company or to any person, or prevents a meter fr…

Section 126A. Whoever falsely assumes, pretends to be or holds himself out as an officer or servant of a gas or electric company for the purpose of gaining access to any premises shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than two years or by a fine o…