Chapter 164

Section 1K. Any penalty levied by the department against an investor-owned electric distribution, transmission or natural gas distribution company for any violation of the department's standards of acceptable performance for emergency preparation and restoration of service for el…

Section 2. In construing sections 69G to 69O, inclusive, 70, 71, 74 to 83, inclusive, 92 to 95, inclusive, 103, 105, 106, 109, 112 to 114, inclusive, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 123 to 127, inclusive, unless the context otherwise requires, the terms ''corporation'', ''gas company'' …

Section 20. A corporation subject to this chapter shall not begin business until the whole amount of its capital stock, or such part thereof as may have been approved by the department, has been paid in and a certificate of that fact has been filed in accordance with section ten.…

Section 21. A corporation subject to this chapter shall not, except as otherwise expressly provided, transfer its franchise, lease its works or contract with any person, association or corporation to carry on its works, without the authority of the general court.

Section 22. All deposits of funds of corporations subject to this chapter shall be made by the officers thereof in national banks, duly chartered trust companies, savings banks, co-operative banks or federal savings and loan associations; but the foregoing provision shall not app…

Section 23. Stockholders may vote in person or by proxy. No proxy dated more than six months before the meeting named therein shall be valid and no proxy shall be valid after the final adjournment of such meeting. A proxy with respect to stock held in the name of two or more pers…

Section 24. (a) Whenever, with respect to any action to be taken by the stockholders of a corporation subject to this chapter, the articles of organization or by-laws require the vote or concurrence of the holders of all of the shares, or of any class or series thereof, or a grea…

Section 25. No person owning, holding or controlling shares of stock of any public service corporation shall use any name or title or other words that, in the opinion of the department, might lead the public to believe that such person is a public service corporation or that its …

Section 29. A duplicate of each certificate of change of officers filed pursuant to section fifty-three of chapter one hundred and fifty-six B with respect to a corporation subject to this chapter shall be filed forthwith in the office of the department.

Section 3. This chapter shall apply to gas and electric companies organized or chartered under any general or special laws applicable thereto, and to the respective officers and stockholders of such corporations.

Section 30. The department may, after notice and a public hearing, authorize a gas or electric company to carry on its business in any town in the commonwealth other than the town named in its agreement of association or charter, subject to sections eighty-six to eighty-eight, in…

Section 31. A manufacturing or other corporation having its place of business in a city or town where a gas company proposes to manufacture gas for light may hold not more than ten per cent of the capital stock of such gas company; provided, that the foregoing provisions shall no…

Section 33. The fees for filing the following certificates, documents and copies of votes required to be filed by corporations subject to this chapter with the state secretary shall be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three …

Section 33A. No gas or electric company regulated by the department under this chapter may recover from any ratepayer of such company any direct or indirect expenditure by such company for promotional or political advertising as defined in this section. For the purposes of this s…

Section 34. A town may, in accordance with this chapter, construct, purchase or lease, and maintain within its limits, one or more plants for the manufacture or distribution of gas or electricity or for the operation of a community antenna television system for municipal use or f…

Section 34A. (a) Any city or town receiving street lighting service from an electric company pursuant to a tariff which provides for the use by such municipality of lighting equipment owned by the electric company, such as lighting ballasts, fixtures, and other equipment necessar…

Section 34B. A distribution company or a telephone company engaging in the removal of an existing pole and the installation of a new pole in place thereof shall complete the transfer of wires, all repairs, and the removal of the existing pole from the site within 90 days from the…

Section 35. A city shall not acquire such a plant until authorized by a two thirds vote of its city council, or of a majority of the commissioners if the city government consists of a commission, passed in each of two consecutive municipal years and thereafter ratified by a major…

Section 36. A town shall not acquire such a plant until authorized by a two thirds vote, taken by ballot with the use of the voting list, at each of two town meetings called therefor and held at intervals of not less than two nor more than thirteen months. If the first of such vo…

Section 37. After a city or town has voted under section thirty-five or thirty-six, the city or town clerk shall forthwith transmit to the department a certified copy of so much of the records of the city council or of the town as relates to the result of the vote.

Section 38. If a city or town which has authorized the acquisition of such a plant subsequently votes to establish, purchase, reconstruct, extend or enlarge a plant, or to issue bonds, notes or certificates of indebtedness on account thereof, or to regulate the management or cond…

Section 39. A city or town clerk failing to comply with any provision of the two preceding sections shall forfeit not more than twenty-five dollars.

Section 4. The following sections of chapter one hundred and fifty-six B shall apply to corporations subject to this chapter: (a) Sections seven, nine, nine A, ten, fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, twenty, twenty-six, twenty-nine through forty, forty-two through fifty-nine, sixty-on…

Section 40. A city or town which has duly voted to acquire a municipal lighting plant may incur debt as provided in section eight of chapter forty-four for establishing, purchasing, extending, enlarging, reconstructing or making extraordinary repairs to such plant within the limi…

Section 41. A city or town owning such a plant shall not, except by a vote taken in the manner prescribed in section eight of chapter forty-four, reconstruct, enlarge or extend such plant. This section shall not apply to expenditures for ordinary maintenance, repair or replacemen…

Section 42. If, when a town votes to establish a municipal lighting plant, any person or municipality was, at the time of the first vote required by section thirty-five or thirty-six, engaged in generating or distributing gas or electricity for sale for lighting purposes in such …

Section 43. If a town which votes to establish a municipal lighting plant fails, within one hundred and fifty days from the passage of the final vote required by section thirty-five or thirty-six, to agree, as to price or as to the property to be included in the purchase, with an…

Section 45. If a town purchases a gas or electric lighting plant having mains, poles, wires or other distributing apparatus in an adjoining town where there is no private gas or electric lighting company, it may also purchase such mains, poles, wires or other distributing apparat…

Section 46. A town which has acquired, as hereinbefore provided, mains, poles, wires or other distributing apparatus in an adjoining town may thereafter manufacture, sell and distribute gas or electricity to said adjoining town or to its inhabitants, and shall thereafter have the…

Section 47. The department may, after notice and a public hearing, authorize a town which has acquired a municipal lighting plant to extend its mains or lines into an adjoining town in order to distribute and sell gas or electricity therein, if such town or a private corporation …

Section 47A. (a) Any municipal lighting plant established pursuant to the provisions of this chapter or special law shall be exempt from the requirements to allow competitive choice of generation supply, unless and until such lighting plant is dissolved pursuant to existing statu…

Section 47B. Any municipality acting by and through its municipal light board may construct, purchase, operate, own, lease, rent, maintain, dispose of, share costs of, or otherwise have the right to the use, or portions thereof, of subtransmission, transmission, distribution, and…

Section 47C. (a) Any municipal lighting plant created in a manner provided for in this chapter shall be allowed to form cooperative public corporations for the purpose of furnishing efficient, low cost, and reliable electric power and energy-related services and cable television …

Section 47D. A municipal lighting plant created pursuant to the provisions of this chapter or any special law shall be exempt from the public record requirements of section 10 of chapter 66 and the open meeting requirements of sections 20 and 21 of chapter 30A in those instances …

Section 47E. A municipal lighting plant or a cooperative public corporation and any municipal lighting plant member thereof, established pursuant to this chapter or any general or special law may construct, purchase or lease, and maintain such facilities as may be necessary for t…

Section 4A. The state secretary shall examine each document submitted to him under the provisions of this chapter. If he finds that the provisions of law relative thereto have been complied with, he shall endorse his approval thereon, and upon payment of the fee provided in secti…

Section 5. The organization of a corporation to be formed under this chapter shall be effected in accordance with the requirements of section twelve of chapter one hundred and fifty-six B and section six. A certified statement of the fact of incorporation by the state secretary s…

Section 51. A town which has acquired a plant for the manufacture or distribution of gas may purchase gas from another town authorized to sell the same or from any corporation selling gas; and a town which has acquired a plant for the manufacture or distribution of electricity ma…

Section 52. A town in which no person or corporation is engaged in generating or distributing electricity for sale and which has voted or shall vote to construct one or more plants for the manufacture or distribution of electricity for municipal use or for the use of its inhabita…

Section 53. Electricity supplied by a street railway company to a town shall be delivered to the distributing system of said town at some specified place or places therein, and the meter or meters by which such electricity is measured shall be a part of the distributing system.

Section 54. If a town voting to purchase electricity from a street railway company is unable to agree with such company at the expiration of a contract, made in accordance with section fifty-two, upon the price to be paid for electricity by, or upon the manner in which electricit…

Section 55. A town which has established or votes to establish a gas or electric plant may elect a municipal light board consisting of either three or five citizens of the town, each for a term of three years. Of the three-member board, initially one shall be chosen for one year,…

Section 55A. A municipal light board may enter into an agreement with the city or town where it operates to provide billing, administrative, operational or other support services to assist the city or town with the operation of a municipal water utility owned and operated by the …

Section 56. The mayor of a city, or the selectmen or municipal light board, if any, of a town acquiring a gas or electric plant shall appoint a manager of municipal lighting who shall, under the direction and control of the mayor, selectmen or municipal light board, if any, and s…

Section 56A. The words ''municipal light commission'' as used in this section and in sections fifty-six B to fifty-six E, inclusive, shall mean a light commission, gas and electric commission or similar body established by act of the legislature and vested with all powers and dut…

Section 56B. All contracts made by a municipal light commission where the amount involved is five thousand dollars or more shall be in writing. Any contract made as aforesaid may be required to be accompanied by a bond with sureties satisfactory to the municipal light commission,…

Section 56C. Every municipal light commission or manager thereof, who makes or executes a contract on behalf of a municipal lighting plant, where the amount involved is five thousand dollars or more, shall furnish said contract or a copy thereof to the city or town auditor within…

Section 56D. No contract for the purchase of equipment, supplies or materials, the actual or estimated cost of which amounts to $50,000 or more, and no contract for the purchase of generation, transmission or distribution equipment, the actual cost or estimated cost of which amou…

Section 56E. Any member of a municipal light board or municipal light commission appointed under the provisions of any general or special law may be removed by the appointing authority for misfeasance or malfeasance in office or wilful neglect of duty. Prior to such removal the m…

Section 57. At the beginning of each fiscal year, the manager of municipal lighting shall furnish to the mayor, selectmen or municipal light board, if any, an estimate of the income from sales of gas and electricity to private consumers during the ensuing fiscal year, and of the …