Chapter 164

Section 127. Whoever unlawfully and with intent to avoid payment by himself or another person for a prospective or previously rendered service the charge or compensation for which is measured by a meter or other mechanical device injures or destroys, or suffers to be injured or d…

Section 127A. Whoever unlawfully and intentionally injures or destroys, or suffers to be injured or destroyed, any meter, pipe, conduit, wire, line, pole, lamp or other apparatus belonging to a corporation, including municipal corporations which own municipal lighting plants enga…

Section 128. A corporation which has a franchise in and the use of the public streets of a town for the supply and distribution or only distribution, of gas, water, electric light or power, and which holds for a longer period than six months money which is collected in advance fr…

Section 129. The following words, as used in sections one hundred and thirty to one hundred and thirty-two, inclusive, unless the context otherwise requires, or a different meaning is specifically prescribed, shall have the following meanings:— ''Commissioner'', the commissioner …

Section 12A. A corporation subject to this chapter, and subject to the limitations and restrictions of section fourteen, may, by a vote of the holders of a majority of its shares outstanding and entitled to vote thereon at a meeting called therefor and with the approval of the de…

Section 13. A corporation subject to this chapter may, by vote of the holders of a majority of its shares outstanding and entitled to vote thereon at a meeting called therefor, or by vote of its directors under authority of a vote of the holders of a majority of its shares outsta…

Section 130. A municipal electric department is hereby authorized, upon a vote of its municipal light board, to participate in a fund and obligate itself, solely from its revenues and as an expense of such department, to pay actuarially-sound premiums or such other reasonable pre…

Section 131. A fund and the trustee shall have the rights and be subject to the legal responsibilities and obligations applicable to trusts and trustees under the General Laws, except to the extent such rights, obligations and responsibilities are in conflict with this chapter. T…

Section 132. A fund shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter, except as provided in sections one hundred and twenty-nine to one hundred and thirty-two, inclusive, chapter one hundred and seventy-four A, one hundred and seventy-four B, one hundred and seventy-five, one …

Section 133. As used in this section the following words shall have the following meanings:— ''Assistance'', all acts of an assisting utility conducted for or on behalf of a requesting utility. ''Domestic utility'', an electric or gas company as defined by section one, and includ…

Section 134. (a) Any municipality or any group of municipalities acting together within the commonwealth is hereby authorized to aggregate the electrical load of interested electricity consumers within its boundaries; provided, however, that such municipality or group of municipa…

Section 135. Any for-profit corporation, non-profit corporation, or quasi-public authority, organized pursuant to the laws of the commonwealth, is hereby authorized to establish a corporate retail load aggregator for the purpose of purchasing bulk electricity to serve affiliated …

Section 136. (a) Any number of persons may associate themselves together as a cooperative, with or without capital stock, for the transaction of any lawful business associated with the purchase, acquisition, distribution, sale, resale, supply, and disposition of energy or energy-…

Section 137. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, (i) any non-profit institution in the commonwealth or any agency, executive office, department, board, commission, bureau, division or authority of the commonwealth, including the executive, legislative and …

Section 138. As used in this section and sections 139 and 140, the following words shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:— ''Agricultural net metering facility'', a renewable energy generating facility operated as part of an agricultural busine…

Section 139. (a) A distribution company customer that uses electricity generated by a Class I or Class II net metering facility may elect net metering as follows: (1) If the electricity generated by the Class I or Class II net metering facility during a billing period exceeds the…

Section 139A. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:— ''Small hydroelectric power net metering facility'', a facility with a nameplate capacity of 2 megawatts or less, using water …

Section 13A. A corporation subject to this chapter may, by vote of the holders of a majority of its shares outstanding and entitled to vote thereon at a meeting called therefor, or by vote of its directors under authority of a vote of the holders of a majority of its shares outst…

Section 14. Gas and electric companies shall issue only such amount of stock and bonds, and of coupon notes and other evidences of indebtedness payable at periods of more than one year after the date thereof, as the department may from time to time vote is reasonably necessary fo…

Section 140. A neighborhood net metering facility shall elect net metering as follows: (a) If the electricity generated by the neighborhood net metering facility during a billing period exceeds its kilowatt-hour usage during the billing period, the neighborhood net metering facil…

Section 141. In all decisions or actions regarding rate designs, the department shall consider the impacts of such actions on: (i) on-site generation; (ii) the replacement of gas infrastructure with utility-scale non-emitting renewable thermal energy infrastructure; (iii) the red…

Section 142. The department shall continue to remove any impediments to the development of efficient, low-emissions distributed generation, including combined heat and power and utility-scale non-emitting renewable thermal energy, taking into account the need to appropriately all…

Section 143. (a) For the purposes of this section, the term ''small municipal renewable energy generating facility'' shall mean a generating unit that is designed for, or capable of, operating at a gross capacity of less than 10 megawatts and that qualifies as a Class I renewable…

Section 144. (a) There shall be uniform natural gas leaks classification for all gas companies. (b)(1) Gas companies shall assess a grade to all reported natural gas leaks based on the system provided in this section. (2) A Grade 1 leak shall be a leak that represents an existing…

Section 145. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise,: ''Customer'', a retail natural gas customer. ''Eligible infrastructure measure'', a replacement, retirement or an improvement o…

Section 146. (a) Electric distribution companies shall file an annual electric distribution system resiliency report with the department, which shall include heat maps that: (i) show the electric load on the electric distribution system, including electric loads during peak elect…

Section 147. (a) For the purposes of this section, ''lost and unaccounted for gas'' shall mean an amount of gas that is the difference between the total gas purchased by a gas company and the sum of: (i) total gas delivered to customers; and (ii) total gas used by a gas company i…

Section 147A. For the purposes of this section, the following term shall have the following meaning:— ''Non-emitting renewable thermal infrastructure project,'' a utility-scale project that replaces natural gas distribution infrastructure with distribution infrastructure that sup…

Section 148. Any engineering plans or specifications for engineering work or services that could pose a material risk to public safety, as determined by the department pursuant to clause (l) of section 81R of chapter 112, developed by or on behalf of a gas company shall bear the …

Section 149. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:— ''Director'', the director of the division of public participation. ''Division of public participation'', established in sectio…

Section 15. A gas or electric company, under the supervision of the department, selling, offering for sale or issuing, bonds, debentures, notes or other evidences of indebtedness, exclusive of stock, payable at periods of more than five years after the date thereof, shall invite …

Section 150. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:— ''Advanced conductors'', any hardware technology that can conduct electricity across transmission and distribution lines and de…

Section 151. (a) For the purposes of this section, ''meter socket adapter'' shall mean an electronic device that is installed between a residential electric meter and the meter socket, for the purpose of facilitating the deployment of customer-owned or customer-leased technology.…

Section 15A. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a gas or electric company shall not issue or sell any bonds, debentures, notes or other evidences of indebtedness payable at periods of more than one year after the date thereof at less than the par value or face amount t…

Section 16. If, when the department approves an issue of new stock, bonds or other securities by a gas or electric company, it determines that the fair structural value of the plant and of the land and the fair value of the nuclear fuel, gas inventories or fossil fuel inventories…

Section 16A. If, when the department under this chapter approves an issue of stock, bonds, coupon notes or other evidences of indebtedness of a corporation, or passes upon the price, rates, charges or service of a corporation, it determines that the provision made by the corporat…

Section 17. A director, treasurer or other officer or agent of a gas or electric company who knowingly votes to authorize the issue of, or knowingly signs, certifies or issues, stock, bonds or other securities contrary to any provision of section fourteen or sixteen, or who knowi…

Section 17A. No gas or electric company shall, except in accordance with such rules and regulations as the department shall from time to time prescribe, loan its funds to, guarantee or endorse the indebtedness of, or invest its funds in the stock, bonds, certificates of participa…

Section 18. Except as otherwise provided in this section, shares of the capital stock of a gas or electric company shall be offered at such price, not less than par, as its directors may fix. The vote of the department, as provided in section fourteen, as to the amount of stock r…

Section 19. A gas or electric company may issue any unissued shares of its capital stock from time to time authorized under its articles of incorporation in such manner, at such times, upon such terms, and at such price, not less than par, except as otherwise authorized by the de…

Section 1A. (a) The department is hereby authorized and directed to require electric companies organized pursuant to the provisions of this chapter to accommodate retail access to generation services and choice of suppliers by retail customers, unless otherwise provided by this c…

Section 1B. (a) The department shall define service territories for each distribution company by March 1, 1998, based on the service territories actually served on July 1, 1997, and following to the extent possible municipal boundaries. After March 1, 1998, until terminated by ef…

Section 1C. Any marketing company formed by an electric company shall be in the form of an affiliate of the electric company and shall be separate from any generation, transmission, or distribution company affiliate of the electric company. The department shall promulgate standar…

Section 1D. Beginning January 1, 1998, all electric and gas bills sent to a retail customer shall be unbundled to separately reflect the rates charged for generation, transmission, and distribution services, as well as any other charges, as added pursuant to any provision of law,…

Section 1E. (a) The department is hereby authorized to promulgate rules and regulations to establish and require performance based rates for each distribution, transmission, and gas company organized and doing business in the commonwealth pursuant to the provisions of this chapte…

Section 1F. The department is hereby authorized and directed to require electric companies organized pursuant to this chapter to accommodate retail access to generation services and choice of suppliers by retail customers, unless otherwise provided by this chapter. The department…

Section 1G. (a)(1) The department shall, in accordance with the provisions of this section, identify and determine, upon application by a distribution company and the applicable electric company, those costs and categories of costs for generation-related assets, investments, and …

Section 1H. (a) As used in this section the following words shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:— ''Agency'', the Massachusetts Industrial Finance Agency, established pursuant to section 31 of chapter 23A. ''Authority'', the Massachusetts Hea…

Section 1I. Each investor-owned electric distribution, transmission, and natural gas distribution company shall file a report with the department by March first of each year comparing its performance during the previous calendar year to the department's service quality standards …

Section 1J. The department shall promulgate rules and regulations to establish standards of acceptable performance for emergency preparation and restoration of service for electric and gas distribution companies doing business in the commonwealth. The department shall levy a pena…