Massachusetts Statutes

Section 82. Gas and electric companies and manufacturing companies or persons engaged in the manufacture or sale of gas or electricity shall keep such records of their work at their manufacturing station, and in respect to their distributing plant, and in such form as the departm…

Section 83. Gas and electric companies and manufacturing companies and persons engaged in the manufacture and sale or distribution and sale of gas or electricity shall annually, on or before such date as the department fixes, make to the department, in a form prescribed by it, a …

Section 84. Each such gas or electric company or manufacturing company or person neglecting to make the annual return required by the preceding section shall, for the first fifteen days or portion thereof during which such neglect continues, forfeit five dollars a day; for the se…

Section 84A. Gas and electric companies and manufacturing companies and persons engaged in the manufacture and sale or distribution and sale of gas or electricity shall file with the department, with their annual returns required under section eighty-three, a condensed return of …

Section 85. The officers and employees of the department may be authorized by it to examine the books, contracts, records, documents and memoranda or the physical property of any company subject to this chapter, and of any affiliated company with respect to any relations, transac…

Section 85A. A gas or electric company that has, prior to the effective date of this section, entered into or shall thereafter enter into any contract with an affiliated company as defined in section eighty-five, for the payment of any fees, salaries, commissions or percentages f…

Section 85B. (a) Each electric distribution, transmission and natural gas distribution company conducting business in the commonwealth shall annually, on or before May 15, submit to the department an emergency response plan for review and approval. The emergency response plan sha…

Section 86. In a town where a gas company exists in active operation, or where a person owns or operates works for the manufacture and sale of gas, no other gas company, nor any other person, shall dig up and open the streets, lanes and highways of such town in order to lay gas p…

Section 87. In a town where a person is engaged in the manufacture, sale or distribution of electricity, no other person shall lay, erect, maintain or use, over or under the streets, lanes and highways of such town, any wires for the transmission of electricity except wires used …

Section 88. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the aldermen or selectmen, under either of the two preceding sections, may, within thirty days after notice of said decision, appeal therefrom to the department, which shall thereupon give due notice and hear all parties interes…

Section 89. A town which has duly acquired a municipal lighting plant and is authorized to supply gas or electricity in any other town shall have all the rights which a private corporation supplying gas or electricity in said other town would have under the three preceding sectio…

Section 8A. A corporation subject to this chapter may authorize, at a meeting duly called for the purpose, an amendment of its articles of organization, by vote of two-thirds of each class of stock outstanding and entitled to vote thereon, effecting any one or more of the followi…

Section 8B. Within sixty days after any meeting at which any amendment of the articles of organization has been adopted or within thirty days after any necessary approval by the department, whichever is later, articles of amendment, signed under the penalties of perjury by the pr…

Section 8C. Every corporation may authorize, at a meeting duly called for the purpose, by vote of a majority of each class of stock outstanding and entitled to vote thereon, a restatement of its articles of organization. The restated articles of organization may effect further am…

Section 8D. If doubts arise as to the legality of the organization of any corporation created by special charter for a purpose mentioned in this chapter, which is in the exercise of its franchise, or as to the regularity or sufficiency of the proceedings of any such corporation, …

Section 9. An electric company which owns or operates an hydro-electric plant may, subject to all laws governing the issue of capital stock by electric companies, issue preferred stock of one or more classes to such amount, not exceeding twice the amount of the general or common …

Section 90. In consenting to the laying, erecting, maintaining or using by an electric company, for the sole purpose of supplying electricity in bulk, of any wires for the transmission of electricity over or under streets, lanes and highways, as provided in section eighty-seven, …

Section 91. The supreme judicial or superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity, on application of the department or of the mayor of any city or the selectmen of any town where electricity is distributed and sold under the preceding section, to compel the observance and to r…

Section 92. On written petition of any person, having a residence or place of business in a town where a corporation is engaged in the manufacture, transmission or sale of gas or the distribution of electricity, aggrieved by its refusal or neglect to supply him with gas or electr…

Section 92A. On written petition of any person, corporation or municipality aggrieved by the refusal or neglect to supply gas in bulk at reasonable rates by any person, corporation or municipality engaged, subject to the provisions of this chapter, in the manufacture, transmissio…

Section 92B. (a) The department shall direct each electric company to develop an electric-sector modernization plan to proactively upgrade the distribution and, where applicable, transmission systems to: (i) improve grid reliability, communications and resiliency; (ii) enable inc…

Section 92C. (a) There shall be a Grid Modernization Advisory Council to consist of the commissioner of energy resources, or a designee, who shall serve as chair; the attorney general, or a designee; the executive director of the Massachusetts clean energy technology center, or a…

Section 93. On written complaint of the attorney general, of the mayor of a city or the selectmen of a town where a gas or electric company is operated, or of twenty customers thereof, either as to the quality or price of the gas or electricity sold and delivered, the department …

Section 94. Electric companies shall file with the department schedules, not less frequently than every 5 years, and gas companies shall file with the department schedules, not less frequently than every 10 years, under a filing schedule as prescribed by the department and in suc…

Section 94A. No gas or electric company shall hereafter enter into a contract for the purchase of gas or electricity covering a period in excess of one year without the approval of the department, unless such contract contains a provision subjecting the price to be paid thereunde…

Section 94B. No gas or electric company shall, without the approval of the department, hereafter enter into a contract with a company related to it as an affiliated company, as defined in section eighty-five, covering a period in excess of one year, by virtue of which any compens…

Section 94C. Whenever, in any proceeding before the department under section fourteen, ninety-two, ninety-two A, ninety-three, ninety-four, ninety-four A or ninety-four B, the reasonableness of any payment, charge, contract, purchase, sale, obligation or other arrangement between…

Section 94D. No gas or electric company shall collect from a customer on account of his failure to pay any bill due for gas or electricity furnished to him for domestic purposes any charges as, or in the nature of, a penalty; provided, that nothing herein shall prevent the collec…

Section 94E. A gas or electric company required to file any contract with the department under section ninety-four shall, unless such contract terminates at a time expressly stated therein, notify the department forthwith upon the termination thereof.

Section 94F. In connection with any investigation by the department concerning the rates, prices and charges made by a gas company, the department may take into consideration the rates, charges, classifications and schedules on file with the Federal Power Commission whereby the c…

Section 94G. (a) At least once a year, on dates set by the department, each electric company having a fuel charge approved by the department shall file with the department and simultaneously with the attorney general a proposed performance program relating to fuel procurement and…

Section 94H. No gas or electric company shall furnish gas or electricity to the common areas and facilities which are for the exclusive use of the owners of a condominium, as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and eight-three A, at a rate higher than that charged for g…

Section 94I. In each base distribution rate proceeding conducted by the department under section 94, the department shall design base distribution rates using a cost-allocation method that is based on equalized rates of return for each customer class; provided, however, that if t…

Section 95. Corporations, persons and municipalities engaged in the manufacture, sale, or distribution of gas or electricity shall, within twenty-four hours after every accident caused by gas or electricity manufactured or supplied by them, whereby an employee or other person is …

Section 96. (a) For purposes of this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:— ''Control'', the possession of the power, through direct or indirect ownership of a majority of the outstanding voting securities …

Section 97. An electric company may, subject to sections ninety-eight to one hundred and one, inclusive, from time to time purchase or acquire any or all of the property of any domestic or foreign corporation or association owning or operating a water storage reservoir or hydroel…

Section 98. The purchasing or consolidated company shall except as provided in the preceding section, have and enjoy all the powers, rights, locations, licenses, privileges and franchises, and be subject to all the duties, liabilities and restrictions, of the company selling or m…

Section 99. The purchasing or consolidated company may, for the purposes authorized by sections ninety-six and ninety-seven, increase its capital stock and issue bonds in the manner and subject to the limitations provided in sections thirteen, fourteen, eighteen and nineteen; and…

Section 99A. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, if an electric company acquires or owns an interest as a tenant in common with one or more domestic or foreign corporations, associations or persons, in any property in this commonwealth used or useful for electric utili…

Section 9A. An electric company may, in its agreement of association or, in case of a company already organized, at any time and from time to time, by vote of two thirds in amount of all its stockholders at a meeting duly called for the purpose, state that it is organized for, or…

Section 1. The following words as used in this chapter shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings: ''Department'', the department of public utilities. ''Domestic electric utility'', an electric utility organized under the laws of, or having its prin…

Section 10. (a) Each foreign electric utility which is acting pursuant to authority granted in this chapter shall, before owning or operating any electric power facilities in this commonwealth, notify the department of the action to be taken by it; shall thereafter furnish to the…

Section 11. (a) Any city or town which is a member of the New England power pool, acting by its municipal light board, when authorized by a two-thirds vote as defined in section one of chapter forty-four, may, subject to the approval of the department under this chapter, borrow m…

Section 12. In anticipation of the authorization or issue of bonds under this chapter, and subject to the approval of the department under this chapter, a city or town subject to this chapter, acting by its municipal light board, when authorized by a two-thirds vote as defined in…

Section 13. (a) In the discretion of the board, but subject to the terms of the department's approval and of the authorizing vote, any bonds or notes issued hereunder may be secured by a resolution of the board or by a trust agreement between the city or town and a corporate trus…

Section 14. Subject to the trust agreement or resolution, the proceeds of bonds or notes issued under this chapter and any other moneys governed by the trust agreement or resolution may be deposited or invested in demand deposits, time deposits or savings deposits in banks which …