Title 69, Title 69

(1) Except as provided in 69-4-529(3), within 14 days of receiving an incident report in accordance with 69-4-529, the department shall issue a civil penalty in accordance with this section. (2) Except as provided in subsection (4), if an excavator damages an underground facility…

(1) Except as provided in 69-4-529(3), within 14 days of receiving an incident report in accordance with subsection (2), the department shall issue a civil penalty in accordance with this section. (2) If an incident is reported because a locate and mark was not properly completed…

(1) An excavator or underground facility owner who receives a civil penalty in accordance with 69-4-524 or 69-4-525 may request a review of the penalty in accordance with this section. (2) (a) If an excavator or underground facility owner disputes a civil penalty, prior to a cont…

(1) There is an underground facility protection account in the state special revenue fund. The account is statutorily appropriated, as provided in 17-7-502, to the department. (2) There must be deposited in the account all revenue from: (a) civil penalties collected pursuant to 6…

(1) The department, in consultation with the council, shall award grants annually to notification centers using the account established pursuant to 69-4-527(3)(b). Beginning January 1, 2018, grants must be awarded to notification centers in accordance with this section and rules …

(1) (a) Within 30 days of an incident, an underground facility owner who owns an underground facility that is damaged shall: (i) report the incident to the appropriate notification center; and (ii) notify the excavator involved in the incident that the incident has been reported …

(1) If the department is unable to collect civil penalties, fees, or fines assessed pursuant to this part, the department may transfer the debt to the department of revenue pursuant to Title 17, chapter 4, part 1. (2) (a) The assistance costs charged the department by the departm…

No person, firm, or corporation moving, hauling, or transporting any house, building, derrick, or other structure shall cut, move, raise, or in any manner interfere with an electric light or electric power wire or poles or with telephone or telegraph wires, cables, messenger wire…

(1) The person, firm, or corporation moving a house, building, derrick, or other structure shall give the person, firm, or corporation owning or controlling the wires, cables, or poles affected by the movement of a structure, at both the person's, firm's, or corporation's princip…

(1) In order to accomplish moving a house, building, derrick, or other structure through an area in which wires, cables, or poles impede the movement, the person, firm, or corporation who owns or controls the wires, cables, or poles and who has received the notice required by 69-…

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation engaged as principal or employee in moving any house, building, derrick, or other structure, as provided in this part, to move, touch, cut, molest, or in any way interfere with any electric light, electric power, telephone…

This part is known and may be cited as the "Territorial Integrity Act".

When used in this part, the following definitions apply: (1) "Agreement" means a written agreement between two or more electric facilities providers that identifies the geographical area to be served exclusively by each electric facilities provider that is a party to the agreemen…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a utility may not provide electricity supply service to premises in another utility's service territory. An electricity supplier may provide electricity supply service in the service territory of a public utility as provided in 69-8-411. …

(1) Except as provided in 69-5-106 and 69-5-113, the electric facilities provider that has a line nearest the premises and that has the capacity to serve the premises, as measured in accordance with subsection (2), shall provide electric service facilities to the premises initial…

A regulated utility electric facilities provider has the right to furnish electric service facilities to the premises of a large customer if the regulated utility electric facilities provider can extend its electric service facilities to the premises of a large customer at less c…

This part may not limit a customer's right to construct, own, or operate electric service facilities for the customer's own use, and construction, ownership, or use may not cause the customer to be considered a utility. A customer may not duplicate existing electric service facil…

Utilities may enter into agreements that identify the geographical area to be exclusively served by each electric facilities provider that is party to the agreement, overriding the provisions of 69-5-105 and 69-5-107. If an agreement is approved by the commission pursuant to this…

(1) Electric facilities providers providing electric service facilities in or near areas that are incorporated municipalities having a population in excess of 3,500 persons and having annexed areas since 1985 or having existing municipal planning zones on May 2, 1997, shall enter…

The district courts of the county or counties within which the premises, vectors, or lines involved in any dispute are located have jurisdiction under this part over all electric facilities providers subject to this part.

(1) Whenever an electric facilities provider is failing or omitting or about to fail or omit to do anything required of it by this part or is doing or is about to do anything or to permit anything to be done contrary to or in violation of this part, the electric facilities provid…

(1) All agreements between electric facilities providers must be submitted to the commission for approval. Each agreement must clearly identify the geographical area to be served by each electric facilities provider. The submission must include: (a) a map and a written descriptio…

(1) Except as provided in 69-5-108, if two or more electric facilities providers have lines in general proximity to a new subdivision, electric service to the new subdivision must be apportioned by drawing a series of vectors through the subdivision equidistant from the lines of …

(1) If electric facilities providers that have provided cost estimates to a new large customer are unable to reach agreement as to which electric facilities provider can provide electric service facilities at the least cost, an independent consultant engineer agreeable to both el…

As used in 69-5-122, 69-5-123, and this section, the following definitions apply: (1) "Added structure" means any outbuildings, improvements, irrigation pumps, facilities, or other structures located on a small customer's property. (2) "Commercial structure" means a building used…

(1) A small customer of an electric utility as defined in 69-5-121(4)(a) who pays for a portion of the construction of an extension to a residential structure or who advances money to an electric utility as defined in 69-5-121(4)(a) for a subsequent connection to that extension m…

(1) (a) After an electric utility provides a cost estimate to a small customer for an extension on the small customer's property to a residential, commercial, or added structure, the small customer may request a contractor to provide an alternative cost estimate. (b) If the small…

As used in this part, the following definitions apply: (1) (a) "Electric transmission line" means a line, substation, or associated equipment used to convey electrical energy connected to transmission facilities that is energized at 115 kilovolts or more phase to phase. (b) The t…

(1) (a) Except as provided in subsection (1)(b), an incumbent electric utility has the right to construct through a competitive bidding process, own, and maintain an electric transmission line on or after January 1, 2017: (i) located in an area included in the midwest reliability…

A supervisory law enforcement official who has jurisdiction in a geographical area where hostages are being held and who has probable cause to believe that the holder of the hostages is committing a crime may order a previously designated telephone security employee or other tele…

A municipality has the power and authority to regulate, establish, and change, as it considers proper, rates, charges, and classifications imposed for utility services to its inhabitants and other persons served by municipal utility systems. Rates, charges, and classifications mu…

(1) Except as provided in 75-5-516, 75-6-108, and subsection (6), if the governing body of a municipality considers it advisable to regulate, establish, or change rates, charges, or classifications imposed on its customers, it shall order a hearing to be held before it at a time …

(1) At the hearing, all persons, associations, corporations, or companies affected or interested, including the Montana consumer counsel, may be present and represented by counsel. The hearing may be continued from time to time by the governing body of the municipality. At the co…

(1) A party to a municipal rate hearing may appeal the decision of the municipality to the district court in whose jurisdiction the municipality lies. (2) A person may appeal the adoption or application of municipal utility rules to the district court in whose jurisdiction the mu…

Each municipal utility shall adopt, with the concurrence of the municipal governing body, rules for the operation of the utility. The rules shall contain, at a minimum, those requirements of good practice which can be normally expected for the operation of a utility. They shall d…

This chapter may be cited as the "Electric Utility Industry Generation Reintegration Act".

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise, the following definitions apply: (1) "Assignee" means any entity, including a corporation, partnership, board, trust, or financing vehicle, to which a utility assigns, sells, or transfers, other than as security, all…

(1) (a) Except as provided in subsections (1)(b) and (1)(c), a retail customer that has an individual load with an average monthly demand of greater than or equal to 5,000 kilowatts and that is not purchasing electricity supply service from a public utility on October 1, 2007, ma…

(1) The commission may approve a cost-tracking adjustment for a public utility regulated under this part consistent with its regulation of public utilities under Title 69, chapter 3. (2) Notwithstanding any service options that the commission may require, a public utility shall o…

(1) Rates established pursuant to Title 69, chapter 3, part 3, may not allow for the recovery of any portion of a civil judgment in a lawsuit arising out of litigation brought by the shareholders of a predecessor in interest against: (a) the predecessor in interest; (b) the offic…

(1) A local governing body shall establish the price for electricity supply service offered by a cooperative utility. (2) Except as otherwise provided in the universal system benefits program pursuant to 69-8-402, a cooperative utility is exempt from the provisions and requiremen…

Utilities shall maintain standards of safety and reliability of the electric delivery system and existing customer service requirements.

(1) Universal system benefits programs are established for the state of Montana to ensure continued funding of and new expenditures for energy conservation, renewable resource projects and applications, and low-income energy assistance. (2) (a) Except as provided in subsection (1…

In addition to promulgating rules expressly provided for in this chapter, the commission may promulgate any other rules necessary to carry out the provision of this chapter.

(1) Nonutility generators and electricity suppliers must have open, fair, and nondiscriminatory access to a public utility's transmission and distribution facilities according to federal energy regulatory commission rules and regulations for purposes of serving those customers id…

(1) If, pursuant to 69-8-402(2)(g) or (5)(d), there is any positive difference between credits and the annual funding requirement, the department of revenue shall establish one or both of the following funds: (a) a fund to provide for universal system benefits programs other than…