§ 39-1-2 Definitions. – Terms used in this title shall be construed as follows, unless another meaningis expressed or is clearly apparent from the language or context:
(1) "Administrator" means the administrator of the divisionof public utilities and carriers;
(2) "Airport" and "landing field" mean and include allairports and landing fields other than those owned by the state;
(3) "Chairperson" means the chairperson of the publicutilities commission;
(4) "Charter carrier" means and includes all carriers forhire or compensation within this state not included in the definition of commoncarrier;
(5) "Commission" means the public utilities commission;
(6) "Commissioner" means a member of the public utilitiescommission;
(7) "Common carrier", except when used in chapters 12, 13,and 14 of this title, means and includes all carriers for hire or compensationincluding railroads, street railways, express, freight and freight linecompanies, dining car companies, steam boat, motor boat, power boat, hydrofoil,and ferry companies and all other companies operating any agency or facilityfor public use in this conveyance over fixed routes, or between fixed terminiwithin this state or persons or property by or by a combination of land, air,or water;
(8) "Company" means and includes a person, firm, partnership,corporation, quasi-municipal corporation, association, joint stock associationor company, and his, her, its, or their lessees, trustees, or receiversappointed by any court;
(9) "Customer" means a company taking service from anelectric distribution company at a single point of delivery or meter location;
(10) "Distribution facility" means plant or equipment usedfor the distribution of electricity and which is not a transmission facility;
(11) "Division" means the division of public utilities andcarriers;
(12) "Electric distribution company" means a company engagingin the distribution of electricity or owning, operating, or controllingdistribution facilities and shall be a public utility pursuant to §39-1-2(20);
(13) "Electric transmission company" means a company engagingin the transmission of electricity or owning, operating, or controllingtransmission facilities. An electric transmission company shall not be subjectto regulation as a public utility except as specifically provided in thegeneral laws, but shall be regulated by the federal energy regulatorycommission and shall provide transmission service to all nonregulated powerproducers and customers, whether affiliated or not, on comparable,nondiscriminatory prices and terms. Electric transmission companies shall havethe power of eminent domain exercisable following a petition to the commissionpursuant to § 39-1-31;
(14) "Liquefied natural gas" means a fluid in the liquidstate composed predominantly of methane and which may contain minor quantitiesof ethane, propane, nitrogen, or other components normally found in natural gas;
(15) "Manufacturing customers" means all customers that haveon file with an electric distribution company a valid certificate of exemptionfrom the Rhode Island sales tax indicating the customer's status as amanufacturer pursuant to § 44-18-30;
(16) "Motor carriers" means any carrier regulated by theadministrator pursuant to Chapters 3, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of this title;
(17) "Natural gas" means the combustible gaseous mixture oflow-molecular-weight, paraffin hydrocarbons, generated below the surface of theearth containing mostly methane and ethane with small amounts of propane,butane, and hydrocarbons, and sometimes nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogensulfide, and helium;
(18) "Nonprofit housing development corporation" means anonprofit corporation, which has been approved as a § 501(c)(3), 26 U.S.C.§ 501(c)(3), corporation by the internal revenue service, and which isorganized and operated primarily for the purpose of providing housing for lowand moderate income persons;
(19) "Nonregulated power producer" means a company engagingin the business of producing, manufacturing, generating, buying, aggregating,marketing or brokering electricity for sale at wholesale or for retail sale tothe public; provided however, that companies which negotiate the purchase ofelectric generation services on behalf of customers and do not engage in thepurchase and resale of electric generation services shall be excluded from thisdefinition. A nonregulated power producer shall not be subject to regulation asa public utility except as specifically provided in the general laws;
(20) "Public utility" means and includes every company thatis an electric distribution company and every company operating or doingbusiness in intrastate commerce and in this state as a railroad, streetrailway, common carrier, gas, liquefied natural gas, water, telephone,telegraph, and pipeline company, and every company owning, leasing,maintaining, managing, or controlling any plant or equipment or any part of anyplant or equipment within this state for manufacturing, producing,transmitting, distributing, delivering, or furnishing natural or manufacturedgas, directly or indirectly to or for the public, or any cars or equipmentemployed on or in connection with any railroad or street railway for public orgeneral use within this state, or any pipes, mains, poles, wires, conduits,fixtures, through, over, across, under, or along any public highways, parkwaysor streets, public lands, waters, or parks for the transmission,transportation, or distribution of gas for sale to the public for light, heat,cooling, or power for providing audio or visual telephonic or telegraphiccommunication service within this state or any pond, lake, reservoir, stream,well, or distributing plant or system employed for the distribution of water tothe consuming public within this state including the water supply board of thecity of Providence; provided, that, except as provided in § 39-16-9 and inchapter 2072 of the public laws, 1933, as amended, this definition shall not beconstrued to apply to any public waterworks or water service owned andfurnished by any city, town, water district, fire district, or any othermunicipal or quasi-municipal corporation, excepting the water supply board ofthe city of Providence, unless any city, town, water district, fire district,municipal, or quasi-municipal corporation obtains water from a source owned orleased by the water resources board, either directly or indirectly, or obtainsa loan from the board pursuant to the provisions of chapter 15 of title 46, orsells water, on a wholesale or retail basis, inside and outside the territoriallimits of the city or town, water district, fire district, municipal orquasi-municipal corporation, except, however, that a public waterworks or waterservice owned and furnished by any city, town, water district, fire district,or any other municipal or quasi-municipal corporation which sells water, on awholesale or retail basis, inside and outside its territorial limits shall notbe construed as a public utility if it has fewer than one-thousand five hundred(1500) total customer service connections and provided outside sales do notexceed ten percent (10%) of the total water service connections or volumetricsales and provided the price charged to outside customers, per unit of water,is not greater than the price charged to inside customers for the same unit ofwater, nor to the Rhode Island public transit authority, or to the productionand/or distribution of steam, heat, or water by Rhode Island port authority andeconomic development corporation in the town of North Kingstown; and the term"public utility" shall also mean and include the Narragansett Bay water qualitymanagement district commission; and provided that the ownership or operation ofa facility by a company which dispenses alternative fuel or energy sources atretail for use as a motor vehicle fuel or energy source, and the dispensing ofalternative fuel or energy sources at retail from such a facility, does notmake the company a public utility within the meaning of this title solelybecause of that ownership, operation, or sale; and provided further that thisexemption shall not apply to presently regulated public utilities which sellnatural gas or are dispensers of other energy sources; and provided further,that the term "public utility" shall not include any company;
(i) Producing or distributing steam or heat from a fossilfuel fired cogeneration plant located at the university of Rhode Island SouthKingstown, Rhode Island and
(ii) Producing and/or distributing thermal energy and/orelectricity to a state owned facility from a plant located on an adjacent siteregardless of whether steam lines cross a public highway.
(21) "Purchasing cooperatives" shall mean any association ofelectricity consumers which join for the purpose of negotiating the purchase ofpower from a nonregulated power producer, provided however, that purchasingcooperatives shall not be required to be legal entities and are prohibited frombeing engaged in the re-sale of electric power;
(22) "Railroad" means and includes every railroad other thana street railway, by whatsoever power operated for public use in the conveyancein this state of persons or property for compensation, with all bridges,ferries, tunnels, switches, spurs, tracks, stations, wharves, and terminalfacilities of every kind, used, operated, controlled, leased, or owned by or inconnection with any railroad;
(23) "Retail access" means the use of transmission anddistribution facilities owned by an electric transmission company or anelectric distribution company to transport electricity sold by a nonregulatedpower producer to retail customers pursuant to § 39-1-27.3;
(24) "Street railway" means and includes every railway bywhatsoever power operated or any extension or extensions, branch, or branchesthereof, for public use in the conveyance in this state of persons or propertyfor compensation, being mainly upon, along, above, or below any street, avenue,road, highway, bridge, or public place in any city or town, and including allswitches, spurs, tracks, rights of trackage, subways, tunnels, stations,terminals and terminal facilities of every kind, used, operated, controlled, orowned by or in connection with any street railway;
(25) "Transmission facility" means plant or equipment usedfor the transmission of electricity as determined by the federal energyregulatory commission pursuant to federal law as of the date of the propertytransfers pursuant to § 39-1-27(c);
(26) Notwithstanding any provision of this section or anyprovision of the act entitled, "An Act Relating to the Utility RestructuringAct of 1996" (hereinafter "Utility Restructuring Act"), upon request by theaffected electric utility, the commission may exempt from the UtilityRestructuring Act or any provision(s) thereof, an electric utility which meetsthe following requirements: (i) the utility is not selling or distributingelectricity outside of the service territory in effect for that utility on thedate of passage of the Utility Restructuring Act; and (ii) the number ofkilowatt hours sold or distributed annually by the utility to the public isless than five percent (5%) of the total kilowatt hours consumed annually bythe state. Provided however that nothing contained in this section shallprevent the commission from allowing competition in the generation ofelectricity in service territories of utilities exempted in whole or in partfrom the Utility Restructuring Act pursuant to this section, as long as suchallowance of competition is conditioned upon payment to the exempted electricutility of a nonbypassable transition charge calculated to recover the elementscomparable in nature to the elements in § 39-1-27.4(b) and (c) taking intoconsideration any unique circumstances applicable to the exempted electricutility.
§ 39-1-2 Definitions. – Terms used in this title shall be construed as follows, unless another meaningis expressed or is clearly apparent from the language or context:
(1) "Administrator" means the administrator of the divisionof public utilities and carriers;
(2) "Airport" and "landing field" mean and include allairports and landing fields other than those owned by the state;
(3) "Chairperson" means the chairperson of the publicutilities commission;
(4) "Charter carrier" means and includes all carriers forhire or compensation within this state not included in the definition of commoncarrier;
(5) "Commission" means the public utilities commission;
(6) "Commissioner" means a member of the public utilitiescommission;
(7) "Common carrier", except when used in chapters 12, 13,and 14 of this title, means and includes all carriers for hire or compensationincluding railroads, street railways, express, freight and freight linecompanies, dining car companies, steam boat, motor boat, power boat, hydrofoil,and ferry companies and all other companies operating any agency or facilityfor public use in this conveyance over fixed routes, or between fixed terminiwithin this state or persons or property by or by a combination of land, air,or water;
(8) "Company" means and includes a person, firm, partnership,corporation, quasi-municipal corporation, association, joint stock associationor company, and his, her, its, or their lessees, trustees, or receiversappointed by any court;
(9) "Customer" means a company taking service from anelectric distribution company at a single point of delivery or meter location;
(10) "Distribution facility" means plant or equipment usedfor the distribution of electricity and which is not a transmission facility;
(11) "Division" means the division of public utilities andcarriers;
(12) "Electric distribution company" means a company engagingin the distribution of electricity or owning, operating, or controllingdistribution facilities and shall be a public utility pursuant to §39-1-2(20);
(13) "Electric transmission company" means a company engagingin the transmission of electricity or owning, operating, or controllingtransmission facilities. An electric transmission company shall not be subjectto regulation as a public utility except as specifically provided in thegeneral laws, but shall be regulated by the federal energy regulatorycommission and shall provide transmission service to all nonregulated powerproducers and customers, whether affiliated or not, on comparable,nondiscriminatory prices and terms. Electric transmission companies shall havethe power of eminent domain exercisable following a petition to the commissionpursuant to § 39-1-31;
(14) "Liquefied natural gas" means a fluid in the liquidstate composed predominantly of methane and which may contain minor quantitiesof ethane, propane, nitrogen, or other components normally found in natural gas;
(15) "Manufacturing customers" means all customers that haveon file with an electric distribution company a valid certificate of exemptionfrom the Rhode Island sales tax indicating the customer's status as amanufacturer pursuant to § 44-18-30;
(16) "Motor carriers" means any carrier regulated by theadministrator pursuant to Chapters 3, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of this title;
(17) "Natural gas" means the combustible gaseous mixture oflow-molecular-weight, paraffin hydrocarbons, generated below the surface of theearth containing mostly methane and ethane with small amounts of propane,butane, and hydrocarbons, and sometimes nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogensulfide, and helium;
(18) "Nonprofit housing development corporation" means anonprofit corporation, which has been approved as a § 501(c)(3), 26 U.S.C.§ 501(c)(3), corporation by the internal revenue service, and which isorganized and operated primarily for the purpose of providing housing for lowand moderate income persons;
(19) "Nonregulated power producer" means a company engagingin the business of producing, manufacturing, generating, buying, aggregating,marketing or brokering electricity for sale at wholesale or for retail sale tothe public; provided however, that companies which negotiate the purchase ofelectric generation services on behalf of customers and do not engage in thepurchase and resale of electric generation services shall be excluded from thisdefinition. A nonregulated power producer shall not be subject to regulation asa public utility except as specifically provided in the general laws;
(20) "Public utility" means and includes every company thatis an electric distribution company and every company operating or doingbusiness in intrastate commerce and in this state as a railroad, streetrailway, common carrier, gas, liquefied natural gas, water, telephone,telegraph, and pipeline company, and every company owning, leasing,maintaining, managing, or controlling any plant or equipment or any part of anyplant or equipment within this state for manufacturing, producing,transmitting, distributing, delivering, or furnishing natural or manufacturedgas, directly or indirectly to or for the public, or any cars or equipmentemployed on or in connection with any railroad or street railway for public orgeneral use within this state, or any pipes, mains, poles, wires, conduits,fixtures, through, over, across, under, or along any public highways, parkwaysor streets, public lands, waters, or parks for the transmission,transportation, or distribution of gas for sale to the public for light, heat,cooling, or power for providing audio or visual telephonic or telegraphiccommunication service within this state or any pond, lake, reservoir, stream,well, or distributing plant or system employed for the distribution of water tothe consuming public within this state including the water supply board of thecity of Providence; provided, that, except as provided in § 39-16-9 and inchapter 2072 of the public laws, 1933, as amended, this definition shall not beconstrued to apply to any public waterworks or water service owned andfurnished by any city, town, water district, fire district, or any othermunicipal or quasi-municipal corporation, excepting the water supply board ofthe city of Providence, unless any city, town, water district, fire district,municipal, or quasi-municipal corporation obtains water from a source owned orleased by the water resources board, either directly or indirectly, or obtainsa loan from the board pursuant to the provisions of chapter 15 of title 46, orsells water, on a wholesale or retail basis, inside and outside the territoriallimits of the city or town, water district, fire district, municipal orquasi-municipal corporation, except, however, that a public waterworks or waterservice owned and furnished by any city, town, water district, fire district,or any other municipal or quasi-municipal corporation which sells water, on awholesale or retail basis, inside and outside its territorial limits shall notbe construed as a public utility if it has fewer than one-thousand five hundred(1500) total customer service connections and provided outside sales do notexceed ten percent (10%) of the total water service connections or volumetricsales and provided the price charged to outside customers, per unit of water,is not greater than the price charged to inside customers for the same unit ofwater, nor to the Rhode Island public transit authority, or to the productionand/or distribution of steam, heat, or water by Rhode Island port authority andeconomic development corporation in the town of North Kingstown; and the term"public utility" shall also mean and include the Narragansett Bay water qualitymanagement district commission; and provided that the ownership or operation ofa facility by a company which dispenses alternative fuel or energy sources atretail for use as a motor vehicle fuel or energy source, and the dispensing ofalternative fuel or energy sources at retail from such a facility, does notmake the company a public utility within the meaning of this title solelybecause of that ownership, operation, or sale; and provided further that thisexemption shall not apply to presently regulated public utilities which sellnatural gas or are dispensers of other energy sources; and provided further,that the term "public utility" shall not include any company;
(i) Producing or distributing steam or heat from a fossilfuel fired cogeneration plant located at the university of Rhode Island SouthKingstown, Rhode Island and
(ii) Producing and/or distributing thermal energy and/orelectricity to a state owned facility from a plant located on an adjacent siteregardless of whether steam lines cross a public highway.
(21) "Purchasing cooperatives" shall mean any association ofelectricity consumers which join for the purpose of negotiating the purchase ofpower from a nonregulated power producer, provided however, that purchasingcooperatives shall not be required to be legal entities and are prohibited frombeing engaged in the re-sale of electric power;
(22) "Railroad" means and includes every railroad other thana street railway, by whatsoever power operated for public use in the conveyancein this state of persons or property for compensation, with all bridges,ferries, tunnels, switches, spurs, tracks, stations, wharves, and terminalfacilities of every kind, used, operated, controlled, leased, or owned by or inconnection with any railroad;
(23) "Retail access" means the use of transmission anddistribution facilities owned by an electric transmission company or anelectric distribution company to transport electricity sold by a nonregulatedpower producer to retail customers pursuant to § 39-1-27.3;
(24) "Street railway" means and includes every railway bywhatsoever power operated or any extension or extensions, branch, or branchesthereof, for public use in the conveyance in this state of persons or propertyfor compensation, being mainly upon, along, above, or below any street, avenue,road, highway, bridge, or public place in any city or town, and including allswitches, spurs, tracks, rights of trackage, subways, tunnels, stations,terminals and terminal facilities of every kind, used, operated, controlled, orowned by or in connection with any street railway;
(25) "Transmission facility" means plant or equipment usedfor the transmission of electricity as determined by the federal energyregulatory commission pursuant to federal law as of the date of the propertytransfers pursuant to § 39-1-27(c);
(26) Notwithstanding any provision of this section or anyprovision of the act entitled, "An Act Relating to the Utility RestructuringAct of 1996" (hereinafter "Utility Restructuring Act"), upon request by theaffected electric utility, the commission may exempt from the UtilityRestructuring Act or any provision(s) thereof, an electric utility which meetsthe following requirements: (i) the utility is not selling or distributingelectricity outside of the service territory in effect for that utility on thedate of passage of the Utility Restructuring Act; and (ii) the number ofkilowatt hours sold or distributed annually by the utility to the public isless than five percent (5%) of the total kilowatt hours consumed annually bythe state. Provided however that nothing contained in this section shallprevent the commission from allowing competition in the generation ofelectricity in service territories of utilities exempted in whole or in partfrom the Utility Restructuring Act pursuant to this section, as long as suchallowance of competition is conditioned upon payment to the exempted electricutility of a nonbypassable transition charge calculated to recover the elementscomparable in nature to the elements in § 39-1-27.4(b) and (c) taking intoconsideration any unique circumstances applicable to the exempted electricutility.
§ 39-1-2 Definitions. – Terms used in this title shall be construed as follows, unless another meaningis expressed or is clearly apparent from the language or context:
(1) "Administrator" means the administrator of the divisionof public utilities and carriers;
(2) "Airport" and "landing field" mean and include allairports and landing fields other than those owned by the state;
(3) "Chairperson" means the chairperson of the publicutilities commission;
(4) "Charter carrier" means and includes all carriers forhire or compensation within this state not included in the definition of commoncarrier;
(5) "Commission" means the public utilities commission;
(6) "Commissioner" means a member of the public utilitiescommission;
(7) "Common carrier", except when used in chapters 12, 13,and 14 of this title, means and includes all carriers for hire or compensationincluding railroads, street railways, express, freight and freight linecompanies, dining car companies, steam boat, motor boat, power boat, hydrofoil,and ferry companies and all other companies operating any agency or facilityfor public use in this conveyance over fixed routes, or between fixed terminiwithin this state or persons or property by or by a combination of land, air,or water;
(8) "Company" means and includes a person, firm, partnership,corporation, quasi-municipal corporation, association, joint stock associationor company, and his, her, its, or their lessees, trustees, or receiversappointed by any court;
(9) "Customer" means a company taking service from anelectric distribution company at a single point of delivery or meter location;
(10) "Distribution facility" means plant or equipment usedfor the distribution of electricity and which is not a transmission facility;
(11) "Division" means the division of public utilities andcarriers;
(12) "Electric distribution company" means a company engagingin the distribution of electricity or owning, operating, or controllingdistribution facilities and shall be a public utility pursuant to §39-1-2(20);
(13) "Electric transmission company" means a company engagingin the transmission of electricity or owning, operating, or controllingtransmission facilities. An electric transmission company shall not be subjectto regulation as a public utility except as specifically provided in thegeneral laws, but shall be regulated by the federal energy regulatorycommission and shall provide transmission service to all nonregulated powerproducers and customers, whether affiliated or not, on comparable,nondiscriminatory prices and terms. Electric transmission companies shall havethe power of eminent domain exercisable following a petition to the commissionpursuant to § 39-1-31;
(14) "Liquefied natural gas" means a fluid in the liquidstate composed predominantly of methane and which may contain minor quantitiesof ethane, propane, nitrogen, or other components normally found in natural gas;
(15) "Manufacturing customers" means all customers that haveon file with an electric distribution company a valid certificate of exemptionfrom the Rhode Island sales tax indicating the customer's status as amanufacturer pursuant to § 44-18-30;
(16) "Motor carriers" means any carrier regulated by theadministrator pursuant to Chapters 3, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of this title;
(17) "Natural gas" means the combustible gaseous mixture oflow-molecular-weight, paraffin hydrocarbons, generated below the surface of theearth containing mostly methane and ethane with small amounts of propane,butane, and hydrocarbons, and sometimes nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogensulfide, and helium;
(18) "Nonprofit housing development corporation" means anonprofit corporation, which has been approved as a § 501(c)(3), 26 U.S.C.§ 501(c)(3), corporation by the internal revenue service, and which isorganized and operated primarily for the purpose of providing housing for lowand moderate income persons;
(19) "Nonregulated power producer" means a company engagingin the business of producing, manufacturing, generating, buying, aggregating,marketing or brokering electricity for sale at wholesale or for retail sale tothe public; provided however, that companies which negotiate the purchase ofelectric generation services on behalf of customers and do not engage in thepurchase and resale of electric generation services shall be excluded from thisdefinition. A nonregulated power producer shall not be subject to regulation asa public utility except as specifically provided in the general laws;
(20) "Public utility" means and includes every company thatis an electric distribution company and every company operating or doingbusiness in intrastate commerce and in this state as a railroad, streetrailway, common carrier, gas, liquefied natural gas, water, telephone,telegraph, and pipeline company, and every company owning, leasing,maintaining, managing, or controlling any plant or equipment or any part of anyplant or equipment within this state for manufacturing, producing,transmitting, distributing, delivering, or furnishing natural or manufacturedgas, directly or indirectly to or for the public, or any cars or equipmentemployed on or in connection with any railroad or street railway for public orgeneral use within this state, or any pipes, mains, poles, wires, conduits,fixtures, through, over, across, under, or along any public highways, parkwaysor streets, public lands, waters, or parks for the transmission,transportation, or distribution of gas for sale to the public for light, heat,cooling, or power for providing audio or visual telephonic or telegraphiccommunication service within this state or any pond, lake, reservoir, stream,well, or distributing plant or system employed for the distribution of water tothe consuming public within this state including the water supply board of thecity of Providence; provided, that, except as provided in § 39-16-9 and inchapter 2072 of the public laws, 1933, as amended, this definition shall not beconstrued to apply to any public waterworks or water service owned andfurnished by any city, town, water district, fire district, or any othermunicipal or quasi-municipal corporation, excepting the water supply board ofthe city of Providence, unless any city, town, water district, fire district,municipal, or quasi-municipal corporation obtains water from a source owned orleased by the water resources board, either directly or indirectly, or obtainsa loan from the board pursuant to the provisions of chapter 15 of title 46, orsells water, on a wholesale or retail basis, inside and outside the territoriallimits of the city or town, water district, fire district, municipal orquasi-municipal corporation, except, however, that a public waterworks or waterservice owned and furnished by any city, town, water district, fire district,or any other municipal or quasi-municipal corporation which sells water, on awholesale or retail basis, inside and outside its territorial limits shall notbe construed as a public utility if it has fewer than one-thousand five hundred(1500) total customer service connections and provided outside sales do notexceed ten percent (10%) of the total water service connections or volumetricsales and provided the price charged to outside customers, per unit of water,is not greater than the price charged to inside customers for the same unit ofwater, nor to the Rhode Island public transit authority, or to the productionand/or distribution of steam, heat, or water by Rhode Island port authority andeconomic development corporation in the town of North Kingstown; and the term"public utility" shall also mean and include the Narragansett Bay water qualitymanagement district commission; and provided that the ownership or operation ofa facility by a company which dispenses alternative fuel or energy sources atretail for use as a motor vehicle fuel or energy source, and the dispensing ofalternative fuel or energy sources at retail from such a facility, does notmake the company a public utility within the meaning of this title solelybecause of that ownership, operation, or sale; and provided further that thisexemption shall not apply to presently regulated public utilities which sellnatural gas or are dispensers of other energy sources; and provided further,that the term "public utility" shall not include any company;
(i) Producing or distributing steam or heat from a fossilfuel fired cogeneration plant located at the university of Rhode Island SouthKingstown, Rhode Island and
(ii) Producing and/or distributing thermal energy and/orelectricity to a state owned facility from a plant located on an adjacent siteregardless of whether steam lines cross a public highway.
(21) "Purchasing cooperatives" shall mean any association ofelectricity consumers which join for the purpose of negotiating the purchase ofpower from a nonregulated power producer, provided however, that purchasingcooperatives shall not be required to be legal entities and are prohibited frombeing engaged in the re-sale of electric power;
(22) "Railroad" means and includes every railroad other thana street railway, by whatsoever power operated for public use in the conveyancein this state of persons or property for compensation, with all bridges,ferries, tunnels, switches, spurs, tracks, stations, wharves, and terminalfacilities of every kind, used, operated, controlled, leased, or owned by or inconnection with any railroad;
(23) "Retail access" means the use of transmission anddistribution facilities owned by an electric transmission company or anelectric distribution company to transport electricity sold by a nonregulatedpower producer to retail customers pursuant to § 39-1-27.3;
(24) "Street railway" means and includes every railway bywhatsoever power operated or any extension or extensions, branch, or branchesthereof, for public use in the conveyance in this state of persons or propertyfor compensation, being mainly upon, along, above, or below any street, avenue,road, highway, bridge, or public place in any city or town, and including allswitches, spurs, tracks, rights of trackage, subways, tunnels, stations,terminals and terminal facilities of every kind, used, operated, controlled, orowned by or in connection with any street railway;
(25) "Transmission facility" means plant or equipment usedfor the transmission of electricity as determined by the federal energyregulatory commission pursuant to federal law as of the date of the propertytransfers pursuant to § 39-1-27(c);
(26) Notwithstanding any provision of this section or anyprovision of the act entitled, "An Act Relating to the Utility RestructuringAct of 1996" (hereinafter "Utility Restructuring Act"), upon request by theaffected electric utility, the commission may exempt from the UtilityRestructuring Act or any provision(s) thereof, an electric utility which meetsthe following requirements: (i) the utility is not selling or distributingelectricity outside of the service territory in effect for that utility on thedate of passage of the Utility Restructuring Act; and (ii) the number ofkilowatt hours sold or distributed annually by the utility to the public isless than five percent (5%) of the total kilowatt hours consumed annually bythe state. Provided however that nothing contained in this section shallprevent the commission from allowing competition in the generation ofelectricity in service territories of utilities exempted in whole or in partfrom the Utility Restructuring Act pursuant to this section, as long as suchallowance of competition is conditioned upon payment to the exempted electricutility of a nonbypassable transition charge calculated to recover the elementscomparable in nature to the elements in § 39-1-27.4(b) and (c) taking intoconsideration any unique circumstances applicable to the exempted electricutility.
