As used in this chapter, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) AUTHORITY. Alabama Municipal Electric Authority created pursuant to this chapter and any successor or successors thereto.
(2) BOARD. The board of directors of the authority.
(3) BONDS. Any bonds issued by the authority under the provisions of this chapter, including refunding bonds.
(4) BOND ANTICIPATION NOTES. Short term obligations issued by the authority in anticipation of the issuance of bonds.
(5) COSTS. All costs of acquisition, construction, reconstruction, improvement, equipment, alteration, repair, or extension of any project; all costs of real and personal property required for the purposes of any project, including any rights or undivided interest therein; all costs of easements, franchises, water rights, fees, permits, approvals, licenses, and certificates, and all costs of securing any permits, approvals, licenses, and certificates, and preparing applications therefor; all costs of machinery and equipment, including equipment for use in connection with construction; all costs of the initial fuel supply or additional fuel inventories acquired for any project; all costs of insurance against any and all risks; all costs or estimated costs of financing, including, without limitation, interest that it is estimated will accrue prior to and during construction and during any additional period which the authority may reasonably determine to be necessary to place a project in operation on money borrowed or which it is estimated will be borrowed; all costs of engineering, inspecting, architectural, financial, fiscal agency, and legal services; all costs of plans and specifications and all expenses necessary or incidental to determining the feasibility or practicability of any project; all costs of working capital; all administrative and organizational expenses and any other expenses which may be necessary or incidental to the financing authorized in this chapter; and all costs incidental to any contract relating to prepayment by the authority for bulk electric power and energy or transmission services. The costs of any project shall also include funds paid or advanced for any of the purposes stated in this subsection by municipalities contracting with the authority prior to the issuance of any bonds, bond anticipation notes, or notes that may be refunded to those municipalities out of the proceeds of any bonds, bond anticipation notes, or notes so issued. The costs of any project may also include a fund or funds for the creation of a debt service reserve, an insurance and extraordinary repairs reserve, a renewal and replacement reserve, a fuel reserve, a working capital reserve, and any other reserves which may be reasonably required by the authority for the operation and disposal of its projects and which may be authorized by any bond resolution, trust agreement, or indenture pursuant to the provisions of which the issuance of any bonds may be authorized. Any obligation or expense incurred for any of the foregoing purposes shall be regarded as a part of the costs of a project and may be paid or reimbursed as such out of the proceeds of bonds, bond anticipation notes, or notes issued under the provisions of this chapter to finance the project.
(6) MUNICIPALITY. Any city or town which owns, maintains, and operates or causes to be owned, maintained, or operated an electric distribution system. If any such city or town has heretofore created and established, or hereafter creates and establishes, a public corporation operating an electric system or a municipal electric utility board pursuant to the laws of the state codified as, respectively, Section 11-50-310 et seq., or Section 11-50-490 et seq., then the word municipality shall refer to the public corporation or utility board, as the case may be, and not to the city or town creating and establishing it, so that the public corporation or utility board shall exercise all powers granted by this chapter to, and undertake all obligations imposed by this chapter on, the city or town creating and establishing it.
Any municipality that does not on May 18, 1981, own, maintain, or operate an electric distribution system and wishes to become a member of the authority, may become a member of the authority only following a favorable vote in a referendum held in the city on the question of membership in the authority.
(7) NOTES. Interim certificates, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness, whether long or short term, issued by the authority not in anticipation of the issuance of bonds.
(8) PERSON. A natural person, a cooperative or private corporation, association, firm, partnership, or business trust of any nature whatsoever, organized and existing under the laws of any state or of the United States, or of any other country or political subdivision thereof, including their departments, agencies, or instrumentalities, any municipality, or other municipal corporation, political subdivision, governmental unit, or public corporation created under the laws of any state or of the United States, and any state or the United States, and any person, board, or other body declared by the laws of any state or the United States to be a department, agency, or instrumentality thereof.
(9) PROJECT. Electric generation, transmission, and distribution facilities, and all property, real and personal, of every kind and nature material or pertinent thereto or necessary therefor, located within or without the state, which may be used or useful in the generation, transmission, distribution, sale, purchase, exchange, or interchange of bulk electric power and energy, and in the supplying of bulk electric power and energy to all those contracting with the authority therefor, as provided in Section 11-50A-8(8), including any interest therein or right to capacity thereof, and may include, without limitation, a divided or undivided interest in any electric generation, transmission, or distribution facility in which the authority shall participate as an owner in common with others, a contract right or other contractual arrangement for the long-term provision of bulk electric power and energy and transmission services to the authority on a prepaid basis and the acquisition of water and fuel of any kind for such purposes, including the acquisition of water rights, fuel deposits, and facilities for the development, production, processing, manufacture, fabrication, transportation, and storage of water and fuel. The term project shall not include any facilities for any purpose other than those necessary or desirable to provide bulk electric power and energy to municipalities or to effect the sale, purchase, exchange, and transmission of bulk electric power and energy with other electric suppliers pursuant to those arrangements provided in Section 11-50A-8(8), and any undivided fractional interest in any electric generation facilities which, on or prior to January 1, 1981, were being used by a private utility to generate electricity for distribution pursuant to a certificate of convenience and necessity obtained from the Alabama Public Service Commission. For purposes of the preceding sentence, electric generation facilities shall not be deemed to include any facilities used in common with other separate generating units at a single generating plant. Sales of bulk electric power and energy to municipalities shall only be effected as “wholesale sales” as the term “wholesale sales” is defined in Section 40-21-80(a)(9), as amended, or any subsequent statute of similar import. The terms “generation” and “transmission” as used herein shall have the same meaning as those contained in the uniform system of accounts as prescribed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The term “distribution” as used herein shall include only those facilities necessary or desirable to effect wholesale sales from transmission facilities to any municipality contracting with the authority.
(10) REVENUES. (i) All revenues, income, earnings, rents, and receipts derived by the authority from or attributable to the ownership or operation of any project, including all revenues attributable to the project or to the payment of the costs thereof received by the authority under any contract for the sale of the output, capacity, use, or service of the project or any part thereof or any contractual arrangement with respect to the use of the project or any portion thereof or the output, capacity, use, or service thereof, (ii) the proceeds of any insurance covering business interruption loss relating to the project, (iii) interest received on any moneys or securities held by the authority pursuant to any resolution duly adopted by the authority and paid or required to be paid into any revenue fund established by such resolution, and (iv) any other moneys received by the authority and defined as revenues in any bond resolution, trust agreement, or indenture pertaining to any bonds and the issuance thereof.
(11) STATE. The State of Alabama.
(12) HEREIN, HEREBY, HEREUNDER, HEREOF, and other equivalent words, refer to this chapter as an entirety and not solely to the particular section or portion thereof in which any of these words is used.
(13) Where used in this chapter, words in the present tense shall be construed to include the future tense, the singular shall be construed to include the plural, the plural shall be construed to include the singular, and nouns and pronouns shall be construed to include all genders.