§ 8-1-17.5-24 — Corporation to provide reasonably adequate service; reasonable and just charges; return of excess revenues to members; Rural Utility Service borrowers

Indiana § 8-1-17.5-24

• Jurisdiction: Indiana
• Art. 1: UTILITIES GENERALLY
• Ch. 17.5: Merger or Consolidation of Rural Electric

Text

(a) A surviving corporation or successor
corporation formed under this chapter shall be required to furnish
reasonably adequate:
(1) retail electric service or communications service, or both; and
(2) facilities for furnishing any service described in subdivision
(1) that is provided by the surviving corporation or successor
corporation.
The charge made by a surviving corporation or successor corporation
for any service rendered or to be rendered, either directly or in
connection with the service, must be nondiscriminatory, reasonable,
and just, and every discriminatory, unjust, or unreasonable charge for
a service provided under this section is prohibited and declared
unlawful.
(b) Reasonable and just charges for service within the meaning of
this section are charges that produce sufficient revenue:
(1) to pay all legal and other necessary expense incident to the
operation of the surviving corporation's or successor corporation's
systems, including maintenance costs, operating charges, upkeep,
repairs, depreciation and amortization, and interest charges on
bonds or other obligations;
(2) to provide a sinking fund for the liquidation of bonds or other
evidences of indebtedness;
(3) to provide adequate funds to be used as working capital, as
well as funds for making extensions and replacements; and
(4) for the payment of any taxes that may be assessed against the
corporation or its property.
(c) Charges made under this section must produce an income
sufficient to maintain the surviving corporation's or successor
corporation's property in a sound physical and financial condition to
render adequate and efficient service. Any rate too low to meet the
requirements of this section is unlawful.
(d) Revenues and receipts not needed for the purposes described in
this section, or not needed as reserves for those purposes, shall be
returned to the members on a pro rata basis according to the amounts
paid by members for:
(1) retail electric service; or
(2) communications service;
as appropriate. Amounts returned under this subsection may be either
in cash or in abatement of current charges for the services described in
this subsection, as the board may decide.
(e) As used in subsection (f), "financial assistance" means:
(1) a loan or loan guarantee; or
(2) a lien accommodation provided to secure a loan made by
another lender;
that is made by the Rural Utility Service of the United States
Department of Agriculture (RUS) or by the Rural Telephone Bank.
(f) As used in subsections (g) and (h), "RUS borrower" means a
surviving corporation or successor corporation formed under this
chapter that is the recipient of financial assistance from the Rural
Utility Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (RUS).
(g) In determining rates under this section, an RUS borrower must
charge rates sufficient to enable the RUS borrower to:
(1) satisfy the RUS borrower's reasonable expenses and
obligations; and
(2) repay the full amount of any financial assistance and the
interest on the financial assistance.
(h) As long as there remains any unpaid part of any financial
assistance associated with the property of an RUS borrower, the rates
of the RUS borrower must be set at a level sufficient to repay the
financial assistance, regardless of the full or partial retirement of the
property or any other change in the status of the property.

Legislative History

As added by P.L.18-2010, SEC.1.