Section 45-39.2-8 - [Effective 1/1/2025] Powers of the electric and water district(a) The electric and water district shall have the power:(1) To acquire real or personal property and tangible or intangible personal property by voluntary purchase from the owner or owners of the property, and to the extent that the board of utility commissioners deems it advisable, to acquire property held by a corporation through acquisition of the stock of the corporation and dissolution of the corporation;(2) To acquire real property, fixtures, and rights and interests in real property within its utility service area by eminent domain, subject to the supervision of the public utilities commission in the manner prescribed in § 39-1-31, and the electric and water district may, within and without the district and the town of Burrillville and also without the consent of the town, install, make, construct, and maintain pipes, aqueducts, conduits, machinery, or other equipment or appliances, or authorize the same to be done, and regulate the use thereof to the extent deemed necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of the electric and water district. The power conferred upon the electric and water district by this provision shall include the authority to carry any works to be constructed over or enter upon and excavate under any highway, turnpike, railroad, street, or other public way for the purpose of locating, laying, constructing, building, installing, operating, maintaining, altering, repairing, or replacing any pipes, appliances, or other such apparatus, upon or beneath the surface, in such a manner so as not to permanently obstruct free travel thereon. In exercising the power granted under this provision, the electric and water district shall, except in emergencies, provide advance notice to and otherwise cooperate and coordinate with the town to ensure that any such installation or excavation shall be carried out with reasonable dispatch and with as little interference with and inconvenience to the rights of the public as may be feasible. The electric and water district shall restore any highway, turnpike, railroad, street, or other public way as near as may be possible to its original condition of safety and utility after any such installation or excavation;(3) To own, operate, maintain, repair, improve, enlarge, and extend, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, any property acquired under this section all of which, together with the acquisition of the property, are hereby declared to be public purposes;(4) To produce, purchase, acquire, distribute, and sell water and electricity at wholesale or retail within or without its utility service area subject to franchise rights of other utilities; to lay down, construct, own, operate, maintain, repair, and improve mains, pipes, wells, towers, and other equipment and facilities necessary, appropriate or useful for those purposes; and to contract with others for any or all of the foregoing purposes;(5) To produce, buy, sell, and trade electric capability, power, or energy products or services at wholesale or retail; to purchase for its own use or for resale electric transmission service and ancillary services; and to engage in any other transaction with respect to electricity or electricity products that was heretofore authorized for the Pascoag utility district or investor-owned electric companies operating as domestic electric utilities within the state (including participation in generating facilities as authorized by chapter 20 of title 39); provided, that the electric and water district electric operations shall operate and be subject to regulation of its retail rates for electricity under title 39 when operating within its utility service area; and provided, further, that except to the extent otherwise provided with respect to the exercise of its power of eminent domain under § 45-39.2-8(2), the electric and water district water operations shall not be subject to regulation of its retail rates or supervision or regulation by any department, division, district, board, bureau, or agency of the state or any of its political subdivisions, including, without limitation, the public utilities commission and the division of public utilities under title 39 when operating within it utility service area.(6) To acquire, own, lease, operate, maintain, repair, and expand facilities and equipment necessary, appropriate, or useful to the operation of other utilities, including, but not limited to, communications services such as internet service, high-speed data transfer, local and long-distance telephone service, community antenna television service, and to engage in the operation of such utilities;(8) To adopt and alter a corporate seal;(9) To acquire, hold, use, lease, sell, transfer, assign, or otherwise dispose of any property, real, personal, or mixed, or any interest therein, for its corporate purposes, and to mortgage, pledge, or lease any such property;(10) To make and adopt bylaws for the management and regulation of its affairs;(11) To borrow money for any of the purposes or powers granted to it under or by operation of this chapter, including the creation and maintenance of working capital, and to issue negotiable bonds, notes, or other obligations, to fund or refund the same, and to secure the obligation of such bond, notes, or other obligations in any case by pledge of, or security interest in, the revenues and property of the electric and water district.(12) To fix rates (subject to the requirements of title 39 in the case of retail electric rates within its utility service area) and collect charges for the use of the facilities or services rendered by or any commodities furnished by the electric and water district;(13) To contract in its own name for any lawful purpose that would effectuate the purposes and provisions of this chapter; to execute all instruments necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter; and to do all things necessary or convenient to carry into effect and operation the powers granted by this chapter; and(14) Until, and only until, such time as those utility bond obligations to which the Clear River electric and water district succeeds under or by operation of this chapter shall have been retired, defeased, or otherwise satisfied in their entirety, to levy property tax assessments upon property owners within its utility service area for the purpose of supporting utility bond obligations of the Pascoag utility district and those of the Harrisville fire district outstanding as of January 1, 2025, in the same manner and to the same extent as each of the Pascoag utility district and Harrisville fire district was authorized to do so under chapter 58 of this title ("Pascoag utility district"), as to Pascoag utility district, and chapter 637 of Public Laws of 1910 as to Harrisville fire district, and each as thereafter amended and supplemented from time to time.R.I. Gen. Laws § 45-39.2-8
Added by 2024 Pub. Laws, ch. 152,§ 2, eff. 1/1/2025.Added by 2024 Pub. Laws, ch. 153,§ 2, eff. 1/1/2025.