Section 40-33.2-02 - DefinitionsIn this chapter unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires:
1. "Agency agreement" means a written agreement between two or more cities establishing a municipal power agency.2. "City" means a city organized under the laws of this state and authorized to engage in the local distribution and sale of electric energy, either individually or as a member of a municipal power agency.3. "City council" means the city council or the board of city commissioners, as the case may be, of the city concerned or affected.4. "Distribution" means the conveyance of electric energy to retail consumers from a transmission system or from a generation facility situated within or in the immediate vicinity of a city.5. "Generation" means the production of electricity by any means and the acquisition of fuel of any kind for that purpose, and includes the acquisition of fuel deposits and the acquisition or construction and operation of facilities for extracting fuel from natural deposits, for converting it for use in another form, for burning it in place, and for transportation and storage.6. "Governing body", with respect to a city, means the city council or, if another board, commission, or body is empowered by law or its charter or by resolution of the city council to establish and regulate rates and charges for the distribution of electric energy within the city, the board, commission, or body shall be deemed to be the "governing body". When the levy of a tax or the incurring of an obligation payable from taxes or any other action of the board, commission, or body requires the concurrence, approval, or independent action of the city council or another body under the city's charter or any other law, the action shall not be taken until concurrence or approval is received or independent action is taken and, if required under the city's charter or any other law, approved by not less than sixty percent of the qualified electors voting on the question at any regular or special election. The concurrence of the city council or other elected body charged with the general management of a city shall be required, prior to the adoption by the city of any resolution approving an agency agreement.7. "Municipal power agency" means a separate political subdivision and municipal corporation created by agreement between two or more cities, and approved by not less than sixty percent of the qualified electors voting on the question at any regular or special election in each of those cities, pursuant to section 40-33.2-03 to exercise any of the powers of acquisition, construction, reconstruction, operation, repair, extension, or improvement of electric generation or transmission facilities or the acquisition of any interest therein or any right to part or all of the capacity thereof.8. "Person" means an individual, public agency, or a private corporation, limited liability company, firm, partnership, cooperative association, or business trust of any nature whatsoever, organized and existing under the laws of any state or the United States or under the laws of the Dominion of Canada or any province or political subdivision thereof.9. "Project" means any plant, works, system, facilities, and property of any nature whatsoever, together with all parts thereof and appurtenances thereto, used or useful in the generation, production, transmission, purchase, sale, exchange, or interchange of electric energy or any interest therein or capacity thereof.10. "Public agency" means any city or other municipal corporation, political subdivision, governmental unit, or public corporation created by or pursuant to the laws of this state or of another state or of the United States or any municipal corporation, political subdivision, governmental unit, or public corporation created by or pursuant to the laws of the Dominion of Canada or any province thereof, or other body declared by the laws of any state or the United States or the Dominion of Canada, or any province thereof to be a department, agency, or instrumentality thereof.11. "Real property" means lands, structures, franchises, and interests in land, including lands under water, riparian rights, fees simple absolute, lesser interests such as easements, rights of way, uses, leases, licenses, and all other incorporeal hereditaments, legal and equitable estates, interests, and rights, terms of years, liens on real property by way of judgments, mortgages, or otherwise, and claims for damages to real property.12. "Transmission" means the transfer of electric energy from a generating facility to or between one or more cities or municipal power agencies or other persons with whom they may contract, and includes conversion of current and voltage and transfer of energy from another source in exchange for energy supplied by such contracting parties, but does not include distribution.