POLICY 302
SUBJECT: EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF DISTRIBUTION LINES AND SERVICES
PURPOSE: To establish a standard policy for the extension and modification of the Cooperative's electric lines and services.
A. Responsibility of Cooperative
1. Engineering and construction:
The Cooperative, upon proper application for service, has the obligation to construct, own, operate, and maintain the necessary electrical facilities for delivering service to a specific delivery point, normally the consumer's meter in the case of underground service, or weatherhead in the case of overhead service, except for portions of the work:
a. Which are determined to be the responsibility of the consumer.
b. Which the consumer agrees to install, own, and maintain.
2. System and route:
The Cooperative reserves the right to determine the routes of its lines and services. The Cooperative, also, reserves the right to determine the location of all delivery points and meter locations.
Underground electric lines and services will be installed to serve a consumer when, in the opinion of the Cooperative such installation is technologically and economically feasible. The decision whether such lines shall be installed overhead or underground shall be made by the Cooperative.
B. Responsibility of Consumer
1. Application required:
The consumer shall make application to the Cooperative for electric service, requesting either overhead or underground, and shall furnish to the Cooperative estimated electrical loads and a plat of the area showing the locations of lot lines; streets; utility easements; gas, water, and sewer lines; building layouts; and streams and buried objects.
2. Consumer to furnish easements:
Consumer shall provide, at no cost to the Cooperative, all easements and rights-of-way in, on, over, and through private real estate, as requested and approved by the Cooperative, for the installation of electric lines and facilities to serve all consumers in a development, including street lights. An easement covenant shall be provided in each lot deed or conveyance providing rights-of-way and continuing access to the Cooperative for operating, maintenance, or replacement of the system.
3. Trench route responsibility:
When underground facilities are to be installed, the consumer shall:
a. Clear and grade the trench route to within four (4) inches of the final grade;
b. Stake all property corners, future permanent structures, and all underground facilities which are the consumer's responsibility to locate; and
c. Maintain the grade and clearance of trench routes during and subsequent to the Cooperative's work. Any damage to persons or property resulting from the failure of the consumer, or the successors or assigns thereof, to maintain said clearance or to establish a grade that will provide a depth for the Cooperative's underground system of at least thirty-six (36) inches below the surface of the ground, shall be assumed
4. Consumer to protect landscaping:
When underground facilities are to be installed, the consumer shall protect shrubs, trees, grass, and other landscaping requiring protection from the Cooperative's equipment during construction and maintenance of the underground system. The consumer will also restore the trench cover to its original condition where required, except in those cases where the Cooperative has agreed to do so.
5. Consumer to furnish conduit:
When underground facilities are to be installed, the consumer shall furnish, install, own, and maintain all conduit (minimum diameter size two (2) inches) for the underground conductors running from the meter mounting device or junction box away from the delivery point, to a depth of three (3) feet below grade level, and if needed, horizontal to a point where all paved patios, sidewalks, driveways, and other paved areas are cleared by at least two (2) feet, or to such other point approved by the Cooperative. The consumer will, also, provide all conduits or ducts, as required by the Cooperative, when the delivery point is a sealed junction box located on a concrete pad.
6. Consumer to furnish conductor and lugs:
Consumer to furnish, install, own, and maintain, at his sole cost and expense, all electrical conductor and lugs, approved by the Cooperative, on consumer's side of the delivery point. The Cooperative shall connect all lugs to its own equipment.
7. Consumer to furnish space for metering, transformers, and guards:
Consumer to provide, at locations approved by Cooperative, at no cost to the Cooperative, suitable structure and/or space for the installation of the Cooperative's transformers and/or metering equipment. Also, install, as required by the Cooperative, meter mounting devices and associated conduits either provided by or approved by the Cooperative. The Cooperative requires that meters and associated equipment be located outside of a structure unless otherwise approved by the Cooperative and that both meters and associated equipment be accessible and protected.
C. Line Extension
1. General:
The Cooperative's intent, when the estimated revenue justifies the extension, is to extend its lines and to provide necessary facilities to serve the consumer at a single delivery point, without requiring an aid to construction.
2. Aid to construction required:
Whenever, in the opinion of the Cooperative, the necessary expenditures to make connection to an applicant or service is not warranted by the Cooperative's estimate of prospective revenues to be derived therefrom, or whenever, in the opinion of Cooperative, the permanence of the consumer's load is questionable, the Cooperative shall require the applicant to make an aid to construction to cover a portion of the Cooperative's expense of extending its electric facilities and furnishing and installing necessary transformation, metering, and protective equipment to supply electric service to the consumer's premises.
3. Aid to construction required prior to construction:
Any aid to construction required to be made to the Cooperative by the consumer shall be made prior to start of construction.
4. Refund Aid to Construction Limitations:
If the Aid to Construction has not been wholly refunded prior to the expiration of six (6) years from the date of commencement of the service in respect for which the deposit is made, the portion of the deposit then remaining in the Cooperative's possession shall be retained by the Cooperative as its sole property, and the Cooperative shall not be required to make further credits in respect thereof.
5. Procedure for Calculating the Aid to Construction:
a. Residential subdivisions, mobile home parks, and individually-metered residential complexes:
When the consumer requests electric service to premises which required an aid to construction, the consumer shall deposit with the Cooperative a sum which is:
(1) The estimated cost of constructing the facilities to serve consumer, including labor, material, and a charge for overhead.
(2) Minus, the total revenue, as estimated by the Cooperative, for a period of three (3) years, for thirty-five (35) percent of the number of lots or residential dwelling units, to the nearest whole number being served by these facilities.
The Cooperative shall, within a period of six (6) years from the date of commencement of service in respect for which the deposit is made and after the lots or dwelling units having received permanent services has exceeded thirty-three (33) percent, refund a sum equal to fifty (50) percent of deposit with the remaining deposit to be refunded only after sixty-six (66) percent of the lots or dwelling units have received permanent service, not to exceed the original amount of deposit.
b. Individual permanent residential, industrial and commercial consumers:
When the consumer requests electric service to premises which required an aid to construction, the consumer shall deposit with the Cooperative a sum which is:
(1) The estimated cost of constructing the facilities to serve the consumer, including labor, material, and a charge for overhead.
(2) Minus, the total revenue, as estimated by the Cooperative, for a period of three (3) years.
For each additional consumer connected to such an extension within six years from when it was completed, the Cooperative will refund to the initial customer or customers in proportion to their respective contribution. The process of determining a fair and equitable refund will be addressed on a case-by-case basis taking into consideration facts such as energy usage of subsequent hook-ups, costs associated with connecting the customer to the line in questions, etc. In no event will the total of all refunds exceed the initial applicant’s contribution.
D. Modification of Existing Facilities
1. Cooperative has adequate facilities:
When a consumer requests for its convenience or by its actions requires that Cooperative facilities, which are adequate to serve the consumer, be redesigned, re-engineered, relocated, removed, modified, or reinstalled, the Cooperative shall require the consumer to pay one of the following:
a. A sum of five dollars per foot for the conversion from an overhead single family (including duplexes) residential service drop with an underground service lateral where no unusual trenching operation is required and no sub-pavement crossing must be made at the Cooperative expense: or
b. A sum calculated by the Cooperative equal to:
(1) The estimated cost to remove the existing facilities and return these facilities to the Cooperative's warehouse;
(2) Minus the estimated salvage value of the salvaged materials to be returned to the Cooperative's warehouse;
(3) Plus, the estimated cost of providing and installing the new facilities.
2. Cooperative has Inadequate Facilities:
When a consumer through normal load growth or expansion requires that Cooperative's facilities, which are inadequate as determined by Cooperative, be replaced, the Cooperative shall:
a. Replace these inadequate facilities with adequate facilities, which are of the same type of construction, without requiring a payment by consumer;
b. Replace inadequate single family residential overhead facilities with adequate underground facilities, to the extent determined to be feasible by the Cooperative, and shall require the consumer to pay the following:
c. Replace inadequate single family residential overhead facilities with adequate underground facilities, to the extent determined to be feasible by the Cooperative, and shall require the consumer to pay a sum equal to the actual installed cost of an adequate underground service minus the actual installed cost of an adequate overhead service.
RESPONSIBILITY: The President/CEO is responsible for administering this policy.
ATTEST:
Secretary
Adopted: November 30, 1984
Amended: June 26, 1996
May 22, 2006
September 25, 2006
December 18, 2006
January 29, 2007
March 1, 2010
May 24, 2010
|
