Various Utility Provisions
Sewer Work on Private Property
Municipalities may do work on sewer lines on private property behind a meter when there is excessive inflow from rainwater or groundwater that results in overflows and health issues when the owner consents and agrees to hold the municipality harmless. T.C.A. § 7-35-401 (c) (1) (B) (c) (iii).
Voluntary Contributions for Community Assistance
T.C.A. §§ 7-34-115 (i) (1) and 7-52-103 (e) (1) allow municipal electric and utility systems to accept and distribute voluntary contributions for charitable purposes. This may include programs in which the utility bill is rounded up to the nearest dollar. The contribution must be shown as a separate line item on the bill. Contributions are not considered revenue to the utility and must be used for community assistance and economic development.
Eminent Domain
Several statutes empower municipalities to condemn land and property rights within and outside city limits for utility purposes. T.C.A. § 7-34-104, T.C.A. § 7-35-101, T.C.A. § 7-52-105, T.C.A. § 29-16-102, T.C.A. § 29-17-201. T.C.A. §§ 29-17-101, et seq. place restrictions on the use of eminent domain when there will be direct or indirect benefits to private entities or individuals. One of several exceptions from these restrictions, however, allows private benefits when "any interest in land necessary to the function of a public or private utility" is taken. The land cannot be taken primarily to convey the private benefit. T.C.A. § 66-27-207 places restrictions on the use of eminent domain to take condominium units.
Service Beyond Corporate Boundaries
Any city is empowered to extend "any utility service, specifically including waterworks, water plants, water distribution systems, and sewage collection and treatment systems" beyond its corporate boundaries, providing that proper charges are established "so that any such outside service be self-supporting." However, no city or other utility agency may "extend its services into sections of roads or streets already occupied by other public agencies rendering the same service so long as such other public agency continues to render such service." T.C.A. § 7-51-401.
Metering Errors; Statute of Limitations
When a customer is overcharged or undercharged for electric, water, sewer, or gas services because of equipment malfunction, and the customer was unaware of the discrepancy, a municipality may not recover the undercharge or reimburse the overcharge for the period before 36 months from the date the error was discovered. T.C.A. §§ 28-3-301–303.
Utility Deposits
Unclaimed utility deposits and unclaimed utility refunds fall under the state’s Abandoned Property Law, which imposes record-keeping and reporting requirements on a utility. The utility must attempt to notify the subscriber within 120 days of the commencement of the two-year waiting period before the deposit is presumed abandoned. T.C.A. § 66-29-105 (12). The city may reclaim unclaimed utility deposits and monies from other abandoned property reported by the city under circumstances outlined in the Abandoned Property Law.
Theft of Utility Service and Damage to Equipment
It is unlawful to divert utility service or damage utility equipment. When a utility catches a customer stealing utility service, it has a right to collect three times the value of the stolen service and attorney’s fees and costs. The city also may collect for theft of or damage to equipment, theft of meters, etc., by taking civil action to recover those losses and file liens against the property served to enforce the collection. To make the liens valid if the property is sold, the utility must follow procedures prescribed in T.C.A. §§ 65-35-101, et seq.
A violation of T.C.A. § 65-35-102 also is a violation of T.C.A. § 39-14-104 (theft of services), T.C.A. § 65-35-105. T.C.A. § 39-14-411 prohibits damage to or interference with utility lines, fixtures, and appliances. The civil remedies and criminal penalties imposed by the criminal statutes are mutually exclusive. T.C.A. § 65-35-106.
Underground Utility Damage Prevention
Tennessee’s Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act establishes requirements for giving notice before excavation or demolition to help prevent damage to underground utilities. Underground facilities may include communications, electric, gas, petroleum and hazardous-liquid facilities, as well as water, steam, sewer and other underground utility systems.
The Act is not limited to state and local governments. Its requirements apply to a broad range of persons and entities involved in excavation or demolition, including individuals, corporations, partnerships, associations, states and their subdivisions or instrumentalities, and their employees, agents or legal representatives.
Before beginning excavation in a street, highway, public space, a private easement of an operator, or within 100 feet of the edge of the pavement of a street or highway, or before demolishing a building, the person responsible for the excavation or demolition must provide the notice required by Tennessee law. For purposes of the Act, excavation includes the movement, placement, or removal of earth, rock, or other materials in or on the ground using mechanized equipment, the discharge of explosives, or hand digging. Except as otherwise provided by the Act, notice must be given at least three working days before the actual date of excavation or demolition, but not more than ten full working days beforehand, unless a different period has been agreed to in writing as provided by law.
Where the proposed area of excavation or demolition is served by the one-call service, the required notice is provided to the one-call service. Tennessee 811 is Tennessee’s statewide one-call service. A person may contact Tennessee 811 by dialing 811, calling (800) 351-1111, or using the appropriate online service at www.tenn811.com. Tennessee 811 receives excavation and demolition notifications and transmits them to affected member utilities. Tennessee 811 does not locate or mark underground utility lines; the utilities, or their contract locating companies, are responsible for locating and marking their underground facilities as applicable.
Tennessee law requires operators to join the one-call service and utilize the services of the notification center, subject to the statutory exception for operators whose underground facilities constitute less than 20 percent of their total utility plant in service.
An operator that suffers damage as a result of not participating in the one-call service waives the right to recover damages to the operator’s underground utilities from the excavator, provided that the excavator met the requirements of the Act.
(Information provided by TN811)
Water Losses
The Water and Wastewater Financing Board may issue rules defining excessive water losses by public water systems and investigate systems with excessive losses and require them to reduce water losses to acceptable levels.
The comptroller must, within 60 days after an audit is filed showing excessive losses, file the audit with the Water and Wastewater Financing Board. If the water system fails to take appropriate actions to reduce losses, the board may petition the chancery court to require these actions.
Public water systems must include in their annual audits the annual average unaccounted-for water losses in the manner prescribed by the comptroller.