NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1973 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1393

HOUSE BILL 1488

 

 

AN ACT RESTRICTING THE ABANDONMENT OF SERVICE BY WATER AND SEWER UTILITY SYSTEMS WITHOUT PRIOR COMMISSION APPROVAL.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  Section 118 of Chapter 62 of the General Statutes of North Carolina is hereby amended by designating the present G.S. 62-118 as paragraph (a) under G.S. 62-118 and by adding new paragraphs (b) and (c) as follows:

"(b)      If any person or corporation furnishing water or sewer utility service under this Chapter shall abandon such service without the prior consent of the Commission, and the Commission subsequently finds that such abandonment of service causes an emergency to exist, the Commission may, unless the owner or operator of the affected system consents, apply in accordance with G.S. 1A-1, Rule 65, to the resident Superior Court Judge of any judicial district where such person or corporation operates, or to any Superior Court Judge holding court in such judicial district, for an order restricting the lands, facilities and rights-of- way used in furnishing said water or sewer utility service to continued use in furnishing said service during the period of the emergency. An emergency is defined herein as the imminent danger of losing adequate water or sewer utility service or the actual loss thereof. The court shall have jurisdiction to restrict the lands, facilities, and rights-of-way to continued use in furnishing said water or sewer utility service by appropriate order restraining their being placed to other use, or restraining their being prevented from continued use in furnishing said water or sewer utility service, by any person, corporation, or their representatives. The court may, in its discretion, appoint an emergency operator to assure the continued operation of such water or sewer utility service. The court shall have jurisdiction to require that reasonable compensation be paid to the owner, operator or other party entitled thereto for the use of any lands, facilities, and rights‑of‑way which are so restricted to continued use for furnishing water or sewer utility service during the period of the emergency, and it may require the emergency operator of said lands, facilities, and rights-of-way to post bond in an amount required by the court. In no event shall such compensation, for each month awarded, exceed the net average monthly income of the utility for the 12 month period immediately preceding the order restricting use.

(c)        Whenever the Commission, upon complaint or investigation upon its own motion, finds that the facilities being used to furnish water or sewer utility service are inadequate to such an extent that an emergency (as defined in G.S. 62-118(b) above) exists, and further finds that there is no reasonable probability of the owner or operator of such utility obtaining the capital necessary to improve or replace the facilities from sources other than the customers, the Commission shall have the power, after notice and hearing, to authorize by order that such service be abandoned or reduced to those customers who are unwilling or unable to advance their fair share of the capital necessary for such improvements. The amount of capital to be advanced by each customer shall be subject to approval by the Commission, and shall be advanced under such conditions as will enable each customer to retain a proprietary interest in the system to the extent of the capital so advanced. The remedy prescribed in this paragraph is in addition to other remedies prescribed by law."

Sec. 2.  Except as herein amended, the provisions of Chapter 62 of the General Statutes of North Carolina shall remain in full force and effect. To the extent that other laws or clauses of laws are in conflict with the provisions of this act, such laws and clauses are, to that extent, hereby repealed.

Sec. 3.  This act shall become effective on October 1, 1974.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 13th day of April, 1974.