[Amended 3-22-1977 by Ord. No. 1074; 10-23-1979 by Ord. No. 1182; 12-11-1979 by Ord. No. 1191]
A. 
A written application for service under one of the established rate schedules of the Electric Utility may be required from each customer, which application, when accepted and service granted, shall constitute an agreement between the City of Vineland and the customer. The rate schedule provisions apply to everyone lawfully receiving electric service from the Electric Utility under the established rates, and receipt of electric service shall constitute the receiver a customer of the Electric Utility as the term is used herein, whether service is based upon contract, agreement, accepted signed application or otherwise.
B. 
A copy of the rate schedule and general terms, rules and regulations under which service is to be rendered will be furnished upon request at the office of the Electric Utility.
[Amended 1-14-1986 by Ord. No. 85-66]
C. 
Standard contracts shall be for the terms as specified in the statement of the rates, but where large or special investment is necessary for the supplying of service, contracts of longer terms than specified in the rates or with special guaranty of revenue, or both, may be required to safeguard such investment.
D. 
Whenever service is initiated to any customer in any particular location or resumed after discontinuance of service, a service connection charge of $15 will be made. This fee shall not be charged where a change in the name of an account is requested by the customer, provided that the last meter reading is used and therefore does not require a site visit or any further effort on the part of the Electric Utility. A person who is exempted from the fifteen-dollar service connection charge shall not be automatically exempted from the deposit requirements of § 687-10 of this Part 1.
[Amended 3-12-1991 by Ord. No. 91-22; 2-23-1993 by Ord. No. 93-8]
[Amended 3-22-1977 by Ord. No. 1074; 3-12-1991 by Ord. No. 91-22]
Temporary service will be supplied where and when the electric utility has available facilities and at the rate applicable to such service, with an additional charge for service connection and disconnection upon discontinuance of service. The charge for such connection and disconnection shall be based upon the cost of providing such service, but in no case shall be less than $75.
The wiring and appliances in the premises of the customer must be installed in accordance with the provisions of the current edition of the National Electrical Code of the National Board of Fire Underwriters and such state and municipal regulations as may be in force at the time application for service is made. A certificate of inspection from the Underwriters must be presented at the office of the Electric Utility before service will be rendered at a new location.
A. 
It is a condition precedent to the supply of service under rates which base the billing demand or minimum upon the customer's connected load that the representatives of the Electric Utility shall have access to the premises at reasonable times to inspect and count the connected load.
B. 
Demands fixed upon the basis of connected load will remain in effect until the customer makes increases in his connected load or until the Electric Utility redetermines the demand by subsequent recounts, which recounts will normally be made at approximately annual intervals, subject to the right of the Electric Utility to make them as frequently as it may elect. Recounts will be made upon the customer's request, provided that no more than one other requested recount has been made within the preceding 11 months.
[Amended 3-22-1977 by Ord. No. 1074]
A. 
The Electric Utility may discontinue its service upon five days' written notice in case the customer is in arrears in the payment of bills.
B. 
The Electric Utility may discontinue its service upon reasonable notice if entry to its meter or meters is refused or if access thereto is obstructed or hazardous or for other violation of these rules and regulations.
C. 
The Electric Utility may discontinue its service without notice if the customer's installation has become dangerous or defective, if the customer's equipment or use thereof might injuriously affect the equipment of the Electric Utility or the service to other customers or if, upon a reexamination of the customer's installation by a Fire Underwriters' inspector, as approved by local, state or federal law having jurisdiction, a certificate of approval is refused.
[Amended 3-22-1977 by Ord. No. 1074]
A. 
Where the Electric Utility has discontinued service for nonpayment of bills, an additional charge for reconnection shall be made. The charge for such disconnection and reconnection shall not be less than $15.
B. 
In cases where service is temporarily discontinued at the request of the customer, a disconnection and reconnection charge shall be based upon the cost of providing such service, but in no case shall be less than $15.
[Amended 3-12-1991 by Ord. No. 91-22]
C. 
In cases where the customer requests a special reading or billing, the charge for each reading or billing shall be $15.
[Amended 3-12-1991 by Ord. No. 91-22]
[Amended 2-24-2026 by Ord. No. 2026-08]
A. 
The Utility shall have the right of access to the customer's premises at all times for the purpose of reading meters, inspecting or repairing apparatus used in connection with its service or removing its property.
B. 
The Electric Utility shall have the right, at its option and its own expense, to place demand meters, reactive-component meters or other instruments on the premises of any customer for the purpose of measuring the demand and/or the power factor or for other tests of all or any part of the customer's load.
C. 
Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI).
(1) 
The Electric Utility shall have the right at its own expense to install Automated Metering Infrastructure on all existing and newly constructed structures receiving electric service from the City of Vineland Electric Utility.
(2) 
In the event a property owner does not desire to have an AMI meter installed, they shall sign acknowledgment on a form prepared by the Director acknowledging an additional charge of $25 per month which shall be added to the monthly bill of the customer to cover the cost of manual meter reading commencing on the next bill subsequent to the execution of said form.
(3) 
In the event an AMI meter is installed, and the property owner wishes it to be removed and replaced with an older non-AMI meter, there shall be a charge of $50 per meter for its removal and replacement with an older meter. The property owner shall sign a form prepared by the Director acknowledging the charge of $50 as well as an additional monthly charge of $25 per meter added to the customer's bill to cover the cost of manual meter reading. The charge of $50 to exchange meters and/or the additional monthly cost of $25 per meter shall be paid upon the execution of the form by adding the charge to the next monthly bill of the customer. The determination regarding the acceptance of the AMI meter shall be solely with the property owner of record in the City of Vineland Tax Office and not any tenant regardless of the name on any account with the Electric Utility.
[Amended 3-22-1977 by Ord. No. 1074; 11-12-1980 by Ord. No. 1231; 11-26-1985 by Ord. No. 85-56; 1-14-1986 by Ord. No. 85-66; 2-23-1988 by Ord. No. 88-10; 6-27-1989 by Ord. No. 89-39]
A. 
Bills will be rendered by the Electric Utility monthly, in accordance with the rate selected, applicable to the customer's service. The word "month" as used herein and in the rate schedules is hereby defined to be the elapsed time between two successive meter readings approximately 30 days apart. In the event of the stoppage or the failure of any meter to register the full amount of current consumed, the customer will be billed for such period on an estimated consumption based upon his use of current in a similar period of like use.
B. 
The net rates specified in the various schedules of the Electric Utility are contingent upon payment within the time limit specified in said schedules. The final date for payment of the net amount, which will be shown on each bill, will not fall on a Sunday or a holiday. A delayed-payment charge, as specified in the rate schedule on which the bills are rendered, will be added to bills not paid within the time specified for payment of the net amount. The Electric Utility may waive this additional charge on a bill, provided that the customer's previous accounts are paid in full and not more than one other such waiver has been made on the bills of a preceding 11 months. The gross rate, which is the net rate plus the additional delayed-payment charge, will apply on bills when, at the time of payment, the account is in arrears for previous billings.
(1) 
Senior citizens.
(a) 
The delayed-payment charge shall be waived to senior citizens 65 years of age or older, provided that a written application is made and service is in the applicant's name. Proof of age must be presented at time of application.
(b) 
If all conditions are met in Subsection B(1)(a), the senior citizen customers as defined above shall receive net billing only. This waiver of the delayed-payment charge shall apply to the residential rate only.
(2) 
Disabled American veterans.
(a) 
The delayed-payment charge shall be waived to disabled American veterans, provided that a written application is made and service is in the applicant's name. Proof of disabled American veteran status must be presented at time of application. For purposes of this section, a "disabled American veteran" is any veteran who has been or shall be declared by the United States Veterans' Administration, or its successor, to have a service-connected disability.
(b) 
If all conditions are met in Subsection B(2)(a), the disabled American veteran customers, as defined above, shall receive net billing only. This waiver of the delayed-payment charge shall apply to the residential rate only.
(3) 
Permanently and totally disabled persons.
(a) 
The delayed-payment charge shall be waived to permanently and totally disabled persons, provided that a written application is made and service is in the applicant's name. Proof of permanent and total disability status must be presented at time of application. For purposes of this section, a "permanently and totally disabled person" is any person who has been or shall be declared by the United States Social Security Administration, or its successor, to be permanently and totally disabled.
(b) 
If all conditions of Subsection B(3)(a) are met, the permanently and totally disabled customers defined above shall receive net billing only. This waiver of delayed-payment charges shall apply to the residential rate only.
C. 
A charge as provided in Chapter 280, Checks, Returned, will be made when a customer's check is returned by the customer's bank as uncollectible.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
[Amended 3-22-1977 by Ord. No. 1074; 11-12-1980 by Ord. No. 1231]
A. 
A reasonable deposit or a suitable guaranty or security may be required of the customer before service will be rendered or continued. The deposit shall be not less than $100 nor more than the maximum estimated amount which would accrue for a reasonable period of service at the applicable rate or rates. Upon discontinuance of service, the deposit will be refunded, less the amount of any indebtedness.
[Amended 1-14-1986 by Ord. No. 85-66]
B. 
The Electric Utility will allow simple interest on cash deposits at such rate per annum as may be established by the Council of the City of Vineland. Deposits shall cease to bear interest upon discontinuance of service.
[Amended 4-26-1994 by Ord. No. 94-30]
Where charges specified in the established rates are based upon the customer's demand, it is intended that such demand shall fairly represent the capacity which the Electric Utility is required to stand ready to supply. In case of installations which use service in such a manner that neither the fixing of the demand by assessment under the standards rule nor its measurement over the demand interval as specified in the applicable rate results in a fair or equitable measure of the supply capacity required to serve the customer's load, then the demand may be estimated from the known character of use and the rating data of the equipment connected or from special tests, the intent being that the demand so determined shall fairly represent the customer's capacity requirement. The contract for such loads shall not in any case be for less capacity than the Electric Utility is required to supply.
The Electric Utility reserves the right to measure the power factor of the customer's load. Such measurement shall be made at the point where the electricity is metered by a test at a time of normal load or, at the option of the Electric Utility, by permanently installed instruments.
Where demands are reassessed or power factor is recomputed or customers are found to be on an improper rate as the result of an investigation made at the customer's request or by routine inspection, the change of billing to the new demand or power factor or to the proper rate may be applied within its net payment period to the bill for the regular meter reading preceding such investigation and will in any event apply to the bill for the month during which the check is made.
The Electric Utility will use reasonable diligence to provide a continuous, regular and uninterrupted supply of service; but, should the supply be interrupted by the Electric Utility for the purpose of making repairs, changes or improvements in any part of its system for the general good of the service or safety of the public or should the supply of service be interrupted or fail by reason of accident, strike, legal process, state interference or any cause whatsoever, the Electric Utility shall not be liable for damages, direct or consequential, resulting from such interruption or failure.
A. 
All fluorescent lighting fixtures, lamps and equipment installed on customer's premises must be of the high-power-factor type, with certified rating for each complete operating unit of not less than eighty-five-percent power factor.
B. 
All neon lighting fixtures and equipment with a total rating in excess of 750 volt-amperes per meter installation must be equipped with auxiliaries for maintaining a power factor of not less than 85%. These auxiliaries may be incorporated in the transformers, or capacitor-transformers may be installed to correct the power factor of the entire neon installation.
C. 
The Electric Utility reserves the right to test fluorescent, neon or similar equipment before or after its installation.
The rates established by the Electric Utility for each class of service are based upon the supply of service to one entire premises through a single delivery and metering point. Separate supply for the same customer at other points of consumption shall be separately metered and billed at the available service rate selected by the customer.
[Amended 11-12-1980 by Ord. No. 1231]
The City of Vineland Electric Utility (CVEU) reserves the right to make such additional rules, regulations and restrictions concerning electric lighting and power service as it may find advisable for the protection of the municipal plant.
[Added 4-11-1972 by Ord. No. 841; amended 4-26-1994 by Ord. No. 94-30]
Extension of electric distribution lines requested by an applicant and necessary to furnish an entire electric system to new residential buildings and mobile homes within an approved subdivision having three or more building lots or to new multiple-occupancy buildings shall be made underground in accordance with provisions set forth in detailed rules and regulations governing electric service installations established and published by the Electric Utility, the differential in cost of said underground system installation to be assumed and to be payable in advance by the applicant, in full, or shared in such proportion with the Electric Utility as may be established and published in said detailed rules and regulations governing electric service installations.
[Added 11-12-1980 by Ord. No. 1231]
The Electric Utility will not supply service to customers who have other sources of energy supply except under schedules which specifically provide for such service. The customer shall not be permitted to operate his own generating equipment in parallel with the Electric Utility's service except on written permission of the Electric Utility. In order to avoid undue jeopardy to life and property in his own premises, in the City of Vineland electric system and in the facilities of third parties, the customer shall not install his own generating equipment until he has consulted the Electric Utility.
[Added 11-12-1980 by Ord. No. 1231; amended 12-8-1981 by Ord. No. 1281; 1-14-1986 by Ord. No. 85-66; 4-26-1994 by Ord. No. 94-30]
The energy cost clause, as set forth in §§ 687-31, 687-38 and 687-55, shall apply to Rate R: residential service; Rate GLP: general light and power service; and Rate WLP: wholesale light and power service. In addition, the energy cost clause shall apply to any other established rates for electric service, if so specified.
[Added 8-8-1989 by Ord. No. 89-47; amended 7-14-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-44]
A. 
The Electric Utility shall establish a procedure for refund of overpayments to customers within the current fiscal period, said procedure to be an addition to this article.
B. 
The Electric Utility shall apply a credit balance to active accounts where an overpayment does exist.
C. 
The Electric Utility shall issue refund checks to customers addressed to the last known address of record where said refund exceeds $5 and there is no active Electric Utility account against which to charge said credit.
D. 
The Electric Utility shall establish a policy of canceling the overpaid balance of customer accounts less than or equal to $5 where there is a remaining credit balance, which balance has accrued on the records for a period in excess of one year, and no valid address of record is available for refunding said balance of overpaid account funds.
E. 
The Director of the Department of Municipal Utilities shall be the authorized municipal official with authority to authorize said cancellation of customer accounts with $5 or less remaining therein pursuant to Subsection D above.