The council may grant permits for the construction and maintenance
of switch tracks or sidings across, along, under or over the streets,
highways, bridges, or public places of the city. Such permits shall
expressly provide that the permit is a mere license and subject at
any time to revocation or change without compensation therefor; that
the licensee will immediately upon any such revocation or change remove
or alter such switch track or siding to comply therewith and will
replace in good condition any street or public place affected thereby;
that the licensee and all persons benefited thereby shall have no
claim upon the city for any damage which may be caused by reason of
any change of grade in such switch track or siding whether such change
of grade shall be directly ordered or made necessary by the alteration
of another track, and may provide such other conditions as may be
deemed desirable for the protection of the interests of the city.
Any person or corporation having grants therefor from the state
or the city may place its wires and electrical conductors in conduits
under the surface of the streets or other public grounds in such manner
as not to interfere unnecessarily with the use thereof for local improvements
of any character or with sewers, water, water mains, gas mains, or
branches thereof, subject to such regulations and restrictions as
the council may prescribe by ordinance; provided, however, that the
council shall not be authorized to require the use of any particular
patent or appliance in such construction. Any such person or corporation
shall, upon notice from the city engineer that a local improvement
or sewer or water main, or branch thereof, is to be constructed in
such manner as will necessitate the moving or altering of such conduits,
shall move or alter the same at its own expense so as to permit such
construction and on failure of such person or corporation to comply
with such notice, the conduit or conduits may be altered or removed
by the city and the cost and expense thereof recovered from such person
or corporation.
All persons and corporations, having grants from the state or
the city for the construction and maintenance of pipes, subways or
conduits in the street or other public places, shall obtain permission
for the construction, reconstruction or repair thereof from the city
engineer.
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City Electric Agency
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(a)Â
Pursuant to article fourteen-A of the general municipal law and other laws applicable thereto, a city electric agency ("agency") is hereby established for the purpose of operating a public utility electric service within the city's territorial limits to furnish to itself or, for compensation, to its inhabitants any electric service similar to that furnished by any public utility company specified in article 4 of the public service law, and also for the purpose of acquiring hydro-electric power from the power authority of the state of New York ("PASNY").
(b)Â
The method of acquiring and operating the necessary elements of such
electric service shall be as follows:
(i)Â
The agency shall acquire hydro-electric power from PASNY for
delivery to the local private utility company service area in the
city;
(ii)Â
The agency shall agree with the local private utility company
for the local private utility company to use or lease its distribution,
substation and transmission facilities necessary to deliver PASNY
hydroelectric power acquired by the agency to electric customers in
the local private utility company service area in the city.
(c)Â
The method of furnishing such electric service shall consist of (1)
acquiring PASNY hydro-electric power; (2) delivering said power to
the local private utility company over the transmission and distribution
facilities of PASNY and such other entities at transmission or distribution
voltages as may be required to ensure proper power availability to
the local private utility company; (3) delivering said power over
the local private utility company's transmission, substation and distribution
facilities, for compensation, to electric customers in the local private
utility company service area within the city. The local private utility
company may, by agreement with the agency, deliver said power and
collect and remit to the agency the charges therefor.
(d)Â
All agreements entered into in furtherance of acquisition and operation
of the agency's service shall first be approved by the common council.
Rates for the sale of PASNY hydro-electric power by the agency shall
be established by the common council and shall be sufficient to permit
the agency to recover its costs of doing business, but shall not provide
any profit or return on investment to the agency. Any reduction in
utility gross receipts tax revenues received by the city as a result
of the implementation of this section may be paid by the agency as
an in-lieu-of tax payment to the city. Any reduction in property tax
revenues received by the city from the local private utility company
as a result of the implementation of this section shall be paid by
the local private utility company as an in-lieu-of tax payment to
the city. Except as otherwise required by PASNY pursuant to applicable
law, and to the maximum extent practicable, the PASNY hydro-electric
power acquired by the agency shall be furnished first to fulfill the
electric energy requirements of city residential consumers, and then
may be furnished to fulfill the electric energy requirements of the
city and other municipal corporations, and to fulfill the electric
energy requirements of all other classes of electric customers, including
commercial and industrial customers. Nothing contained in this section
provides, or is intended to provide, or shall be construed or interpreted
as providing, that the furnishing of PASNY hydro-electric power by
the agency to purchasers who are also electric customers of the local
private utility company shall diminish the geographic boundaries of
the local private utility company's service area, or the legal status
of said purchasers as customers of the local private utility company.
(e)Â
The method of acquiring and operating the electric service described
in this section contemplates neither the exercise of any power of
condemnation by the city or the agency of the local private utility
company generation, distribution and transmission system, nor the
establishment by the city or the agency of transmission or distribution
facilities separate from the local private utility company. However,
nothing in this section prohibits the city from acquiring, constructing
or owning facilities for lighting its streets.
(a)Â
Any material amendment of this article, including any attempt by
the city or the agency to exercise the power of condemnation of the
local private utility company's generation, distribution and transmission
system, or to establish transmission or distribution facilities separate
from the local private utility company for the purpose of this article,
shall not be effective unless approved by the voters at a referendum
as required by article fourteen-A of the general municipal law.
(b)Â
It is presently estimated that the total annual cost of the agency's
acquiring PASNY hydro-electric power for city residential electric
customers will range from two million six hundred four thousand dollars
(if the agency acquires enough PASNY power to satisfy the balance
of the total city residential electric demand beyond the PASNY power
presently acquired for city residential electrical customers by the
local private utility company) to a maximum of four million seven
hundred fourteen thousand dollars (if the agency acquired all the
PASNY power needed to satisfy the total city residential electrical
demand without the local private utility company acquiring any PASNY
power for city residential electric customers).
(c)Â
It is presently estimated that the total annual cost of using the
local private utility company's facilities to deliver PASNY hydro-electric
power to city residential electric customers will range from nine
million eight hundred thirty-seven thousand dollars (if the agency
acquires enough PASNY power to satisfy the balance of the total city
residential electric demand beyond the PASNY power presently acquired
for city residential electric customers by the local private utility
company) to a maximum of seventeen million eight hundred eight thousand
dollars (if the agency acquires all the PASNY power needed to satisfy
the total city residential electric demand without the local private
utility company acquiring any PASNY power for city residential electric
customers)
