The City shall possess and hereby reserves to itself all the powers granted to cities by statute and constitution to acquire, construct, own, operate, improve, enlarge, extend, repair and maintain, either within or without its corporate limits, including but not by the way of limitation, public utilities for supplying water, light, heat, power, gas, sewage treatment and garbage disposal facilities, or any of them, to the municipality and the inhabitants thereof; and also to sell and deliver water, light, heat, power, gas and other public utility services without its corporate limits to an amount not to exceed the limitations set by statute and constitution.
All municipally owned or operated utilities shall be administered as a regular department of the City government under the management and supervision of the City Manager.
The Council shall have the power to fix from time to time such just and reasonable rates and other charges as may be deemed advisable for supplying the inhabitants of the City and others with such public utility services as the City may provide. There shall be no discrimination in such rates within any classification of users thereof, nor shall free service be permitted. Higher rates may be charged for service outside the corporate limits of the City.
The Council shall provide by ordinance for the collection of all public utility rates and charges of the City. Such ordinance shall provide at least:
(a) 
The terms and conditions under which utility services may be discontinued in case of delinquency in paying such rates or charges.
(b) 
That suit may be instituted by the City before a competent tribunal for the collection of such rates or charges.
With respect to the collection of rates charged for water the City shall have all the powers granted to cities by Act No. 178 of the Public Acts of 1939.
Unless approved by the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the electors voting thereon at a regular or special election, the City shall not sell, exchange, lease or in any way dispose of any property, easements, equipment, privileges or assets belonging to and appertaining to any municipally owned public utility which is needed to continue operating such utility. All contracts, negotiations, licenses, grants, leases or other forms of transfer in violation of this section shall be void and no effect as against the City. The restrictions of this section shall not apply to the sale or exchange of any articles of machinery or equipment of any City owned public utility which are worn out or useless or which have been, or could with advantage to the service, be replaced by new and improved machinery or equipment, to the leasing of property not necessary for the operation of the utility, or to the exchange of property or easements for other needed property or easements. It is provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not extend to vacation or abandonment of streets, as provided by statute.
The rates and charges for any municipal public utility for the furnishing of water, light, heat, power or gas shall be so fixed as to at least meet all the costs of such utility. Transactions pertaining to the ownership and operation by the City of each public utility shall be recorded in a separate group of accounts under an appropriate fund caption, which accounts shall be classified in accordance with generally accepted utility accounting practice. Charges for all service furnished to, or rendered by, other City departments or agencies shall be recorded. An annual report shall be prepared to show fairly the financial position of each utility and the result of its operation, which report shall be available for inspection at the office of the Clerk.
No person, partnership, association or corporation operating a public utility shall have the right to the use of the highways, streets, alleys or other public places of the City for wires, poles, pipes, tracks or conduits without the consent of the Council; nor may it transact a local business in the City without first obtaining a franchise therefor from the City.
The City shall have the right (a) to regulate public utilities; (b) to regulate the location of poles and other facilities used by public utilities, and (c) to require that wires in streets and alleys be placed underground.
The Council may grant a permit at any time in or upon any street, alley, or public place; provided, that such permit shall be revocable by the Council at its pleasure at any time, whether such right to revoke be expressly reserved in said permit or not.
No public utility franchise which is not revocable at the will of the City, shall be granted unless the same shall have received the affirmative vote of 3/5 of the electors of the City voting thereon at a regular or special municipal election. No franchise shall be submitted under the provisions of this Charter, to the electors at a special election, unless the cost of holding the election, as determined by the Council, shall be paid to the Treasurer in advance of calling said election by the grantee in such franchise.
No franchise shall be granted by the City for a longer period than 30 years. No exclusive franchise shall ever be granted to any person, firm or corporation.
The grant of every franchise shall be subject to the right of the City whether in terms reserved or not, to make all regulations which shall be necessary to secure in the most ample manner the safety, welfare and accommodation of the public, and the right to make and enforce all such regulations as shall be reasonably necessary to secure adequate, sufficient and proper service, extensions and accommodations for the people and insure their comfort and convenience. Such right of the City shall include but shall not be limited to the following, viz:
(a) 
To repeal the same for misuse, or nonuse, or for failure to comply with the provisions thereof;
(b) 
To require continuous and uninterrupted service to the public in accordance with the terms of the franchise throughout the entire period thereof;
(c) 
To require the public utility to which any franchise is granted to permit joint use of its property and appurtenances located in the streets, alleys and public places of the City, by the City and other utilities, insofar as such joint use may be reasonably practicable and upon payment of reasonable rental therefor; provided that, in event of the inability of the parties to agree, upon application by either party, the Council shall provide for arbitration of the terms and conditions of such joint use and the compensation to be paid therefor;
(d) 
To pay such part of the cost of improvement or maintenance of the streets, alleys, bridges, and public places of the City, as shall arise from its use thereof and to protect and save the City harmless from all damages arising from said use.
All contracts, granting or giving any original franchise, or extending or renewing or amending any existing franchise, shall be made by ordinance and not otherwise. Every such ordinance granting a franchise shall be accepted in writing by the grantee before said ordinance takes effect, and if it is to be submitted to the electors, it shall be so accepted before its submission. Such acceptance shall be filed with the Clerk. Any noncompliance with this section shall automatically annul such franchise.
The Council may by ordinance provide for efficient inspection and regulation of all public utilities operated in the City. It is the intention of this section to provide means for securing to the City efficient service from all public utilities operated in the City and the proper observance of the conditions imposed by franchise, the Charter and ordinances of the City and law of the State.
All ordinances granting franchises, or extensions or renewals thereof, shall reserve to the City the right to terminate the same and to purchase all the property of the utility in the streets and highways in the City and elsewhere, used in or useful for the operation of the utility, at a price either fixed by the ordinance or to be fixed in the manner provided by the ordinance granting the same. Nothing in such ordinance shall prevent the City from acquiring the property of any such utility by condemnation proceedings or in any other lawful mode; but all such methods of acquisition shall be alternative to the power to purchase reserved in the ordinance granting such franchise, extension or renewal as hereinbefore provided. Upon the acquisition by the City of the property of any utility by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, all CT franchises, extensions and renewals shall at once terminate.
No ordinance granting such franchise, or extension or renewal thereof, shall be valid unless it shall expressly provide therein that the price to be paid by the City for the property that may be acquired by it from such utility by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, shall exclude all value of such franchise, extension or renewal, except that, unless otherwise provided in such ordinance, the utility shall be entitled to the return of the proportionate amount for the unused period of any compensation paid to the City for such franchise, extension or renewal except that, unless otherwise provided in such ordinance, the utility shall be entitled to the return of the proportionate amount for the unused period of any compensation paid to the City for such franchise, extension or renewal.