reglab/statecodes huggingface dataset:
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 82 - Form of Records of Work at Manufacturing Station

Section 82. Gas and electric companies and manufacturing companies or persons engaged in the manufacture or sale of gas or electricity shall keep such records of their work at their manufacturing station, and in respect to their distributing plant, and in such form as the department may from time to time require.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 83 - Annual Return; Form; Other Information to Department

Section 83. Gas and electric companies and manufacturing companies and persons engaged in the manufacture and sale or distribution and sale of gas or electricity shall annually, on or before such date as the department fixes, make to the department, in a form prescribed by it, a return for the year ending on such date as the department may from time to time require, signed and sworn to by the president or vice president, and treasurer or assistant treasurer, and a majority of the directors, of the amount of their authorized capital, their indebtedness and financial condition, on the said date, their income and expenses during the preceding year, their dividends paid and declared, a list of the names of all their salaried officers and the amount of the salary paid to each, and the balance sheet of their accounts as of said date. Such companies and persons shall at all times, upon request, furnish any information required by the department or its duly authorized employees relative to their condition, management and operation, and shall comply with all lawful orders of the department; but manufacturing companies in which the manufacture and sale of gas or electricity is a minor portion of their business shall be required to include in their annual returns the income and expenses and other data relative to their gas and electric business only.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 84 - Failure to Make or Amend Return; Penalty

Section 84. Each such gas or electric company or manufacturing company or person neglecting to make the annual return required by the preceding section shall, for the first fifteen days or portion thereof during which such neglect continues, forfeit five dollars a day; for the second fifteen days or any portion thereof, ten dollars a day; and for each day thereafter not more than fifteen dollars a day. If any such company or person unreasonably refuses or neglects to make such return, it or he shall, in addition thereto, forfeit not more than five hundred dollars. If a return is defective or appears to be erroneous, the department shall notify the company or person to amend it within fifteen days. A company or person neglecting to amend said return within the time specified in the notice, when notified to do so, shall forfeit fifteen dollars for each day during which such neglect continues. All forfeitures incurred under this section may be recovered by an information in equity brought in the supreme judicial court by the attorney general, at the relation of the department, and when so recovered shall be paid to the commonwealth.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 84a - Condensed Return of Business and Financial Condition

Section 84A. Gas and electric companies and manufacturing companies and persons engaged in the manufacture and sale or distribution and sale of gas or electricity shall file with the department, with their annual returns required under section eighty-three, a condensed return of their business and financial condition, in such form and with such detail as the department requires, signed and sworn to by the president or vice president and treasurer or assistant treasurer, setting forth the amount of receipts and expenditures and the amount of each of the principal items of operating expenses, amounts accrued for interest and other carrying charges for capital, taxes, amounts accrued for depreciation and amounts reserved or available for payment of dividends, and at the same time file with the clerk of each city and town in which they operate a copy of such condensed return which shall be kept in the clerk's office and shall be open to public inspection during office hours. The provisions of section eighty-four relative to returns under section eighty-three shall apply to returns and copies thereof required to be filed under this section.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 85 - Examination of Records by Department; Confidential Nature of Information; ''affiliated Company'' Defined

Section 85. The officers and employees of the department may be authorized by it to examine the books, contracts, records, documents and memoranda or the physical property of any company subject to this chapter, and of any affiliated company with respect to any relations, transactions or dealings, direct or indirect, between such affiliated company and any company so subject, and, for any examination so authorized, shall be entitled to full access to the subject matter thereof. No such officer or employee shall divulge any fact or information coming to his knowledge during the course of such an examination unless directed by the department or by the court, or authorized by law.
For the purposes of this section and of section seventy-six A, the words ''affiliated company'' shall include any corporation, society, trust, association, partnership or individual (a) controlling a company subject to this chapter, either directly, by ownership of a majority of its voting stock or of such minority thereof as to give it substantial control of such company, or indirectly, by ownership of such a majority or minority of the voting stock of another corporation or association so controlling such company; or (b) so controlled by a corporation, society, trust, association, partnership or individual controlling as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, a company subject to this chapter; or (c) standing in such a relation to a company subject to this chapter that there is an absence of equal bargaining power between the corporation, society, trust, association, partnership or individual and the company so subject, in respect to their dealings and transactions.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 85a - Filing Copies of Existing Contracts With Affiliated Companies

Section 85A. A gas or electric company that has, prior to the effective date of this section, entered into or shall thereafter enter into any contract with an affiliated company as defined in section eighty-five, for the payment of any fees, salaries, commissions or percentages for services of any kind furnished or rendered, or to be furnished or rendered, to such gas or electric company shall file with the department within ten days after said effective date a copy of any such existing contract and any extension or modification thereof, if in writing, or, if not in writing, a statement of all the terms thereof, and within ten days after the execution of any such contract, or of any extension or modification of any such contract whether or not existing on said effective date, a copy thereof, if in writing, or, if not in writing, a statement setting forth all the terms thereof. A gas or electric company failing to file a copy or statement as required herein shall forfeit five dollars for each day during which such failure continues. All such forfeitures may be recovered by an information in equity brought in the supreme judicial court by the attorney general, at the relation of the department, and when so recovered shall be paid to the commonwealth.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 86 - Consent of Municipality to Entry of Another Gas Company

Section 86. In a town where a gas company exists in active operation, or where a person owns or operates works for the manufacture and sale of gas, no other gas company, nor any other person, shall dig up and open the streets, lanes and highways of such town in order to lay gas pipes therein, without the consent of the aldermen or selectmen, granted after notice by publication or otherwise to all parties interested and a public hearing.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 87 - Consent of Municipality to Entry of Another Electric Company

Section 87. In a town where a person is engaged in the manufacture, sale or distribution of electricity, no other person shall lay, erect, maintain or use, over or under the streets, lanes and highways of such town, any wires for the transmission of electricity except wires used by street railway companies for heat or power, without the consent of the aldermen or selectmen granted after notice to all parties interested and a public hearing.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 88 - Review of Decision Issued Under Secs. 86 or 87

Section 88. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the aldermen or selectmen, under either of the two preceding sections, may, within thirty days after notice of said decision, appeal therefrom to the department, which shall thereupon give due notice and hear all parties interested, and its decision shall be final.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 89 - Rights of Another Municipality to Enter Another Town

Section 89. A town which has duly acquired a municipal lighting plant and is authorized to supply gas or electricity in any other town shall have all the rights which a private corporation supplying gas or electricity in said other town would have under the three preceding sections.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 90 - Conditions Imposed Upon Entry of Supplier of Electricity in Bulk

Section 90. In consenting to the laying, erecting, maintaining or using by an electric company, for the sole purpose of supplying electricity in bulk, of any wires for the transmission of electricity over or under streets, lanes and highways, as provided in section eighty-seven, the aldermen or selectmen may, in addition to the laws governing such companies, impose such other terms as they deem public interest requires, and upon an appeal under section eighty-eight, the department may, in addition to its authority under said section, affirm, amend, alter or add to the terms so imposed as it deems public interest requires.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 91 - Enforcement of Conditions Imposed Under Sec. 90

Section 91. The supreme judicial or superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity, on application of the department or of the mayor of any city or the selectmen of any town where electricity is distributed and sold under the preceding section, to compel the observance and to restrain the violation of any provision thereof and of the general laws relating to electric companies and of all lawful orders, decisions and terms made or imposed by the department or by the aldermen or selectmen under said section.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 92 - Right of User to Gas or Electricity

Section 92. On written petition of any person, having a residence or place of business in a town where a corporation is engaged in the manufacture, transmission or sale of gas or the distribution of electricity, aggrieved by its refusal or neglect to supply him with gas or electricity, the department may, after notice to the corporation to appear at a time and place therein named to show cause why the prayer of such petition should not be granted, issue an order directing and requiring it to supply the petitioner with gas or electricity, upon such terms and conditions as are legal and reasonable; provided, however, that if such corporation is engaged in such town solely in the transmission of gas such order shall not be made where it appears that compliance therewith would result in permanent financial loss to the corporation.
Grants of locations in the streets, lanes and highways of such town for the pipes or lines necessary to the supplying of gas or electricity in pursuance of such an order by a corporation solely engaged as aforesaid shall be subject to the provisions of sections eighty-six to ninety-one, inclusive.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 92a - Right of User in Bulk to Gas

Section 92A. On written petition of any person, corporation or municipality aggrieved by the refusal or neglect to supply gas in bulk at reasonable rates by any person, corporation or municipality engaged, subject to the provisions of this chapter, in the manufacture, transmission or sale of gas, the department may, after notice to such last-mentioned person, corporation or municipality to appear at a time and place therein named to show cause why the prayer of such petition should not be granted, issue an order directing and requiring him or it to supply the petitioner with gas, upon such terms and conditions as are legal and reasonable; provided, that such order shall not be made where it appears that compliance therewith would result in permanent financial loss to such person, corporation or municipality.
Grants of locations in streets, lanes and highways for pipes or lines necessary to the supplying of gas in pursuance of such order shall be subject to the provisions of sections eighty-six to ninety-one, inclusive.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 93 - Price or Quality of Gas or Electricity; Public Hearing; Notice

Section 93. On written complaint of the attorney general, of the mayor of a city or the selectmen of a town where a gas or electric company is operated, or of twenty customers thereof, either as to the quality or price of the gas or electricity sold and delivered, the department shall notify said company by leaving at its office a copy of such complaint, and shall thereupon, after notice, give a public hearing to such complainant and said company, and after such hearing may order any reduction or change in the price or prices of gas or electricity or an improvement in the quality thereof, and a report of such proceedings and the result thereof shall be included in the report required by section seventy-seven. Such an order may likewise be made by the department, after notice and hearing as aforesaid, upon its own motion. The price or prices fixed by any such order shall not thereafter be changed by said company except as provided in section ninety-four.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 94 1/2 - Sales of Compressed Natural Gas for Use as a Motor Fuel

Section 941/2. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section ninety-four or any other law to the contrary, the rates and terms for the sale of compressed natural gas by a fueling station for use as a motor vehicle fuel shall not be subject to regulation by the department; provided, however, that any gas company which sells compressed natural gas for use as a motor vehicle fuel shall keep separate records, books, and accounts of such unregulated sales which are sufficient to allow the department to allocate costs and revenues; and provided, further, that such gas company's sale of compressed natural gas for use as a motor vehicle fuel and its investment in related infrastructure shall not reduce the availability or increase the cost of natural gas to said company's customers who purchase natural gas for use other than as a motor vehicle fuel.
[There is no subsection (b).]
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 94a - Contracts for Purchase of Gas or Electricity; Review of Price Paid

Section 94A. No gas or electric company shall hereafter enter into a contract for the purchase of gas or electricity covering a period in excess of one year without the approval of the department, unless such contract contains a provision subjecting the price to be paid thereunder for gas or electricity to review and determination by the department in any proceeding brought under section ninety-three or ninety-four; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed as affecting a contract for the purchase of gas or electricity from a person or corporation engaged in manufacturing, where the manufacture, sale or distribution of gas or electricity by such person or corporation is a minor portion of his or its business, and which contract is made in connection with a contract to supply such person or corporation with gas or electricity, or as affecting a contract for the purchase of electricity from an alternative energy producer. In any such proceeding the department may review and determine the price to be thereafter paid for gas or electricity under a contract containing said provision for review. Any contract covering a period in excess of one year subject to approval as aforesaid, and which is not so approved or which does not contain said provision for review, shall be null and void. The department is authorized to exempt any electric or generation company from any or all of the provisions of this section upon a determination by the department, after notice and a hearing, that an alternative process or incentive mechanism is in the public interest.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 94b - Contracts With Affiliated Companies; Approval by Department

Section 94B. No gas or electric company shall, without the approval of the department, hereafter enter into a contract with a company related to it as an affiliated company, as defined in section eighty-five, covering a period in excess of one year, by virtue of which any compensation is to be paid by the said gas or electric company in whole or in part for services rendered by such affiliated company, unless such contract contains a provision subjecting the amount of compensation to be paid thereunder to review and determination by the department in any proceeding brought under section ninety-three or ninety-four. In any such proceeding the department may review and determine the amount of compensation to be thereafter paid under a contract containing such provision for review, and, if it appears that the amount agreed on is excessive, the department may declare the said contract to be terminated forthwith, even if no bad faith be found. Any contract covering a period in excess of one year, subject to approval as aforesaid, and which is not so approved or which does not contain such provision for review, shall be null and void.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 94c - Dealings Between Gas or Electric Affiliated Company; Burden of Proof

Section 94C. Whenever, in any proceeding before the department under section fourteen, ninety-two, ninety-two A, ninety-three, ninety-four, ninety-four A or ninety-four B, the reasonableness of any payment, charge, contract, purchase, sale, obligation or other arrangement between a gas or electric company and a company related to it as an affiliated company, as defined in section eighty-five, shall come into question, the burden of establishing and proving the reasonableness of such payment, charge, contract, purchase, sale, obligation or other arrangement shall be upon such gas or electric company.
For purposes of determining the value of an investment in an affiliated company, as defined by section eighty-five, in any proceeding before the department under the above named sections, the valuation shall be the lesser of the actual cost of the investment, as defined by the uniform system of accounts adopted by the department, or the net original cost of the property of the affiliate used and useful in providing service to the customers of the investing company.
Whenever the rates and charges of the affiliated company are regulated by the Federal Power Commission the department shall not establish rates and charges for the investing company which provide a higher return on the investment than that found to be fair and reasonable by the Federal Power Commission.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 94d - Penalties for Delinquencies and Discounts

Section 94D. No gas or electric company shall collect from a customer on account of his failure to pay any bill due for gas or electricity furnished to him for domestic purposes any charges as, or in the nature of, a penalty; provided, that nothing herein shall prevent the collection of any amount allowable as a discount from such a bill in the event of its payment within a period specified therein, if the right to such discount has been forfeited by failure so to pay such bill.
No gas or electric company shall collect from the commonwealth or any city, town, county or political subdivision thereof, on account of its failure to pay any bill due for gas or electricity furnished to the commonwealth, or any city, town, county or political subdivision thereof, any charges as, or in the nature of, a penalty until the expiration of fifty-five days from the date of such bill; provided, that nothing herein shall prevent the collection of any amount allowable as a discount from such a bill in the event of its payment within a period specified therein, if the right to such a discount has been forfeited by failure so to pay such bill.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 94e - Notification of Termination of Contract Filed Under Sec. 94

Section 94E. A gas or electric company required to file any contract with the department under section ninety-four shall, unless such contract terminates at a time expressly stated therein, notify the department forthwith upon the termination thereof.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 94f - Rates, Prices and Charges of Gas Companies; Effect of Orders of f.p.c.

Section 94F. In connection with any investigation by the department concerning the rates, prices and charges made by a gas company, the department may take into consideration the rates, charges, classifications and schedules on file with the Federal Power Commission whereby the cost of gas purchased or received by such gas company is fixed and determined. If, while such investigation is pending before the department, a proceeding shall be instituted or be pending before the Federal Power Commission or an appeal therefrom to any court having jurisdiction, with respect to or affecting the cost of gas payable by such gas company, the department shall consider as an item of operating expense to said gas company the cost of gas set forth in rates, charges, classifications and schedules on file with the Federal Power Commission. If the cost of gas payable by said gas company shall be reduced by the official order of the Federal Power Commission or by official decree of the court, if appealed thereto, and the department shall have entered an order approving rates of said gas company based upon the cost of gas set forth in the rates, charges, classifications and schedules on file with the Federal Power Commission which were later reduced as above set forth, the department, upon its own motion or upon complaint and after notice and hearing, may order said gas company to refund to its customers any sums refunded to said gas company for the period subsequent to the effective date of the order of the department approving rates for the gas company as above set forth and may impose such restrictions, limitations, terms and conditions in such order as are considered necessary by it. The department may also make such order, upon its own motion or upon complaint and after due notice and hearing, in any case where the Federal Power Commission has ordered and a gas company has received a refund from a natural gas pipe line company as defined in this chapter.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 94h - Condominiums; Common Areas; Rates

Section 94H. No gas or electric company shall furnish gas or electricity to the common areas and facilities which are for the exclusive use of the owners of a condominium, as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and eight-three A, at a rate higher than that charged for gas and electricity furnished to individual units of the condominium which rate shall be set forth in the schedules of such gas or electric company applicable to residential use. The department may establish regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 94i - Cost-Allocation Method for Determining Base Distribution Rates

Section 94I. In each base distribution rate proceeding conducted by the department under section 94, the department shall design base distribution rates using a cost-allocation method that is based on equalized rates of return for each customer class; provided, however, that if the resulting impact of employing this cost-allocation method for any 1 customer class would be more than 10 per cent, the department shall phase in the elimination of any cross subsidies between rate classes on a revenue neutral basis phased in over a reasonable period as determined by the department.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 95 - Reports of Accidents

Section 95. Corporations, persons and municipalities engaged in the manufacture, sale, or distribution of gas or electricity shall, within twenty-four hours after every accident caused by gas or electricity manufactured or supplied by them, whereby an employee or other person is injured, rendered insensible, or killed, report in writing to the department, stating the time, place and circumstances of the accident and such other facts relative thereto as the department may require. The chief of police of the town, and the medical examiner of the district, where such accident occurs shall, in writing, report the same to the department. The chief of police shall so report within twenty-four hours, and the medical examiner within seven days, after he has notice thereof. The members of the department shall personally investigate all such cases requiring investigation.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 98 - Rights of Company Acquiring Water Storage Reservoir or Hydro-Electric Plant

Section 98. The purchasing or consolidated company shall except as provided in the preceding section, have and enjoy all the powers, rights, locations, licenses, privileges and franchises, and be subject to all the duties, liabilities and restrictions, of the company selling or merged as aforesaid, so far as they are applicable to the purchasing or consolidated company.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 99 - Increase of Capital Stock to Affect Acquisition

Section 99. The purchasing or consolidated company may, for the purposes authorized by sections ninety-six and ninety-seven, increase its capital stock and issue bonds in the manner and subject to the limitations provided in sections thirteen, fourteen, eighteen and nineteen; and may, for the same purpose and subject to the same limitations and notwithstanding any special law applicable thereto, exchange its securities for those of the selling or merged company upon such terms as the department approves; but the aggregate amount of the capital stock and the aggregate amount of the debt, respectively, of the consolidated companies shall not, by reason of such consolidation, be increased.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 99a - Property Held as Tenants in Common by Electric Companies

Section 99A. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, if an electric company acquires or owns an interest as a tenant in common with one or more domestic or foreign corporations, associations or persons, in any property in this commonwealth used or useful for electric utility company purposes, the surrender or waiver by any owner of such property, by agreement or otherwise, of its rights to partition such property for a period not exceeding the period for which such property is used or useful for electric utility company purposes, shall not be invalid or unenforceable by reason of the length of such period, or as unduly restricting the alienation of such property. Such property shall include, but is not limited to, water storage reservoirs, transmission lines, plants for generating electricity, office buildings and equipment, and transportation equipment.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 100 - Sale of Property to Another Gas or Electric Company; Exceptions

Section 100. Any company subject to this chapter engaged both in the business of an electric company and of a gas company may, notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter or of any general or special law, sell and convey its properties used or useful in the electric business or its properties used or useful in the gas business to another company subject to this chapter, and such other company may purchase such properties, with the approval of the department but subject to such of the provisions of sections ninety-six, ninety-eight and ninety-nine as may be applicable and consistent herewith.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 101 - Time for Filing Applications for Approval of Sales or Consolidations

Section 101. All applications for the approval by the department of purchases and sales or consolidations under sections twenty-six, ninety-six, ninety-seven and one hundred shall be filed with the department within four months after the passage by the contracting companies of votes authorizing such purchase and sale or consolidation.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 102b - Certificate of Consolidation or Merger; Issuance; Fee

Section 102B. Upon the payment of a fee to be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven, the state secretary shall issue a certificate in such form as he shall prescribe evidencing the filing and approval of articles of consolidation or merger in his office pursuant to section one hundred and two A.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 102c - Enforcement of Consumer Protection Provisions; Arbitration

Section 102C. (a) The attorney general is hereby authorized to bring an action under section 4 of chapter 93A to enforce the consumer protection provisions of sections 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, and 137 of this chapter and to obtain restitution, civil penalties, injunctive relief and any other relief awarded pursuant to said chapter 93A. At the attorney general's discretion, pursuant to subsection (c) of section 2 of said chapter 93A, the attorney general shall promulgate rules and regulations relative to methods, acts, and practices of electric and generation companies and suppliers.
(b) All electric companies, aggregators, marketers, and all suppliers doing business in the commonwealth shall submit to arbitration, if such arbitration is requested by a retail electric customer or any company or other such entity organized and governed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter alleging an unfair or deceptive trade practice by its retail electric suppliers or electric company. The department shall, in coordination with the office of consumer affairs, promulgate rules and regulations to implement this section to provide for the expeditious treatment of complaints brought by any retail consumer. Said rules and regulations shall include, but not be limited to, a description of the procedures available to redress violations of the rules and regulations and afford said consumers the opportunity to participate in a voluntary mediation process with the supplier or electric company to settle the claim without recourse to arbitration, and a provision that any violation of said rules and regulations shall be deemed an unfair and deceptive act pursuant to the provisions of chapter 93A. Said arbitration shall be performed by the department or by a state-certified professional arbitrator or arbitration firm appointed by the department and operating in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the department.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 103 - Accuracy of Meters; Records

Section 103. The department, in accordance with its rules and regulations, shall make the inspections of gas required by section one hundred and nine and inspect, examine, ascertain and prove the accuracy of all meters which are to be used for measuring illuminating gas and which are to be furnished to, or for the use of, any consumer or company, and shall seal, stamp or mark every such meter, if it be found correct, with some suitable device to be determined by the department and recorded in the office of the state secretary, provided however, that for all such meters purchased or acquired by a gas company after the first of January, nineteen hundred and eighty-one, the department in lieu of performing the foregoing inspection, examination, ascertainment and proof on each meter, may perform said procedure on a sample of such meters as are to be inspected, examined, ascertained and proved according either to an attributes or a variables sampling plan, such as Military Standard 105D or Military Standard 414 promulgated by the United States Department of Defense, or such other sampling procedure as the department in its discretion may determine. A meter shall not be correct if it varies more than two per cent from the standard measure. The department shall keep a correct record of all meters examined by its employees with their proof at the time of inspection, which shall be open at all times for examination by the officers of any gas company in the commonwealth.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 104 - Fees of Department for Examining, Comparing and Testing Gas Meters

Section 104. For examining, comparing and testing gas meters, the department may collect a fee, the amount of which shall be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven, for each meter with a rated gas capacity of nine hundred and fifty cubic feet per hour or less; for each meter with a rated capacity of more than nine hundred and fifty cubic feet per hour up to and including thirty-four hundred cubic feet per hour, and for each meter having a rated capacity in excess of thirty-four hundred cubic feet per hour. For examining, comparing, testing or calibrating any other apparatus used in the manufacture or distribution of gas, the department may collect such reasonable fees as it may from time to time prescribe. The department shall designate one of its employees to receive all fees collected under this section and section one hundred and twenty, and he shall give bond to the state treasurer in the sum of five thousand dollars.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 105a - Storage, Transportation and Distribution of Gas; Regulation; Violations; Civil Penalties

Section 105A. Authority to regulate and control the storage, transportation and distribution of gas and the pressure under which these operations may respectively be carried on is hereby vested in the department. Upon the filing with the department of a written complaint of the mayor of the city or selectmen of the town where a gas company is operating, or of twenty of its consumers, either as to the manner in which or pressure at which gas is being or shall be stored, transported or distributed, the department shall notify said company by leaving at its office a copy of such complaint, and shall thereupon, after notice, give a public hearing to such petitioner and said company, and after said hearing may make such order, if any, as it may deem necessary. Such order may likewise be made by the department after notice and hearing as aforesaid upon its own motion or on petition of the company.
Any person, firm or corporation who violates any provision of any code adopted by the department pertaining to the safety of pipeline facilities and the transportation of gas, or any regulation or rule thereunder, at a time when the department has submitted and has in effect the annual certification to the United States Secretary of Transportation provided for in 49 U.S.C. section 60105 shall be subject to civil penalties of not more than $500,000 for each violation; provided, however, that the maximum civil penalty under this section for a related series of violations shall be $10,000,000; and provided further, that the dollar limits in this paragraph shall be doubled if the department determines that the violator has engaged in 1 or more similar violations in the 3 years preceding the violation. A separate violation occurs for each day the violation continues.
Any such civil penalty shall be determined by the department. In determining the amount of the penalty, the appropriateness of the penalty to the size of the business of the person, firm, or corporation charged, the gravity of the violation, and the good faith of the person, firm or corporation charged in attempting to achieve compliance, after notification of a violation, shall be considered. The amount of the penalty, when finally determined, may be deducted from any sums which the commonwealth may owe to the person, firm or corporation charged or may be recovered in a civil action commenced in the superior court.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 106 - Regulation of Quality of Gas

Section 106. The department shall, from time to time, ascertain the degree of purity that can reasonably be required in gas made and supplied by persons engaged in the manufacture or sale of gas, and shall report to the general court when it deems any change in the law relative thereto is desirable, and may from time to time, after notice and a public hearing, establish rules and regulations consistent with law, governing the quality of gas supplied by persons or municipalities subject to this chapter. Such rules and regulations shall be enforced in the manner provided in section seventy-nine.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 107 - Establishing Calorific Standard; Companies Exempt From Furnishing Gas of Standard Established

Section 107. To establish a calorific standard for gas, the department may from time to time, after notice and a public hearing, determine how many British thermal units shall thereafter be required of gas supplied to their consumers by gas companies or municipal lighting plants.
Upon application of a gas company, or the mayor or selectmen of a municipality in which a municipal lighting plant is established, the department may exempt such gas company or municipal lighting plant from furnishing gas of the calorific standard established as aforesaid and, if in its judgment the public welfare and local conditions warrant, may determine how many British thermal units ought thereafter to be required of gas supplied to its consumers by such company or plant, and on what terms or conditions, which requirement shall thereafter be observed by such company or plant while such exemption continues or until some other standard is established in the same manner.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 108 - Calorimeter Provided by Company

Section 108. Every gas company or municipal lighting plant which distributes and sells to its consumers over fifteen million cubic feet of gas in a year shall, when required by the department, provide and maintain a suitable room not less than a quarter of a mile from the gas works with a calorimeter of a type and construction approved by the department, which shall be open at all reasonable times to duly authorized employees of the department.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 109 - Inspection of Gas by Department; Establishing New Standards of Purity

Section 109. The gas of every company which supplies more than fifty consumers shall be inspected at least twice a year and as much oftener as the department may determine. The department may, from time to time establish a new standard of purity for gas, after a public hearing, determine how many grains of sulphur and ammonia per hundred cubic feet of gas may be permitted, but not more than thirty grains of sulphur per hundred cubic feet and no sulphuretted hydrogen shall be allowed.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 110 - Gas Below Standard; Forfeiture

Section 110. If the gas of any gas company or of any city or town supplying gas is found on three consecutive inspections or on three inspections made within a period of thirty consecutive days, upon such averaging of inspections as the department may prescribe, to be below the standard of purity fixed under the preceding section or the calorific standard fixed under section one hundred and seven, unless such defect is in the opinion of the department due to unavoidable cause or accident, such company, city or town shall be liable to a forfeiture of one hundred dollars, which may be recovered by an information in equity brought in the supreme judicial court by the attorney general, at the relation of the department, and when so recovered shall be paid to the commonwealth.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 111 - Unit of Measure for Sale of Gas

Section 111. The unit of measure for the sale of gas by meter shall be the cubic foot, containing sixty-two and two thousand nine hundred and ninety-three ten-thousandths pounds avoirdupois weight of air-free distilled water at sixty degrees Fahrenheit when weighed in dry air at the same temperature and at a barometric pressure of thirty inches of mercury, or a thermal unit of measure, such as the ''therm'' or ''British Thermal Unit'', as the department shall determine and approve.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 112 - Meter Provers

Section 112. Every gas company with a capital paid in of one hundred thousand dollars or more, and every other gas company, if required by the department, and all makers and vendors of meters shall set up at some convenient place upon their premises one or more meter provers of a size and type approved, tested and calibrated by the department, by means of which meters may be tested.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 113 - Use of Gas Meters Not Tested, Sealed or Stamped; Penalty

Section 113. A gas company providing a meter for measuring gas supplied to a customer which, if never before used, has not been duly sealed and stamped, or, if opened after being sealed and stamped, has not been again tested, sealed and stamped, shall be punished by a fine of five dollars for every such meter in use, payable to the city or town where the meter is situated.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 164 - Manufacture and Sale of Gas and Electricity › Section 114 - Testing Gas Meters in Use; Cost of Test

Section 114. Meters in use shall be tested by the department, on the request of the consumer or of the gas company, in the presence of the consumer if desired, and with sealed apparatus. If it finds that the meter is correct, the person requesting the inspection shall pay the fees for such inspection and the expense of removing the meter for the purpose of being tested, and the reinspection shall be stamped on the meter. If it finds that the meter is incorrect, the gas company shall pay such expenses and shall furnish a new meter without charge to the consumer.