2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 6 - Local Government - Provisions Applicable to Special Purpose Districts and Other Political Subdivisions › Chapter 23 - Joint Municipal Electric Power And Energy Act › Section 6-23-110. Municipalities may contract to buy power; terms of contract; sources of payment; advances.

Any municipality which is a member of the joint agency may contract to buy from the joint agency power and energy required for its present or future requirements, including the capacity and output of one or more specified projects. As the creation of a joint agency is an alternative method whereby a municipality may obtain the benefits and assume the responsibilities of ownership in a project, any such contract may provide that the municipality so contracting shall be obligated to make the payments required by the contract whether or not a project is completed, operable or operating notwithstanding the suspension, interruption, interference, reduction or curtailment of the output of a project or the power and energy contracted for, and that such payments under the contract shall not be subject to any reduction, whether by offset or otherwise, and shall not be conditioned upon the performance or nonperformance of the joint agency or any other member of the joint agency under the contract or any other instrument. Any contract with respect to the sale or purchase of capacity or output of a project entered into between a joint agency and its member municipalities may also provide that if one or more of such municipalities shall default in the payment of its or their obligations with respect to the purchase of said capacity or output, then in that event the remaining member municipalities which are purchasing capacity and output under the contract shall be required to accept and pay for and shall be entitled proportionately to and may use or otherwise dispose of the capacity or output which was to be purchased by the defaulting municipality.
Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary, the initial term for any such contracts with respect to the sale or purchase of capacity, output, power, or energy from a project may be for a period not to exceed the later of either fifty years from the date of the contract or fifty years from the date a project is estimated to be placed in normal continuous operation. Such contracts may be renewed or extended by the joint agency and the member municipality, upon such terms and conditions as the joint agency and the member municipality may agree, for an additional period not to exceed fifty years from the date of the renewal or extension. The execution and effectiveness of those contracts, or renewals or extensions of those contracts, are not subject to any authorizations or approvals by the State or any agency, commission, or instrumentality, or political subdivision thereof.
Payments by a municipality under any contract for the purchase of capacity and output from a joint agency shall be made from the revenues derived from the ownership and operation of the electric system of said municipality and any obligation under such contract shall not constitute a legal or equitable pledge, charge, lien, or encumbrance upon any property of the municipality or upon any of its income, receipts, or revenues, except the revenues of its electric system, and neither the faith and credit nor the taxing power of the municipality are, or may be, pledged for the payment of any obligation under any such contract. A municipality shall be obligated to fix, charge and collect rents, rates, fees and charges for electric power and energy and other services, facilities and commodities sold, furnished or supplied through its electric system sufficient to provide revenues adequate to meet its obligations under any such contract and to pay any and all other amounts payable from or constituting a charge and lien upon such revenues, including amounts sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on general obligation bonds, if any, heretofore or hereafter issued by the municipality for purposes related to its electric system.
Any municipality which is a member of a joint agency may furnish the joint agency with money derived from the ownership and operation of its electric system or facilities and provide the joint agency with personnel, equipment and property, both real and personal. Any municipality may also provide any services to a joint agency.
Any member of a joint agency may contract for, advance or contribute funds derived solely from the ownership and operation of its electric system or facilities to a joint agency as may be agreed upon by the joint agency and the member, and the joint agency shall repay such advances or contributions from proceeds of bonds, from operating revenues or from any other funds of the joint agency, together with interest thereon as may be agreed upon by the member and the joint agency.
HISTORY: 1978 Act No. 473, Section 12; 2004 Act No. 210, Section 1, eff April 26, 2004; 2015 Act No. 25 (S.304), Section 2, eff June 1, 2015.
Effect of Amendment
The 2004 amendment, in the second paragraph, divided the existing text into the first and third sentences, inserted the second sentence relating to extension of the contract for the same period, in the third sentence substituted "effectiveness of those contracts or extensions of those contracts are not subject" for "effectiveness thereof shall not be subject", and made nonsubstantive changes.
2015 Act No. 25, Section 2, rewrote the second paragraph.