2023 Tennessee Code › Title 65 - PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS (§§ 65-1-101 — 65-37-104) › Chapter 28 - PIPELINE CORPORATIONS (§§ 65-28-101 — 65-28-208) › Part 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS (§§ 65-28-101 — 65-28-111) › Section 65-28-110 - Inspection, control, and supervision fees

(a)
Every public utility engaged in the operation of gas pipeline systems in this state to which this chapter applies, with the exception of those utilities presently paying a fee as provided by chapter 4, part 3 of this title, shall pay to the state, on or before April 1 of each year, a fee for the inspection and supervision of the standards of safety as prescribed by this chapter. The fees collected pursuant to this section shall be used to fund the commission's gas safety inspection program and shall be segregated in an account so designated.
(b)
Such fee shall be paid by such public utility engaged in the operation of gas pipeline systems in addition to any and all property, franchise, license and other taxes, fees and charges fixed, assessed or charged by law against such utility, but shall not be levied against those utilities paying a fee under chapter 4, part 3 of this title.
(c)
The amount of such fee is to be measured by the number of active gas meters in service within the service area of each public utility, municipal gas system and gas utility district. Where there are no meters, the fee is to be measured by the number of active services. The fee fixed and assessed against and to be paid by each public utility, municipal gas system, and gas utility district is as follows:
(1)
(A)
A flat rate of one hundred dollars ($100) for all meters in service of up to one hundred fifty-four (154) meters;
(B)
Sixty-five cents (65¢) for each meter in service from one hundred fifty-five (155) to two thousand (2,000) meters;
(C)
Fifty cents (50¢) for each meter in service from two thousand one (2,001) to ten thousand (10,000) meters; and
(D)
Thirty-five cents (35¢) for each meter in service exceeding ten thousand (10,000) in number; or
(2)
In the case of interstate pipeline companies or systems, or companies or systems having no gross receipts, or no active meters in service, or other service in this state, but traversing the state in its transmission of gas service, the fee is to be assessed at the rate of four dollars seventy-five cents ($4.75) per mile of twenty-four inch (24") equivalent pipeline.
(d)
In no case shall the fee to be paid be less than one hundred dollars ($100), which will be the minimum inspection fee to be paid by the public utility engaged in the operation of gas pipeline systems subject to such fee and not presently paying a fee as provided in chapter 4, part 3 of this title, nor more than seventy-eight thousand dollars ($78,000), which shall be the maximum paid by such companies; provided, that for a petroleum gas system subject to the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act (
49 U.S.C. § 60101
et seq.), except a system serving ten (10) or more customers from a common tank, the fee shall be twenty dollars ($20.00).
(e)
The inspection, control and supervision fees provided for in this section shall become due and payable on April 1 of each year.
(f)
The inspection fees and penalties provided for in this section shall be collected by the commission.
Acts 1970, ch. 558, §§ 9-14; 1973, ch. 217, § 2; 1974, ch. 756, § 1; 1976, ch. 686, § 1; T.C.A., §§ 65-2812 -- 65-2817; Acts 1989, ch. 146, §§ 1-3; 1995, ch. 305, §§ 36, 37.