2023 Code of Virginia › Title 15.2 - Counties, Cities and Towns › Chapter 54 - Electric Authorities Act › § 15.2-5406. Rights, powers and duties of authority

An authority shall have all of the rights and powers necessary and convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this chapter, including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the rights and powers:
1. To adopt bylaws or rules for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business;
2. To adopt an official seal and alter the same at pleasure;
3. To maintain an office at such place or places as it may designate;
4. To sue and be sued;
5. To receive, administer and comply with the conditions and requirements respecting any gift, grant or donation of any property or money;
6. To study, plan, research, develop, finance, construct, reconstruct, acquire, improve, enlarge, extend, better, lease, own, operate and maintain any project or any interest in any project, within or outside the Commonwealth, including the acquisition of an ownership interest in any project as a tenant in common with any other unit or units whether public or private, and to enter into and perform contracts with respect thereto, and if the authority acquires an ownership interest as a tenant in common in any project within the Commonwealth, the surrender or waiver by any such owner of its right to partition such property for a period not exceeding the period for which the property is used or useful for electric utility purposes shall not be invalid and unenforceable by reason of length of such period or as unduly restricting the alienation of such property;
7. To acquire by private negotiated purchase or lease or otherwise an existing project, a project under construction, or other property within or outside the Commonwealth, either individually or jointly with any other unit or units whether public or private; to acquire by private negotiated purchase or lease or otherwise any facilities for the development, production, manufacture, procurement, handling, transportation, storage, fabrication, enrichment, processing or reprocessing of fuel of any kind or any facility or rights with respect to the supply of water; and to enter into agreements by private negotiation or otherwise, for such period as the authority shall determine, for the development, production, manufacture, procurement, handling, storage, fabrication, enrichment, processing or reprocessing of fuel of any kind or any facility or rights with respect to the supply of water;
8. To acquire by purchase, lease, gift, or otherwise, or to obtain options for the acquisition of, any property, real or personal, improved or unimproved, including an interest in land less than the fee thereof;
9. To sell, lease, exchange, transfer or otherwise dispose of, or to grant options for any such purposes with respect to, any real or personal property or interest therein;
10. To dispose of by private negotiated sale or lease or otherwise an existing project, a project under construction, or other property owned either individually or jointly, and to dispose of by private negotiated sale or lease or otherwise any facilities for the development, production, manufacture, procurement, handling, transportation, storage, fabrication, enrichment, processing or reprocessing of fuel of any kind or any facility or rights with respect to the supply of water;
11. To borrow money and issue revenue bonds of the authority in the manner hereinafter provided;
12. To accept advice and money from any member governmental unit of the authority;
13. To apply and contract for and to expend assistance from the United States or other public or private sources, whether in form of a grant or loan or otherwise;
14. To fix, charge and collect rents, rates, fees and charges for output or capacity of any project and for the use of, or for, the other services, facilities and commodities sold, furnished or supplied through any project;
15. To authorize the acquisition, construction, operation or maintenance of any project by any unit or individual on such terms as the authority shall deem proper, and, in connection with any project which is owned jointly by the authority and one or more units, to act as agent, or designate one or more of the other units to act as agent, for all the owners of the project for the construction, operation or maintenance of such project;
16. To generate, produce, transmit, deliver, exchange, purchase or sell electric power and energy at wholesale or retail, and to enter into contracts for any or all such purposes;
17. To negotiate and enter into contracts for the purchase, sale, exchange, interchange, wheeling, pooling, transmission or use of electric power and energy at wholesale or retail with any unit within or outside the Commonwealth;
18. To purchase power and energy and related services from any source on behalf of its member governmental units and other customers and to sell the same to its member governmental units and other customers in such amounts, with such characteristics, for such periods of time and under such terms and conditions as the authority shall determine;
19. In the event of any annexation by a governmental unit which is not a member governmental unit of the authority of lands, areas, or territory in which the authority's projects exist, to continue to do business and to exercise jurisdiction over its properties and facilities in and upon or over such lands, areas or territory as long as any bonds remain outstanding or unpaid, or any contracts or other obligations remain in force;
20. To amend the articles of incorporation with respect to the name or powers of such authority or in any other manner not inconsistent with this chapter by following the procedure prescribed by law for the creation of an authority;
21. To enter into contracts with any unit on such terms as the authority shall deem proper for the purposes of acting as a billing and collecting agent for electric service or electric service fees, rents or charges imposed by any such unit;
22. To pledge or assign any moneys, fees, rents, charges or other revenues and any proceeds derived by the authority from the sales of bonds, property, insurance or condemnation awards;
23. To make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient in the exercise of the powers and functions of the authority under this chapter, including contracts with persons, firms, corporations and others;
24. To apply to the appropriate agencies of the Commonwealth, the United States or any state thereof, and to any other proper agency for such permits, licenses, certificates or approvals as may be necessary, to construct, maintain and operate projects in accordance with such licenses, permits, certificates or approvals; and to obtain, hold and use such licenses, permits, certificates and approvals in the same manner as any other person or operating unit;
25. To employ such persons as may be required in the judgment of the authority and to fix and pay their compensation from funds available to the authority therefor; and
26. To do all acts and things necessary and convenient to carry out the purposes and to exercise the powers granted to the authority herein.
In undertaking a project, an authority shall apply to the appropriate agencies of the Commonwealth, the United States, or any state therein, for such permits, licenses, certificates, or approvals as may be necessary, including, in any event, those referred to in §§ 56-46.1, 56-234.3, and 56-265.2; former § 62.1-3; and Chapter 7 (§ 62.1-80 et seq.) of Title 62.1 of the Code of Virginia. An authority shall construct, maintain and operate such projects in accordance with such permits, licenses, certificates and approvals. The foregoing sentence shall apply to an authority created by a governmental unit exempt from the referendum requirement of § 15.2-5403 only to the extent that it would have applied to the governmental unit that is the sole member of such authority if the governmental unit had directly undertaken the project.
In determining which project or projects to undertake in furtherance of its purposes and powers under this chapter, an authority shall take into account estimated future power requirements of member governmental units which have entered into, or propose to enter into, contracts with the authority for the purchase of output, capacity, use or services of such project or projects, and in making such determinations the authority shall consider the following:
1. Economies and efficiencies to be achieved in constructing, on a large scale, facilities for the generation and distribution of electric power and energy;
2. Needs of the authority for reserve and peaking capacity and to meet obligations under pooling and reserve-sharing agreements reasonably related to its needs for power and energy to which the authority is or may become a party;
3. Estimated useful life of such project;
4. Estimated time necessary for the planning, development, acquisition, or construction of such project and length of time required in advance to obtain, acquire or construct an additional power supply for the member governmental units of the authority; and
5. Reliability and availability of alternative power supply sources and cost of such alternative power supply sources.
Nothing herein contained shall prevent an authority from undertaking studies to determine whether there is a need for a project or whether such project is feasible.
1979, c. 416, § 15.1-1609; 1997, c. 587; 2006, cc. 929, 941.