New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 16 - DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE › Chapter II - ELECTRIC UTILITIES › Subchapter F - UNIFORM SYSTEMS OF ACCOUNTS › Article 3 - Municipal Electric Utilities › Part 196 - General Provisions › Section 196.1 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a) When used in
					 this system of accounts:
(1) Accounts or these
					 accounts means the accounts of this system of accounts.
(2) Actually issued as applied to securities
					 means those which have been sold to bona fide purchasers for a valuable
					 consideration (including those issued in exchange for other securities or other
					 property) so that the purchasers secured them free from control by the issuing
					 utility.
(3) Actually outstanding
					 as applied to securities means those which have been actually issued and are
					 neither retired nor held by or for the utility, and also securities held by
					 trustees for sinking or other funds.
(4) Book cost means the amount at which
					 property is recorded on the books of the utility without deduction of related
					 reserve or reserves.
(5) Book
					 liability means the amount at which a liability is recorded on the books of the
					 utility.
(6) Book value when
					 applied to operating property means the book cost (see paragraph [4] of this
					 subdivision) less related depreciation and amortization reserves. When applied
					 to other property, the term means the book cost less reserves for loss in
					 value.
(7) Commission or the
					 commission means the Public Service Commission of the State of New
					 York.
(8) Cost means the amount of
					 money actually paid for property or services, or the current money value of any
					 consideration other than money.
(9)
					 Cost of removal means the cost of demolishing, dismantling, tearing down, or
					 otherwise removing operating property, including the cost of transportation and
					 handling incident thereto.
(10)
					 Date of installation means the date at which operating property is ready for
					 service.
(11) Date of retirement
					 means the date at which operating property is withdrawn from service.
(12) Debt expense means all expense in
					 connection with the issuance and sale of evidences of debt, such as fees for
					 drafting legal papers in connection therewith; fees and taxes for issuing or
					 recording evidences of debt; cost of engraving and printing bonds and
					 certificates of indebtedness; fees paid trustees; specific costs of obtaining
					 governmental authority; fees for legal services; costs of special elections
					 called to pass on the question of issuance of debt; and other like
					 costs.
(13) Depreciation as applied
					 to depreciable operating property means the loss (or gain) in service value
					 (see paragraph [39] of this subdivision) not restored by current repairs,
					 incurred in connection with the consumption or prospective retirement of
					 operating property from causes inherent in current operations against which the
					 utility is not protected by insurance, and the effect of which can be forecast
					 with a reasonable approach to accuracy. Among the causes to be given
					 consideration are wear and tear, decay, action of the elements, obsolescence,
					 changes in the art, inadequacy, changes in demand, and requirements of public
					 authority.
(14) Discount as applied
					 to debt of the utility means the excess of the par value plus interest accrued
					 at the date of the sale over the current money value of the consideration
					 received.
(15) Distribution system.
					 (See section
					 197.35 
					 of this Title.)
(16) Electric
					 operations or electric service means the service of supplying electricity,
					 together with the generation, transmission, and distribution thereof, when such
					 service is in whole or in part subject to the jurisdiction of the commission;
					 and services incidental thereto.
(17) Electric plant. (See Abstracts from Law,
					 section
					 195.2  of
					 this Title.)
(18) Group plan as
					 applied to depreciation accounting means the plan under which depreciation
					 charges are accrued upon the book cost of all depreciable property, regardless
					 of the age of the particular items of that property, and upon the retirement of
					 any depreciable property its entire service value is charged to the
					 depreciation reserves whether or not the particular item has attained the
					 average service life.
(19) Lessor
					 municipality means a municipality owning, either solely or jointly, but not
					 operating a municipal electric utility (see paragraph [23] of this
					 subdivision).
(20) Long term debt
					 means obligations having a life of more than one year from date of creation of
					 assumption, and all bonds.
(21)
					 Minor items as applied to depreciable electric or general operating property
					 means any part or element which is not designated as a unit of property (see
					 paragraph [42] of this subdivision).
(22) Municipality means a county, city,
					 village, town, or lighting district organized as provided by a general or a
					 special legislative act.
(23)
					 Municipal electric utility means an electric plant (see Abstracts from Law,
					 section
					 195.2  of
					 this Title) operated and/or owned by a municipality or municipalities, which
					 provides electric service (see paragraph [16] of this subdivision) to others
					 than the government of such municipality or municipalities.
(24) Net salvage value means the salvage
					 value (see paragraph [37] of this subdivision) of property retired after
					 deducting the cost of removal.
(25)
					 Nominally issued as applied to securities means those which have been signed,
					 certified, or otherwise executed, and placed with the proper officer for sale,
					 or pledged, but which have neither been sold nor issued direct to trustees of
					 sinking funds in accordance with mortgage requirements.
(26) Nominally outstanding as applied to
					 securities means those which, after being actually issued, have been reacquired
					 by or for the utility but not retired, except those held for sinking or other
					 funds.
(27) Non-operating property
					 means all physical property owned by the municipality and definitely identified
					 with and in the custody of or under the supervision of persons responsible for
					 the operation of the municipal electric utility, which property is not used in
					 electric operations or other operations under the jurisdiction of the
					 commission but which it is not practicable to exclude from the books and
					 financial statements of the municipal electric utility.
(28) Operating municipality means a
					 municipality operating either solely or jointly a municipal electric utility
					 (see paragraph [23] of this subdivision).
(29) Operating property means the property,
					 both tangible and intangible, which is used (see paragraph [43] of this
					 subdivision) for the purposes of supplying electric service or other service
					 subject to the jurisdiction of the commission, and which has an expectation of
					 life in service of more than one year from date of installation.
(30) Operating property--electric means the
					 operating property used (see paragraph [43] of this subdivision) by the
					 municipal electric utility in the conduct of its electric operations (see
					 paragraph [16] of this subdivision) or leased to others for such
					 operations.
(31) Operating
					 property--general means the operating property used (see paragraph [43] of this
					 subdivision) in operations which can not be definitely assigned to a particular
					 department or class of operations subject to the jurisdiction of the
					 commission. If the utility conducts more than one class of operations, the
					 property used in common by two or more departments subject to the jurisdiction
					 of the commission may be classified as Operating Property-- General.
(32) Operating property--other operations
					 means the operating property used (see paragraph [43] of this subdivision) by
					 the utility in the conduct of operations other than electric operations (see
					 paragraph [16] of this subdivision) which are subject to the jurisdiction of
					 the commission.
(33) Original cost
					 means the actual money cost (or the current money value of any consideration
					 other than money) of property at the time when it was first devoted to the
					 public service, whether by the accounting utility or by a predecessor public
					 utility.
(34) Premium as applied to
					 securities of the utility means the excess of the current money value of the
					 consideration received at their sale over the sum of their par value and
					 interest accrued at the date of their sale.
(35) Property retired as applied to operating
					 property means property which has worn out, been removed, sold, abandoned,
					 destroyed, or has become unserviceable, or unnecessary, or has been otherwise
					 withdrawn from service.
(36)
					 Replacing or replacement, when not otherwise indicated in the context means the
					 acquisition, construction, or installation of property in place of property
					 retired, together with the removal of the property retired.
(37) Salvage value means the amount received
					 for property retired, if sold, less any expenses incurred in connection with
					 such sale or in preparing the property for sale; or, if retained, the amount at
					 which the material recovered is chargeable to account 123, Materials and
					 Supplies, or other appropriate account.
(38) Service life means the period between
					 the date of installation (see paragraph [10] of this subdivision) of operating
					 property and the date of its retirement. (See paragraph [11] of this
					 subdivision.)
(39) Service value
					 means the difference between the book cost (see paragraph [4] of this
					 subdivision) and the net salvage value (see paragraph [24] of this subdivision)
					 of operating property.
(40)
					 Straight-line method as applied to depreciation accounting means the plan under
					 which the service value (see paragraph [39] of this subdivision) of property is
					 charged to operating expense or other accounts and credited to the depreciation
					 reserves through equal monthly charges as nearly as may be during its service
					 life.
(41) Transmission system.
					 (See paragraph [37] of this subdivision.)
(42) Units of property means those items of
					 operating property which, when retired and replaced, are accounted for by
					 crediting the book cost thereof to the operating property account in which it
					 is included and charging to operating property the cost of the superseding
					 property. (See section
					 197.23[b]
					 [1]  of this Title.)
(43) Used as applied to operating property
					 means actually and necessarily in current service or ready for and reasonably
					 required to be currently held for future service.
(44) Utility or the utility means the
					 accounting municipal electric utility as defined in paragraph (23) of this
					 subdivision.