Indiana Code 32-30-16-9. Communications service made available by electricity supplier; notice in member or customer agreement; consent to expansion of easement; signature required; tenant occupied property; owner signed master agreement or affidavit
(1) member agreement;
Terms Used In Indiana Code 32-30-16-9
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- communications infrastructure: includes all wires, cable, and other similar facilities used to provide communications service. See Indiana Code 32-30-16-2
- communications service: has the meaning set forth in Indiana Code 32-30-16-3
- electric easement: means any recorded or unrecorded easement held by an electricity supplier for the siting of electric facilities, regardless of whether the easement is for the exclusive benefit of the electricity supplier or for use in connection with other utility services, regardless of whether the electricity supplier provides the other utility services. See Indiana Code 32-30-16-4
- electricity supplier: means :
Indiana Code 32-30-16-6
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Property: includes personal and real property. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
- property owner: means a person with a recorded fee simple interest in land upon which an electric easement is located. See Indiana Code 32-30-16-7
(3) other similar agreement;
related to the communications service a provision notifying a property owner that takes or will take communications service from the electricity supplier, or from any affiliated entity, that by signing the agreement for communications service, the property owner expressly consents to the expansion of the electric easement that the electricity supplier has with the property owner to include communications infrastructure.
(b) Subject to subsection (c), the agreement that includes the notice described in subsection (a) must:
(1) be signed by the property owner or the property owner’s designated agent; and
(2) include a statement that anyone other than the property owner or the property owner’s designated agent may be:
(A) subject to penalties for perjury; and
(B) liable for any just compensation provided for by law;
for signing the agreement without the consent of the property owner or the property owner’s designated agent.
(c) In the case of tenant occupied property, the owner of the property that is leased or rented, or the owner’s designated agent, may sign a master agreement that:
(1) includes the statement described in subsection (b)(2); and
(2) gives consent to the electricity supplier to expand an electric easement on the property owner’s property to include communications infrastructure for all units on the property owner’s property.
A tenant may not sign a master agreement under this subsection on behalf of the property owner. However, a tenant may provide to the electricity supplier a notarized affidavit that is signed by the property owner or the property owner’s designated agent and that gives consent to the expansion of an electric easement to include communications infrastructure on the property owner’s property. This subsection may not be interpreted as imposing on the property owner any duty, liability, or other obligation that may exist between the electricity supplier and the tenant customer with respect to the provision of communications service.
(d) Upon signing:
(1) an agreement under subsection (a) to take communications service from the electricity supplier, or from any affiliated entity; or
(2) a master agreement or a notarized affidavit under subsection (c) that gives consent to the expansion of an electric easement to include communications infrastructure for all units or for a particular unit on the property owner’s property, as applicable;
the property owner is not entitled to any additional compensation for the expansion of the electric easement to include communications infrastructure, other than the value of being provided access to any communications service that the electricity supplier may offer and to which the property owner may elect to subscribe.
(e) This section may not be interpreted as affecting the terms of any member agreement an electricity supplier has with the electricity supplier’s members with respect to the provision of:
(1) electric service; or
(2) communications service;
within an easement that by its terms expressly provides for the installation of communications infrastructure, as described in section 1(c)(2) of this chapter.
As added by P.L.236-2017, SEC.1.