Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes > Chapter 62 > Article 6 - The Utility Franchise

• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Broadband service: means any service that consists of or includes a high-speed access capability to transmit at a rate of not less than 200 kilobits per second in either the upstream or downstream direction and either (i) is used to provide access to the Internet, or (ii) provides computer processing, information storage, information content, or protocol conversion, including any service applications or information service provided over such high-speed access service. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• Certificate: means a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the Commission to a person or public utility or a certificate of authority issued by the Commission to a bus company. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• Certified mail: means such mail only when a return receipt is requested. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• Commission: means the North Carolina Utilities Commission. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• Common carrier: means any person, other than a carrier by rail, which holds itself out to the general public to engage in transportation of persons or household goods for compensation, including transportation by bus, truck, boat or other conveyance, except as exempted in N. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• Competing local provider: means any person applying for a certificate to provide local exchange or exchange access services in competition with a local exchange company. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
• Franchise: means the grant of authority by the Commission to any person to engage in business as a public utility, whether or not exclusive or shared with others or restricted as to terms and conditions and whether described by area or territory or not, and includes certificates, and all other forms of licenses or orders and decisions granting such authority. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• in writing: may be construed to include printing, engraving, lithographing, and any other mode of representing words and letters: Provided, that in all cases where a written signature is required by law, the same shall be in a proper handwriting, or in a proper mark. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Local exchange company: means a person holding, on January 1, 1995, a certificate to provide local exchange services or exchange access services. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• month: shall be construed to mean a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed; and the word "year" a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed; and the word "year" alone shall be equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
• Motor carrier: means a common carrier by motor vehicle. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• Municipality: means any incorporated community, whether designated in its charter as a city, town, or village. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• 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.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means a corporation, individual, copartnership, company, association, or any combination of individuals or organizations doing business as a unit, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, lessee, or personal representative thereof. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• property: shall include all property, both real and personal. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
• public utility: except as otherwise expressly provided in this Chapter, shall not include the following:

  1. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3

• Rate: means every compensation, charge, fare, tariff, schedule, toll, rental and classification, or any of them, demanded, observed, charged or collected by any public utility, for any service product or commodity offered by it to the public, and any rules, regulations, practices or contracts affecting any such compensation, charge, fare, tariff, schedule, toll, rental or classification. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Route: means the course or way which is traveled; the road or highway over which motor vehicles operate. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• Securities: means stock, stock certificates, bonds, notes, debentures, or other evidences of ownership or of indebtedness, and any assumption or guaranty thereof. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• Service: means any service furnished by a public utility, including any commodity furnished as a part of such service and any ancillary service or facility used in connection with such service. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• State: means the State of North Carolina; "state" means any state. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Town: means any unincorporated community or collection of people having a geographical name by which it may be generally known and is so generally designated. See North Carolina General Statutes 62-3
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3