Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 7 > Chapter 3 > Part 12 - City-County Consolidation -- Option 2

• Abandonment costs: means the costs incurred for resources acquired and abandoned pursuant to a plan. See Montana Code 69-3-1203
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Advanced metering gateway device: means any electric utility meter component or device ancillary to the electric utility meter that is located at an end-user's residence or business and is equipped and programmed to communicate with electrical appliances, electrical equipment, or electrical devices within the end-user's residence or business or that is capable of estimating and recording electrical energy usage by types of appliances, electrical equipment, or electrical devices. See Montana Code 69-4-1001
• 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.
• Affidavit: means a sworn written declaration made before an officer authorized to administer oaths or an unsworn written declaration made under penalty of perjury as provided in 1-6-105. See Montana Code 1-1-203
• Affiliate: means an entity closely connected or associated with a regulated energy utility. See Montana Code 69-3-1501
• Affiliate transaction: means a financial transaction between the utility operations of a regulated energy utility and an affiliate. See Montana Code 69-3-1501
• Aggregator surcharge: means a charge to a customer by an entity that, in the ordinary course of its operations, makes telephones available to the public or to transient users of its premises for intrastate telephone calls using an operator service provider. See Montana Code 69-3-1102
• Agreement: means a written agreement between two or more electric facilities providers that identifies the geographical area to be served exclusively by each electric facilities provider that is a party to the agreement and any terms and conditions pertinent to the agreement. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Agricultural improvement: includes , without limitation, sprinkler irrigation systems. See Montana Code 69-4-401
• Airport: means an airport, as defined in 67-1-101, that does not have commercial automobile rental services available. See Montana Code 67-10-902
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Ancillary agreement: means any bond, insurance policy, letter of credit, reserve account, surety bond, interest rate lock or swap arrangement, liquidity or credit support arrangement, or other financial arrangement entered into in connection with Montana energy impact assistance bonds that is designed to promote the credit quality and marketability of Montana energy impact assistance bonds or to mitigate the risk of an increase in interest rates. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Assignee: means any entity, including a corporation, partnership, board, trust, or financing vehicle, to which a utility assigns, sells, or transfers, other than as security, all or a portion of the utility's interest in or right to transition property. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Assignee: means any person to which an interest in Montana energy impact assistance property is sold, assigned, transferred, or conveyed, other than as security, and any successor to or subsequent assignee of a person. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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.
• Board: means the board of investments created by 2-15-1808. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Bondholder: means any holder or owner of Montana energy impact assistance bonds. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Bypassing: means any act, using any means, the purpose of which is to obtain utility service without having such service pass through the authorized meter provided for measuring or registering such service. See Montana Code 69-4-1102
• Carbon offset provider: means a qualified third-party entity that arranges for projects or actions that either reduce carbon dioxide emissions or increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• carrier: means any provider of telecommunications services. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Commercial mobile radio service: means commercial mobile radio service as defined in 47 C. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• commission: means the public service commission provided for in 2-15-2602. See Montana Code 69-1-101
• Commission: means the Montana public service commission. See Montana Code 69-3-601
• Commission: means the Montana public service commission created in 2-15-2602. See Montana Code 69-3-701
• Commission: means the public service commission. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Commission: means the Montana public service commission. See Montana Code 69-3-901
• Committee: means the legislative consumer committee provided for in Title 5, chapter 15, part 1. See Montana Code 69-1-201
• Communication service: means the transmission of intelligence by electrical means, including but not limited to telephone, telegraph, messenger-call, clock, police, fire alarm, and traffic control circuits or the transmission of standard television or radio signals. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Conservation: means any reduction in electric power or natural gas consumption as a result of investment in measures that increase the efficiency of electricity or gas use in building shells, space heating or cooling equipment, water heating equipment, or refrigeration equipment or other cost-effective measures which, over its economic life meet the criteria of 69-3-702. See Montana Code 69-3-701
• Consumer counsel: means the consumer counsel provided for in Title 5, chapter 15, part 2. See Montana Code 69-1-201
• Consumer counsel: means the consumer counsel provided for in 5-15-201. See Montana Code 69-3-1203
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• conversion: means the removal of all or any part of any existing overhead electric or communications facilities and the replacement thereof with underground electric or communication facilities constructed at the same or different locations. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Cooperative utility: means :

  (a)a utility qualifying as an electric cooperative pursuant to Title 35, chapter 18; or

  (b)an existing municipal electric utility as of May 2, 1997. See Montana Code 69-8-103

• 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.
• Corruptly: means a wrongful design to acquire or cause some pecuniary or other advantage to the person guilty of the act or omission referred to or to some other person. See Montana Code 1-1-204
• Cost: means the gross cost of constructing new electric service facilities to the premises, using new materials and similar design standards required to meet the load, from a point where there is existing electrical capacity to serve. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Cost-effective carbon offsets: means any combination of certified actions that are taken to reduce carbon dioxide emissions or that increase the absorption of carbon dioxide, which collectively do not increase the cost of electricity produced annually on a per-megawatt-hour basis by more than 2. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Courtesy car: means a motor vehicle provided by, and titled in the name of, a municipality or third party for the purposes of and pursuant to the conditions set out in this part. See Montana Code 67-10-902
• Customer: means a person who makes an intrastate telephone call through an operator service provider or the person accepting a collect telephone call made through an operator service provider. See Montana Code 69-3-1102
• Customer: means a natural gas customer or consumer of natural gas supply or natural gas transmission facilities, storage facilities, or distribution facilities. See Montana Code 69-3-1402
• Customer: means a person who takes electric service from an electric utility for consumption of electricity in Montana. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Customer-generator: means a user of a net metering system. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Demand-side management programs: means energy efficiency, energy conservation, load management, and demand response or any combination of these measures implemented by an electric utility. See Montana Code 69-3-1203
• Department: means the department of public service regulation provided for in Title 2, chapter 15, part 26. See Montana Code 69-1-401
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Distribution facilities: means those facilities by and through which electricity is received from a transmission services provider and distributed to the customer that are controlled or operated by a distribution utility. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Distribution facilities: means those facilities by and through which electricity is received from transmission facilities and distributed to a retail customer and that are controlled or operated by a utility. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Distribution facilities: means those facilities that are not transmission facilities:

  (a)by and through which natural gas is received from a transmission services provider and transmitted to the customer; and

  (b)operated by a distribution services provider. See Montana Code 69-3-1402

• Distribution service: means the function of delivering electricity to the public by a distribution utility. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Distribution services provider: means a person controlling or operating distribution facilities for distribution of natural gas to the public. See Montana Code 69-3-1402
• Distribution utility: means a utility owning distribution facilities for distribution of electricity to the public. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Electric cooperative: means a rural electric cooperative organized under the laws of Montana, or a foreign corporation admitted to do business in Montana. See Montana Code 69-3-601
• Electric facilities provider: means any utility that provides electric service facilities to the public. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Electric infrastructure or facility: means :

  (a)any portion of an electrical generating facility owned by an electric utility used to serve customers in Montana; or

  (b)any infrastructure or facility involved in the transmission or delivery of electricity to Montana customers; or

  (c)associated cleanup or remediation of an electrical generating facility. See Montana Code 69-3-1603

• Electric or communication facilities: means any works or improvements used or useful in providing electric or communication service, including but not limited to poles, supports, tunnels, manholes, vaults, conduits, pipes, wires, conductors, guys, stubs, platforms, crossarms, braces, transformers, insulators, cutouts, switches, capacitors, meters, communication circuits, appliances, attachments, and appurtenances. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Electric service facilities: means any distribution or transmission system or related facility necessary to provide electricity to the premises, including lines. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Electric transmission line: means a line used to convey electrical energy connected to transmission facilities that is energized at 115 kilovolts or more phase to phase. See Montana Code 69-5-201
• Electric utility: means any electric utility regulated by the commission pursuant to Title 69, chapter 3, including the electric utility's successors or assignees. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Electric vehicle charging station: means a commercial charging station including all required equipment for the provision of power and fueling of electric vehicles. See Montana Code 69-8-801
• Electricity supplier: means any person, corporation, or governmental entity that:

  (a)sells electricity to customers at retail rates in the state; and

  (b)is not a public utility or a cooperative. See Montana Code 69-5-102

• Electricity supply costs: means the actual costs incurred in providing electricity supply service through power purchase agreements, demand-side management, and energy efficiency programs, including but not limited to:

  (a)capacity costs;

  (b)energy costs;

  (c)fuel costs;

  (d)ancillary service costs;

  (e)transmission costs, including congestion and losses;

  (f)planning and administrative costs; and

  (g)any other costs directly related to the purchase of electricity and the management and provision of power purchase agreements. See Montana Code 69-8-103

• Electricity supply resource: means :

  (a)contracts for electric capacity and generation;

  (b)plants owned or leased by a utility or equipment used to generate electricity;

  (c)customer load management and energy conservation programs; or

  (d)other means of providing adequate, reliable service to customers, as determined by the commission. See Montana Code 69-8-103

• Electricity supply service: means the provision of electricity supply and related services through power purchase agreements, the acquisition and operation of electrical generation facilities, demand side management, and energy efficiency programs. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Electricity supply service: means the provision of electricity supply and related services through power purchase agreements, the acquisition and operation of electrical generation facilities, demand-side management, and energy efficiency programs. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Eligible telecommunications carrier: means a telecommunications provider designated by the commission under 69-3-840. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Energy conservation: means the decrease in electricity requirements of specific customers during any selected time period, resulting in a reduction in end-use services. See Montana Code 69-3-1203
• Energy efficiency: means the decrease in electricity requirements of specific customers during any selected period with end-use services of those customers held constant. See Montana Code 69-3-1203
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Entity: means any party procuring power for the commercial purpose of electric vehicle charging. See Montana Code 69-8-801
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Federally registered planning authority: means a regional transmission organization responsible for moving electricity, planning for the movement of electricity, or both over large interstate areas registered with the federal energy regulatory commission. See Montana Code 69-5-201
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Financing costs: means , if approved by the commission in a financing order, costs to issue, service, repay, or refinance Montana energy impact assistance bonds, whether incurred or paid on issuance of the Montana energy impact assistance bonds or over the life of the bonds. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Financing order: means an order of the commission adopted in accordance with 69-8-503 that authorizes the imposition and collection of fixed transition amounts and the issuance of transition bonds. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Financing order: means an order issued by the commission in accordance with 69-3-1606 that grants, in whole or in part, an application filed pursuant to 69-3-1605 authorizing the issuance of Montana energy impact assistance bonds in one or more series, the imposition, charging, and collection of Montana energy impact assistance charges, and the creation of Montana energy impact assistance property. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Financing party: means holders of Montana energy impact assistance bonds and trustees, collateral agents, any party under an ancillary agreement, or any other person acting for the benefit of Montana energy impact assistance bondholders. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fixed transition amounts: means those nonbypassable rates or charges, including but not limited to:

  (i)distribution;

  (ii)connection;

  (iii)disconnection; and

  (iv)termination rates and charges that are authorized by the commission in a financing order to permit recovery of transition costs and the costs of recovering, reimbursing, financing, or refinancing the transition costs and of acquiring transition property through a plan approved by the commission in the financing order, including the costs of issuing, servicing, and retiring transition bonds. See Montana Code 69-8-103

• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Fund: means the universal service fund established in 69-3-842. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governing body: means the board of county commissioners or city council, as may be appropriate, depending on whether the special improvement district is located in a county or within a city or town. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Incumbent electric utility: means a public utility regulated by the public service commission pursuant to Title 69, chapter 3, or a utility qualifying as an electric cooperative pursuant to Title 35, chapter 18, or their successors or assignees, that owned, controlled, or operated transmission facilities on or before January 1, 2017. See Montana Code 69-5-201
• Incumbent local exchange carrier: means , with respect to an area, the local exchange carrier that:

  (a)on February 8, 1996, provided telephone exchange service in the area; and

  (b)on February 8, 1996, was considered to be a member of the exchange carrier association pursuant to 47 C. See Montana Code 69-3-803

• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Interested person: means a retail electricity customer, the consumer counsel established in 5-15-201, the commission, or a utility. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• 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.
• Knowingly: means only a knowledge that the facts exist which bring the act or omission within the provisions of this code. See Montana Code 1-1-204
• Large customer: means any premises, except subdivisions, with the estimated connected load for full operation at an individual service for the premises of 500 kilowatts or larger. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Large customer: means , for universal system benefits programs purposes, a customer with an individual load greater than a monthly average of 1,000 kilowatt demand in the previous calendar year for that individual load. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• 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}
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Line: means any material that is used to convey electrical energy and that is normally energized between 2,400 volts phase to ground and 14,400 volts phase to ground. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local governing body: means a local board of trustees of a rural electric cooperative. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Local telecommunications: means :

  (a)telecommunications originating in a wireline local calling area, including extended area service areas, and terminating in the same wireline local calling area or extended area service area; or

  (b)commercial mobile radio service that originates from or terminates to a commercial mobile radio service provider within the same major trading area as defined in 47 C. See Montana Code 69-3-803

• Material affiliate transaction: means an affiliate transaction that has a significant potential impact on the financial stability of a regulated energy utility, including but not limited to:

  (a)dividend payments from a regulated energy utility to a corporate parent company if those payments would place the regulated energy utility's credit quality or property in jeopardy;

  (b)intercompany loans or other extensions of credit or advances of working capital between a regulated energy utility and an affiliate if those activities would place the regulated energy utility's credit quality or property in jeopardy;

  (c)the use of proceeds in issuing securities for which the assets of the regulated energy utility are pledged; or

  (d)external borrowing by a regulated energy utility with a term greater than 120 days if the loan would place the regulated energy utility's credit quality or property in jeopardy. See Montana Code 69-3-1501

• Montana energy impact assistance bonds: means low-cost corporate securities, including but not limited to senior secured bonds, debentures, notes, certificates of participation, certificates of beneficial interest, certificates of ownership, or other evidences of indebtedness or ownership that have a scheduled maturity of no longer than 30 years and a final legal maturity date that is not later than 32 years from the issue date, that are rated AA or Aa2 or better by a major independent credit rating agency at the time of issuance, and that are issued by an electric utility or an assignee pursuant to a financing order. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Montana energy impact assistance charges: means charges in amounts determined appropriate by the commission and authorized by the commission in a financing order in order to provide a source of revenue solely to repay, finance, or refinance Montana energy impact assistance costs and financing costs that are imposed on and are a part of all customer bills and are collected in full by the electric utility that the financing order applies to, its successors or assignees, or a collection agent through a nonbypassable charge that is separate and apart from the electric utility's base rates. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Montana energy impact assistance costs: means :

  (i)at the option of and upon petition by an electric utility, and as approved by the commission pursuant to 69-3-1606, the pretax costs that the electric utility has incurred or will incur that are caused by, associated with, or remain as a result of the retirement or replacement of electric generating infrastructure or facilities located in Montana; and

  (ii)pretax costs that an electric utility has previously incurred related to the closure or replacement of electric infrastructure or facilities occurring before July 1, 2019. See Montana Code 69-3-1603

• Montana energy impact assistance property: means :

  (a)all rights and interests of an electric utility or successor or assignee of an electric utility under a financing order for the right to impose, bill, collect, and receive Montana energy impact assistance charges as it is authorized to do solely under the financing order and to obtain periodic adjustments to the Montana energy impact assistance charges as provided in the financing order; and

  (b)all revenue, collections, claims, rights to payments, payments, money, or proceeds arising from the rights and interests specified in subsection (14)(a), regardless of whether the revenue, collections, claims, rights to payment, payments, money, or proceeds are imposed, billed, received, collected, or maintained together with or commingled with other revenue, collections, rights to payment, payments, money, or proceeds. See Montana Code 69-3-1603

• Montana energy impact assistance revenue: means revenue, receipts, collections, payments, money, claims, or other proceeds arising from Montana energy impact assistance property. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• Natural gas production and gathering resources: means plants or equipment, minerals, and mineral rights used to extract natural gas from the earth and to collect, purify, measure, regulate, compress, and transport natural gas from its place of production to its connection with a transmission facility. See Montana Code 69-3-1402
• Natural gas supplier: means a person, including aggregators, market aggregators, brokers, and marketers, licensed by the commission that is offering to sell natural gas to retail customers in the state of Montana. See Montana Code 69-3-1402
• Natural gas utility: means a utility regulated by the commission on May 2, 1997, that provides natural gas services to the public. See Montana Code 69-3-1402
• Net metering: means measuring the difference between the electricity distributed to and the electricity generated by a customer-generator that is fed back to the distribution system during the applicable billing period. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Net metering system: means a facility for the production of electrical energy that:

  (a)uses as its fuel solar, wind, or hydropower;

  (b)has a generating capacity of not more than 50 kilowatts;

  (c)is located on the customer-generator's premises;

  (d)operates in parallel with the utility's distribution facilities; and

  (e)is intended primarily to offset part or all of the customer-generator's requirements for electricity. See Montana Code 69-8-103

• Nonbypassable: means that the payment of a Montana energy impact assistance charge required to repay bonds and related costs may not be avoided by any retail customer located within an electric utility service area. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Nonbypassable rates or charges: means rates or charges that are approved by the commission and imposed on a customer to pay the customer's share of transition costs or universal system benefits programs costs even if the customer has physically bypassed either the utility's transmission or distribution facilities. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Nonlocal telecommunications: means :

  (a)wireline telecommunications traffic carried by either an interlocal access transport area carrier or an intralocal access transport area toll provider that originates in one wireline local calling area and terminates in another wireline local calling area; or

  (b)commercial mobile radio service that originates in a major trading area and terminates in a different major trading area as defined in 47 C. See Montana Code 69-3-803

• Oath: includes an affirmation or declaration. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Open access: means that a natural gas utility has made its transmission facilities, storage facilities, or distribution facilities available to all natural gas suppliers, transmission services providers, distribution services providers, and customers on a nondiscriminatory and comparable basis. See Montana Code 69-3-1402
• Operator service provider: means any person, company, or entity that provides automated or live assistance to a customer to arrange for billing or completion, or both, of an intrastate telephone call through a method other than:

  (a)automatic completion, with billing to the telephone from which the call originated; or

  (b)completion through an access code used by the customer, with billing to an account previously established with a telecommunications carrier by the customer. See Montana Code 69-3-1102

• Ordinance: means resolution where the governing body acts by resolution and vice versa. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Originating carrier: means a telecommunications carrier from whose network a customer originates telecommunications traffic. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Outlays: Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. Outlays during a fiscal year may be for payment of obligations incurred in prior years or in the same year.
• Overhead electric or communication facilities: means electric or communication facilities located, in whole or in part, above the surface of the ground. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Overhead utility line: means a facility for the transmission or distribution of electricity or telephone messages along wires or cables suspended above the ground between single or double poles and their respective anchors. See Montana Code 69-4-401
• 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.
• Peace officer: has the meaning as defined in 46-1-202. See Montana Code 1-1-207
• Performance-based ratemaking: means those forms of regulation that include but are not limited to the use of revenue indexing, price indexing, ranges of authorized return, gas cost indexing, and innovative use of utility-related assets and activities, such as system sales of excess natural gas supplies, release of upstream pipeline capacity, and performance of billing services for other natural gas suppliers. See Montana Code 69-3-1402
• Person: means an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, unincorporated association, or other legal or business entity or the executor, administrator, trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof. See Montana Code 69-4-1102
• Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• person or entity: includes a corporation and all of its affiliates and subsidiaries if the corporation, affiliates, and subsidiaries have a common ownership or control of 80% of the outstanding voting shares. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Plan: means an integrated least-cost resource plan submitted by a utility in accordance with this part and the rules adopted under this part. See Montana Code 69-3-1203
• Planning period: means the future period for which a utility develops its plan, and the period over which net present value of revenue requirements for resources is calculated. See Montana Code 69-3-1203
• Premises: means a building, residence, structure, irrigation pump, or facility to which electric service facilities are provided or are to be installed. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Pretax costs: means costs approved by the commission, including but not limited to:

  (a)unrecovered capitalized costs of retired or replaced electric infrastructure or facilities;

  (b)costs of decommissioning and restoring the site of the electric infrastructure or facility;

  (c)other applicable capital and operating costs, accrued carrying charges, deferred expenses, reductions for applicable insurance and salvage proceeds; and

  (d)the costs of retiring any existing indebtedness, fees, costs, and expenses to modify existing debt agreements or for waivers or consents related to existing debt agreements. See Montana Code 69-3-1603

• Private telecommunications service: means a system, including the construction, maintenance, or operation of the system, for the provision of telecommunications service or any portion of the service, by a person or entity for the sole and exclusive use of that person or entity and not for resale, directly or indirectly. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The public debt does not include agency debt (amounts borrowed by other agencies of the Federal Government). The total public debt is subject to a statutory limit.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Public utility: means any public or private person, corporation, or cooperative that provides electric or communication service to the public by means of electric or communication facilities and shall include any special improvement district that provides electric or communication service to the public by means of electric or communication facilities. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Public utility: has the meaning of a public utility regulated by the commission pursuant to Title 69, chapter 3, on May 2, 1997, including the public utility's successors or assignees. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Public utility: means a public utility, as defined in 69-3-101, that provides electric or natural gas service. See Montana Code 69-3-1203
• Qualifying load: means , for payments and credits associated with universal system benefits programs, all nonresidential demand-metered accounts of a large customer within the utility's service territory in which the customer qualifies as a large customer. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Qualifying small power production facility: means a facility that:

  (a)produces electricity by the use, as a primary energy source, of biomass, waste, water, wind, or other renewable resource, or any combination of those sources; or

  (b)produces electricity and useful forms of thermal energy, such as heat or steam, used for industrial, commercial, heating, or cooling purposes through the sequential use of energy known as cogeneration; and

  (c)has a power production capacity that together with any other facilities located at the same site is not greater than 80 megawatts; and

  (d)is owned by a person not primarily engaged in the generation or sale of electricity other than electric power from a small power production facility. See Montana Code 69-3-601

• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Rate: means a charge by a small telecommunications provider to a subscriber for the initiation or continued provision of regulated telecommunications service. See Montana Code 69-3-901
• Rate increase: means an increase in the rates for regulated telecommunications services provided by a small telecommunications provider and the creation of new rates. See Montana Code 69-3-901
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Real property: means lands, tenements, hereditaments, and possessory title to public lands. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• 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}
• Regulated companies: means all those organizations, corporations, associations, or other public or private entities which now are or may hereafter become subject to regulation in any manner by the department of public service regulation or the public service commission or any successor agency. See Montana Code 69-1-201
• Regulated companies: means all organizations, corporations, associations, or other public or private entities which now are or may hereafter become subject to regulation in any manner by the department of public service regulation, the public service commission, or any successor agency. See Montana Code 69-1-401
• Regulated energy utility: means a public utility with more than 100 customers that owns distribution facilities for the distribution of electricity or natural gas to the public and that is regulated by the commission pursuant to this title. See Montana Code 69-3-1501
• Regulated telecommunications service: means two-way switched, voice-grade access and transport of communications originating and terminating in this state and nonvoice-grade access and transport if intended to be converted to or from voice-grade access and transport. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Regulated telecommunications service: is a s defined in 69-3-803. See Montana Code 69-3-901
• Regulated utility: means any electric utility regulated by the commission pursuant to Title 69, chapter 3, on May 2, 1997, including the public utility's successors or assignees. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Retail customer: means a customer that purchases electricity for residential, commercial, or industrial end-use purposes and does not resell electricity to others. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Retail revenue: means the gross Montana revenue from telecommunications services that originate or terminate in Montana and are billed for a service address in Montana, excluding revenue from the resale of telecommunications services to another telecommunications services provider that uses the telecommunications services to provide telecommunications services to the ultimate retail consumer who originates or terminates the transmission. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Rural telephone company: means a local exchange carrier operating entity to the extent that the entity:

  (a)provides common carrier service to any local exchange carrier study area that does not include either:

  (i)all or any part of an incorporated place of 10,000 inhabitants or more based on the most recently available population statistics of the United States bureau of the census; or

  (ii)any territory, incorporated or unincorporated, included in an urbanized area, as defined by the United States bureau of the census as of August 10, 1993;

  (b)provides telephone exchange service, including exchange access, to fewer than 50,000 access lines;

  (c)provides telephone exchange service to any local exchange carrier study area with fewer than 100,000 access lines; or

  (d)has less than 15% of its access lines in communities of more than 50,000 on February 8, 1996. See Montana Code 69-3-803

• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Service territory: means premises receiving distribution service from a utility on January 1, 2011, and premises added pursuant to Title 69, chapter 5. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Several: means two or more. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Small telecommunications provider: means a person, partnership, corporation, or other entity providing regulated telecommunications service to less than 12,000 subscribers in Montana. See Montana Code 69-3-901
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Storage facilities: means those facilities that are owned, controlled, or operated by a person offering storage service for natural gas and generally means any underground reservoir suitable for the storage of natural gas and the facilities used to inject and withdraw natural gas into and out of that underground reservoir. See Montana Code 69-3-1402
• Subdivision: has the meaning provided for in 76-3-103. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subscriber: means a person, partnership, corporation, or other entity acquiring regulated telecommunications service from a small telecommunications provider. See Montana Code 69-3-901
• subscription: includes the mark of a person who cannot write if the person's name is written near the mark by another person who also signs that person's own name as a witness. See Montana Code 1-1-203
• Successor: means , with respect to any legal entity, another legal entity that succeeds by operation of law to the rights and obligations of the first legal entity pursuant to any bankruptcy, reorganization, restructuring, other insolvency proceeding, merger, acquisition, consolidation, or sale or transfer of assets, whether any of these occur due to restructuring of the electric power industry or otherwise. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Tampering: means damaging, altering, adjusting, or in any manner interfering with or obstructing the operation or function of any authorized metering device provided for measuring or registering utility service. See Montana Code 69-4-1102
• Telecommunications: means the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user's choosing without a change in the form or content of the information upon receipt. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Telecommunications carrier: means the same as provided in 69-3-1302. See Montana Code 69-3-1102
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Terminating carrier: means a telecommunications carrier upon whose network telecommunications traffic terminates. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Third persons: means all persons who are not parties to the obligation or transaction concerning which the phrase is used. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Transit traffic: means telecommunications traffic that an originating carrier delivers to a transiting carrier or carriers for delivery to a terminating carrier. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Transiting carrier: means a telecommunications carrier or carriers that transport transit traffic from an originating carrier to a terminating carrier and that do not originate or terminate telecommunications traffic. See Montana Code 69-3-803
• Transition bonds: means any bond, debenture, note, interim certificate, collateral, trust certificate, or other evidence of indebtedness or ownership issued by the board or other transition bonds issuer that is secured by or payable from fixed transition amounts or transition property. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Transition charge: means a nonbypassable rate or charge to be imposed on a customer to pay the customer's share of transition costs. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Transition cost recovery period: means the period beginning on July 1, 1998, and ending when a utility customer does not have any liability for payment of transition costs. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Transition costs: means :

  (a)a public utility's net verifiable generation-related and electricity supply costs, including costs of capital, that become unrecoverable as a result of the implementation of federal law requiring retail open access or customer choice or of this chapter;

  (b)those costs that include but are not limited to:

  (i)regulatory assets and deferred charges that exist because of current regulatory practices and can be accounted for up to the effective date of the commission's final order regarding a public utility's transition plan and conservation investments made prior to universal system benefits charge implementation;

  (ii)nonutility and utility power purchase contracts executed before May 2, 1997, including qualifying facility contracts;

  (iii)existing generation investments and supply commitments or other obligations incurred before May 2, 1997, and costs arising from these investments and commitments;

  (iv)the costs associated with renegotiation or buyout of the existing nonutility and utility power purchase contracts, including qualifying facilities and all costs, expenses, and reasonable fees related to issuing transition bonds; and

  (v)the costs of refinancing and retiring of debt or equity capital of the public utility and associated federal and state tax liabilities or other utility costs for which the use of transition bonds would benefit customers. See Montana Code 69-8-103

• Transition costs: means :

  (a)a natural gas utility's net, verifiable production-related and gathering-related costs, including costs of capital, that become unrecoverable as a result of customer choice and open access. See Montana Code 69-3-1402

• Transition property: means the property right created by a financing order, including without limitation the right, title, and interest of a utility, assignee, or other issuer of transition bonds to all revenue, collections, claims, payments, money, or proceeds of or arising from or constituting fixed transition amounts that are the subject of a financing order, including those nonbypassable rates and other charges and fixed transition amounts that are authorized by the commission in the financing order to recover transition costs and the costs of recovering, reimbursing, financing, or refinancing the transition costs and acquiring transition property, including the costs of issuing, servicing, and retiring transition bonds. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Transmission facilities: means facilities that are used to provide transmission services and are owned, controlled, or operated by an incumbent electric utility. See Montana Code 69-5-201
• Transmission facilities: means those facilities that are used to provide transmission services as determined by the federal energy regulatory commission and the commission and that are controlled or operated by a utility. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Transmission facilities: means those facilities owned, controlled, and operated by a transmission services provider that are used to transport natural gas from a gathering line or storage facility to a distribution facility, storage facility, or end-use customer. See Montana Code 69-3-1402
• Transmission services provider: means a person controlling or operating transmission facilities. See Montana Code 69-3-1402
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Universal system benefits charge: means a nonbypassable rate or charge to be imposed on a customer to pay the customer's share of universal system benefits programs costs. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Universal system benefits charge: means a nonbypassable rate or charge to be imposed on a customer to pay the customer's share of universal system benefits program costs. See Montana Code 69-3-1402
• Universal system benefits programs: means public purpose programs for:

  (a)cost-effective local energy conservation;

  (b)low-income customer weatherization;

  (c)renewable resource projects and applications, including those that capture unique social and energy system benefits or that provide transmission and distribution system benefits;

  (d)research and development programs related to energy conservation and renewables;

  (e)market transformation designed to encourage competitive markets for public purpose programs; and

  (f)low-income energy assistance. See Montana Code 69-8-103

• Universal system benefits programs: means public purpose programs for cost-effective local energy conservation, low-income energy bill discounts, low-income weatherization, and emergency low-income energy bill assistance. See Montana Code 69-3-1402
• Usage: means a reasonable and lawful public custom concerning transactions of the same nature as those which are to be affected thereby, existing at the place where the obligation is to be performed, and either known to the parties or so well established, general, and uniform that the parties must be presumed to have acted with reference thereto. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• User: means an airplane pilot or an airplane passenger who flies into an airport. See Montana Code 67-10-902
• Usual: means according to usage. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• Utility: means a public utility regulated by the public service commission pursuant to Title 69, chapter 3. See Montana Code 69-4-1001
• Utility: means any public utility, municipally owned utility, or cooperative utility that provides electricity, gas, water, sewage disposal, or combination thereof, for sale to consumers. See Montana Code 69-4-1102
• Utility: means a public utility regulated by the commission pursuant to Title 69, chapter 3, or a utility qualifying as an electric cooperative pursuant to Title 35, chapter 18, or their successors or assignees. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Utility: means any public utility supplying electricity and regulated by the commission. See Montana Code 69-3-601
• Utility: means any public utility or cooperative utility. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Utility service: means the provision of electricity, gas, water, or sewer service. See Montana Code 69-4-1102
• Vector: means a straight line between two points. See Montana Code 69-5-102
• Willfully: when applied to the intent with which an act is done or omitted, means a purpose or willingness to commit the act or make the omission referred to. See Montana Code 1-1-204
• Writing: includes printing. See Montana Code 1-1-203