Any cooperative electric association may vote no more than once a year to place said association under the regulation of the public utilities commission, as provided in the "Public Utilities Law", articles 1 to 7 of this title. Said question shall only be submitted to the member-consumers of the association if at least five percent of the member-consumers of the association sign a petition requesting such an election and if such signatures are gathered within a six-month period immediately preceding the submission of the petition to the association's board of directors. No petition circulated pursuant to this section shall be valid unless the petition sponsor notifies the board in writing prior to circulation for signatures. Such petition shall be submitted to, and signatures certified by, the board at a regular scheduled meeting. Such certification shall include a determination as to whether the signatures on the petition were gathered within a six-month period immediately preceding the submission of the petition to the board. After the petition has been certified by the board, the commission shall conduct an election within forty-five days on the question. If a majority of the persons voting at the election vote in favor of placing their association under commission regulation, the commission shall reassert its regulation upon determination of the election results.
Source: L. 83: Entire article added, p. 1571, § 1, effective July 1. L. 85: Entire section amended, p. 1302, § 5, effective April 5. L. 2005: Entire section amended, p. 330, § 1, effective April 20.