(a) Cooperative, nonprofit, membership corporations may be organized under this chapter for the purpose of supplying electric energy and promoting and extending the use thereof to persons (1) in rural areas or in any portion thereof occupied by such persons and not receiving central station service, and (2) elsewhere except that the supplying of electric energy to franchise areas being supplied on October 1, 1971, with electric energy, or to areas supplied on said date by municipal utilities, shall be permitted only with the consent of the holder of the franchise or the municipal utility.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, cooperative, nonprofit, membership corporations may be organized under this chapter for the purpose of generating electric energy by means of cogeneration technology, renewable energy resources or both and supplying it to any member or supplying it to, purchasing it from or exchanging it with a public service company, electric supplier, as defined in section 16-1, municipal aggregator, as defined in said section, municipal utility or municipal electric energy cooperative, in accordance with an agreement with the company, electric supplier, electric aggregator, municipal utility or cooperative. No membership corporation under this subsection may exercise those powers contained in subsection (i) or (j) of section 33-221 unless the prior approval of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority is obtained, after opportunity for hearing in accordance with title 16 and chapter 54. Any cooperative organized on or after July 1, 1998, pursuant to this subsection shall collect from its members the competitive transition assessment levied pursuant to section 16-245g and the systems benefits charge levied pursuant to section 16-245l in such manner and at such rate as the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority prescribes, provided the authority shall order the collection of said assessment and said charge in a manner and rate equal to that to which the members of the cooperative would have been subject had the cooperative not been organized.
(1949 Rev., S. 5328; 1971, P.A. 422; P.A. 73-644, S. 2; P.A. 81-439, S. 8, 14; P.A. 98-28, S. 66, 117; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)
History: 1971 act added Subdiv. (2) allowing organization of electric energy supply corporations in other than rural areas; P.A. 73-644 deleted “in this state” following the word “elsewhere” in Subdiv. (2); P.A. 81-439 added Subsec. (b), exempting a cooperative, generating electricity by means of cogeneration technology or renewable energy resources, from restrictions in Subsec. (a) and requiring department approval for some powers under Sec. 33-221; P.A. 98-28 amended Subsec. (b) by adding electric suppliers and aggregators, by deleting reference to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act and by adding provision regarding collection of the competitive transition assessment and systems benefits charge, effective July 1, 1998; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Department of Public Utility Control” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Public Utilities Regulatory Authority” in Subsec. (b), effective July 1, 2011.