Sec. 86. (a) No license, permit, or franchise shall be granted to any person, copartnership, or corporation to own, operate, manage, or control any plant or equipment of any public utility in any municipality where there is in operation a public utility engaged in similar service under a license, franchise, or permit without first securing from the commission a declaration, after a public hearing, of all parties interested, that public convenience and necessity require such second public utility; provided, that any municipality may purchase, condemn, and operate, or construct and operate, a utility in such municipality for the purpose of transportation, production, transmission, delivery, sale, and furnishing of heat, light, water, and/or power to such municipality, and/or the public in and within six (6) miles of the limits of such municipality, without the consent of said commission, although there is operating in said municipality a public utility engaged in a similar service under a license, franchise, or indeterminate permit.
(b) Any permit, license, or franchise in existence on May 1, 1913, which shall contain any term whatsoever interfering with the existence of a second public utility is hereby declared to be against public policy and is hereby amended in such manner as to permit a municipality to grant a license, franchise, or permit for the operation of such second public utility pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
Formerly: Acts 1913, c.76, s.97; Acts 1933, c.190, s.9. As amended by P.L.59-1984, SEC.38.