437A.3 Definitions.

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. a. “Assessed value” means the base year assessed value, as adjusted by section 437A.19, subsection 2.

(1) “Base year assessed value”, for a taxpayer other than an electric company, natural gas company, or electric cooperative, means the value attributable to property identified in section 427A.1, subsection 1, paragraph “h”, certified by the department of revenue to the county auditors for the assessment date of January 1, 1997, and the value attributable to property identified in section 427A.1 and section 427B.17, subsection 8, as certified by the local assessors to the county auditors for the assessment date of January 1, 1997, provided, that for a taxpayer subject to section 437A.17A, such value shall be the value certified by the department of revenue and local assessors to the county auditors for the assessment date of January 1, 1998.

(2) However, “base year assessed value”, for purposes of property of a taxpayer that is a municipal utility, if the property is not a major addition, and the property was initially assessed to the taxpayer as of January 1, 1998, and is not located in a county where the taxpayer had property that was assessed for purposes of this chapter as of January 1, 1997, means the value attributable to such property for the assessment date of January 1, 1998.

(3) For taxpayers that are electric companies, natural gas companies, and electric cooperatives, “base year assessed value” means the average of the total of these values for each taxpayer for the assessment dates of January 1, 1993, through January 1, 1997, allocated among taxing districts in proportion to the allocation of the taxpayer’s January 1, 1998, assessed value among taxing districts.

(4) “Base year assessed value” does not include value attributable to steam-operating property.

b. For new cogeneration facilities, the assessed value shall be determined as provided in section 437A.16A.

2. “Book”, “list”, “record”, or “schedule” kept by a county auditor, assessor, treasurer, recorder, sheriff, or other county officer means the county system as defined in section 445.1.

3. “Centrally assessed property tax” means property tax imposed with respect to the value of property determined by the director pursuant to section 427.1, subsection 2, Code 1997, section 428.29, Code 1997, and chapters 437 and 438, Code 1997, and allocated to electric service and natural gas service. For purposes of this subsection, “natural gas service” means such service provided by natural gas pipelines permitted pursuant to chapter 479.

4. a. “Cogeneration facility” means a facility with a capacity of two hundred megawatts or less that uses the same energy source for the sequential generation of electrical or mechanical power in combination with steam, heat, or other forms of useful energy and, except for ownership, meets the criteria to be a qualifying cogeneration facility as defined in the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, 16 U.S.C. §2601 et seq., and related federal regulations.

b. “New cogeneration facility” means any of the following:

(1) A cogeneration facility, regardless of capacity, which is first placed into service on or after January 1, 2009, that uses the same energy source for the sequential generation of electrical or mechanical power in combination with steam, heat, or other forms of useful energy and meets the criteria to be a qualifying cogeneration facility as defined in the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, 16 U.S.C. §2601 et seq., and related federal regulations.

(2) A cogeneration facility in service prior to January 1, 2009, that became subject to the replacement generation tax under section 437A.6 for the first time on or after January 1, 2009.

5. “Consumer” means an end user of electricity or natural gas used or consumed within this state. “Consumer” includes any master-metered facility even though the electricity or natural gas delivered to such facility may ultimately be used by another person. A person to whom electricity or natural gas is delivered by a master-metered facility is not a consumer. A “master-metered facility” means any multi-occupancy premises where units are separately rented or owned and where electricity or natural gas is used in centralized heating, cooling, water-heating, or ventilation systems, where individual metering is impractical, where the facility is designated for elderly or handicapped persons and utility costs constitute part of the operating cost and are not apportioned to individual units, or where submetering or resale of service was permitted prior to 1966.

6. “Delivery” means the physical transfer of electricity or natural gas to a consumer. Physical transfer to a consumer occurs when transportation of electricity or natural gas ends and such electricity or natural gas becomes available for use or consumption by a consumer.

7. “Director” means the director of revenue.

8. “Electric company” means a person engaged primarily in the production, delivery, service, or sales of electric energy whether formed or organized under the laws of this state or elsewhere. “Electric company” includes a combination natural gas company and electric company. “Electric company” does not include an electric cooperative or a municipal utility.

9. “Electric competitive service area” means an electric service area assigned by the utilities board under chapter 476 as of January 1, 1999, including utility property and facilities described in section 476.23, subsection 3, which were owned and served by the electric company, electric cooperative, or municipal utility serving such area on January 1, 1999.

10. “Electric cooperative” means an electric utility provider formed or organized as an electric cooperative under the laws of this state or elsewhere. An electric cooperative shall also include an incorporated city utility provider. “Generation and transmission electric cooperative” means an electric cooperative which owns both transmission lines and property which is used to generate electricity. “Distribution electric cooperative” means an electric cooperative other than a generation and transmission electric cooperative or a municipal electric cooperative association.

11. a. “Electric power generating plant” means a nameplate rated electric power generating plant, which produces electric energy from other forms of energy, including all taxable land, buildings, and equipment used in the production of such electric energy.

b. “New electric power generating plant” means any of the following:

(1) An electric power generating plant that is owned by or leased to an electric company, electric cooperative, municipal utility, or any other taxpayer, and that initially generates electricity subject to replacement generation tax under section 437A.6 on or after January 1, 2003.

(2) An electric power generating plant that is owned by or leased to an electric company, electric cooperative, municipal utility, or any other taxpayer, that initially generated electricity subject to replacement generation tax under section 437A.6 before January 1, 2003, and that is sold, leased, or transferred, in full or in part, on or after January 1, 2003. If any portion of an electric power generating plant is sold, the entire plant shall be treated as if it were a new electric power generating plant.

12. “Incorporated city utility provider” means a corporation with assets worth one million dollars or more which has one or more platted villages located within the territorial limits of the tract of land which it owns, and which provides electricity to ten thousand or fewer customers.

13. “Lease” means a contract between a lessor and lessee pursuant to which the lessee obtains a present possessory interest in tangible property without obtaining legal title in such property. A contract to transmit or deliver electricity or natural gas using operating property within this state is not a lease. “Capital lease” means a lease classified as a capital lease under generally accepted accounting principles.

14. a. “Local amount” means the first forty-four million four hundred forty-four thousand four hundred forty-five dollars of the acquisition cost of any major addition which is an electric power generating plant and the total acquisition cost of any other major addition.

b. “Local amount” for the purposes of determining the local taxable value for a new electric power generating plant shall annually be determined to be equal up to the first forty-four million four hundred forty-four thousand four hundred forty-five dollars of the taxable value of the new electric power generating plant. “Local amount” for the purposes of determining the local assessed value for a new electric power generating plant shall be annually determined to be the percentage share of the taxable value of the new electric power generating plant allocated as the local amount multiplied by the total assessed value of the new electric power generating plant.

15. “Local taxing authority” means a city, county, community college, school district, or other taxing authority located in this state and authorized to certify a levy on property located within such authority for the payment of bonds and interest or other obligations of such authority.

16. “Local taxing district” means a geographic area with a common consolidated property tax rate.

17. “Low capacity factor electric power generating plant” means, for any tax year, an electric power generating plant, with the exception of an electric power generating plant owned or leased by an electric company, an electric cooperative, or a municipal utility, which operated during the preceding calendar year at a net capacity factor of twenty percent or less. “Net capacity factor” means net actual generation during the preceding calendar year divided by the product of nameplate capacity times the number of hours the plant was in the active state during the preceding calendar year. Upon commissioning, a plant is in the active state until it is decommissioned. “Net actual generation” means net electrical megawatt hours produced by a plant during the preceding calendar year.

18. “Major addition” means either of the following:

a. Any acquisition on or after January 1, 1998, by a taxpayer, by transfer of ownership, self-construction, or capital lease of any interest in any of the following:

(1) A building in this state where the acquisition cost of all interests acquired exceeds ten million dollars.

(2) An electric power generating plant where the acquisition cost of all interests acquired exceeds ten million dollars. For purposes of this subparagraph, “electric power generating plant” means each nameplate rated electric power generating plant owned solely or jointly by any person or electric power facility financed under the provisions of chapter 28F or 476A in which electrical energy is produced from other forms of energy, including all equipment used in the production of such energy through its step-up transformer.

(3) Natural gas operating property within a local taxing district where the acquisition cost of all interests acquired exceeds one million dollars.

(4) Any property described in section 437A.16 in this state acquired by a person not previously subject to taxation under this chapter.

b. (1) Any acquisition on or after January 1, 2004, by a taxpayer, by transfer of ownership, self-construction, or capital lease of any interest in electric transmission operating property within a local taxing district where the acquisition cost of all interests acquired exceeds one million dollars.

(2) For purposes of this chapter, the acquisition cost of an asset acquired by capital lease is its capitalized value determined under generally accepted accounting principles.

19. “Municipal electric cooperative association” means an electric cooperative, the membership of which is composed entirely of municipal utilities.

20. “Municipal utility” means all or part of an electric light and power plant system or a natural gas system, either of which is owned by a city, including all land, easements, rights-of-way, fixtures, equipment, accessories, improvements, appurtenances, and other property necessary or useful for the operation of the municipal utility.

21. “Natural gas company” means a person that owns, operates, or is engaged primarily in operating or utilizing pipelines for the purpose of distributing natural gas to consumers located within this state, excluding a gas distributing plant or company located entirely within any city and not a part of a pipeline transportation company. “Natural gas company” includes a combination natural gas company and electric company. “Natural gas company” does not include a municipal utility.

22. a. “Natural gas competitive service area” means any of the fifty-two natural gas competitive service areas described as follows:

(1) Each of the following municipal natural gas competitive service areas:

(a) Taylor county, except for those areas of Taylor county which are contained within another municipal natural gas competitive service area as described in this subsection.

(b) The city of Brighton in Washington county and the area within two miles of the city limits plus sections 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, 18, 19, 20, 29, and 30 in Brighton township; sections 19, 30, and 33 in Franklin township; sections 1, 2, 11, 12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 25, and 36 in Dutch Creek township; and sections 25, 26, 35, and 36 in Seventy-Six township.

(c) Davis county.

(d) The city of Brooklyn in Poweshiek county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(e) The city of Cascade in Dubuque county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(f) The city of Cedar Falls in Black Hawk county and the area within one mile of the city limits, not including any part of the city of Waterloo.

(g) The city of Clearfield in Taylor county and the area within two miles of the city limits and sections 20, 21, 26, and 27 of Platte township, Grant township in Taylor county, and Grant township in Ringgold county.

(h) The south half of Carroll county and sections 3 and 4 of Orange township in Guthrie county.

(i) Adams county, except those areas of Adams county which are contained within another municipal natural gas competitive service area as defined in this subsection.

(j) The city of Emmetsburg in Palo Alto county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(k) The city of Everly in Clay county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(l) The city of Fairbank and the area within two miles of the city limits plus the area one-quarter mile on either side of the county line road, Highway 281, from Fairbank to the intersection of Outer road and Tenth street, proceeding twenty-eight hundredths of a mile north in Buchanan and Fayette counties.

(m) The city of Gilmore City in Pocahontas and Humboldt counties and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(n) The city of Graettinger in Palo Alto county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(o) The city of Guthrie Center in Guthrie county and the area within one mile of the city limits.

(p) The city of Harlan in Shelby county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(q) The city of Hartley in O’Brien county and the area within one mile of the city limits, except the eastern one-half of section four in Omega township.

(r) The city of Hawarden in Sioux county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(s) The city of Lake Park plus Silver Lake township in Dickinson county.

(t) Fayette and New Buda townships in Decatur county.

(u) The city of Lenox in Taylor county including section 1 of Platte township in Taylor county and the townships of Carl, Grant, Mercer, Colony, Union, and Prescott in Adams county.

(v) Grand River township in Wayne county.

(w) New Hope township in Union county and Monroe township in Madison county.

(x) Ewoldt and Eden townships in Carroll county and Iowa township in Crawford county.

(y) The city of Montezuma in Poweshiek county and the area within two miles of the city limits plus Jackson township in Poweshiek county except the city of Barnes City, Pleasant Grove and Monroe townships in Mahaska county except the city of Barnes City.

(z) Morning Sun township in Louisa county.

(aa) Wells and Washington townships in Appanoose county.

(ab) The city of Osage in Mitchell county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(ac) The city of Prescott in Adams county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(ad) The city of Preston in Jackson county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(ae) The city of Remsen in Plymouth county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(af) The city of Rock Rapids in Lyon county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(ag) The city of Rolfe in Pocahontas county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(ah) The city of Sabula in Jackson county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(ai) The city of Sac City in Sac county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(aj) The city of Sanborn in O’Brien county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(ak) The city of Sioux Center in Sioux county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(al) The city of Tipton in Cedar county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(am) The city of Waukee in Dallas county and the area within two miles of the city limits of Waukee as of January 1, 1999, not including any part of the cities of Clive, Urbandale, or West Des Moines.

(an) The city of Wayland plus Jefferson and Trenton townships in Henry county.

(ao) Seventy-Six and Lime Creek townships in Washington county except for those areas of Seventy-Six township which are contained within another municipal natural gas competitive service area as defined in this subsection.

(ap) The city of West Bend in Kossuth and Palo Alto counties and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(aq) The city of Whittemore in Kossuth county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(ar) Scott, Canaan, and Wayne townships in Henry county.

(as) The city of Woodbine in Harrison county and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(at) Nishnabotna township in Crawford county.

(2) The natural gas competitive service area, excluding any municipal natural gas competitive service area described in subparagraph (1) and consisting of Sioux county; Plymouth county; Woodbury county; Ida county; Harrison county; Shelby county; Audubon county; Palo Alto county; Humboldt county; Mahaska county; Scott county; Lyon county except Wheeler, Dale, Liberal, Grant, Midland, and Elgin townships; O’Brien county except Union, Dale, Summit, Highland, Franklin, and Center townships; Cherokee county except Cherokee and Pilot townships; Monona county except Franklin township and the south half of Ashton township; Pottawattamie county except Crescent, Hazel Dell, Lake, Garner, Kane, and Lewis townships; Mills county except Glenwood and Center townships; Montgomery county except Douglas, Washington, and East townships; Page county except Valley, Douglas, Nodaway, Nebraska, Harlan, East River, Amity, and Buchanan townships; Fremont county except Green, Scott, Sidney, Benton, Washington, and Madison townships; Brighton and Pleasant townships in Cass county; Sac county except Clinton, Wall Lake, Coon Valley, Levey, Viola, and Sac townships; Newell township in Buena Vista county; Calhoun county except Reading township; Denmark township in Emmet county; Kossuth county except Eagle, Grant, Springfield, Hebron, Swea, Harrison, Ledyard, Lincoln, Seneca, Greenwood, Ramsey, and German townships; Webster county except Roland, Clay, Burnside, Yell, Webster, Gowrie, Lost Grove, Dayton, and Hardin townships; Guthrie county except Grant, Thompson, and Beaver townships; Union township in Union county; Madison county except Ohio and New Hope townships; Warren county except Virginia, Squaw, Liberty, and White Breast townships; Cedar, Union, Bluff Creek, and Pleasant townships in Monroe county; Marion county except Lake Prairie, Knoxville, Summit, and Union townships; Dallas county except Des Moines and Grant townships; Polk county except sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 17, and 18 in Lincoln township and the city of Grimes, and sections 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 in Union township; Poweshiek, Washington, Mound Prairie, Des Moines, Elk Creek, and Fairview townships in Jasper county; Wright county except Belmond and Pleasant townships; Geneseo township in Cerro Gordo county; Franklin county except Wisner and Scott townships and the city of Coulter; Butler county except Bennezette, Coldwater, Dayton, and Fremont townships; Floyd county except Rock Grove, Rudd, Rockford, Ulster, Scott, and Union townships; Branford township in Chickasaw county; Bremer county except Frederika, LeRoy, Sumner No. 2, Fremont, Dayton, Maxfield, and Franklin townships; Perry, Washington, Westburg, and Sumner townships in Buchanan county; Black Hawk county except Big Creek township; Fremont township in Benton county; Wapello county except Washington township; Benton and Steady Run townships in Keokuk county; the city of Barnes City in Poweshiek county; Iowa township in Washington county; Johnson county except Fremont township; Linn county except Franklin, Grant, Spring Grove, Jackson, Boulder, Washington, Otter Creek, Maine, Buffalo, and Fayette townships; Monroe township west and north of Otter Creek to its intersection with County Home road, and north of County Home road in Linn county; the city of Walford in Linn county; Farmington township in Cedar county; Wapsinonoc, Goshen, Moscow, Wilton, and Fulton townships in Muscatine county; and Lee county except Des Moines, Montrose, Keokuk, and Jackson townships.

(3) The natural gas competitive service area, excluding any municipal natural gas competitive service areas described in subparagraph (1) and consisting of that part of Kossuth county not described in subparagraph (2); Lincoln and Buffalo townships in Winnebago county; Worth county except Silver Lake, Hartland, Bristol, Brookfield, Fertile, and Danville townships; Cerro Gordo county except Grimes, Pleasant Valley, and Dougherty townships; Rock Grove and Rudd townships in Floyd county; Eden, Camanche, and Hampshire townships and the city of Clinton in Clinton county; and Stacyville and Union townships in Mitchell county.

(4) The natural gas competitive service area, excluding any municipal natural gas service areas described in subparagraph (1) and consisting of Franklin township and the south half of Ashton township in Monona county; Crescent, Hazel Dell, Lake, Garner, Kane, and Lewis townships in Pottawattamie county; Glenwood and Center townships in Mills county; Green, Scott, Sidney, Benton, Washington, and Madison townships in Fremont county; Cass, Bear Grove, Union, Noble, Edna, Victoria, Massena, Lincoln, and Grant townships in Cass county; Glidden township in Carroll county; Summit township in Adair county; Grant township in Guthrie county; Crawford county except Nishnabotna township; Clinton, Wall Lake, Coon Valley, Levey, Viola, and Sac townships in Sac county; Reading township in Calhoun county; Marshall, Sherman, Roosevelt, Dover, Grant, Lincoln, and Cedar townships in Pocahontas county; Union, Dale, Summit, Highland, Franklin, and Center townships in O’Brien county; the north half of Clay county plus Clay township; Dickinson county; Emmet county except Denmark, Armstrong Grove, and Iowa Lake townships; Greene county except Bristol, Hardin, Jackson, and Grant townships; Boone county except Worth, Colfax, Des Moines, Jackson, Dodge, and Harrison townships; Des Moines and Grant townships in Dallas county; Roland, Clay, Burnside, Yell, Webster, Gowrie, Lost Grove, Dayton, and Newark townships in Webster county; Clear Lake, Hamilton, Webster, Freedom, Independence, Cass, and Fremont townships in Hamilton county; Ell, Madison, and Ellington townships in Hancock county; Winnebago county except Lincoln and Buffalo townships; Silver Lake, Hartland, Bristol, Brookfield, Fertile, and Danville townships in Worth county; Etna township in Hardin county; Lafayette township and the west one-half of Howard township in Story county; the city of Grimes in Polk county; Independence, Malaka, Mariposa, Hickory Grove, Rock Creek, Kellogg, Newton, Sherman, Palo Alto, Buena Vista, and Richland townships in Jasper county; Palermo, Grant, and Fairfield townships in Grundy county; Bennezette, Coldwater, Dayton, and Fremont townships in Butler county; Rockford, Ulster, Scott, and Union townships in Floyd county; St. Ansgar and Mitchell townships in Mitchell county; Howard county; Chickasaw county except Branford township; Frederika, LeRoy, Sumner No. 2, Fremont, Dayton, Maxfield, and Franklin townships in Bremer county; Big Creek township in Black Hawk county; Brown township in Linn county; Madison township and the east half of Buffalo township in Buchanan county; Fayette county except Harlan, Fremont, Oran, and Jefferson townships; Winneshiek county; Allamakee county; Clayton county; Delaware county except Adams and Hazel Green townships; Dubuque county; Jones county except Rome, Hale, Oxford, and the east half of Greenfield townships; and Jackson county.

(5) The natural gas competitive service area consisting of Des Moines, Montrose, Keokuk, and Jackson townships in Lee county.

(6) The natural gas competitive service area consisting of the city of Allerton and the area within two miles of the city limits.

(7) The natural gas competitive service area consisting of all of Iowa not contained in any of the other natural gas competitive service areas described in this paragraph.

b. “Township” includes any city or part of a city located within the exterior boundaries of that township.

c. References to city limits contained in this subsection mean those city limits as they existed on January 1, 1999.

23. “Operating property” means all property owned by or leased to an electric company, electric cooperative, municipal utility, or natural gas company, not otherwise taxed separately, which is necessary to and without which the company could not perform the activities of an electric company, electric cooperative, municipal utility, or natural gas company.

24. “Pole miles” means miles measured along the line of poles, structures, or towers carrying electric conductors regardless of the number of conductors or circuits carried, and miles of conduit bank, regardless of number of conduits or ducts, of all sizes and types, including manholes and handholes. “Conduit bank” means a length of one or more underground conduits or ducts, whether or not enclosed in concrete, designed to contain underground cables, including a gallery or cable tunnel for power cables.

25. “Purchasing member” means a municipal utility which purchases electricity from a municipal electric cooperative association of which it is a member.

26. “Replacement tax” means the excise tax imposed on the generation, transmission, delivery, consumption, or use of electricity or natural gas under section 437A.4, 437A.5, 437A.6, or 437A.7.

27. “Self-generator” means a person, other than an electric company, natural gas company, electric cooperative, or municipal utility, who generates, by means of an on-site facility wholly owned by or leased in its entirety to such person, electricity solely for its own consumption, except for inadvertent unscheduled deliveries to the electric utility furnishing electric service to that self-generator. A person who generates electricity which is consumed by any other person, including any owner, shareholder, member, beneficiary, partner, or associate of the person who generates electricity, is not a self-generator. For purposes of this subsection, “on-site facility” means an electric power generating plant that is wholly owned by or leased in its entirety to a person and used to generate electricity solely for consumption by such person on the same parcel of land on which such plant is located or on a contiguous parcel of land. For purposes of this subsection, “parcel of land” includes each separate parcel of land shown on the tax list.

28. “Statewide amount” means the acquisition cost of any major addition which is not a local amount.

29. “Tax year” means a calendar year beginning January 1 and ending December 31.

30. “Taxable value” means as defined in section 437A.19, subsection 2, paragraph “e”.

31. “Taxpayer” means an electric company, natural gas company, electric cooperative, municipal utility, or other person subject to the replacement tax imposed under section 437A.4, 437A.5, 437A.6, or 437A.7.

32. “Transfer replacement tax” means the excise tax imposed in a competitive service area of a municipal utility which replaces transfers made by the municipal utility in accordance with section 384.89.

33. “Transmission line” means a line, wire, or cable which is capable of operating at an electric voltage of at least thirty-four and one-half kilovolts.

34. “Utilities board” means the utilities board created in section 474.1.

98 Acts, ch 1194, §4, 40; 99 Acts, ch 114, §27; 99 Acts, ch 152, §21 – 23, 40; 2000 Acts, ch 1114, §2, 18; 2000 Acts, ch 1148, §1; 2001 Acts, ch 145, §1, 2, 13

; 2001 Acts, 1st Ex, ch 4, §5, 36

; 2002 Acts, ch 1119, §58, 200, 201; 2003 Acts, ch 106, §2 – 6, 15; 2003 Acts, ch 145, §286; 2004 Acts, ch 1096, §1, 4; 2006 Acts, ch 1010, §112; 2007 Acts, ch 150, §1; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §148; 2010 Acts, ch 1161, §1 – 3, 11; 2011 Acts, ch 25, §91; 2012 Acts, ch 1023, §49, 50; 2013 Acts, ch 90, §248; 2014 Acts, ch 1092, §94

Referred to in §437A.15, 437A.16A, 476.86