12-895. Powers. (a) Municipal energy agencies created under the provisions of this act may exercise the following powers:

(1) To sue and be sued;

(2) to have a seal and alter the same at will;

(3) to make, amend and repeal bylaws consistent with the provisions of this act and the agreement creating the agency;

(4) to enter into franchises, contracts and agreements with this state or the United States or instrumentality thereof, or any public or private person, partnership, association or corporation of this state or of the United States, for the planning, development, construction or operation of any facility for the production or transmission of electricity or other energy or for any common or other service rendered to, for or by such agency;

(5) to make and enter into any other contract or agreement necessary or incidental to the performance of its duties and the execution of its powers under this act, including contracts for the purchase, sale, transmission or exchange of power and other energy with the United States or with other energy systems, either privately, cooperatively or publicly owned, within and without the state, subject to the limitations and restrictions provided in this act;

(6) to plan, finance, construct, purchase, operate, maintain, use, share costs of, own, lease, sell, dispose of or otherwise participate in any project or any portion thereof within or without the state, including solar and wind facilities, or the product or service therefrom, or to purchase, own, sell, dispose of or otherwise participate in securities issued in connection with the financing of such project or any portion thereof or acquire any interest in or any right to capacity of such project and may act as agent, or designate one or more of the other persons participating in a project to act as its agent, in connection with the planning, acquisition, construction, reconstruction, operation, maintenance, repair, extension of improvement of any project;

(7) to borrow money by the issuance of revenue bonds and to issue interim financing receipts or temporary notes in the manner prescribed by this act;

(8) to establish, revise and collect rates or charges for electric power and other energy and all other services, facilities and commodities sold, furnished or supplied by the agency;

(9) to acquire, hold, lease to and from and dispose of real or personal property which is necessary for the performance of its duties and the execution of its powers under this act and to exercise the power of eminent domain in accordance with the provisions of K.S.A. 26-501 to 26-516, inclusive, and amendments thereto, in order to construct, operate, maintain and manage electric generating and other energy facilities, power lines and other energy transmission facilities and ways of access between any member city and any electric power or other energy plant or any part thereof within this state, except in no event shall the agency acquire by condemnation any generation, transmission or distribution facilities of other electric utilities nor shall the generation, transmission or distribution facilities of the agency be subject to the exercise of the power of eminent domain by any utility, public or private, or by any municipality;

(10) to investigate the desirability of and necessity for additional sources and supplies of electric energy, and make studies, surveys and estimates as may be necessary to determine the feasibility and cost thereof;

(11) to cooperate with other persons in the development of sources and supplies of electric energy;

(12) to invest money of the municipal energy agency not required for immediate use, including proceeds from the sale of any bonds or notes, in such obligations, securities, and other investments as the municipal energy agency deems prudent, notwithstanding the provisions of any other law relating to the investment of public funds, subject to any agreement with bondholders or note holders;

(13) subject to the provisions of K.S.A. 12-897 and amendments thereto, to purchase, sell, exchange or transmit electric energy within and outside the state in such amounts as it determines to be necessary and appropriate to make the most effective use of its powers and to meet its responsibilities, and may enter into agreements with any person with respect to that purchase, sale, exchange or transmission, on such terms and for such period of time as its board of directors determines;

(14) to procure insurance against any losses in connection with its property, operations or assets in such amounts and from such insurers as it deems desirable;

(15) to mortgage, pledge and grant a security interest in any or all of its real and personal property to secure the payment of its bonds, notes or other obligations or contracts;

(16) to pay to each taxing authority within whose taxing jurisdiction its property is situated, in lieu of taxes on its property, the amounts of the taxes which would be payable if its property were owned by a private person, and for this purpose the property of a municipal energy agency shall be valued and assessed in the same manner and by the same procedure as the property of public utilities; and

(17) to exercise all other powers not inconsistent with the constitution of the state of Kansas or the United States constitution, which powers may be reasonably necessary or appropriate for or incidental to the effectuation of its authorized purposes or to the exercise of any of the powers enumerated in this section, and generally may exercise in connection with its property and affairs, and in connection with property within its control, any and all powers which might be exercised by a natural person or a private corporation in connection with similar property and affairs.

(b) Nothing in this act shall be construed as authorizing any municipal energy agency created and operating under the provisions of this act to construct, acquire or operate any coal gasification facility or any pipeline for the transportation of coal slurry, and no such agency shall be authorized to construct, acquire or operate any coal gasification facility or any pipeline for the transportation of coal slurry unless specifically authorized by law.

History: L. 1977, ch. 48, § 11; L. 1988, ch. 74, § 5; July 1.