Before any person shall engage in business as a distributor of compressed gas, he shall first make application to the commission, upon forms prescribed by the commission, for a permit to engage in said business.

If said application is approved, the commission may require said applicant to enter into a good and sufficient surety bond, written by a company qualified to write such bonds in the State of Mississippi, which bond shall be made payable to the State of Mississippi, in a sum not less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) nor more than Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00); or in lieu thereof, deposit with the commission a cash bond in the aforesaid amount. A personal bond in the aforesaid amounts shall also be acceptable if the same is secured by the bonds of the State of Mississippi or the United States government. Such bond or bonds shall be in an amount not to exceed Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00), and not to exceed the compressed gas taxes estimated to become due by the said distributor for any ninety-day period. The bond herein required shall be increased within the limits hereinbefore set forth from time to time if deemed insufficient by the commission, giving to the distributor fifteen (15) days’ notice, in writing, to increase said bond, said notice to state the amount of increase demanded.

Said bond shall be conditioned that the distributor will fully comply with all laws pertaining to distributors of compressed gas as regulated by this chapter and to pay the compressed gas taxes and penalties provided. Provided, however, that any person who has already furnished bond under a prior petroleum tax law or shall furnish a bond to meet the requirements of any petroleum tax law administered by the commission shall not be required to furnish an additional bond, but said person shall be subject to all other conditions, requirements and liabilities imposed herein upon a distributor of compressed gas.

Before any public utility sells or delivers natural gas for use as a fuel in a motor vehicle to a user, as defined herein, the public utility shall notify, in writing, the commission of its intention to engage in such activity.

A public utility who sells or delivers natural gas to a user, as defined herein, shall be subject to the same requirements and penalties as distributors of compressed gas except that the public utility shall not be required to comply with Section 75-57-49.