§ 5013. Special powers

(a) The Authority may contract to sell, and member municipalities and cooperatives and other utilities may contract to purchase, all or a portion of the capacity and output of one or more specific projects including contracts providing for planning, engineering, design, acquiring sites or options for sites, and expenses preliminary or incidental to such project. This contract may be for the life of a project or other term or for an indefinite period; may provide for the payment of unconditional obligations imposed without regard to whether a project is undertaken, completed, operable, or operating and despite the suspension, interruption, interference, reduction, or curtailment of the output of a project; and may contain provisions for prepayment, nonunanimous amendment, arbitration, delegation, and other matters deemed necessary or desirable to carry out its purposes. This contract may also provide, in the event of default by any party to the contract in the performance of its obligations under the contract, for other parties to assume the obligations and succeed to the rights and interests of the defaulting party, pro rata or otherwise as may be agreed upon in the contract.

(b) Neither the obligations of the Authority nor the obligations of any member municipality or cooperative or other utility under any contract authorized by subsection (a) of this section shall be deemed to constitute an indebtedness or a lending of credit of the Authority or any such municipality, cooperative, or other utility or shall be included in computing the borrowing capacity of the Authority, or any such municipality, cooperative, or other utility. These obligations of such municipalities and cooperatives shall be treated as expenses of operating their electric plants. In the case of municipalities, these obligations shall constitute special obligations of such municipalities payable solely from the revenues and other monies derived by them from their electric departments or systems. The liability of these municipalities from other funds is limited to obligations undertaken by them to pay for the electric power and energy used by them.

(c) A municipality or cooperative shall be obligated to fix, revise, and collect fees and charges for electric power and energy and other services, facilities, and commodities furnished or supplied through its electric system at least sufficient to provide revenues adequate to meet its obligations under any such output and capacity contract and to pay all other amounts payable from or constituting a charge and lien upon those revenues.

(d) Any member municipality or cooperative may convey, transfer, or assign to the Authority, with or without consideration, any real or personal property or interest in either, including a leasehold estate.

(e) The Authority and any member municipality or cooperative or other utility (whether or not such utility is a member of the Authority) that is acting pursuant to a contract with the Authority may expend its funds, including the proceeds of its notes, bonds, or other obligations, for the purposes of modifying demand for electric capacity or energy through conservation or load management by participation in such facilities, projects, and programs as the Board of the Authority or the legislative body or other governing body or the governing board of the member municipality or cooperative or other utility, as the case may be, determines will effectively accomplish such purposes. Such facilities, projects, and programs may include providing or financing facilities or projects for conservation or load management, which may be: owned or operated by the Authority or any member municipality or cooperative or other utility or by others; leased or licensed by the Authority or any member municipality or cooperative or other utility to others, or financed by loans by the Authority or any member municipality or cooperative or other utility to others, in either case on such terms and conditions as the Board of the Authority or the legislative body or other governing body or the governing board of the member municipality or cooperative or other utility, as the case may be, may determine. Any member municipality or cooperative or other utility may issue its notes, bonds, or other obligations pursuant to any statutory authority conferring such power for carrying out the purposes of this subsection. (Added 1979, No. 78, § 3; amended 1989, No. 112, §§ 2, 4, eff. June 22, 1989; 2009, No. 78 (Adj. Sess.), § 40, eff. April 15, 2010.)