Gas - 13.08

1. “Dwelling” means a building or structure designed or used as the living quarters for one (1) or more families and shall include mobile homes and recreational vehicles but not motels, hotels, or rooming houses.
2. “Dwelling unit” means one or more rooms providing complete living facilities for one family, including equipment and facilities for cooking and room or rooms for living, sleeping, and eating.
3. “Family” means a single individual, or a collective body of persons living together in a domestic bond, occupying a dwelling unit.
4. “Hotel, motel” means a building containing rooms intended or designed to be used or which are used, rented or hired out to be occupied or which are occupied for sleeping purposes by guests, and where kitchen and dining facilities, if any, are provided at a common location within the building or in an accessory building.
5. “Non-residential unit” means each twelve hundred (1,200) square feet of floor area in any building or structure used for purposes other than for a dwelling. Floor area includes all areas primary to the functioning of such use and excludes stairwells, hallways, corridors, dead storage, and space occupied by heating, air-conditioning and other utility equipment.
6. “Capital investment fee” means a share of the capital cost of the gas distribution system.
7. “Rooming House” means any dwelling in which more than three (3) persons, either individually or as family, are housed or lodged for hire, with or without meals. A boarding house or furnished room house shall be deemed a “rooming house”.
8. “Service Area” means the area within and outside the corporate limits of the town served by the gas utility system as determined by action of the town council and delineated on a map filed with the Town Manager.

There shall be within the plan of administrative organization as proposed by the Town manager and approved by the Town council provision for such departments and officers as may be deemed necessary for the proper operation of the public gas utility.

The Town council shall establish policies for the operation of the public gas utility, including adoption of charges, rates, rules, specifications, and regulations, and shall hold the Town manager responsible for the prudent, efficient, and economical management of the public gas utility.

Application for gas service shall be made to the town by the owner, or his duly authorized agent, of the property to be serviced, which owner or agent shall be known as the consumer. Such service is limited to the property of the applicant, and no gas shall be piped off such property or be sold or delivered to any other consumer. The Town manager may promulgate such rules and procedures, as he deems necessary to implement this section.

1. All rates, fees, charges, and assessments provided by this Chapter concerning the Town’s gas utility system from the time the same shall be due and payable shall become and remain a lien on the premises until said rates, fees, charges, and assessments have been paid to the Town. This lien on the premises may be foreclosed by an action at law or in equity in the name of the Town in any court having jurisdiction thereof. If the Town must resort to court action for collection of amounts due it under this chapter, the Town shall also be entitled to its reasonable attorney’s fees and other expenses incurred in such action if the Town prevails.
2. In the event said rates, fees, or charges and assessments are not aid when due, the Town Manager may certify the amount of the same to the County treasurer, to be placed on the tax list for the current year and collected in the same manner as other taxes are collected, with ten percent (10%) added thereto to defray the cost of collection pursuant to Section 31-20-105 C.R.S. All laws of this State for the assessment of general taxes, including the sale of property for taxes and redemption of the same shall apply.

The Town shall require as a condition of provision providing water, gas, and/or wastewater service, either singly or in any combination, a cash deposit of one hundred ($100) dollars as security for billing rendered. For the time the deposit is with the town and the utility connection maintained, interest will be allowed the depositor as determined by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for customer utility deposits, or in the absence of such determination, by the Town manager and based on the average interest earnings obtained by the Town on its investments. If over any period of twenty-four (24) consecutive months a review of the customer’s account shows that no more than four (4) monthly billings have been paid after the due date and that no utility service has been shut off for non-payment of a billing, the deposit with accrued interest shall be returned to the customer. In case of a shut off of a utility service for non-payment of a billing to a customer to whom a deposit has been returned, such service shall not be restored until there shall has been placed with the Town a deposit in the same amount and in the same manner as if the customer were new. Such deposit, if it has not been returned to the customer, may be credited to the customer’s account in case of non-payment of utility bills or discontinuance of service.

Upon an application for a new gas service or where upgrading of an existing service is required, the Town manager shall install or upgrade such service. The applicant or consumer shall pay to the Town a gas service installation fee for such new gas service or for such upgrading of an existing service. Said fee shall be established by resolution of the Town council following a public hearing on said resolution.

A capital investment fee shall be paid to the Town prior to the issuance of any building permit for new buildings or structures or expansion of existing buildings or structures. Expansion shall not only mean physical expansion of a building or structure but also conversions from one use to another and expansion of existing uses within a building. Such fee shall be calculated at a rate of two hundred dollars ($200) per dwelling unit or non-residential unit.

The Town shall extend at its expense gas mains within its service area to new consumers in subdivision, mobile home parks, or other developments. Such extensions may be by the gas utility department or by a qualified contractor employed by the Town. For extensions beyond the service area, the Town council may require the cost thereof to be defrayed by the owner or developer seeking such extension.

Service piping from the gas main to the meter shall be installed and maintained by the Town at its expense. Customer fuel piping from the meter to and within the building or structure served shall be installed by and at the expense of the owner or agent thereof in accordance with specifications adopted by the Town council. Gas shall not be turned on until such customer fuel piping installed by the owner or agent thereof has been inspected by the Town and tested by the Town or a licensed plumber.

Meters shall normally be installed by the Town at or near the building or structure to which the Town provides gas. Sufficient space for the meter shall be furnished by the consumer at no cost to the town. Meters shall be the property of and maintained by the Town. No person shall damage or destroy a meter or lines, connections, and fittings associated therewith, or tamper, meddle, or interfere with such meter, lines, connections, and fittings with the intent or result of causing the meter to malfunction or fail to measure gas consumption accurately. A consumer shall be responsible for any damages to such meter, lines, connections, and fittings but nothing herein shall prevent the consumer from providing normal care and maintenance therefore.

Whenever in his judgment the Town manager deems it necessary, he may enter upon the property or into the building or structure of a consumer in order to inspect or test the service piping, meter, or the customer fuel piping, to maintain or replace the meter or service piping deemed the responsibility of the town, or to connect or disconnect service as appropriate. The Town manager shall have the right to enter at all reasonable hours upon the premises and property of the consumer to read the meter. Refusal to allow such entry for the purposes described may result in discontinuance of gas service.

The quantity of gas delivered shall be ascertained and billed by the measurement of the meter to the nearest one hundred (100) cubic feet, and the quantity recorded shall be conclusive upon both the town and the consumer. In the case where a meter malfunctions, either failing to record gas usage or doing so inaccurately as determined by the Town manager, the Town shall render an estimated gas bill and shall base such estimate on the average gas consumption for the property or user over a period of months. A statement of the method used to arrive at such estimated bill shall be provided at the request of the consumer.

All consumers of the public gas utility shall pay a monthly demand charge and a commodity charge based on consumption of gas in order to create revenue sufficient to meet expenses of operation and maintenance of the public gas utility system, to pay any debts thereof, establish reserves, and make reasonable and necessary improvements. Said demand charge shall be billed for each commercial building, church, dwelling unit, or other use. Any change in rates shall be made by resolution of the Town council following a public hearing duly advertised.

Bills shall be dated the first day of a month and shall be mailed as close to that date as practicable. Bills shall be due no later than the close of business of the last working day of the month and shall become delinquent if not paid by that date. In the event that a bill becomes delinquent, a late charge of two percent (2%) shall be added to the principal amount due of such delinquent bill for each full month that such bill remains unpaid. Any consumer whose bill becomes delinquent shall receive a notice by mail demanding payment within ten (10) calendar days. Where an owner is not the same as the consumer, such owner may request a copy of such notice to be mailed to him. Should such payment not be made or some contractual payment schedule agreeable to the Town manager not be made, the gas service to that consumer shall be discontinued.

Consumers who intend to move from the property served, discontinue the use of gas, or in any other way terminate gas service shall give the Town manager five (5) days advance notice of their intentions. Gas service is not transferable from one property to another or from one (1) consumer to another, and an application for gas service shall be made in each case. The Town manager shall cause the meter to be read and a final bill rendered to the consumer.

In addition to discontinuance for non-payment of bills for gas consumption, the Town may discontinue service in accordance with regulations adopted by the Town council for the following reasons: 1. tampering with a meter and associated fittings serving the consumer, 2. dangerous leakage of gas on the property of the consumer, 3. non-payment of bills rendered on behalf of the gas utility for purposes other than consumption of gas, and 4. for violation of any other rules and regulations applicable to the gas utility.

No gas service shall be restored by the Town until all unpaid bills rendered on behalf of the gas utility have been paid or some contractual payment schedule agreeable to the Town manager has been made, nor shall gas service be turned on for any consumer who may have unpaid bills in his name from gas service at some other property within the service area of the gas utility until such time as such unpaid bills are paid in full.

A reconnect fee shall be paid by the consumer before the Town restores gas service when the consumer has discontinued and restored within six (6) months at the same location such gas service or when such service is discontinued for non-payment of bills for gas consumption, for non-payment of bills rendered on behalf of the gas utility for purposes other than the consumption of gas, and for tampering with a meter and associated fittings serving the consumer. Said fee shall be established by resolution of the Town council for restoration of such service during regular hours of the gas utility department and for restoration of such service after such hours. A fee shall be established by resolution of the Town council and charged to any consumer for the removal and testing of a gas meter when such removal and testing is requested by the consumer, and the meter is found not to be defective.

The Town shall not be held liable for damages for the failure of gas, whether such failure results from natural causes, failure of supply, the bursting of pipes, or from other causes beyond the control of the Town, nor shall the town be liable for damages to persons or property arising, occurring, or resulting from the use of gas on any premises, except on account of the negligence of the Town.

All expense, risk, and liability in using gas after it leaves the meter shall be assumed and borne exclusively by the consumer. He shall keep all customer fuel piping from the meter to the point of consumption in good repair and capable of conducting gas safely. The Town reserves the right to test for leakage at any reasonable hour the customer fuel piping of the consumer. In the event that such piping is found to be leaking, the Town may discontinue the gas service until such time as it has been repaired by the consumer, inspected by the Town, and tested either by the Town or a licensed plumber.

The consumer shall immediately notify the Town by messenger or telephone in case of failure, deficiency, or leakage of gas. Notification of the Town shall not relieve the consumer of responsibility and liability set forth herein or imposes any duty or obligation on the Town to make repairs or remedy deficiencies.