§ 23-18-331 - Service in incorporated areas.
23-18-331. Service in incorporated areas.
(a) (1) The inclusion by incorporation, annexation, or otherwise of any portion of a rural area assigned to corporations within the limits of an incorporated or unincorporated city, town, or village, regardless of its population, shall not in any respect impair or affect the rights of the corporations under their certificates of convenience and necessity to continue and extend electric service in the included areas.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the corporations shall be entitled to continue and extend service therein under the same terms and conditions as those contained in the franchise or indeterminate permit of any other supplier of electric service in the city, town, or village the same as though it were a party to the franchise or indeterminate permit.
(b) (1) A corporation which serves an area within the limits of any municipality under the terms of this subchapter shall as to that area be subject in all respects to the jurisdiction of the Arkansas Public Service Commission to the same extent and in the same manner as it is subject to such jurisdiction in areas outside the limits of municipalities.
(2) Any such city, town, or village shall have the same authority to impose taxes, charges, or fees in respect to the business of a corporation conducted within the corporate limits of such city, town, or village as it has in respect to business conducted by other suppliers of electric service.
(c) Nothing in this section shall in any manner restrict or impair the right of any municipality to acquire, construct, expand, maintain, or operate any electric generation, transmission, or distribution facilities within the corporate limits of the city, town, or village in Arkansas as such limits may now exist or as such limits may exist upon the extension or expansion of the city limits of the city, town, or village.