2006 Minnesota Statutes

453.52 DEFINITIONS.
    Subdivision 1. Application. The terms defined in this section have the following meanings
whenever used in sections 453.51 to 453.62 unless the context requires otherwise.
    Subd. 2. Agency agreement. "Agency agreement" means the written agreement between or
among two or more cities establishing a municipal power agency.
    Subd. 3. City. "City" means a city organized and existing under the laws of Minnesota or a
city charter adopted pursuant thereto, and authorized by such laws or charter to engage in the local
distribution and sale of electric energy; provided that any city so engaged on January 1, 1976, is
authorized to continue such distribution and sale, and every city now or hereafter so authorized
may exercise, either individually or as a member of a municipal power agency, all of the powers
granted in sections 453.51 to 453.62. "City" also includes a city organized and existing under the
laws of another state or a city charter adopted pursuant thereto which participates in a municipal
power agency with Minnesota cities and pays a full pro rata share of the expenses of the agency.
"City" also includes a park and recreation board in a city of the first class.
    Subd. 4. City council. "City council" means the city council or other similar board,
commission, or body within a city which is charged by law or its charter with the general control
of the city's governmental affairs.
    Subd. 5. Distribution. "Distribution" means the conveyance of electric energy to retail
consumers from a transmission system, or from a generation facility situated within or in the
immediate vicinity of a city.
    Subd. 6. Generation. "Generation" means the production of electricity by any means and the
acquisition of fuel of any kind for that purpose, and includes but is not limited to the acquisition
of fuel deposits and the acquisition or construction and operation of facilities for extracting fuel
from natural deposits, for converting it for use in another form, for burning it in place, and for
transportation and storage.
    Subd. 7. Governing body. "Governing body," with respect to a city, means the city council
or, if another board, commission, or body is empowered by law or its charter or by resolution
of the city council to establish and regulate rates and charges for the distribution of electric
energy within the city, such board, commission, or body shall be deemed to be the "governing
body"; provided, however, that when the levy of a tax or the incurring of an obligation payable
from taxes or any other action of such board, commission, or body requires the concurrence,
approval, or independent action of the city council or another body under the city's charter or
any other law, such action shall not be exercised under sections 453.51 to 453.62 until such
concurrence or approval is received or such independent action is taken; and provided further, that
the concurrence of the city council or other elected body charged with the general management of
a city shall be required, prior to the adoption by the city of any resolution approving an agency
agreement or any amendment thereto.
    Subd. 8. Municipal power agency. "Municipal power agency" means a separate political
subdivision and municipal corporation created by agreement between or among two or more
cities pursuant to section 453.53 to exercise any of the powers of acquisition, construction,
reconstruction, operation, repair, extension, or improvement of electric generation or transmission
facilities or the acquisition of any interest therein or any right to part or all of the capacity thereof.
    Subd. 9. Person. "Person" means a natural person, a public agency, or a private corporation,
firm, partnership, cooperative association, or business trust of any nature whatsoever, organized
and existing under the laws of any state or of the United States or of any other country or political
subdivision thereof and shall also include other countries and their political subdivisions,
departments, agencies and instrumentalities.
    Subd. 10. Project. "Project" means any plant, works, system, facilities, and real and personal
property of any nature whatsoever, together with all parts thereof and appurtenances thereto, used
or useful in the generation, production, transmission, purchase, sale, exchange, or interchange
of electric energy or any interest therein or capacity thereof.
    Subd. 11. Public agency. "Public agency" means any city or other municipal corporation,
political subdivision, governmental unit, or public corporation created by or pursuant to the laws
of this state or of another state or of the United States, and any state or the United States, and
any person, board, or other body declared by the laws of any state or the United States to be a
department, agency, or instrumentality thereof.
    Subd. 12. Real property. "Real property" means lands, structures, franchises, and interests
in land, including but not limited to lands under water, riparian rights, fees simple absolute,
lesser interests such as easements, rights-of-way, uses, leases, licenses, and all other incorporeal
hereditaments, legal and equitable estates, interests, and rights, terms of years, liens on real
property by way of judgments, mortgages, or otherwise, and claims for damage to real property.
    Subd. 13. Transmission. "Transmission" means the transfer of electric energy from a
generating facility to, between, or among one or more cities or municipal power agencies or other
persons with whom they may contract, and includes but is not limited to conversion of current
and voltage and transfer of energy from another source in exchange for energy supplied by such
contracting parties, but does not include distribution.
History: 1976 c 313 s 2; 1980 c 405 s 1; 1981 c 356 s 222; 1Sp1981 c 4 art 3 s 10; 1999
c 198 s 1