Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 69 > Chapter 4 - Utility Lines and Facilities

• Advanced metering gateway device: means any electric utility meter component or device ancillary to the electric utility meter that is located at an end-user's residence or business and is equipped and programmed to communicate with electrical appliances, electrical equipment, or electrical devices within the end-user's residence or business or that is capable of estimating and recording electrical energy usage by types of appliances, electrical equipment, or electrical devices. See Montana Code 69-4-1001
• Agricultural improvement: includes , without limitation, sprinkler irrigation systems. See Montana Code 69-4-401
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Bypassing: means any act, using any means, the purpose of which is to obtain utility service without having such service pass through the authorized meter provided for measuring or registering such service. See Montana Code 69-4-1102
• commission: means the public service commission provided for in 2-15-2602. See Montana Code 69-1-101
• Communication service: means the transmission of intelligence by electrical means, including but not limited to telephone, telegraph, messenger-call, clock, police, fire alarm, and traffic control circuits or the transmission of standard television or radio signals. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• conversion: means the removal of all or any part of any existing overhead electric or communications facilities and the replacement thereof with underground electric or communication facilities constructed at the same or different locations. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Electric or communication facilities: means any works or improvements used or useful in providing electric or communication service, including but not limited to poles, supports, tunnels, manholes, vaults, conduits, pipes, wires, conductors, guys, stubs, platforms, crossarms, braces, transformers, insulators, cutouts, switches, capacitors, meters, communication circuits, appliances, attachments, and appurtenances. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Governing body: means the board of county commissioners or city council, as may be appropriate, depending on whether the special improvement district is located in a county or within a city or town. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Ordinance: means resolution where the governing body acts by resolution and vice versa. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Overhead electric or communication facilities: means electric or communication facilities located, in whole or in part, above the surface of the ground. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Overhead utility line: means a facility for the transmission or distribution of electricity or telephone messages along wires or cables suspended above the ground between single or double poles and their respective anchors. See Montana Code 69-4-401
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, unincorporated association, or other legal or business entity or the executor, administrator, trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof. See Montana Code 69-4-1102
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Public utility: means any public or private person, corporation, or cooperative that provides electric or communication service to the public by means of electric or communication facilities and shall include any special improvement district that provides electric or communication service to the public by means of electric or communication facilities. See Montana Code 69-4-303
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Real property: means lands, tenements, hereditaments, and possessory title to public lands. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Tampering: means damaging, altering, adjusting, or in any manner interfering with or obstructing the operation or function of any authorized metering device provided for measuring or registering utility service. See Montana Code 69-4-1102
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Third persons: means all persons who are not parties to the obligation or transaction concerning which the phrase is used. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Usage: means a reasonable and lawful public custom concerning transactions of the same nature as those which are to be affected thereby, existing at the place where the obligation is to be performed, and either known to the parties or so well established, general, and uniform that the parties must be presumed to have acted with reference thereto. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• Utility: means a public utility regulated by the public service commission pursuant to Title 69, chapter 3. See Montana Code 69-4-1001
• Utility: means any public utility, municipally owned utility, or cooperative utility that provides electricity, gas, water, sewage disposal, or combination thereof, for sale to consumers. See Montana Code 69-4-1102
• Utility service: means the provision of electricity, gas, water, or sewer service. See Montana Code 69-4-1102