Notwithstanding an investor-owned water utility’s exclusive right to furnish services in the geographic boundaries set forth in its certificate of convenience and necessity as issued by the Tennessee public utility commission, an investor-owned water utility may enter into an agreement with a municipal water system, a water utility district, a county water system, a county water authority, or a county water and wastewater system treatment authority to permit that other entity to operate within the same geographic boundaries. An investor-owned water utility shall establish a method by which the utility’s ratepayers may petition the utility to consider entering into an agreement pursuant to this section.