Under the City Charter, the City has “exclusive dominion, control and jurisdiction in, upon, over and under the public streets, sidewalks, alleys, highways, public squares and public ways (except those under State control if required by State law) that are within the corporate limits of the city.” The Public Utilities Regulatory Act “does not restrict the rights and powers of a municipality to grant or refuse a franchise to use the streets and alleys in the municipality or to make a statutory charge for that use.” Accordingly, an electric utility must obtain a franchise from the City in order to utilize the City’s rights-of-ways, and the City Council has the power to grant, amend, and extend (by ordinance) all franchises of public utilities operating within the city limits.
Pedernales Electric Cooperative, Inc. (“PEC”) is an electric utility with a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (a “CCN”) to serve portions of Georgetown. In December 2008, the City granted PEC a franchise to operate within the City’s rights-of-way and other public places, but the franchise expired in September 2020. Since such time the City and PEC have continued to negotiate a renewal of the franchise agreement.
PEC desires to extend its franchise to operate within the City’s rights-of-way, and the City is willing to extend the PEC franchise as requested if PEC agrees to certain material changes to improve communication and coordination regarding work within the City’s rights-of-way, to limit PEC’s activities within City parkland, to require the undergrounding of overhead electrical lines except under certain conditions, to require relocation and removal of PEC facilities when necessary, and to clarify the types of PEC revenues to which the Franchise Fee applies.
The proposed ordinance would amend Chapter 14.20 of the Code of Ordinances to extend the term of PEC’s franchise for 10 years, upon the terms and conditions as set forth therein.