Tennessee § 65-34-103 - Non-consumer owned electric systems — Expansion limits.

§ 65-34-103. Non-consumer owned electric systems — Expansion limits.

No non-consumer owned electric system may construct, acquire, or maintain facilities, lines, poles, or other equipment used or useful for the distribution or sale of electricity outside its current geographic territory, nor may any non-consumer owned electric system provide, by sale or otherwise, electricity to any parcel of land located outside its current geographic territory. Should a non-consumer owned electric system enter into an agreement authorized by § 65-34-108 , the current geographic territory of that non-consumer owned electric system and the current geographic territory of the municipal electric system or electric and community service cooperative system, which is a party to the agreement, shall be modified as provided in that agreement; provided, that nothing in this chapter shall restrict the construction, acquisition, or maintenance of facilities, lines, poles, or other equipment used exclusively in this state for the transmission or sale at wholesale of electricity to electric and community service cooperatives or municipal electric systems. Acts 1989, ch. 230, § 3. Attorney General Opinions. A solar electricity generating facility that comes within the statutory definition of “public electric system” is prohibited from selling power in certain geographical territories. Whether its property is “affected by and dedicated to public use” will depend on a variety of factors, specific to each case. The fact that it provides power “directly and exclusively to owners and/or tenants located on the same or adjacent premises” is just one of many factors to be considered but is not alone determinative of whether or not its property is affected by and dedicated to public use. If the owner of a solar electricity generating facility is a public electric system as defined in T.C.A. § 65-34-102(5) , it would likewise be a public utility as defined in T.C.A. § 65-4-101(6)(A) unless it were to come within one of the many statutory exceptions detailed in T.C.A. § 65-4-101(6)(A) (i) through (B)(ii). OAG 17-25, 2017 Tenn. AG LEXIS 24 (4/10/2017).