The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
(Cite as: 30 V.S.A. § 2902)
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§ 2902. Powers of municipalities
(a) In accordance with this chapter, a municipality may buy and sell electric current
for domestic use and for commercial purposes and construct, purchase or lease, and
maintain and operate one or more plants for the manufacture, distribution, purchase,
and sale of gas or electricity for the use of the municipality and for the use of
the residents of the municipality and for the other customers outside the municipality
as the Commission may approve unless otherwise provided for in this chapter. For those
purposes a municipality may purchase and hold in fee simple or otherwise any real
or personal estate and any rights therein, including water rights and may do all other
things necessary for carrying into effect the purposes of this chapter and may excavate
and dig conduits and ditches in any highway or other land or place, and erect poles,
place wires, and lay pipes for the transmission and distribution of electricity and
gas, in such places as may be deemed necessary and proper and in all respects such
municipality shall have the same privileges and be subject to the same restrictions
as are provided for public service corporations in chapters 71, 73, and 75 of this
title. The municipality may change, enlarge, and extend the same from time to time
and maintain the same, having due regard for the safety and welfare of its citizens
and security of the public travel.
(b) The obligations of any municipal electric utility under any contract authorized by
this section or other applicable law shall not be deemed to constitute an indebtedness
or a lending of credit of the municipal electric utility, nor shall such obligations
be included in computing the borrowing capacity of any such municipal electric utility.
These obligations of municipal electric utilities shall be treated as expenses of
operating their electric plants, and shall constitute special obligations of such
municipal electric utilities payable solely from the revenues and other moneys derived
by them from their electric departments or systems. The liability of these municipal
electric utilities from other funds is limited to obligations undertaken by them to
pay for the electric power and energy used by them. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 39(b), eff. March 1, 1961; 1989, No. 112, § 3a, eff. June 22, 1989; 2023, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 403, eff. July 1, 2024.)