BILL NO. 39

1st Session, 57th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
47 Elizabeth II, 1998

Private Member's Bill

Gas Distribution Act
(amended)

John E. Holm
Sackville-Cobequid

First Reading: October 22, 1998

(Explanatory Notes)

Second Reading:

Third Reading:

Clause 1 provides that the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board shall not grant a franchise pursuant to the Act until the Board is satisfied that the applicant has committed to supplying gas to all parts of the franchise area.

Clause 2 gives a municipality or co-operative the right to appear at a hearing, provides for their funding and waives the application fee for them.

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 Section 8 of Chapter 4 of the Acts of 1997, the Gas Distribution Act, is amended by adding immediately after subsection (2) the following subsections:

(2A) The Board shall not grant a franchise pursuant to subsection (1) until the Board is satisfied that

(a) the applicant has in place a plan for delivering gas, within the time period specified by the Board, to all parts of the franchise area that have expressed an interest in purchasing gas; and

(b) the gas delivery system is capable of delivering to the franchise area at least the minimum quantity of gas as determined by the Board.

(2B) Subsection (2A) does not apply where, in the opinion of the Board, the public interest in ensuring equal distribution of gas in the Province is seriously outweighed by the expense of distributing gas to any part of a franchise area.

2 Chapter 4 is further amended by adding immediately after Section 31 the following Section:

31A Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act,

(a) a municipality or co-operative within a proposed franchise area has the right to participate in any public hearing held by the Board pursuant to this Act;

(b) the Board may provide funding to a municipality or co-operative in a public hearing held pursuant to this Act in an amount determined by the Board; and

(c) the Board shall not impose an application fee pursuant to this Act where the applicant is

(i) a municipality intending to distribute gas only to residents of the municipality, or

(ii) a co-operative intending to distribute gas only to members of the co-operative.