CHAPTER 14.
| § 1. |
Application for service; connections outside city. |
| § 2. |
General rates. |
| § 3. |
Optional rates. |
| § 4. |
Charges when meter fails to register. |
| § 5. |
Deposits by consumers. |
| § 6. |
When bills payable. |
| § 7. |
Cutting off service for nonpayment of bills, etc. |
| § 8. |
Same—Connecting charge. |
| § 9. |
Removing or interfering with meters or fixtures. |
| § 10. |
Repair and replacement of meters; consumers responsible for
contents of prepay meters. |
| § 11. |
Complaints against gas bills; testing meters. |
| § 12. |
Preservation of gas and city property at fires, etc. |
| § 13. |
Examining apparatus and stopping leaks. |
| § 14. |
Connections to be made by city; payment of costs. |
| § 15. |
Repair of pipes and fixtures in street. |
| § 16. |
Unauthorized additions to pipes and fixtures and introduction
of gas therein. |
| § 17. |
Right of access to premises. |
| § 18. |
Turning on or using gas without authority. |
| § 19. |
Obstructing stopcocks or fixtures; interfering with pipes. |
| § 20. |
Pipe lines laid by property owners. |
Sec. 1. Application for service; connections outside city.
Whenever any person occupying property along the line of any
gas main, shall desire said property to be supplied with gas, he
shall make written application therefor, to the director of finance
on a form prescribed by him and approved by the city manager.
Such application shall be accompanied by the deposit required in
section 5, and shall set forth the name of the applicant and location
and description of the property to be served. No additional
gas connections outside the corporation shall be made without
special permission of the council. (Code 1932, § 350.)
Sec. 2. General rates.
The gas rates shall be as follows:
Minimum charge, one dollar per month, or fractional part thereof.
| First 5 M. cu. ft. |
$1.35 per M. cu. ft. |
| Next 5 M. cu. ft. |
1.25 per M. cu. ft. |
| Next 20 M. cu. ft. |
1.15 per M. cu. ft. |
| Next 70 M. cu. ft. |
1.00 per M. cu. ft. |
| All over 100 M. cu. ft. |
.90 per M. cu. ft. |
| All prepayment meters |
1.35 per M. cu. ft. |
| (Id., § 351.) |
|
Sec. 3. Optional rates.
The following optional gas rates are hereby established.
(a) Any customer using gas for cooking and refrigeration,
or for cooking and automatic water heating, or for cooking, refrigeration
and automatic water heating:
| First 700 cu. ft. or less per mo. |
$1.00 |
| Next 2300 cu. ft. per. mo. per M. cu. ft. |
1.25 |
| All over 3000 cu. ft. per mo. per M. cu. ft. |
.90 |
(b) Any customer having only a gas refrigerator, or an automatic
water heater, or any other type of automatic gas appliance:
| First 1000 cu. ft. or less per mo. |
$1.10 |
| Next 5000 cu. ft. per mo. per M. cu. ft. |
1.00 |
| Next 19,000 cu. ft. per mo. per M. cu. ft. |
.90 |
| All over 25,000 cu. ft. per mo. per M. cu. ft. |
.80 |
(c) In addition to the rate established in (b) above, the following
rates are available to any domestic customer having connected
and in regular use a gas refrigerator for which gas is billed separately,
to be based upon and fixed solely by the gross interior
size of the refrigerator as defined below, and said billing to be
made as a separate charge for gas refrigeration purposes only:
Gross Interior Size Division in Cu. Ft.
| 4.0 foot flat rate per month |
$1.65 |
| 5.0 foot flat rate per month |
1.80 |
| 6.0 foot flat rate per month |
1.95 |
| 8.0 foot flat rate per month |
2.35 |
| 11.0 foot flat rate per month |
2.90 |
The classification of the above sizes will be made according to
whichever of the above gross interior size division said refrigerator
is nearest to, such size determination being based solely upon
computation from the manufacturer's official inner measurements
of said gas refrigerator.
(d) Any customer using gas for the operation of an automatic
space heater only, or the operation of a commercial bakery oven
only (the gas pipes for heaters or ovens must have no connection
with the pipes for other purposes, so that the gas for heating may
be measured separately from other gas supplied):
| First 5000 cu. ft. per mo. per M. cu. ft. |
$1.00 |
| All over 5000 cu. ft. per mo. per M. cu. ft. |
.60 |
(Ord. March 15, 1937, July 19, 1937, May 2, 1938, Aug. 21,
1939.)
Sec. 4. Charges when meter fails to register.
If any gas meter shall fail to register, the charge shall be the
average reading for the three preceding months. (Code 1932, §
352; Ords. March 15, 1937, Feb. 21, 1944.)
Sec. 5. Deposits by consumers.
Any person who shall hereafter begin the use of city gas, shall
before connection is made and meter placed, make a deposit according
to the following schedule:
For domestic consumers the deposit shall be five dollars.
For commercial consumers the deposit shall be based upon the
estimated consumption but shall not be less than five dollars, nor
exceed twenty-five dollars.
The deposit, or any part thereof, may, at the option of the city,
be applied on any obligation the consumer may owe the city in
connection with city gas. Until the account of such consumer
with the city shall be closed out, said deposit shall be kept unimpaired
and when the account is closed out, the balance, if any, shall
be returned to the consumer or his personal representative, or assigns.
(Id.)
Sec. 6. When bills payable.
All gas bills for the preceding month are due and payable on or
before the fifteenth day after a statement is rendered. (Id.)
Sec. 7. Cutting off service for nonpayment of bills, etc.
The gas furnished to any consumer shall be cut off whenever
any charge therefor remains unpaid beyond the last day allowed
for payment and when any consumer shall fail, after ten days'
notice, to make good any impairment of the deposit hereinbefore
provided for. (Id.)
Sec. 8. Same—Connecting charge.
For turning gas on again after it has been cut off for non-payment,
there shall be a charge of one dollar payable in advance.
(Id.)
Sec. 9. Removing or interfering with meters or fixtures.
No person or firm, except an officer or agent authorized by the
city, shall at any time remove or undertake to repair or in any
way interfere with any gas meter or fixtures connected therewith
under a penalty of not less than two dollars nor more than ten
dollars for each offense. (Code 1932, § 353.)
Sec. 10. Repair and replacement of meters; consumers
responsible for contents of prepay meters.
All repairs or replacement of meters shall be made by the city.
The consumer shall be responsible for the contents of all prepay
meters until collected by the city. (Id., § 354.)
Sec. 11. Complaints against gas bills; testing meters.
Complaint against the gas bill shall not be taken as a proper excuse
for complainant not paying said bill when due, or exempt
him from the imposition of penalties for failure to pay his bill at
the proper time.
On request of the consumer, the city shall cause to be tested the
gas meter and if said meter is found inaccurate, exceeding two
per cent, the meter shall be replaced at the expense of the city;
if such meter is found to be within two per cent accurate, the consumer
shall pay one dollar for this service. (Id., § 355.)
Sec. 12. Preservation of gas and city property at fires,
etc.
It shall be the duty of the superintendent of the gas plant and
such other men as may be employed about the works whom he
may from time to time designate, to attend at places where, from
fire or other cause, there is danger of loss of gas by burning or
waste, and shut off the gas, remove meters, or do anything else
proper for the safety of the property belonging to the city, connected
with the gas works. (Id., § 356.)
Sec. 13. Examining apparatus and stopping leaks.
Gas apparatus and premises of consumers shall be examined
and leaks stopped, free of charge, on receiving notice of any suspected
leak. (Id., § 357.)
Sec. 14. Connections to be made by city; payment of
costs.
All gas connections from gas mains to the building, including
the setting of all meters and repairs in the street, shall be done by
the city at the expense of the same, except as hereinafter mentioned.
The property owner shall pay the actual costs of the pipe
and its installation over and above one hundred lineal feet from
the property line for any one consumer, and for each additional
consumer, a further distance of one hundred feet may be allowed.
(Id., § 358; Ord. March 7, 1937.)
Sec. 15. Repair of pipes and fixtures in street.
All repairs to pipes and fixtures in the streets, from main to
meter, shall be done by the city at its own expense, and no person,
except an employee of the city, shall under any circumstances
be allowed to open a street or in any way interfere with the gas
pipes in the street. A violation of this section shall subject the
offender to a fine of not less than two dollars nor more than twenty
dollars. (Code 1932, § 359.)
Sec. 16. Unauthorized additions to pipes and fixtures
and introduction of gas therein.
Any person who shall open a communication into the street gas
main or other gas pipe of the gas works without authority, or who
shall let on the gas after it has been stopped, by order of the gas
department, for repairs or any other purpose, or who shall put
up any pipes or burners, in addition to the pipes or burners put
up and inspected, or introduce gas into them without authority as
aforesaid, shall be subject to a penalty of not less than five dollars
nor more than twenty dollars for each offense. (Id., § 360.)
Sec. 17. Right of access to premises.
The authorized agent of the city shall have the right of free
access into the premises into which a service pipe is laid, whether
gas is being used or not, for the purpose of examining the whole
gas apparatus, or for the removal of the meter and service pipe.
(Id., § 361.)
Sec. 18. Turning on or using gas without authority.
If any person without proper authority shall turn on gas in any
premises whatsoever, or if any person shall take, receive or use
said gas without proper authority, he shall pay a fine of not less
than five dollars nor more than fifty dollars for each offense. (Id.,
§ 362.)
Sec. 19. Obstructing stopcocks or fixtures; interfering
with pipes.
If any person shall place any building material, rubbish or other
matter on the stopcock of the street main, or service pipe, or obstruct
any fixture connected with the gas works or remove or injure
any pipe or open same so as to waste the gas, he shall be fined
not less than five dollars nor more than twenty dollars for each
offense. (Id., § 363.)
Sec. 20. Pipe lines laid by property owners.
Before the city furnishes gas through pipe lines laid by property
owners, said private lines, including the size, location and
construction, must have been inspected and approved by the city
manager or his authorized representative. Whenever the city
furnishes gas through any privately laid pipe lines, the city shall
maintain such lines so long as it furnishes gas through them. In
consideration of such maintenance the city shall have the right
to connect with and furnish gas to such additional consumers
through said lines as the city may determine, without any charge
being made by the owners of said lines to the city or to the owners
of any property connected therewith. (Id., § 364.)
