§ 110.13 Franchise Fee

A franchise fee of zero percent is imposed upon, and shall be collected from, the natural gas customers of the Company receiving service and located within the corporate limits of the City. The franchise fee shall be imposed upon the gross receipts, minus uncollectible accounts, generated from sales of natural gas and distribution service:

1. The City agrees to modify the level of franchise fees imposed only once in any 24-month period. Any such ordinance exempting certain types or classes of customers, or increasing, decreasing, modifying, or eliminating the franchise fee shall become effective, and billings reflecting the change shall commence, on an agreed upon date which is not less than 60 days following written notice to the Company by certified mail. The Company shall not be required to implement such new ordinance unless and until it determines that it has received appropriate official documentation of final action by the Council.

2. The Company will commence collecting franchise fees on or before the first Company billing cycle of the first calendar month following 90 days of receipt of information required of the City to implement the franchise fee, including the City’s documentation of customer classes subject to or exempted from City-imposed franchise fee.

3. The City shall be solely responsible for identifying customer classes subject to or exempt from paying the City imposed franchise fee. The Company shall have no obligation to collect franchise fees from customers in annexed areas until and unless such ordinances have been provided to the Company by certified mail. The Company shall commence collecting franchise fees in the annexed areas no sooner than 60 days after receiving annexation ordinances from the City.

4. The Company shall not, under any circumstances, be required to return or refund any franchise fees that have been collected from customers and remitted to the City. In the event the Company is required to provide data or information in defense of the City’s imposition of franchise fees or the Company is required to assist the City in identifying customers or calculating any franchise fee refunds for groups of or individual customers, the City shall reimburse the Company for the expenses incurred by the Company to provide such data or information.