A. Any person who shall remove, alter, scrape, bare, change or connect any device, wire or fixture to any electric power wire of the city before such wire reaches the meter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person who shall break any meter seal or the wire holding any meter seal or open any electric meter or change the dials or hands thereof, or break the glass in an electric meter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person who attaches any device to any electric meter designed or used to prevent electric current from flowing through such meter or shall shunt across the wires of any electric meter, or close the loops thereof, or who shall by any system of wires or devices attempt to use any electric current without having the same pass through the meter in such a way as to permit the full registration and metering of such electric current, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
B. In addition to any other remedies available against any individual convicted of a violation of subsection A of this section, and in every case in which an electric meter is found to be in any of the conditions described in subsection A of this section which could affect the meter's operational accuracy, precision and ability to measure current, the City shall discontinue the service at the affected meter and the individual shall forfeit any deposit posted for the said meter; provided, however, that the City shall first give the affected customer five (5) days' written notice that his service shall be discontinued and the customer shall have three (3) days from the date of receipt of the said notice to file a written request for a hearing with the City Administrator or his/her designee to show cause why his electrical utility service should not be disconnected and discontinued. Notification shall be accomplished by, and be complete upon, posting the written notice of termination upon the affected meter or by depositing a copy thereof, postage prepaid in the U.S. mail, duly addressed to the customer at the address used by the City for utility bills in the case of an individual who has a utility account with the City. If the affected customer can show that his meter is not in the condition described in subsection A of this section then his service shall be reconnected and his meter deposit reinstated. The entire balance, if any, of an affected customer's utility account with the City shall become immediately due and payable upon discontinuation of the said service pursuant to this section. A new meter deposit must be posted and the actual cost of repairing the affected meter must be paid to the City once the meter is repaired before electrical service may be resumed at the same location. In addition, the customer shall pay for the estimated usage he should have received during the period of time when his meter was not functioning correctly, based upon the average billing for the period of time in question based on the said customer's previous billing experience with the City. If the customer has insufficient billing experience with the City from which to derive an estimated amount of usage based on previous experience, then and in that event, he shall pay an amount determined by the average electricity usage for that type of service of similarly situated City electrical utility customers over the period of time in question.
C. It shall be the responsibility of each customer supplied with electricity to keep the electric meter accessible for reading, inspection, replacement, repairing or testing. If the customer fails to keep the meter accessible within ten (10) business days from the date of the written notice, the City may terminate the electric service. Notice of the lack of accessibility shall be given by either posting written notice on the door of the residence, or mailing notice by first class U.S. mail, postage prepaid to the last known address of the customer. In the event the accessibility situation creates an emergency or safety issue, the City reserves the right to terminate the electricity immediately. (Ord. 2015-02, 3-17-2015)