A. As used in this section:
UTILITY: Any person, firm, corporation, district or association, whether private, municipal, body politic or cooperative, which is engaged in the sale, generation, distribution or delivery of electricity, water, sewer, cable television or gas.
UTILITY SERVICE: The furnishing, sale, generation, distribution or delivery of electricity, water, sewer, cable television or gas by a "utility" as defined herein.
B. It shall be unlawful for any person, with intent to defraud a utility, to:
1. Alter, tamper with, injure or knowingly allow the altering, tampering with or injuring of any pipeline, line, wire, conduit, conductor, meter, meter seal, transformer or other equipment used by a utility to deliver or register service;
2. Prevent any installed metering device from registering correctly the quantity of service passing through such metering device;
3. Make or cause to be made any connection between any pipeline, lines, wires, conduits, conductors, meters, transformers or other equipment in such manner as to prevent the correct registration of service by any metering device, or to otherwise use electricity without the consent of the utility;
4. Supply or cause to be supplied any utility service to any person without such service first passing through the metering device provided by the utility for measuring and registering the quantity of service; or
5. Continue to use utility service, of any kind, prior to paying a reinstatement fee or arranging with the utility for reestablishment of services: a) once notice of utility cutoff or discontinuance has been provided to the utility customer in the manner and form customarily used by the utility to give notice of cutoff, and b) utility provider has discontinued service at the customer delivery point or meter. This action shall be deemed to be theft of a utility.
C. Any person who is convicted of violating the provisions of subsection B of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by payment of a fine as provided in section 1-108 of this code, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed thirty (30) days.
D. If a civil action is brought by a utility against a person, the person may post a bond, cash or other security with the utility in an amount equal to the value of the service alleged to be unlawfully used or diverted. Upon posting of the bond or cash, and until final disposition of the case, the utility shall restore to the person any service which it may have terminated.
E. Nothing in this section shall be construed to apply to licensed and certified contractors while performing usual and ordinary service in accordance with the recognized standards.
F. This section shall not be construed as repealing any laws of the state relating to the power, duties or jurisdiction of the Oklahoma corporation commission, but shall be held as auxiliary and supplementary thereto. (Ord. 1454, 1-27-1998)
G. The municipal utility provider, acting through the city manager, or his designated representative may waive prosecution relating to subsection B5 of this section for consumers, customers, continual use of municipally provided utilities as defined herein.
The municipal utility shall provide notice by regular mail and also post said notice on the property being served with municipal utilities. The notice shall contain a provision allowing the utility consumer seven (7) days to notify the municipal provider that the consumer waives prosecution and will pay sixty dollars ($60.00) total in the form of a penalty. If the consumer fails to notify the municipal provider of its decision within the time specified herein the municipal utility shall cause charges to be filed in the municipal court pursuant to provision contained herein.
The municipal utility may waive prosecution relating to this subsection G only one time per consumer or consumer household and shall prosecute all other violations in conformance with this section. (Ord. 1524, 3-27-2001)
Notes
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