Purchase, sale, etc., of electric light companies. Consolidation may be effected in case of companies occupying the same or con tiguous municipalities. Proviso. Powers, rights, locations, etc. Capital stock may be increased, etc. Acts of 1908, Chapter 529. An Act to authorize the Purchase, Sale and Consolidation of Gas and Electric Light Companies. SECTION 1. In this act "gas company means any corporation organized under the laws of this commonwealth for the purpose of making or selling gas for light, heat or power, and actually engaged in that business, including such of said corporations as are also duly authorized to generate and furnish electricity for light and power; and "electric light company means any corporation organized under the laws of this commonwealth for the purpose of making or selling electricity only for light, heat or power and actually engaged in that business. SECTION 2. A gas company may purchase the franchise and property of another gas company whose gas mains are in the same or contiguous municipalities, or may consolidate with such other gas company, and such other gas company may sell and convey its franchise and property to, or may consolidate with, such first-mentioned gas company; and an electric light company may purchase the franchise and property of another electric light company whose lines are in the same or contiguous municipalities, or may consolidate with such other electric light company, and such other electric light company may sell and convey its franchise and property to, or may consolidate with, such first-mentioned electric light company provided, that no such purchase and sale or consolidation shall be valid or binding until the terms thereof have been approved, at meetings called for the purpose, by a vote of at least two-thirds in interest of the stockholders of each of the contracting companies, and until the board of gas and electric light commissioners, after notice and a public hearing, have determined that the facilities for furnishing and distributing light, heat and power will not thereby be diminished and that such purchase and sale or consolidation and the terms thereof are consistent with the public interest. SECTION 3. The purchasing or consolidating company shall have and enjoy all the powers, rights, locations, licenses, privileges and franchises, and shall be subject to all the duties, liabilities and restrictions, of the company selling or merged as aforesaid, so far as the same are applicable to the purchasing or consolidated company. SECTION 4. The purchasing or consolidated company may, for the purpose authorized in section two, increase its capital stock and issue bonds in the manner and subject to the limitations provided by law; and may, for the same purpose and subject to the same limitations, exchange its securities for those of the selling or merged company, upon such terms as may be approved by the board of gas and electric light commissioners. Electric light companies not to con solidate with gas companies, etc. Amended. § 1. SECTION 5. No electric light company shall purchase the franchise or property of, or consolidate with, a gas company; and no gas company shall purchase the franchise or property of, or consolidate with, an electric light company: provided, that a gas company authorized to engage in the business of generating and fur- 1909, 316, nishing electricity for light and power under the provisions of section fourteen of chapter one hundred and twenty-one of the Revised Laws may, with the approval of the board, exercise the authority conferred by section twenty-two of said chapter, and may, with the approval of the board and subject to the provisions of sections three and four hereof, so far as the same may be applicable, sell its locations and the property used in its business of generating and furnishing electricity for light and power to an electric light company whose lines are in the same or in a contiguous municipality. of certain companies not SECTION 6. Nothing contained in this act shall be construed Consolidation as authorizing the consolidation of the Boston Consolidated Gas Company and The Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston. SECTION 7. All general laws which are inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. SECTION 8. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved May 19, 1908. Acts of 1909, Chapter 316. An Act relative to the Purchase, Sale and Consolidation of Gas and Electric Light Companies. authorized. Time for filing applications for purchases, SECTION 1. (Amends Acts of 1908, chapter 529, § 5, as above.) SECTION 2. All applications for the approval by the board of purchases and sales or consolidations under the provisions of chapter five hundred and twenty-nine of the acts of the year nine- consolidateen hundred and eight, or of the preceding section, shall be filed tions, etc. with the board within four months after the passage by the contracting companies of votes authorizing such purchase and sale or consolidation. SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved April 22, 1909. for heating SECTION 24. A person or corporation, not a railway Electricity company, engaged in the business of transmitting elec- and cooking tricity for light or power through wires located over or under the streets and highways may sell such electricity purposes. 1895, 420. 188 Mass. 253. for operating heating, cooking and kindred apparatus and motors; but the provisions of this section shall not confer upon such person or corporation the exclusive right to sell or distribute electricity in any city or town for such purposes. SECTION 25. In a city or town in which a gas company exists in active operation, or in which a person owns or operates works for the manufacture and sale of gas for light or heat, no other gas company, nor any other persons, shall dig up and open the streets, lanes and highways of such city or town, for the purpose of laying gas pipes therein, without the consent of the mayor and aldermen or selectmen, granted after notice by publication or otherwise to all parties interested and a public hearing before them. SECTION 26. In a city or town in which a company, corporation or person is engaged in the manufacture or sale of electric light no other person, firm or corporation shall lay, erect, maintain or use, over or under the streets, lanes and highways of such city or town, any wires for the transmission of electricity for light, heat or power except wires used for heat or power by street railway companies, without the consent of the mayor and aldermen of such city or selectmen of such town granted after notice to all parties interested and a public hearing. SECTION 27. Any corporation, company or person aggrieved by the decision of the mayor and aldermen of a city or selectmen of a town, under the provisions of the two preceding sections, may, within thirty days from the notice of said decision, appeal therefrom to the board of gas and electric light commissioners, and said board shall thereupon give due notice and hear all parties interested, and its decision thereon shall be final. Acts of 1908, Chapter 617. An Act relative to Electric Power Companies. SECTION 1. In consenting to the laying, erecting, maintaining or using by a company incorporated or authorized to distribute and sell electricity exclusively for power, of any wires for the transmission of electricity over or under streets, lanes and highways as provided in section twenty-six of chapter one hundred and twenty-one of the Revised Laws, the mayor and aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town may, in addition to the pro visions of law governing such companies, impose such other terms, limitations and restrictions as the public interest may, in their judgment, require, and upon an appeal therefrom, pursuant to section twenty-seven of said chapter, the board of gas and electric light commissioners may, in addition to its present authority under said section, affirm, amend, alter or add to the terms, limitations and restrictions so imposed as the public interest may in its judgment require. SECTION 2. Companies herein before described shall hereafter furnish from time to time to the board of gas and electric light commissioners such information as said board may require. SECTION 3. The supreme judicial court or the superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity upon the application of the board of gas and electric light commissioners, or of the mayor of any city or the selectmen of any town in which electricity is distributed and sold as aforesaid, to compel the observance and to restrain the violation of the provisions of this act, of the general laws relating to the companies herein before described and of all lawful orders and decisions, terms, limitations and restrictions made or imposed by said board or by the mayor and aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town in pursuance of the provisions of this act. SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved June 12, 1908. SECTION 28. Corporations and companies which are engaged in the manufacture and sale of gas or electricity for light or heat shall have an office in the city or town in which their works are located and shall keep in said office all the books and papers which are required by law to be kept within the commonwealth, and also such books as may be required to show their receipts, expenditures, indebtedness and financial condition; and shall at all times, upon application, submit their books to the inspection of the board of gas and electric light commissioners. to be kept in form. § 2. SECTION 29. Corporations and companies which are Books, etc., engaged in the manufacture and sale of gas or electricity prescribed for light or heat shall keep their books and accounts in a 1886, 346, form to be prescribed by the board of gas and electric light 1887, 382, commissioners, and the accounts shall be closed annually $$ 2,6. on the thirtieth day of June, so that a balance sheet of that date can be taken therefrom. Manufacturing companies in which the manufacture of gas is a minor portion Quality of 1885, 314, gas. $ 9. 1887, 382, §§ 2, 6. 1888, 350, § 1. 197 Mass. 558. Price of gas and electricity, how fixed and determined. 1888, 350, § 1. 1894, 327. SECTION 34. Upon the complaint in writing of the mayor of a city or the selectmen of a town in which a corporation or company engaged in the manufacture or sale of gas or electricity for light or heat is located, or of twenty customers thereof, either of the quality or price of the gas or electric light sold and delivered, the board shall notify the corporation or company by leaving at its office a copy of such complaint, and shall thereupon after notice give a public hearing to such petitioner and such corporation or company, and after said hearing may order any reduction in the price of gas or electric light or improvement in quality thereof, and a report of such proceedings and the result thereof shall be included in its annual report. The maximum price fixed by such order shall not thereafter be increased by such corporation or company except as provided in the following section. SECTION 35. A gas company in this commonwealth which furnishes gas under the provisions of general or special laws or of any contract with a city or town, and a gas or electric light company which is engaged in the 197 Mass. 558. sale and delivery of electric light may apply to the board to fix and determine the price of gas or electricity to be thereafter sold and delivered by said company, or to revise any former order or action of said board relative to the quality or price thereof. Said board shall, after notice, give a public hearing to the petitioner, to the city or town and to all other persons interested, and thereafter may pass such orders relative to the price and quality of the gas or electricity thereafter to be furnished by said company as it determines are just and reasonable. Such orders shall be binding upon all parties until further order of said board. Inspection of electric meters. 1901, 497, § 1. SECTION 36. A customer of an electric lighting company or such company may apply to the board of gas and electric light commissioners for an examination and test of any meter in use upon a customer's premises. The board shall forthwith cause to be made by a competent and disinterested person such examination and test of said meter, if any, as in the judgment of the board is practicable and reasonable, and shall furnish to the company and to the customer a certificate of the result and expense thereof. If upon such examination it appears that the meter does not register correctly, the board may |