Municipalities have the authority to:

• acquire, build, operate, and regulate utility systems to provide services like gas, electricity, and lighting;
• charge property owners a reasonable connection charge to cover their equitable share of the costs of constructing or rehabilitating a municipal water or sewer system; and
• create programs by ordinance to waive or delay utility connection charges for certain individuals, groups, or entities.

Municipal Utility Waiver Programs. 

The individuals, groups, and entities eligible for waivers or delays of utility connection charges under a program created by a municipality includes:

• low-income individuals and groups;
• nonprofit organizations;
• public development authorities;
• housing authorities; and local agencies that provide emergency shelter, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, or affordable housing.

Connection charges are one-time fees charged by a utility to cover the cost of connecting a property to its service infrastructure, including expenses for labor, materials, and administrative processing.  The waived connection charges must be funded through general funds, grants, or other designated revenue sources, and if the property no longer qualifies under the program's criteria, the waived charges must be repaid to continue utility service.

Municipal Utility Waiver Programs.

Municipal utilities are authorized to create programs by ordinance to waive connection charges for properties owned or developed by organizations that utilize the property for industrial symbiosis.

Industrial symbiosis means the utilization of industrial waste or other waste products for productive use in an environmentally sustainable manner that reduces the amount of:

• resources that would otherwise have been consumed; and
• greenhouse gases that would otherwise have been emitted to accomplish the same purpose.