11 - Powers.
§ 11. Powers. Every such corporation shall have the following powers: 1. A gas corporation and a gas and electric corporation shall have power to manufacture gas, and to acquire natural or artificial gas and to mix the gases and to sell and furnish gas for light, heat or power; and to lay conductors for gas in the streets, highways and public places, in each city, village and town in the county or counties named in its certificate of incorporation, with the consent of the municipal authorities of such city, village or town, and under such reasonable regulations as they may prescribe. 2. Every corporation having authority under any general or special law or under any charter or franchise, to lay down, erect or maintain pipes, conduits, ducts or other fixtures in, over or under the streets, highways and public places of any municipality for the purpose of furnishing or distributing natural gas, may acquire and supply for public use artificial gas. Where any gas corporation is serving natural gas under permits or franchises permitting the laying or maintaining of mains or pipes and conveying natural gas, and the supply of natural gas has become inadequate or insufficient to give reasonable service to consumers in the municipalities served by it, such gas corporation may supply artificial gas or a mixture of natural and artificial gases under such permits or franchises. 3. An electric corporation and a gas and electric corporation shall have power to generate, acquire and supply electricity for heat or power in cities, towns and villages within this state, and to light the streets, highways and public places thereof, and the public and private buildings therein; and to make, sell or lease all machines, instruments, apparatus and other equipments therefor, and for transmitting and distributing electricity, to lay, erect and construct suitable wires or other conductors, with the necessary poles, pipes or other fixtures in, on, over and under the streets, avenues, public parks and places in such cities, towns or villages, with the consent of the municipal authorities thereof, and in such manner and under such reasonable regulations, as they may prescribe. 3-a. An electric corporation and a gas corporation shall have power and authority to acquire such real estate as may be necessary for its corporate purposes and the right of way through any property in the manner prescribed by the eminent domain procedure law. 3-b. The construction, use and maintenance by an electric corporation of transmission, distribution and service lines and wires in, over or under any street, highway or public place and the construction, use and maintenance by a gas corporation of transmission, distribution and service pipes, conduits, ducts or other fixtures in, over or under any trees, highway or public place, as may be necessary for its corporate purposes, are hereby declared to be public uses and purposes. Where any person or corporation other than the state, a political subdivision thereof, or a municipality is the owner of any right, title or interest in or to any street, highway or public place, or in or to the land on which the street, highway or public place is located, an electric corporation or a gas corporation is hereby authorized and empowered to acquire the right to construct, use and maintain such lines or wires and such pipes, conduits, ducts or other fixtures, in, over or under such street, highway or public place, from such owner or owners, by petition in the manner prescribed by section four hundred two of the eminent domain procedure law to the supreme court in the county in which such street, highway or public place is situated. The corporation shall file with the court a certificate of the public service commission certifying that the right sought to be acquired is necessary and in thepublic interest and such certificate shall be conclusive evidence as to the matters lawfully certified therein. After a hearing on such petition and any answer thereto, if the court shall find that such right to construct, use and maintain is necessary for the corporate purposes of the corporation, it shall enter its judgment adjudging that such right is necessary for the public use and that the corporation is entitled to construct, use and maintain its lines or wires or pipes, conduits, ducts or other fixtures in, over or under such street, highway or public place and adjudging pursuant to the eminent domain procedure law the compensation to be made by the corporation to the owner or owners. 4. Any two or more domestic gas corporations, electric corporations, gas and electric corporations, and any other domestic corporation formed for the purpose of engaging in any business in which domestic gas corporations, electric corporations or gas and electric corporations may engage, may merge or consolidate in accordance with the procedure and with the effect set forth in article nine of the business corporation law. 5. A corporation mentioned in this article or incorporated under or by any general or special law of this state for the purpose of supplying for public use electricity for light, heat or power in cities, towns or villages in this state, upon filing a certificate of amendment therefor, to which is annexed the consent required by section one hundred and eleven of this chapter, shall have all the rights, privileges and powers and be subject to all the restrictions of district steam corporations. 6. The term "municipal authorities" as used in subdivisions one and three of this section, shall be deemed to be the local legislative body of a city, the board of trustees of a village and the town board of a town. All consents in writing for the doing of acts mentioned in such subdivisions given before April fourteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, in writing by the highway commissioners or town superintendent of highways or the town board of any town to any corporation organized under the provisions of this article shall be deemed to be the consents of the municipal authorities required by this section. 7. Subdivisions three and three-a of this section shall not apply to any merchant transmission company which: (a) commences and ends in the state of New York; (b) through its employees, agents, representatives, or assigns, has represented in testimony that the construction of such power transmission lines will increase electric rates in any part of the state; and (c) which applied for and did not receive an early designation as a national interest electric transmission corridor under an act of congress commonly known as the Energy Policy Act of 2005.