Section 46-3-14. Effect of part on municipal police powers over erection and maintenance of electric wires, poles, and other facilities of electric suppliers in streets, alleys, and public ways

   (a) No provision of this part shall restrict the reasonable exercise of the police power of a municipality over the erection and maintenance of poles, wires, and other facilities of electric suppliers in streets, alleys, and public ways.

(b) No municipality may, by unreasonably withholding or conditioning right of way easements or franchises, defeat, impair, or interfere with the rights and restrictions applying to electric suppliers therein as provided for in this part. Rather, any secondary supplier within a municipality existing on March 29, 1973, and any electric supplier other than the primary supplier within any geographic area thereafter annexed to such municipality, shall pay the municipality for street franchise rights a sum of money calculated and payable in the same manner and on the same basis as is utilized with respect to the payment, if any, by the primary supplier (other than the municipality itself) for the same or substantially identical rights. In addition, any electric supplier within a wholly new municipality at the time such municipality comes into existence or thereafter which does not serve a majority or plurality of the retail electric meters inside the limits of such municipality shall pay such municipality for street franchise rights a sum of money calculated and payable in the same manner and on the same basis as is utilized with respect to the payment, if any, by the electric supplier (other than the municipality itself) which serves a majority or plurality, whichever is the case, of the retail electric meters inside the limits of such municipality for the same or substantially identical rights.

(c) No provision of this part shall abolish the power of any incorporated municipality pursuant to paragraph (7) of Code Section 36-34-2 or any other provision of law to grant street franchises; nor shall any provision of this part abolish the requirement, to the extent existing on March 29, 1973, that any electric supplier must obtain such a franchise in order to use and occupy streets of an incorporated municipality for the purpose of rendering utility services.

Ga. L. 1973, p. 200, § 15.