Tenn. Code Ann. § 65-4-201 (2026)

• (a) No public utility shall establish or begin the construction of, or operate any line, plant, or system, or route in or into a municipality or other territory already receiving a like service from another public utility, or establish service therein, without first having obtained from the commission, after written application and hearing, a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require or will require such construction, establishment, and operation, and no person or corporation not at the time a public utility shall commence the construction of any plant, line, system, or route to be operated as a public utility, or the operation of which would constitute the same, or the owner or operator thereof, a public utility as defined by law, without having first obtained, in like manner, a similar certificate; provided, however, that this section shall not be construed to require any public utility to obtain a certificate for an extension in or about a municipality or territory where it shall theretofore have lawfully commenced operations, or for an extension into territory, whether within or without a municipality, contiguous to its route, plant, line, or system, and not theretofore receiving service of a like character from another public utility, or for substitute or additional facilities in or to territory already served by it.

• (b) Except as exempted by state or federal law, no individual or entity shall offer or provide any individual or group of telecommunications services, or extend its territorial areas of operations without first obtaining from the Tennessee public utility commission a certificate of convenience and necessity for such service or territory; provided, however, that no telecommunications services provider offering and providing a telecommunications service under the authority of the commission on June 6, 1995, is required to obtain additional authority in order to continue to offer and provide such telecommunications services as it offers and provides as of June 6, 1995.

• (c)
  • (1) After notice to the incumbent local exchange telephone company and other interested parties and following a hearing, the commission shall grant a certificate of convenience and necessity to a competing telecommunications service provider if after examining the evidence presented, the commission finds:
    • (A) The applicant has demonstrated that it will adhere to all applicable commission policies, rules and orders; and
    • (B) The applicant possesses sufficient managerial, financial and technical abilities to provide the applied for services.
  • (2) A commission order, including appropriate findings of fact and conclusions of law, denying or approving, with or without modification, an application for certification of a competing telecommunications service provider shall be entered no more than sixty (60) days from the filing of the application.

• (d) Subsection (c) is not applicable to areas served by an incumbent local exchange telephone company with fewer than one hundred thousand (100,000) total access lines in this state unless such company voluntarily enters into an interconnection agreement with a competing telecommunications service provider or unless such incumbent local exchange telephone company applies for a certificate to provide telecommunications services in an area outside its service area existing on June 6, 1995.

• (e)
  • (1) The commission shall direct the posting of a bond or other security by a public utility providing wastewater service or for a particular project proposed by a public utility providing wastewater service. The purpose of the bond or other security shall be to ensure the proper operation and maintenance of the public utility or project. The commission shall establish by rule the form of such bond or other security, the circumstances under which a bond or other security may be required, and the manner and circumstances under which the bond or other security may be forfeited.
  • (2) The requirement under this subsection (e) to post a bond or other security by a public utility providing wastewater service shall also satisfy the requirement on such a public utility to provide a bond or other financial security to the department of environment and conservation as required by § 69-3-122.
  • (3) The commission shall establish by rule the amount of such bond or other security for various sizes and types of facilities.
  • (4) Notwithstanding any other law, posting a bond or other security under this subsection (e) or § 69-3-122, shall not be required until January 1, 2006, or until the commission's rules become effective, whichever occurs first. Such rules may be promulgated as emergency rules.

• (f) The commission shall not issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a wind energy facility that includes any wind turbine with a total height in excess of three hundred fifty feet (350') as measured from the ground at its base to the maximum height of the blade tip located on a mountain ridge at an elevation above two thousand five hundred feet (2,500') mean sea level or five hundred feet (500') or more above mean sea level of the adjacent valley floor. This subsection (f) shall not apply to single wind turbines less than one hundred feet (100') in height as measured from the ground at its base to the maximum height of the blade tip and used to generate electricity that is consumed on the same site where the wind turbine is located.

Amended by 2018 Tenn. Acts, ch. 825, s 16, eff. 4/24/2018.

Acts 1923, ch. 87, § 1; Shan. Supp., § 1843a1; Code 1932, § 5502; impl. am. Acts 1955, ch. 69, § 1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 65-415; Acts 1995, ch. 305, § 20; 1995, ch. 408, § 7; 2005, ch. 62, § 1; 2009 , ch. 566, § 12.