66-1009. Loan; repayment plan; default; use; lien; limitation; Director of Environment and Energy; duties.

(1) A customer borrowing from a utility under a plan adopted pursuant to sections 66-1001 to 66-1011 shall be allowed to contract with the utility for a repayment plan and shall be offered a repayment period of not less than three years and not more than twenty years.

(2) Upon default on a loan by a customer, after expending reasonable efforts to collect, a utility may treat the entire unpaid contract amount as due, but services to a residential, agricultural, or commercial customer may not be terminated as a result of such default. Default occurs when any amount due a utility under a plan adopted pursuant to sections 66-1001 to 66-1011, 70-625, 70-704, 81-161, 81-1606 to 81-1626, and 84-162 to 84-167 is not paid within sixty days of the due date.

(3) Any customer obtaining a loan pursuant to section 66-1007 shall only use the funds to accomplish the purposes agreed upon at the time of the loan. If the borrower of any funds obtained pursuant to sections 66-1001 to 66-1011 uses such funds in a manner or for a purpose not authorized by this section, the total amount of the loan shall immediately become due and payable.

(4) Any amount due a utility on a loan pursuant to sections 66-1001 to 66-1011 which is not paid in full within sixty days of the due date shall become a lien as provided in this section on the real property concerned as to the full unpaid balance. No lien under this section shall be valid unless (a) the loan was signed by the party or parties shown on the indexes of the register of deeds to be the owners of record of such real property on the date of the loan and (b) the lien is filed not more than four months after the date of default, in the same office and in the same manner as mortgages in the county in which the real property is located. Such lien shall take effect and be in force from and after the time of delivering the same to the register of deeds for recording, and not before, as to all creditors and subsequent purchasers in good faith without notice, and such lien shall be adjudged void as to all such creditors and subsequent purchasers without notice whose deeds, mortgages, or other instruments shall be first recorded, except that such lien shall be valid between the parties. A publicly owned utility shall not maintain possession of any property which it may acquire pursuant to a lien authorized by this section for a period of time longer than is reasonably necessary to dispose of such property.

(5) Any loan made under a plan adopted pursuant to sections 66-1001 to 66-1011 shall not exceed fifteen thousand dollars, subject to any existing limitations under federal law. Any loan to be made by a utility which exceeds ten thousand dollars shall only be made in participation with a bank pursuant to a contract. The utility and the participating bank shall determine the terms and conditions of the contract.

(6) The Director of Environment and Energy may adopt and promulgate rules and regulations to carry out sections 66-1001 to 66-1011.

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