[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 11]
[Revised as of January 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR1714.7]

[Page 132-133]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
    CHAPTER XVII--RURAL UTILITIES SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 1714--PRE-LOAN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR INSURED ELECTRIC LOANS--Table of Contents
 
                           Subpart A--General
 
Sec. 1714.7  Interest rate cap.

    Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, the municipal 
interest rate may not exceed 7 percent on a loan advance to a borrower 
primarily engaged in providing retail electric service if the borrower 
meets, at the time of loan approval, either the consumer density test 
set forth in paragraph (a) of this section, or both the rate disparity 
test for the interest rate cap and the consumer income test set forth in 
paragraph (b) of this section.
    (a) Low consumer density test. The borrower meets this test if the 
average number of consumers per mile of line of its total electric 
system, based on the most recent data available at the time of loan 
approval is less than 5.50.
    (b)(1) Rate disparity test for the interest rate cap. The borrower 
meets this test if its average revenue per kWh sold is more than the 
average revenue per kWh sold by all electric utilities in the state in 
which the borrower provides service. To determine whether a borrower 
meets this test, RUS will compare the borrower's average total revenue 
with statewide data in the table of Average Revenue per Kilowatthour for 
Electric Utilities by Sector, Census Division and State, in the Electric 
Power Annual issued by the Energy Information Administration of the 
Department of Energy (DOE), or the successor to this table. The test 
will be based on the most recent calendar year for which full year DOE 
data are available at the time of loan approval and borrower data for 
the same year.
    (2) Consumer income test.The borrower meets this test if either the 
average per capita income of the residents receiving electric service 
from the borrower is less than the average per capita income of 
residents of the state in which the borrower provides service or the 
median household income of the households receiving electric service 
from the borrower is less than the median household income of the 
households in the state.
    (i) To qualify under the consumer income test, the borrower must 
include in its loan application information about the location of its 
residential consumers. The borrower must provide to RUS, based on the 
most recent data available at the time of loan application, either the 
number of consumers in each county it serves or the number of consumers 
in each census tract it serves. Using the most recently published 
decennial census data on income from the Bureau of the Census, RUS will 
compare, on a weighted average basis, the average per capita and median 
household income of the counties

[[Page 133]]

or census tracts served by the borrower with state figures.
    (ii) In cases where conditions have substantially changed so that 
the decennial census data no longer accurately describes the economic 
conditions of the borrower's consumers, the borrower may provide RUS 
with more current income data from a reliable source such as a State 
agency. The Administrator has the sole discretion to determine whether 
such data submitted by the borrower is sufficient to determine whether 
the borrower qualifies under the consumer income test.
    (3) Borrowers serving 2 or more states. If a borrower serves 
consumers in 2 or more states, the rate disparity test and the consumer 
income test will be determined on a weighted average based on the 
percentage of the borrower's total consumers that are served in each 
state.
    (c) High density test. If the average number of consumers per mile 
of the borrower's total electric system exceeds 17, the interest rate 
cap will not apply to funds used for the purpose of furnishing or 
improving electric service to consumers located in an area that is an 
urban area at the time of loan approval, notwithstanding that the area 
must have been deemed a rural area for the purpose of qualifying for a 
loan under this part. (See the definition of ``rural area'' in 7 CFR 
1710.2.) If the average number of consumers per mile of line of the 
borrower's total electric system exceeds 17, the borrower must include, 
as a note on RUS Form 740c, Cost Estimates and Loan Budget for Electric 
Borrowers, submitted as part of the loan application for a loan subject 
to the interest rate cap, a breakdown of funds included in the proposed 
loan to furnish or improve service to consumers located in such urban 
areas. For such borrowers only funds for those facilities serving 
consumers located outside an urban area are eligible for the interest 
rate cap.