[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: 7CFR1717.652]

[Page 155-157]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
    CHAPTER XVII--RURAL UTILITIES SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 1717--POST-LOAN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES COMMON TO INSURED AND GUARANTEED ELECTRIC LOANS--Table of Contents
 
   Subpart N--Investments, Loans, and Guarantees by Electric Borrowers
 
Sec. 1717.652  Definitions.

    As used in this subpart:
    Borrower means any organization that has an outstanding loan made or 
guaranteed by RUS for rural electrification.
    Cash-construction fund-trustee account means the account described 
in the Uniform System of Accounts as one to which funds are deposited 
for financing the construction or purchase of electric facilities.
    Distribution borrower means a Distribution Borrower as defined in 7 
CFR 1710.2.
    Electric system means all of the borrower's interests in all 
electric production, transmission, distribution, conservation, load 
management, general plant and other related facilities, equipment or 
property and in any mine, well, pipeline, plant, structure or other 
facility for the development, production, manufacture, storage, 
fabrication or processing of fossil, nuclear, or other fuel or in any 
facility or rights with respect to the supply of water, in each case for 
use, in whole or in major part, in any of the borrower's generating 
plants, including any interest or participation of the borrower in any 
such facilities or any rights to the output or capacity thereof, 
together with all lands, easements, rights-of-way, other works, 
property, structures, contract rights and other tangible and intangible 
assets of the borrower in each case used or useful in such electric 
system.
    Equity means the Margins and Equities of the borrower as defined in 
the

[[Page 156]]

Uniform System of Accounts, less regulatory created assets.
    Guarantee means to undertake collaterally to answer for the payment 
of another's debt or the performance of another's duty, liability, or 
obligation, including, without limitation, the obligations of 
subsidiaries. Some examples of such guarantees include guarantees of 
payment or collection on a note or other debt instrument (assuring 
returns on investments); issuing performance bonds or completion bonds; 
or cosigning leases or other obligations of third parties.
    Invest means to commit money in order to earn a financial return on 
assets, including, without limitation, all investments properly recorded 
on the borrower's books and records in investment accounts as those 
accounts are used in the Uniform System of Accounts for RUS Borrowers. 
Borrowers may submit any proposed transaction to RUS for an 
interpretation of whether the action is an investment for the purposes 
of this definition.
    Make loans means to lend out money for temporary use on condition of 
repayment, usually with interest.
    Mortgaged property means any asset of the borrower which is pledged 
in the RUS mortgage.
    Natural gas distribution system means any system of community 
infrastructure that distributes natural gas and whose services are 
available by design to all or a substantial portion of the members of 
the community.
    Operating DSC means Operating Debt Service Coverage (ODSC) of the 
borrower's electric system calculated as:
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR21SE95.001

where:

All amounts are for the same year and are based on the RUS system of 
accounts;
A=Depreciation and Amortization Expense of the electric system;
B=Interest on Long-term Debt of the electric system, except that 
Interest on Long-term Debt shall be increased by \1/3\ of the amount, if 
any, by which the rentals of Restricted Property of the electric system 
exceed 2 percent of Total Margins and Equities;
C=Patronage Capital & Operating Margins of the electric system 
(distribution borrowers) or Operating Margins of the electric system 
(power supply borrowers); and
D=Debt Service Billed (RUS + other) which equals all interest and 
principal billed or billable during the calendar year for long-term debt 
of the electric system plus \1/3\ of the amount, if any, by which the 
rentals of Restricted Property of the electric system exceed 2 percent 
of Total Margins and Equities. Unless otherwise indicated, all terms 
used in defining ODSC and OTIER are as defined in RUS Bulletin 1717B-2 
Instructions for the Preparation of the Financial and Statistical Report 
for Electric Distribution Borrowers, and RUS Bulletin 1717B-3 
Instructions for the Preparation of the Operating Report for Power 
Supply Borrowers and for Distribution Borrowers with Generating 
Facilities, or the successors to these bulletins.

    Operating TIER means Operating Times Interest Earned Ratio (OTIER) 
of the borrower's electric system calculated as:
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR21SE95.002

where:

All amounts are for the same year and are based on the RUS system of 
accounts;
A=Interest on Long-term Debt of the electric system, except that 
Interest on Long-term Debt shall be increased by 1/3 of the amount, if 
any, by which the rentals of Restricted Property of the electric system 
exceed 2 percent of Total Margins and Equities; and
B=Patronage Capital & Operating Margins of the electric system 
(distribution borrowers) or Operating Margins of the electric system 
(power supply borrowers).

    Own funds means money belonging to the borrower other than funds on 
deposit in the cash-construction fund-trustee account.
    Power supply borrower means a Power Supply Borrower as defined in 7 
CFR 1710.2.
    Regulatory created assets means the sum of the amounts properly 
recordable in Account 182.2 Unrecovered Plant and Regulatory Study 
Costs, and Account 182.3 Other Regulatory Assets of the Uniform System 
of Accounts.
    RUS means the Rural Utilities Service, an agency of the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture established pursuant to Section 232 of the 
Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture 
Reorganization Act of 1994 (Pub. L. 103-354, 108 Stat. 3178, 7 U.S.C.

[[Page 157]]

6941 et seq.) and, for purposes of this subpart, includes its 
predecessor, the Rural Electrification Administration.
    RUS loan contract means the loan contract between the borrower and 
RUS.
    RUS mortgage means any and all instruments creating a lien on or 
security interest in the borrower's assets in connection with loans or 
guarantees under the RE Act.
    Solid waste disposal system means any system of community 
infrastructure that provides collection and/or disposal of solid waste 
and whose services are available by design to all or a substantial 
portion of the members of the community.
    Subsidiary means a company which is controlled by the borrower 
through ownership of voting stock, and is further defined in 7 CFR 
1767.10.
    Supplemental lender means a lender that has provided a supplemental 
source of financing that is secured by the RUS mortgage.
    Telecommunication and other electronic communication system means 
any community infrastructure that provides telecommunication or other 
electronic communication services and whose services are available by 
design to all or a substantial portion of the members of the community.
    Total assets means the total assets of the borrower as calculated 
according to the Uniform System of Accounts, less regulatory created 
assets.
    Total utility plant means the sum of the borrower's Electric Plant 
Accounts and Construction Work in Progress--Electric Accounts, as such 
terms are used in the Uniform System of Accounts.
    Uniform System of Accounts means the system of accounts prescribed 
for RUS borrowers in 7 CFR part 1767.
    Water and waste disposal system means any system of community 
infrastructure that supplies water and/or collects and treats waste 
water and whose services are available by design to all or a substantial 
portion of the members of the community.