Article 3. 
Miscellaneous Provisions. 
§ 117‑28.  Foreign corporations; domestication; rights and privileges.
Any electric or telephone membership corporation created and existing under and by virtue of the laws of any adjoining state, which corporation desires to extend its lines into this State for the purpose of obtaining its power and energy needs, or an exchange interconnection, or for the purpose of supplying electric or telephone service to citizens and residents of this State, shall be and is hereby granted the right to domesticate in this State as such electric or telephone membership corporation, and, after such domestication, any such corporation shall have and enjoy all the rights, privileges, benefits and immunities granted to electric or telephone membership corporations under the laws of this State and shall be subject to the terms, provisions and conditions of this Chapter, and other applicable laws, to the same extent as such laws are now applicable to membership corporations organized under the laws of this State. (1941, c. 12; 1959, c. 387, s. 3.)

§ 117‑28.1.  Electric membership corporations; easements.
(a)	Any easement owned, held, or otherwise used by an electric membership corporation for the purpose of electrification, as stated in G.S. 117‑10 may also be used by the corporation, or its wholly owned subsidiary, for the ancillary purpose of supplying high‑speed broadband service, where such use does not require additional construction and is ancillary to the electrification purposes for which broadband fiber is or was installed. Nothing in this subsection shall affect, abrogate, or eliminate in any way any obligation of the corporation or its wholly owned subsidiary to comply with any applicable requirements related to notice, safety, or permitting when constructing or maintaining lines or broadband fiber on, over, under, or across property owned or operated by a railroad company.
(b)	Notwithstanding G.S. 1A‑1, Rule 23, a class action may not be maintained against an electric membership corporation or its wholly owned subsidiary in a suit in trespass or inverse condemnation based on a claim of expanded use of an easement. If, in a suit in trespass or inverse condemnation based on a claim of expanded use of an easement, an individual property owner prevails over a corporation or its wholly owned subsidiary, the trespass shall be deemed permanent and the actual damages awarded shall be the fair market value which, notwithstanding any other provision of law, shall always be greater than zero but shall not exceed the difference between the fair market value of the property owner's entire property immediately before the taking and the fair market value of the property owner's property immediately after the taking. Evidence of revenues or profits derived or the rental value of an assembled communications corridor shall not be admissible in determining fair market value. A property owner's actual damages shall be fixed at the time of the initial trespass and shall not be deemed to continue, accumulate, or accrue. Upon payment of damages, the corporation or its wholly owned subsidiary shall be granted a permanent easement for the trespass that was the subject of the claim.  (2019‑17, s. 2; 2020‑74, s. 30.)