PIERRE, S.D. (WNAX) – Legislators on the “Electric Services in an Annexed Area” interim committee heard hours of testimony from municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives locked in a dispute over service territory. The municipal electrics want to be able to take in new customers as their towns grow. Rural electrics oppose that.

Committee Chairman Senator Alan Solano of Rapid City says they have to deal with the facts in front of them.

Solano says services territories should not be set in stone.

Senator Lee Schoenbeck of Watertown says history has to be respected, too.

Solano says he hopes they can come up with a suggested bill with one more meeting in October.