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6 DOCSOPEN\LA515\143\999832.v2-1/7/25 shall be imposed consistent with any applicable Commission order or tariff establishing franchise fee filing requirements. 9.2 Separate Ordinance. The franchise fee shall be imposed by a separate ordinance duly adopted by the City Council, which ordinance shall not be adopted until at least 30 days after Notice enclosing such proposed ordinance has been provided to the Company. The fee shall not become effective until the beginning of a Company billing month at least 90 days after Notice enclosing such adopted ordinance has been provided to Company. Section 2.5 shall constitute the sole remedy for solving disputes between Company and the City in regard to the interpretation of, or enforcement of, the separate ordinance. 9.3 Collection of the Fee. The franchise fee shall be payable as provided in the separate fee ordinance. The franchise fee shall be payable quarterly and shall be based on the amount collected by Company during complete billing months during the period for which payment is to be made by imposing a surcharge equal to the designated franchise fee for the applicable customer classification in all customer billings for gas service in each class. The payment shall be due the last business day of the month following the period for which the payment is made. The franchise fee may be changed by ordinance from time to time; however, each change shall meet the same notice requirements and not occur more often than annually. The time and manner of collecting the franchise fee is subject to the approval of the Commission. No franchise fee shall be payable by Company if Company is legally unable to collect an amount equal to the franchise fee from its customers in each applicable class of customers by imposing a surcharge in Company’s applicable rates for gas service. Company may pay the City the fee based upon the surcharge billed subject to subsequent reductions to account for uncollectibles, refunds and correction of erroneous billings. Company agrees to make its records available for inspection by the City at reasonable times provided that the City and its designated representative agree in writing not to disclose any information which would indicate the amount paid by any identifiable customer or customers or any other information regarding identified customers. 9.4 Equivalent Fee. The separate ordinance imposing the fee shall not be effective against Company unless City lawfully imposes an equivalent franchise fee on the sales of energy by any other franchised energy supplier operating in the City. SECTION 10. PROVISIONS OF ORDINANCE. 10.1 Severability. Every section, provision, or part of this Ordinance is declared separate from every other section, provision, or part and if any section, provision, or part shall be held invalid, it shall not affect any other section, provision, or part. Where a provision of any other City ordinance conflicts with the provisions of this Ordinance, the provisions of this Ordinance shall prevail. 10.2 Limitation on Applicability. This Ordinance constitutes a Franchise between the City and Company as the only parties, and no provision of this franchise shall in any way inure to the benefit of any third person (including the public at large) so as to constitute any such person as a third party beneficiary of the agreement or of any one or more of the terms hereof, or otherwise give rise to any cause of action in any person not a party hereto.