(1) The state tax commission shall, at the time of assessment of the property of any electrical, or gas, public utility, cooperative organized under the rural electrification administration act of the United States congress, or other company distributing electrical power (“utility”), determine the amount of the exemption under section 63-602O, Idaho Code, and shall reduce such assessment so that any such utility shall not be required to pay any property taxes upon that portion of its property so exempted.
(2) The full amount of property taxes which would have been due from such utility if such exemption had not been made, shall be credited or paid annually, for the year in which the exemption is made, on the electric or gas bill, to the consumer by the utility furnishing such electricity or gas for irrigation purposes.
(3) If the consumer is not a customer of the deliverer of electrical power or natural gas energy, the full amount of property taxes which would have been due from such utility if such exemption had not been made, shall be paid annually, for the year in which the exemption is made, directly to the consumer by the utility delivering such electricity or gas for irrigation purposes. To qualify for credit or direct payment the person or organization at the point of delivery must also be the person or organization pumping water for irrigation purposes and not a distributor or redistributor of electrical power or natural gas energy.
(4) For the purposes of determining the benefit to which each consumer is entitled by virtue of this exemption, the following procedure is provided.
The amount of such exemption or reduction by the state tax commission shall be as nearly as practicable, such as would yield the amount of property taxes included in the rates of such utility under the tariff schedule(s) applicable to the furnishing of such electricity or gas.
To receive the benefit of the exemption under section 63-602O, Idaho Code, and this section, each consumer who is not a customer of the deliverer of electrical power or gas energy must file an application with the state tax commission on or before April 30 each year except that for the year 1993, only such application may be filed on or before June 15. The state tax commission shall prescribe by rule the form and information necessary for such application.