301.175.  Maintenance trip permits for local commercial vehicle — definition — disposition of fees — utility emergencies, use of local commercial vehicles to restore service beyond license zone. — 1.  Upon the application for and payment of a fee of five dollars the director of revenue shall issue a maintenance trip permit at any office issuing motor vehicle license plates.  Any holder of a local commercial motor vehicle license may apply for the maintenance trip permit by certifying on the application for such a permit that the permit will be used solely for the purpose of operating the motor vehicle and its mounted equipment, while empty, to or from a place of repair or maintenance, or place where its mounted equipment may be repaired or replaced, beyond the twenty-five mile license zone.  The agent or deputy of the director who issues the permit shall enter on such permit the name of the registered owner of the vehicle, the address of the place to which the vehicle is registered, the place of origin for the trip, the destination for the trip, the number of the local commercial license issued for that vehicle, the vehicle make and year model, and the date, time and place of issuance.

  2.  Possession of a duly issued permit shall entitle the operator of a locally licensed commercial vehicle to operate the vehicle beyond the twenty-five mile commercial zone for which licensed for the purposes set out in subsection 1 of this section.

  3.  "Maintenance trip permit", as used in this section, means a trip permit issued as a supplement to a local commercial license for the sole purpose of allowing the operation of a vehicle licensed as a local commercial vehicle, while empty, to or from a place of repair or maintenance within a period of ten days from the time of issuance.

  4.  All fees collected by the director of revenue under the provisions of this section shall be deposited with the state treasurer to the credit of the state highways and transportation department fund.

  5.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, whenever a public utility, as defined in section 386.020, has customers without utility service due to a weather-related or other type of emergency, the public utility may use locally licensed commercial vehicles to make service restoration trips to the areas of the service outages, even if such areas are outside the twenty-five-mile commercial license zone.  The vehicles may operate in the areas of service outages until service is restored, and then such vehicles may make the return trip to their local area.