BILL NUMBER: AB 317	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Charles Calderon

                        FEBRUARY 9, 2011

   An act to amend Section 739.5 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to energy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 317, as introduced, Charles Calderon. Energy: master-meter
customers.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations
and gas corporations, as defined. Existing law requires, when gas or
electric service is provided by a master-meter customer to users who
are tenants of a mobilehome park, apartment building, or similar
residential complex, that the master-meter customer charge each user
at the same rate that would be applicable if the user were receiving
gas or electricity directly from the gas or electrical corporation.
Existing law requires every master-meter customer receiving any
rebate from a gas or electrical corporation to distribute to, or
credit to the account of, each current user served by the
master-meter customer that portion of the rebate that the amount of
gas or electricity, or both, consumed by the user during the last
billing period bears to the total amount furnished by the corporation
to the master-meter customer during that period.
   This bill would provide that rebates do not include ratepayer
funded incentives received by the master-meter customer as a result
of investments in energy generation or efficiency, including the
self-generation incentive program, the California Solar Initiative,
and the Solar Water Heating and Efficiency Act of 2007.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 739.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
   739.5.  (a) The commission shall require that, whenever gas or
electric service, or both, is provided by a master-meter customer to
users who are tenants of a mobilehome park, apartment building, or
similar residential complex, the master-meter customer shall charge
each user of the service at the same rate that would be applicable if
the user were receiving gas or electricity, or both, directly from
the gas or electrical corporation. The commission shall require the
corporation furnishing service to the master-meter customer to
establish uniform rates for master-meter service at a level that will
provide a sufficient differential to cover the reasonable average
costs to master-meter customers of providing submeter service, except
that these costs shall not exceed the average cost that the
corporation would have incurred in providing comparable services
directly to the users of the service.
   (b) Every master-meter customer of a gas or electrical corporation
subject to subdivision (a) who, on or after January 1, 1978,
receives any rebate from the corporation shall distribute to, or
credit to the account of, each current user served by the
master-meter customer that portion of the rebate  which
  that  the amount of gas or electricity, or both,
consumed by the user during the last billing period bears to the
total amount furnished by the corporation to the master-meter
customer during that period.  For purposes of this subdivision,
"rebates" do not include ratepayer   funded incentives
received by the master-meter customer as a result of investments in
energy generation or efficiency, including incentives received
pursuant to t   he self-generation incentive program
administered pursuant to Section 379.6, the California Solar
Initiative as defined in Section 2852, and the Solar Water Heating
and Efficiency Act of 2007 (Article 2 (commencing with Section 2860)
of Part 2). 
   (c) An electrical or gas corporation furnishing service to a
master-meter customer shall furnish to each user of the service
within a submetered system every public safety customer service which
it provides beyond the meter to its other residential customers. The
corporation shall furnish a list of those services to the
master-meter customer who shall post the list in a conspicuous place
accessible to all users. Every corporation shall provide these public
safety customer services to each user of electrical or gas service
under a submetered system without additional charge unless the
corporation has included the average cost of these services in the
rate differential provided to the master-meter customer on January 1,
1984, in which case the commission shall deduct the average cost of
providing these public safety customer services when approving rate
differentials for master-meter customers.
   (d) Every master-meter customer is responsible for maintenance and
repair of its submeter facilities beyond the master-meter, and
nothing in this section requires an electrical or gas corporation to
make repairs to or perform maintenance on the submeter system.
   (e) Every master-meter customer shall provide an itemized billing
of charges for electricity or gas, or both, to each individual user
generally in accordance with the form and content of bills of the
corporation to its residential customers, including, but not limited
to, the opening and closing readings for the meter, and the
identification of all rates and quantities attributable to each block
in the applicable rate structure. The master-meter customer shall
also post, in a conspicuous place, the applicable prevailing
residential gas or electrical rate schedule, as published by the
corporation.
   (f) The commission shall require that every electrical and gas
corporation shall notify each master-meter customer of its
responsibilities to its users under this section.
   (g) The commission shall accept and respond to complaints
concerning the requirements of this section through the consumer
affairs branch, in addition to any other staff that the commission
deems necessary to assist the complainant. In responding to the
complaint, the commission shall consider the role that the office of
the county sealer in the complainant's county of residence may have
in helping to resolve the complaint and, where appropriate,
coordinate with that office.
   (h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law or decision of the
commission, the commission shall not deny eligibility for the
California Alternative Rates for Energy (CARE) program, created
pursuant to Section 739.1, for a residential user of gas or electric
service who is a submetered resident or tenant served by a
master-meter customer on the basis that some residential units in the
master-meter customer's mobilehome park, apartment building, or
similar residential complex do not receive gas or electric service
through a submetered system.