BILL NUMBER: AB 1913	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Jones-Sawyer

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2014

   An act to amend Section 727.5 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to public utilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1913, as introduced, Jones-Sawyer. Water rates.
   Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission, in
establishing rates for water service, to consider separate charges
for costs associated with customer service, facilities, variable
operating costs, including fixed and variable costs associated with
supplying the water, or other components of the water service
provided to water users.
   This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to this
provision of law.
   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 727.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
   727.5.  (a)  In   The commission, in 
establishing rates for water service,  the commission
 shall consider, and may establish, separate charges for
costs associated with customer service, facilities, variable
operating costs, including fixed and variable costs associated with
supplying the water, or other components of the water service
provided to water users.
   (b) The commission shall consider, and may authorize, a water
corporation to assess a fee for future water service, or a
reservation charge for future water service, for persons or entities
occupying or owning property within the service territory of the
water corporation.
   (c) The commission shall consider, and may authorize, a water
corporation to establish a balancing account, rate stabilization
fund, or other contingency fund, the purpose of which shall be the
long-term stabilization of water rates.
   (d) The commission shall consider, and may authorize, a water
corporation to establish programs, including rate designs, for
achieving conservation of water and recovering the cost of these
programs through the rates.
   (e) In establishing rates for recovery of the costs of used and
useful water plant, the commission may utilize a capital structure
and payback methodology that shall maintain the reliability of water
service, shall minimize the long-term cost to ratepayers, shall
provide equity between present and future ratepayers, and shall
afford the utility an opportunity to earn a reasonable return on its
used and useful investment, to attract capital for investment on
reasonable terms and to ensure the financial integrity of the
utility.