Amended in Senate April 23, 2013

Amended in Senate April 2, 2013

Senate BillNo. 196


Introduced by Senator Cannella

February 7, 2013


An act to amend Section 798.40 of the Civil Code and to amend Section 739.5 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to utility rates.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 196, as amended, Cannella. Utility rates: mobilehomes and apartment buildings.

Existing law requires a master-meter customer in a mobilehome park or apartment building, among other duties, to post in a conspicuous place, the prevailing residential utilities rate schedule as published by the serving utility.

This bill would authorize a master-meter customer in a mobilehome park, apartment building, or similar residential complex, as specified, to also post the Internet Web site address where that utilities rate informationbegin delete is postedend deletebegin insert may be accessed if it also provides a copy of the schedule, upon request, at no cost, and states in the posting that an individual user may request a copy of the rate schedule from the master-meter customerend insert.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P1    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 798.40 of the Civil Code is amended to
2read:

P2    1

798.40.  

(a) Where the management provides both master-meter
2and submeter service of utilities to a homeowner, for each billing
3period the cost of the charges for the period shall be separately
4stated along with the opening and closing readings for his or her
5meter. The management shall post in a conspicuous place, the
6prevailing residential utilities rate schedule as published by the
7begin delete serving utility or the Internet Web site address where the
8information is postedend delete
begin insert serving utility or the Internet Web site
9address where the homeowner may access the schedule. If the
10management elects to post the Internet Web site address where
11the schedule may be accessed, the management shall also: (1)
12provide a copy of the prevailing residential utilities rate schedule,
13upon request, at no cost; and (2) state in the posting that a
14homeowner may request a copy of the rate schedule from
15managementend insert
.

16(b) If a third-party billing agent or company prepares utility
17billing for the park, the management shall disclose on each
18resident’s billing, the name, address, and telephone number of the
19billing agent or company.

20

SEC. 2.  

Section 739.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
21to read:

22

739.5.  

(a) The commission shall require that, whenever gas
23or electric service, or both, is provided by a master-meter customer
24to users who are tenants of a mobilehome park, apartment building,
25or similar residential complex, the master-meter customer shall
26charge each user of the service at the same rate that would be
27applicable if the user were receiving gas or electricity, or both,
28directly from the gas or electrical corporation. The commission
29shall require the corporation furnishing service to the master-meter
30customer to establish uniform rates for master-meter service at a
31level that will provide a sufficient differential to cover the
32reasonable average costs to master-meter customers of providing
33submeter service, except that these costs shall not exceed the
34average cost that the corporation would have incurred in providing
35 comparable services directly to the users of the service.

36(b) Every master-meter customer of a gas or electrical
37corporation subject to subdivision (a) who, on or after January 1,
381978, receives any rebate from the corporation shall distribute to,
39or credit to the account of, each current user served by the
40master-meter customer that portion of the rebate which the amount
P3    1of gas or electricity, or both, consumed by the user during the last
2billing period bears to the total amount furnished by the corporation
3to the master-meter customer during that period.

4(c) An electrical or gas corporation furnishing service to a
5master-meter customer shall furnish to each user of the service
6within a submetered system every public safety customer service
7which it provides beyond the meter to its other residential
8customers. The corporation shall furnish a list of those services to
9the master-meter customer who shall post the list in a conspicuous
10place accessible to all users. Every corporation shall provide these
11public safety customer services to each user of electrical or gas
12service under a submetered system without additional charge unless
13the corporation has included the average cost of these services in
14the rate differential provided to the master-meter customer on
15January 1, 1984, in which case the commission shall deduct the
16average cost of providing these public safety customer services
17when approving rate differentials for master-meter customers.

18(d) Every master-meter customer is responsible for maintenance
19and repair of its submeter facilities beyond the master-meter, and
20nothing in this section requires an electrical or gas corporation to
21make repairs to or perform maintenance on the submeter system.

22(e) Every master-meter customer shall provide an itemized
23billing of charges for electricity or gas, or both, to each individual
24user generally in accordance with the form and content of bills of
25the corporation to its residential customers, including, but not
26limited to, the opening and closing readings for the meter, and the
27identification of all rates and quantities attributable to each block
28in the applicable rate structure. The master-meter customer shall
29also post, in a conspicuous place, the applicable prevailing
30residential gas or electrical rate schedule, as published by the
31begin delete corporation, or the Internet Web site address where the corporation
32posts that informationend delete
begin insert corporation, or the corporation’s Internet
33Web site address where the individual user may access the
34schedule. If the master-meter customer elects to post the Internet
35Web site address where the schedule may be accessed, the
36master-meter customer shall also: (1) provide a copy of the
37prevailing residential gas or electrical rate schedule, upon request,
38at no cost; and (2) state in the posting that an individual user may
39request a copy of the rate schedule from the master-meter
40customerend insert
.

P4    1(f) The commission shall require that every electrical and gas
2corporation shall notify each master-meter customer of its
3responsibilities to its users under this section.

4(g) The commission shall accept and respond to complaints
5concerning the requirements of this section through the consumer
6affairs branch, in addition to any other staff that the commission
7deems necessary to assist the complainant. In responding to the
8complaint, the commission shall consider the role that the office
9of the county sealer in the complainant’s county of residence may
10have in helping to resolve the complaint and, where appropriate,
11coordinate with that office.

12(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law or decision of
13the commission, the commission shall not deny eligibility for the
14California Alternative Rates for Energy (CARE) program, created
15pursuant to Section 739.1, for a residential user of gas or electric
16service who is a submetered resident or tenant served by a
17master-meter customer on the basis that some residential units in
18the master-meter customer’s mobilehome park, apartment building,
19or similar residential complex do not receive gas or electric service
20through a submetered system.

21(i) For purposes of this section, “rebate” does not include the
22award of a monetary incentive under the California Solar Initiative
23adopted by the Public Utilities Commission in Decision 05-12-044
24and Decision 06-01-024, as modified by Article 1 (commencing
25with Section 2851) of Chapter 9 of Part 2, for a solar energy system
26that provides electrical generation to a mobilehome park.



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