Amended in Assembly June 25, 2013

Amended in Senate April 23, 2013

Amended in Senate April 2, 2013

Senate Bill No. 196

Introduced by Senator Cannella

February 7, 2013

An act to amend Section 798.40 of the Civil begin delete Code end delete begin insert Code, end insert 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 begin insert instead require a master-meter customer to post in a conspicuous place, the specific current residential utility rate as published by the serving utility. The bill would end insert 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 begin delete where that utilities rate information may be accessed end delete begin insert of the specific current residential utility rate schedule end insert 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 customer.

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 798.40 of the Civil Code is amended to
read:

798.40.  

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

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

SEC. 2.  

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 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.

(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 begin delete prevailing end delete begin insert specific
current end insert residential gas or electrical rate schedule, as published by
the corporation, or the corporation’s Internet Web site address
begin delete where the individual user may access the end delete begin insert of the specific current
residential gas or electrical rate end insert schedule. If the master-meter
customer elects to post the Internet Web site address where the
schedule may be accessed, the master-meter customer shall also:
(1) provide a copy of the begin delete prevailing end delete begin insert specific current end insert residential
gas or electrical rate schedule, upon request, at no cost; and (2)
state in the posting that an individual user may request a copy of
the rate schedule from the master-meter customer.

(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.

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