BILL NUMBER: SB 196 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 25, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 23, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 2, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Cannella
FEBRUARY 7, 2013
An act to amend Section 798.40 of the Civil Code
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 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
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
information may be accessed of the specific current
residential utility rate schedule 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 post post, in a
conspicuous place, the prevailing residential utilities
specific current residential utility rate
schedule as published by the serving utility or the Internet Web site
address where the homeowner may access the
of the specific current residential utility rate 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 prevailing residential utilities
specific current residential utility 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 prevailing
specific current residential gas or electrical
rate schedule, as published by the corporation, or the corporation's
Internet Web site address where the individual user may
access the of the specific current residential gas or
electrical rate 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 prevailing specific current
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.