BILL NUMBER: AB 1108 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 15, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 29, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 1, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 4, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fuentes
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to amend Sections 739.5, 2791, 2796, and 2797 of, to repeal
Sections 2793, 2794, 2795, and 2799 of, and to repeal and add
Sections 2792 and 2798 of, the Public Utilities Code, relating to
utility service.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1108, as amended, Fuentes. Electric and gas utility service:
master-meter customers.
(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations and gas corporations. Existing law requires that, 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, 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 additionally requires the electrical or gas
corporation to establish uniform rates to master-meter customers 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
(master-meter discount). Existing law provides that every
master-meter customer is responsible for the maintenance and repair
of its submeter facilities beyond the master-meter.
This bill would make the existing provisions of law relating to
master-meter customers applicable only to master-meter customers
providing submetered service to tenants of an apartment building or
similar multifamily residential dwelling. The bill would adopt
separate provisions that are applicable to a master-meter customer
that provides submetered service to tenants of a mobilehome park or
manufactured housing community. These provisions would authorize the
commission, if it finds that a master-meter customer has failed to
maintain or repair its submeter facilities beyond the master-meter,
to order the master-meter customer to maintain or repair those
facilities and would authorize the commission, in addition to the
commission's authority to make or enforce orders pursuant to the
Public Utilities Act, to order that certain moneys received as a
result of the master-meter discount be held in trust to be expended
for maintenance and repair of the submetered facilities of the
mobilehome park or manufactured housing community. The bill would
require a master-meter customer to separately bill tenants of a
mobilehome park or manufactured housing community for gas or electric
service, or both, and rent, and would prohibit the master-meter
customer from charging a user of electricity or gas any late charge
for nonpayment or delayed payment of rent. The bill would require
that any late charge imposed by a master-meter customer for
nonpayment or delayed payment by a user for gas or electric service
at a mobilehome park or manufactured housing community be in an
amount that does not exceed that which the electrical or gas
corporation would charge for nonpayment or delayed payment for
electric or gas service.
(2) Existing law authorizes the owner of a master-metered
mobilehome park or manufactured housing community that provides gas
or electric service to residents to transfer ownership and
operational responsibility for its gas or electric system to the gas
or electrical corporation providing service in the area in which the
park or community is located, pursuant to specified transfer and cost
allocation procedures.
This bill would require the owner of a master-metered mobilehome
park or manufactured housing community that provides gas or electric
service to residents to transfer ownership and operational
responsibility for its gas or electric system to the gas or
electrical corporation providing service in the area in which the
park or community is located. The bill would require the commission,
by January 1, 2010, to open a proceeding to adopt rules that
establish the terms and conditions for the transfers, that balance
certain goals and requirements. The commission would be required
, in coordination with the Department of Housing and Community
Development and the county departments of weights and measures,
to prioritize the transfer of gas or electric systems with unsafe or
substandard conditions. The bill would require the commission to
permit the gas or electrical corporation to recover, in its revenue
requirements and rates, the costs the commission finds reasonable to
acquire, improve, and upgrade transferred mobilehome park or
manufactured housing community gas or electric systems and would
require, to the extent practical, that these costs be collected over
2 rate case cycles, rather than in a single cycle. The bill would
require the commission, by January 1, 2011
2012 , to adopt a standard form agreement for transfer of gas
and electric systems in mobilehome parks and manufactured housing
communities, based upon the rules adopted by the commission, that
would be the basis for expedited approval of the transfers. The bill
would require that transfers commence as soon as the standard
contract is available, to proceed according to the process adopted by
the commission , and to be completed by January 1, 2016
.
Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule,
direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because a violation of an order or decision of the commission
implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose
a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.
(3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
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) (1) The commission shall require that, if gas or
electric service, or both, is provided by a master-meter customer to
users who are tenants of an apartment building or similar multifamily
residential dwelling, 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.
(2) The commission shall require the gas or electrical 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 at an apartment
building or similar multifamily residential dwelling, 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 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 at an apartment building or similar
multifamily residential dwelling 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 at an apartment building or
similar multifamily residential dwelling 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 at an apartment building or
similar multifamily residential dwelling shall provide an itemized
billing of charges for electricity or gas, or both, to each user
generally in accordance with the form and content of bills of the gas
or electrical 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 at an apartment
building or similar multifamily residential dwelling 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 Alternate 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 apartment building or similar multifamily
residential dwelling do not receive gas or electric service through a
submetered system.
SEC. 2. Section 2791 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
2791. The owner of a master-metered mobilehome park or
manufactured housing community that provides gas or electric service
to residents shall transfer ownership and operational responsibility
for the gas or electric system to the gas or electrical corporation
providing service in the area in which the park or community is
located pursuant to this chapter, or as the park or community owner
and the serving gas or electrical corporation mutually agree.
SEC. 3. Section 2792 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 4. Section 2792 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
2792. (a) (1) The commission shall, prior to transfer, require
that, if gas or electric service, or both, is provided by a
master-meter customer to users who are tenants of a mobilehome park
or manufactured housing community, 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.
(2) The commission shall, prior to transfer, require the gas or
electrical 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 to tenants of a mobilehome park or manufactured
housing community, 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 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) A gas or electrical corporation furnishing service to a
master-meter customer shall, prior to transfer, furnish to each user
of the service within a submetered system of a mobilehome park or
manufactured housing community, 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 gas or electrical
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) (1) Prior to transfer, every master-meter customer providing
submetered service to tenants of a mobilehome park or manufactured
housing community is responsible for maintenance and repair of its
submetered facilities beyond the master-meter, and nothing in this
section requires a gas or electrical corporation, prior to transfer,
to make repairs to or perform maintenance on the submetered system.
(2) If the commission finds, prior to transfer, that a
master-meter customer has failed to maintain or repair its submetered
facilities beyond the master-meter, the commission may order the
master-meter customer to maintain or repair those facilities.
(3) In addition to any authority granted the commission to make or
enforce orders pursuant to Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 2100)
of Part 1, if the commission finds, prior to transfer, that a
master-meter customer has failed to maintain or repair its submetered
facilities beyond the master-meter, the commission may order the
portion of the rate differential established pursuant to subdivision
(a) for an electric plant or a gas plant be held in trust to be
expended for maintenance and repair of the submetered facilities.
(e) (1) Every master-meter customer shall, prior to transfer,
provide an itemized billing of charges for gas or electricity, or
both, to each user generally in accordance with the form and content
of bills of the gas or electrical 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.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, prior to transfer
of the submetered system to the gas or electrical corporation, a
master-meter customer shall separately bill each user for gas or
electric service, or both, and rent.
(3) A master-meter customer shall not, prior to transfer of the
submetered system to the gas or electrical corporation, charge a user
of gas or electricity any late charge for gas or electric service as
a result of nonpayment or delayed payment of rent. For nonpayment or
delayed payment of gas or electric service by a user, the
master-meter customer may impose a late charge up to an amount that
does not exceed that which the gas or electrical corporation would
charge for nonpayment or delayed payment for gas or electric service.
(f) The commission shall require that every gas and electrical
corporation 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 Alternate 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 or manufactured housing
community do not receive gas or electric service through a submetered
system.
SEC. 5. Section 2793 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 6. Section 2794 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 7. Section 2795 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 8. Section 2796 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
2796. (a) During the pendency of a transfer, the owner of the
park or community shall be responsible for the continued maintenance
to preserve the integrity of the park or community gas or electric
system and safe and reliable operation of the park or community
system in accordance with applicable laws.
(b) During the pendency of a transfer, the owner of the park or
community shall be liable for injury and damage resulting from
operation of the submetered gas and electric system. After transfer,
the gas or electrical corporation shall assume responsibility for
operation of the gas or electric system and provision of service to
residents of the park or community and shall assume liability for any
future injury or damage resulting from operation of the gas or
electric system except with respect to defects known to the park or
community owner and not disclosed to the gas or electrical
corporation during the transfer of ownership process.
SEC. 9. Section 2797 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
2797. The commission shall permit the gas or electrical
corporation to recover in its revenue requirement and rates the costs
the commission finds reasonable to acquire, improve, and upgrade
transferred mobilehome park or manufactured housing community gas or
electric systems, as well as the reasonable costs associated with
operating and maintaining the transferred systems.
SEC. 10. Section 2798 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 11. Section 2798 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
2798. (a) By January 1, 2010, the commission shall open a
proceeding to adopt rules that establish the terms and conditions,
including cost responsibilities, for the transfers required by
Section 2791. The rules shall balance the goal of making residents of
mobilehome parks and manufactured housing communities customers of
record of the serving gas or electrical corporation as expeditiously
as possible and the requirement of fairness to ratepayers, who have
already reimbursed the master-meter customer for maintenance costs,
operating costs, return on investment, and depreciation, as well as
other costs associated with providing submetered electric and gas
service, through the rate differential afforded master-meter
customers pursuant to Section 739.5.
(b) In adopting rules governing the transfers required by Section
2791, the commission shall also adopt a process for ordering the
transfers to ensure that any reasonable costs associated with
acquiring, improving, or upgrading the gas or electric systems that
will be borne by the ratepayers of the serving gas or electrical
corporation are collected in rates over two rate case cycles, rather
than in a single cycle, to the extent practicable. The
commission commission, in coordination with the
Department of Housing and Community Development and the county
departments of weights and measures, shall prioritize the
transfer of mobilehome parks and manufactured housing communities
that have gas or electric systems with unsafe or substandard
conditions.
(c) By January 1, 2011 2012 , the
commission shall adopt a standard form of agreement for transfer of a
gas or electric system in a mobilehome park or manufactured housing
community, based on the rules adopted in the proceeding required by
this section, that shall be the basis for expedited approval of the
transfers. Transfers shall commence as soon as the standard contract
is available and proceed according to the process adopted by the
commission.
(d) All transfers required by Section 2791 shall be completed by
January 1, 2016.
SEC. 12. Section 2799 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 13. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.