BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1108|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1108
Author: Fuentes (D)
Amended: 8/17/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, U.&C. COMMITTEE : 8-3, 7/7/09
AYES: Padilla, Calderon, Corbett, Kehoe, Lowenthal,
Simitian, Wiggins, Wright
NOES: Benoit, Cox, Strickland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-4, 8/12/10
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Corbett, Leno, Price, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Ashburn, Emmerson, Walters, Wyland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 45-30, 6/2/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Electric and gas utility service: master-meter
customers
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Public Utilities
Commission, by July 1, 2011, to open an investigation or
other appropriate proceeding to evaluate and report to the
Legislature when the owner of a master-metered mobilehome
park or manufactured housing community that provides gas or
electric service to residents should be required to
transfer responsibility for gas or electric service to the
gas or electrical corporation providing service in the area
in which the park or community is located, along with those
CONTINUED
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plant, facilities, and interests in real property that the
gas or electrical corporation determines are necessary,
convenient, or cost effective to provide service, as
specified. Sunsets on January 1, 2017.
ANALYSIS : Current law requires mobilehome park owners
who operate submetered utility systems to charge residents
the same rate for utility service as is charged by the
local utility.
Current law requires mobilehome park owners to be
responsible for the maintenance and repair of the
submetered utility system.
Current law requires the utility to discount the rate
charged to the operator of a submetered utility system to
cover the reasonably incurred costs of owning, operating
and maintaining the submetered system.
This bill:
1. Requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), by July
1, 2011, to open an investigation or other appropriate
proceeding to evaluate and report to the Legislature
when the owner of a master-metered mobilehome park or
manufactured housing community that provides gas or
electric service to residents should be required to
transfer responsibility for gas or electric service to
the gas or electrical corporation providing service in
the area in which the park or community is located,
along with those plant, facilities, and interests in
real property that the gas or electrical corporation
determines are necessary, convenient, or cost effective
to provide service, as specified.
2. Requires the PUC to consult with the Department of
Housing and Community Development and the county
departments of weights and measures to identify those
gas or electric systems with unsafe or substandard
conditions that should be transferred. The report is to
include a recommended phase-in schedule for the
potential transfers and the estimated costs to the gas
or electrical corporations for the transfers of
responsibility.
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3. Requires that the report is to balance the goal of
providing residents of mobilehome parks and manufactured
housing communities with gas and electric service that
is as safe and reliable as that which the commission
requires gas and electrical corporations to supply to
residential customers and the requirement of fairness to
the gas or electrical corporation's 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.
4. Requires the PUC to report the plan to the Legislature
no later than January 1, 2013.
5. Sunsets on January 1, 2017.
Background
Most mobilehome parks are master metered, meaning that the
mobilehome park is the utility customer, receiving service
through a single meter. In turn, each of the mobilehome
park tenants either has their own submeter, and purchases
their utility service from the mobilehome park, or is
unmetered and the bill split proportionately. The utility
discounts its service to the mobilehome park owner,
theoretically providing the margin needed by the park owner
to operate and maintain the submetered system. In effect
the mobilehome park owner operates a small utility. In
PG&E territory, the mobilehome park owner receives a
monthly discount of $11.38 on their electric service and
$10.68 on their gas service.
In 2004, the PUC resolved issues regarding the types of
costs avoided by the utilities when the mobilehome park
owner provides the submetered service. Determining these
costs are necessary to determine the discount provided by
the utility to the mobilehome park owner. The PUC decision
(D.04-04-043) was a joint recommendation by the interested
parties. In a subsequent 2004 decision, the PUC determined
the discount formula, requiring that the discount be set
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"at the average cost that the utility would have incurred
in providing comparable services to the tenant directly,
which is avoided when the mobilehome park is submetered."
The inspection of mobilehome park utility systems is the
responsibility of the Department of Housing and Community
Development.
The provision of utility service by mobilehome parks was an
issue in the Legislature in 1996. AB 622 (Conroy), Chapter
424, Statutes of 1996, established a statutory framework to
facilitate the voluntary transfer of ownership of
submetered utility systems in mobilehome parks to
utilities.
The mobilehome park industry estimates that 4,000
mobilehome parks are affected by this bill representing
approximately 340,000 individual residences. Since 1997,
no new mobilehome parks provide mastermeter service.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/17/10)
Golden State Manufactured-Home Owners League
The Utility Reform Network
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/17/10)
Public Utilities Commission (unless amended)
Sempra Energy (unless amended)
Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association
(unless amended)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The goal of this bill is to ensure
that mobilehome park residents are provided with safe and
reliable electric service. The author is concerned that
residents of many mobilehome parks receive substandard, and
sometimes unsafe, service. He is concerned that many
mobilehome park owners are not living up to their
responsibility of maintaining and operating the electric
and gas distribution system within the park, for which they
are paid.
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Blakeslee, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Evans,
Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi,
Hill, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Mendoza, Monning, Nava, V. Manuel Perez, Price, Ruskin,
Salas, Saldana, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson,
Torres, Torrico, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Tom Berryhill, Conway, Cook,
DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Huber, Jeffries,
Knight, Lieu, Logue, Ma, Miller, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, Silva, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Tran, Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, Block, Hernandez, John
A. Perez, Portantino
DLW:mw 8/17/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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