BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1879
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 5, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1879 (Beall) - As Amended: April 8, 2010
Policy Committee:
UtilitiesVote:14-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to open
a proceeding to examine whether the three-year limit on billing
adjustments for meter and billing errors is an appropriate
timeframe for small commercial customers of gas and electrical
corporations.
FISCAL EFFECT
One-time special fund cost of $150,000 for one administrative
law judge position to oversee the proceeding. [Public Utilities
Reimbursement Account]
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, this bill is the result of
a situation in his district in which a restaurant was
under-billed by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) for a
period of at least three years due to a faulty meter. The
restaurateur felt that when PG&E backbilled for the
under-collected charges going back three years, it was unfair
because residential customers are only backbilled for three
months.
2)Background . The above differential in backbilling is pursuant
to a PUC tariff promulgated in 1986. According to the PUC,
the reason for the difference is because there are larger
dollar amounts involved with non-residential customers. For
example, the amount the restaurant was backbilled was around
$60,000, or about $1,700 per month. At the time of the PUC
AB 1879
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decision, the utilities asserted that three months is
sufficient for residential ratepayers because the utilities
have procedures to detect billing and meter errors more
promptly. Since billing for commercial customers is usually
more complex and involves larger amounts of money, the PUC
concluded it was appropriate to backbill commercial customers
for three years.
The PUC has been experiencing increased calls from small
businesses who believe they were unfairly backbilled. PUC
Commissioner Bohn has been investigating the backbilling issue
and has endorsed the policy of treating small businesses the
same as residential customers in terms of the duration of
allowable backbilling. Subsequently, Commissioner Bohn drafted
an Order Instituting a Rulemaking. The Order should be taken
up on the PUC agenda within the next month or so.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081