Bill Text: CA SB196 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Utility rates: mobilehomes and apartment buildings.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2013-08-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 201, Statutes of 2013. [SB196 Detail]
Download: California-2013-SB196-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 196 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 201
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 28, 2013
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR AUGUST 28, 2013
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 19, 2013
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 15, 2013
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, and to amend
Section 739.5 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to utility
rates.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 196, 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 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.
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, in a conspicuous place, the specific current
residential utility rate schedule as published by the serving utility
or the Internet Web site address 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 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 specific current
residential gas or electrical rate schedule, as published by the
corporation, or the corporation's Internet Web site address 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 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.
