2. Background
Complainants, Eric and Sandy Archibek (Archibeks), own and/or operate several parcels of farm acreage for the production of alfalfa hay and other crops in the high-desert area of San Bernardino County, near the community of Newberry Springs. The Archibeks also reside in this area, and other members of their family have farmed there for a number of years. Their properties include parcels held by the Ben Archibek Trust and/or Nuview Development, Inc.1 In addition to farming parcels they own, the Archibeks also farm parcels owned by other parties.
The Archibeks receive their electric service from Southern California Edison Company (SCE). SCE records show that the Archibeks have had as many as 16 different accounts for service to their various properties over a period of years. The issue in dispute here involves electric service, primarily for irrigation purposes, provided to one of these parcels between 1998 and 2001. The Archibeks owned and farmed the parcel for several years prior to 1998. They were the customer of record with SCE and, as such, responsible for paying for the electric service. They sold the parcel to Robert Kasner in June 1998, but agreed with Kasner to continue farming the parcel after the sale. At the time, neither the Archibeks nor Kasner contacted SCE to change the customer of record status for electric service.
Kasner purchased a total of four such parcels from the Archibeks, each identified by a "Field" number (i.e., Field 1, Field 2, etc.). The subject complaint involves back-billing for electric service only to Field 3. Kasner purchased all of Field 3 and half of Field 2 from the Archibeks in June 1998, and the remaining half of Field 2 later the same year. The Archibeks and Kasner entered into a written agreement regarding the ongoing operation and maintenance, and related matters associated with farming Fields 2 and 3. At the time, a similar agreement for Field 1 already was in place (beginning in 1997), and the purchase of Field 4 had yet to occur. The agreement for Fields 2 and 3 was signed by both parties on January 5, 1998 (five months before the actual purchase date). This agreement was titled as a "supplement" to the earlier agreement for Field 1, but the terms of the subject agreement only applied to Fields 2 and 3. Pursuant to the agreement for Fields 2 and 3, Kasner was to open a bank account to serve the operation (which he did), and the associated costs, including the cost of electric service, were to be paid from the proceeds of crop sales.
SCE installed a new meter at the Field 3 site in May 1997, a year before Kasner purchased the parcel. However, SCE erroneously did not put the new meter "in route"2 into its billing system and therefore no bills were issued for that service. SCE continued to provide service to Field 3 for the next four years (1997-2001), but did not bill the Archibeks, Kasner or anyone else for the service.
The meter problem in Field 3 was discovered after a service outage occurred in/about late 2000. While investigating the outage, Eric Archibek found the cause to be a burned underground wire, and that any repair also would require an SCE service crew to pull the fuse(s) at/near the meter. Archibek contacted SCE regarding the outage and requested a repair. Initially, SCE advised Archibek they had no record of such a meter being in service. After various follow-up contacts, an SCE repair crew was dispatched and Archibek directed the crew to the site. The repair was made and power was restored.
Beginning in April 2001, approximately six months after the burned wire was repaired, and four years after the new meter was installed, SCE began back-billing the Archibeks a total of approximately $103,000 for the previous three-year period (1998-2001) of unbilled service. In its communications with the Archibeks regarding this matter, SCE advised that, pursuant to its filed tariffs and Commission rules, in cases of billing errors, commercial customers may be back-billed for a three-year period. Service to the subject parcel, as an agricultural business, is considered a commercial account.
The Archibeks disputed the back-bill, arguing that, pursuant to the written agreement with Kasner, they were not responsible for payment of the electric service once Kasner purchased the property. The Archibeks also questioned the validity and accuracy of the readings from the Field 3 meter, as SCE admitted it had no record of the meter being in-route in the billing system for the previous four-year period.
Eric Archibek contacted Kasner about paying the back-bill, and Kasner declined. However, after learning of the billing dispute for service to Field 3, Kasner contacted SCE in July 2001 and assumed responsibility for any future billing for service to the parcel. The Archibeks and Kasner continued working under their various "own/farm" agreements through 2005-2006, though they modified their agreements with respect to payment of expenses and distribution of profits.
SCE also continued to provide electric service to Field 2 during the four-year period of non-billing for Field 3. The Archibeks claim they did not receive or pay for any billings for the service to Field 2 during that period, and similarly Kasner had no record that he was either billed or paid for the service. SCE asserts that service for Field 2 during the period in question was billed to the Archibeks, and that the Archibeks made payments on these bills during the same period without asserting that Kasner, as the owner of Field 2, was responsible for the account.
The dispute between the Archibeks and SCE continued, mostly as an informal matter through correspondence, for the next four years (2001-2005). During this time, SCE sent several demand letters and attempted to make payment arrangements with the Archibeks for not only the disputed back-bill, but for service to other properties as well.
On March 1, 2005, SCE sent the Archibeks a five-day discontinuance of service notice. Two days later the Archibeks filed for bankruptcy protection (Chapter 12) in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California. In their filing, the Archibeks showed approximately $128,000 as being owed to SCE (which included the disputed subject back-bill as well as other accounts). In light of the bankruptcy filing, SCE did not discontinue service at that time.
In July 2005, the Bankruptcy Court dismissed the Archibeks' filing, along with a restriction of any refilling within 180 days. After subsequent notices, SCE eventually discontinued service to several of the Archibek properties in October and November 2005. Once the service was discontinued, the Archibeks installed their own generators on these properties to provide electricity.
1 Ben Archibek, Eric Archibek's father, was the president of Nuview Development, Inc., until his death in 1992. Eric Archibek is an officer of Nuview.
2 SCE identifies meters placed and active in its billing system as being "in route."
