8. Changes to Water Industry Rules

The changes to the Water Industry Rules, compared to the version set forth in the order instituting this rulemaking, are relatively minor. Most of the changes are intended to make these rules easier to use and understand. For example, the terminology and structure of the Water Industry Rules now track the General Rules more closely, and we have added many more cross-references to the General Rules, as well as to the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure and to relevant sections of the Public Utilities Code. Also, new or modified sample forms are provided to illustrate the elements common to most types of advice letters.

Substantively, the new version of the Water Industry Rules clarifies the use of advice letters in two common situations, namely, service extensions into "contiguous" areas, and amortization of under- or over-collections in balancing accounts. Notable among the latter clarifications is that, in making refunds from an over-collected account, a utility will apply a surcredit only to the service charge, thus enabling greater precision in refund calculations and avoiding the disincentive to conserve water that occurs when a surcredit applies to usage.

Other important substantive changes include the following. The Customer Notice provisions are clarified, and large (Class A) water utilities are required to publish pending advice letters on their Internet sites. The allocation of advice letters between Water Division's two review tiers (ministerial and discretionary) has a few changes and additions. Lastly, procedures for specified types of advice letters are added or clarified.