LEGISLATIVE SUBCOMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION: OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED
SUMMARY OF BILL:
This bill requires the Commission to ensure that the revenue that discount master meter customers receive from the otherwise applicable tariff from the utility is spent on metering, billing and the upkeep of the sub-metering infrastructure. It would make mobile home park (MHP) operators located in the service territories of the investor-owned utilities (IOUs) subject to the CPUC's direct jurisdiction and oversight. The CPUC staff would be required to receive complaints, perform inspections, audits and enforcement at the mobile home parks to ensure the discount money is spent only on billing and metering, and maintenance of the sub-metering infrastructure. It would permit the PUC to deny future eligibility for the master metering rate discount to a master metering customer, if discount monies received were not spent properly. This bill further requires the owner of a master-metered mobile home park to transfer ownership and operational responsibility for the gas or electric system to the gas or electric IOU.
SUMMARY OF SUPPORTING ARGUMENTS FOR RECOMMENDATION:
· The master metering discount revenues received by a MHP owner are intended to pay, for timely, accurate, and professional meter reading and billing expenses and for minor maintenance, such as repairing a meter that is not giving an accurate reading. The discounts were never intended to provide for upgrading the systems to
· provide adequate levels of service where they do not yet exist. In general, rents and rent increases by MHP owners are the mechanism to fund needed upgrades.
· Gas service or maintenance complaints are rare. Electric service complaints of low voltage or outages typically do not stem from poor maintenance of the sub-metering system. Usually, they are due to the MHP load growing beyond its initial design capacity. This is not a maintenance issue, but a system adequacy and upgrading issue.
· CPUC staff is not aware that lack of submetering system maintenance is a significant problem, though lack of system capacity may be. It appears that establishing trustee accounts is unlikely to reduce complaints about system performance. This bill does not define maintenance or establish a goal, but apparently concludes that reports of poor service by residents served by submetered gas and electric distribution systems in mobilehome parks (MHPs) are due to a lack of maintenance. CPUC staff is not aware of any data to support that linkage.
· In addition, the cost of administering the bill could be high. It is likely that the CPUC could find few master-metering customers who have failed to maintain their systems, but identifying those few instances would be labor intensive for the CPUC.
SUMMARY OF SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS:
· AB 1108 should be narrowed to require the owner of a master-metered mobile home park to transfer ownership and operational responsibility for the gas or electric system to the gas or electric IOU.
· Remove language regarding CPUC responsibility for enforcement and oversight of master-meter customers maintaining or repairing their submeter facilities.
· Remove requirement of CPUC to hold money in trust to be expended for maintenance and repair of a mobile home parks submeter facilities.
DIVISION ANALYSIS (Energy Division):
· The bill expands the CPUC jurisdiction to include enforcement of MHP owners to maintain their electric as well as gas submeter infrastructure.
· Should the PUC find in a proceeding after investigation that maintenance was lacking, this bill would require the CPUC to act as a trustee and administer a trust account to pay for maintenance found lacking. This bill would place increasing numbers of master-metering customers under direct PUC jurisdiction following PUC findings of failure to repair or maintain submetered facilities. CPUC would be reviewing and performing enforcement to ensure the funds are spent by the landlords on the upkeep of the sub-metering systems. It would place administration of their individual accumulated discount funds under PUC and staff supervision.
PROGRAM BACKGROUND:
· Not all master metering customers submeter and they are not affected by this bill because they place their gas and electric charges in fixed rent. Their failure to uphold any terms of a lease is a civil matter not under PUC administrative law. The remaining master-metering customers conservatively number 3,000 electric and 3,000 gas statewide are subject to the provisions of this bill.
· The master metering discount revenues are intended to pay only for timely accurate professional meter reading and billing expenses, and for minor maintenance such as if the submeter itself began to read inaccurately. The discounts are not intended to ensure safe systems, or to provide for upgrading service levels.
· The Commission already has an effective gas safety program required by code, and CPUC staff believes that electrical reliability and safety problems in mobile home parks have more to do with inadequate capacity than with lack of maintenance. Discount revenues should not and could not fund electric submeter system capacity upgrades.
· The CPUC is authorized by federal law to enforce federal pipeline safety standards for MHP operators. Inspections must occur no less than every five years. If the operator does not demonstrate compliance, they may be inspected on an annual basis. There are currently 18 inspectors for both gas and electric inspections of utilities, including the responsibility of MHP gas inspections.
· In 2004, the CPUC adopted Decision 04-04-043, which identifies the categories of costs the electric and natural gas utilities incur when directly serving MHP tenants that are avoided by the utilities when the MHP is served through a distribution system owned by the MHP owner (sub-metered MHP). These categories of costs are to be used in determining the amount of the discount provided by the utility to the sub-metered MHP owner as reimbursement for the cost of providing sub-metered service.
· Earlier this year, Decision 09-02-030 ordered Southern California Gas to accept the transfer of Harbor City Estates' submeter gas system. Harbor City operates and maintains the system, which serves 192 spaces in a MHP in Harbor City, California, with SoCalGas providing the master meter gas service.
· Public Utilities Code Section 739.5 (g) requires the commission to accept and respond to complaints through the consumer affairs branch. 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.
· This bill may involve overlapping of authority with the Department of Housing and Community Development that currently has electrical safety jurisdiction in mobile home parks.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
AB 622 (Conroy), Chapter 424, Statutes of 1996, required gas and electric corporations to assume ownership of master-metered systems in mobile home parks upon the completion of a specified process. AB 622 required the mobile home park owner to pay the costs of an engineering evaluation and the costs of upgrading the system. Some mobile home park owners claim that the AB 622 requirements have made the transfer of the systems cost-prohibitive. AB 1108 repeals the AB 622 requirements and instead requires that the utilities assume ownership of these systems under terms to be determined by the PUC.
STATUS:
AB 1108 is currently on the Assembly Appropriations Suspense File.
STAFF CONTACTS:
Alicia Priego arp@cpuc.ca.gov
Legislative Liaison, OGA (916) 322-8858
Date: May 27, 2009
BILL LANGUAGE:
BILL NUMBER: AB 1108 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 4, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fuentes
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to amend Sections 739.5, 2791, 2797, and 2798 of,
to add the heading of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 9500) to,
and to add Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 9505) to, Division 4.8
of, and to repeal Sections 2792, 2793, 2794, 2795, 2796,
2799, and 12821.5 and 2799 of, the
Public Utilities Code, relating to utility service.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1108, as amended, Fuentes. Electric and gas utility service:
master-meter customers.
(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations and gas corporations. Existing law requires that, when
gas or electric service 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 charge each
user at the same rate that would be applicable if the user were
receiving gas or electricity directly from the gas or electrical
corporation. Existing law additionally requires the electrical or gas
corporation to establish uniform rates to master-meter customers 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
(master-meter discount). Existing law provides that every
master-meter customer is responsible for the maintenance and repair
of its submeter facilities beyond the master-meter.
This bill would authorize the commission, if it finds that a
master-meter customer has failed to maintain or repair its submeter
facilities beyond the master-meter, to order the master-meter
customer to maintain or repair those facilities and would authorize
the commission, in addition to the commission's authority to make or
enforce orders pursuant to the Public Utilities Act, to order that
moneys received as a result of the master-meter discount be held in
trust to be expended for maintenance and repair of the submeter
facilities. The bill would require a master-meter customer to
separately bill for gas or electric service, or both, and rent. This
bill would prohibit a master-meter customer from charging a user of
electricity or gas any late charge for nonpayment or delayed payment
of rent. The bill would require that any late charge imposed by a
master-meter customer for nonpayment or delayed payment by a user for
gas or electric service be in an amount that does not exceed that
which the electrical or gas corporation would charge for nonpayment
or delayed payment for electric or gas service.
(2) Existing law authorizes the owner of a master-metered
mobilehome park or manufactured housing community that provides gas
or electric service to residents to transfer ownership and
operational responsibility for its gas or electric system to the gas
or electrical corporation providing service in the area in which the
park or community is located, pursuant to specified transfer and cost
allocation procedures.
This bill would require the owner of a master-metered mobilehome
park or manufactured housing community that provides gas or electric
service to residents to transfer ownership and operational
responsibility for its gas or electric system to the gas or
electrical corporation providing service in the area in which the
park or community is located. The bill would require the commission
to permit the gas or electrical corporation to recover, in its
revenue requirements and rates, all costs to acquire, improve,
upgrade, operate, and maintain transferred mobilehome park or
manufactured housing community gas or electric systems. The bill
would require the commission to adopt a standard form agreement for
transfer of gas and electric distribution facilities in mobilehome
parks and manufactured housing communities that would be the basis
for expedited approval of the transfers and would require that the
contract be based on rules approved by the commission.
Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule,
direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because a violation of an order or decision of the commission
implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose
a state-mandated local program bu by
creating a new crime.
(3) The existing Municipal Utility District Act authorizes the
formation of a municipal utility district and authorizes a district
to acquire, construct, own, operate, control, or use works for
supplying the inhabitants of the district and public agencies with
light, water, power, heat, transportation, telephone service, or
other means of communication, or means for the collection, treatment,
or disposition of garbage, sewage, or refuse matter. Existing law
requires that, when light, heat, or power 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 charge each user at the same rate that would be applicable
if the user were receiving service directly from a municipal utility
district. Existing law additionally requires that the master-meter
customer provide an itemized billing of charges for light, heat, and
power to each individual user generally in accordance with the form
and content of bills of the district to its residential customers.
Existing law provides that every master-meter customer receiving
light, heat, or power from a municipal utility district is
responsible for maintenance and repair of its submeter facilities
beyond the master-meter.
This bill would repeal this provision. The bill would provide that
when gas or electric service 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 charge each
user at the same rate that would be applicable if the user were
receiving gas or electricity directly from a local publicly owned
electric or gas utility. The bill would require a master-meter
customer to provide an itemized billing of charges for electricity or
gas to each user in accordance with the form and content of bills of
the local publicly owned electric or gas utility to its residential
customers. The bill would require a master-meter customer to
separately bill for gas or electric service, or both, and rent. The
bill would prohibit a master-meter customer from charging a user of
electricity or gas any late charge for nonpayment or delayed payment
of rent. The bill would require that any late charge imposed by a
master-meter customer for nonpayment or delayed payment by a user for
gas or electric service be in an amount that does not exceed that
which the local publicly owned electric or gas utility would charge
for nonpayment or delayed payment for electric or gas service. The
bill would provide that every master-meter customer receiving
electric or gas service from a local publicly owned electric or gas
utility is responsible for maintenance and repair of its submeter
facilities beyond the master-meter. The bill would authorize the
commission, if it finds that a master-meter customer has failed to
maintain or repair its submeter facilities beyond the master-meter,
to order the master-meter customer to maintain or repair those
facilities and would authorize the commission, in addition to the
commission's authority to make or enforce orders pursuant to the
Public Utilities Act, to order that moneys received as a result of a
master-meter discount provided by a local publicly owned electric or
gas utility be held in trust to be expended for maintenance and
repair of the submeter facilities. The bill would require a local
publicly owned electric or gas utility to notify each master-meter
customer of these obligations. By placing additional requirements
upon local publicly owned electric and gas utilities, the bill would
impose a state-mandated local program.
(4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for specified reasons.
(3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 739.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
739.5. (a) (1) 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.
(2) The commission shall require the electrical or gas 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) (1) 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.
(2) If the commission finds that a master-meter customer has
failed to maintain or repair its submeter facilities beyond the
master-meter, the commission may order the master-meter customer to
maintain or repair those facilities.
(3) In addition to any authority granted the commission to make or
enforce orders pursuant to Chapter 11 (commencing with Section
2100), if the commission finds that a master-meter customer has
failed to maintain or repair its submeter facilities beyond the
master-meter, the commission may order that the rate differential
established pursuant to subdivision (a) be held in trust to be
expended for maintenance and repair of the submeter facilities.
(e) (1) Every master-meter customer shall provide an itemized
billing of charges for electricity or gas, or both, to each 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 prevailing
residential gas or electrical rate schedule, as published by the
corporation.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a master-meter
customer shall separately bill each user for gas or electric service,
or both, and rent. A master-meter customer shall not charge a user
of electricity or gas any late charge for gas or electric service as
a result of nonpayment or delayed payment of rent. For nonpayment of
delayed payment of gas or electric service by a user, the
master-meter customer may impose a late charge up to an amount that
does not exceed that which the electrical or gas corporation would
charge for nonpayment or delayed payment for electric or gas service.
(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.
SEC. 2. Section 2791 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
2791. The owner of a master-metered mobilehome park or
manufactured housing community that provides gas or electric service
to residents shall transfer ownership and operational responsibility
for the gas or electric system to the gas or electrical corporation
providing service in the area in which the park or community is
located pursuant to this chapter, or as the park or community owner
and the serving gas or electrical corporation mutually agree.
SEC. 3. Section 2792 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 4. Section 2793 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 5. Section 2794 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 6. Section 2795 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 7. Section 2796 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 8. Section 2797 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
2797. The commission shall permit the gas or electrical
corporation to recover in its revenue requirement and rates all costs
to acquire, improve, upgrade, operate, and maintain transferred
mobilehome park or manufactured housing community gas or electric
systems.
SEC. 9. Section 2798 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
2798. The commission shall adopt a standard form of agreement for
transfer of gas and electric distribution facilities in mobilehome
parks and manufactured housing communities that shall be the basis
for expedited approval of the transfers. The contract shall be based
on rules approved by the commission.
SEC. 10. Section 2799 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 11. The heading of Chapter 1 (commencing
with Section 9500) is added to Division 4.8 of the Public Utilities
Code, to read:
CHAPTER 1. WEATHERIZATION SERVICES
SEC. 12. Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
9505) is added to Division 4.8 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
CHAPTER 2. MASTER-METER CUSTOMERS
9505. (a) (1) 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 a local publicly owned
electric or gas utility.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a master-meter
customer shall separately bill each user for gas or electricity
service, or both, and rent. A master-meter customer shall not charge
a user of electricity or gas any late charge for gas or electric
service as a result of nonpayment or delayed payment of rent. For
nonpayment or delayed payment of gas or electric service by a user,
the master-meter customer may impose a late charge up to an amount
that does not exceed that which the local publicly owned electric or
gas utility would charge for nonpayment or delayed payment for
electric or gas service.
(b) Every master-meter customer of a gas or electrical corporation
subject to subdivision (a) who receives any rebate from the local
publicly owned electric or gas utility 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 utility to the
master-meter customer during that period.
(c) (1) Every master-meter customer is responsible for maintenance
and repair of its submeter facilities beyond the master-meter, and
nothing in this section requires a local publicly owned electric or
gas utility to make repairs to or perform maintenance on the submeter
system. For purposes of this subdivision only, a master-meter
customer of a local publicly owned electric or gas utility is subject
to the jurisdiction of the commission.
(2) If the commission finds that a master-meter customer has
failed to maintain or repair its submeter facilities beyond the
master-meter, the commission may order the master-meter customer to
maintain or repair those facilities.
(3) In addition to any authority granted the commission to make or
enforce orders pursuant to Chapter 11 (commencing with Section
2100), if the commission finds that a master-meter customer has
failed to maintain or repair its submeter facilities beyond the
master-meter, the commission may order that any master-meter discount
provided to the master-meter customer by a local publicly owned
electric or gas utility be held in trust to be expended for
maintenance and repair of the submeter facilities.
(d) Every master-meter customer shall provide an itemized billing
of charges for electricity or gas, or both, to each user generally in
accordance with the form and content of bills of the local publicly
owned electric or gas utility to its residential customers, including
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 prevailing
residential gas or electrical rate schedule, as published by the
utility.
(e) A local publicly owned electric or gas utility shall notify
each master-meter customer of its responsibilities to its users under
this section.
(f) The commission shall accept and respond to complaints of users
of a mater-meter customer concerning the requirements of subdivision
(c) 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.
SEC. 13. Section 12821.5 of the Public
Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 14. No reimbursement is required by this
act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because certain costs that may be incurred by a local
agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a
new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of
Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a
crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.
With respect to certain other costs, no reimbursement is required
by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because a local agency or school district has the
authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to
pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.
SEC. 11. No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local
agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a
new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of
Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a
crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.
