BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HOUSING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny, Chair
Bill No: SB 1163Hearing: March
22, 2004
Author: DunnFiscal: Yes
Version: February 2,
2004Consultant: Mark Stivers
MASTER-METER UTILITIES
Background and Existing Law :
There are about 4,850 mobilehome parks and manufactured
housing communities in California with over 375,000 spaces
housing more than 600,000 people. Each mobilehome space
consists of a utility pedestal for electric and gas as well
as sewer and water hookups. In most parks utility service
is provided by the park owner to individual mobilehome
spaces through a "master-meter" system, with a public
utility providing gas, electricity and sometimes water to
the park master-meter but not to individual park spaces.
The park operates and controls the utility system within
the park, distributing electricity and gas to individual
spaces in the park that is submetered. The park operator
maintains the park utility system, reads the submeters
where applicable, and bills the residents. Many parks hire
billing companies or agents to perform these functions.
Under the Public Utilities Code, mobilehome park owners and
apartment owners who operate master-meters must provide
each submetered resident with an itemized bill generally in
accordance with the form and content of bills provided
directly by the utility to its customers. In addition, the
master-meter customer must bill submetered residents at the
same rate that the residents would pay if they purchased
directly from the utility. If the master-meter customer
receives rebates from the utility, they must also be passed
on to each resident proportional to use. While the Public
Utilities Commission (PUC) generally enforces provisions of
this code, there seems to be disagreement as to whether or
not the Commission has the authority or has been willing to
accept and investigate complaints alleging violations of
master meter responsibilities.
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The Mobilehome Residency Law (MRL) in the Civil Code also
contains some provisions relating to master-meter operators
in mobilehome parks. A park owner who operates a
master-meter must provide the opening and closing meter
readings and separately stated the utility charges. In
addition, the management must post in a conspicuous place
the prevailing residential utilities rate schedule as
published by the serving utility. The MRL is enforced
through private legal action in the courts.
Proposed Law :
Senate Bill 1163 requires the California Public Utilities
Commission to accept and respond to complaints from tenants
of a mobilehome park or apartment building regarding
violations of state master-meter requirements.
With respect to the Mobilehome Residency Law, the bill adds
language from the Public Utilities Code that requires
master-meter utility billing statements to comply generally
with the form and content of the bills that the utility
provides to its residential customers directly. The bill
also requires mobilehome park owners who use third-party
agents to bill master-meter residents to disclose on each
bill the name, address, and phone number of the billing
agent.
Comments :
1. Purpose of the bill . Over the years the Senate Select
Committee on Mobile and Manufactured Homes has received a
number of complaints from mobilehome park residents about
master-meter relationships with park owners, and in 2001
the committee held a hearing exclusively on this issue.
The complaints allege inaccuracies in metering, incorrect
billing charges, inability to contact the billing company,
failure to pass through rebates, and the imposition of
meter-reading fees. At the heart of the issue is the
difficulty residents have experienced in enforcing existing
laws. The author's office has had difficulty getting the
PUC to accept and investigate and respond to master-meter
complaints from submeter residents, and civil lawsuits by
residents against park owners are often not cost-effective
or practical. In order to ensure enforcement of the law,
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this bill requires the PUC to accept and respond to
complaints about master-meter operators alleging violations
of the Public Utilities Code.
2. Clarifying potential confusion . There seems to be
confusion over the authority and willingness of the PUC to
accept complaints from submeter residents about
master-meter violations. The commission staff says that
the PUC has accepted complaints for submeter residents for
ten years through the informal and formal complaint process
administered by their Consumer Affairs Branch. According
to the author, however, PUC representatives contacted about
specific cases have responded that the commission does not
have the authority to oversee master-meter complaints, and
complaints that have been filed have been rejected based on
lack of jurisdiction rather than the merits of the
complaint. This bill seeks to resolve any potential
confusion by explicitly stating that the PUC is required to
accept and respond to complaints from tenants of a
mobilehome park or apartment building regarding violations
of state master-meter requirements.
3. Getting to the right folks . The bill requires the PUC
to respond to master-meter complaints through its office of
the public advisor. According to PUC staff, the existing
complaint process is handled by the commission's Consumer
Affairs Branch. The committee may wish to consider an
amendment to direct complaints to the Consumer Affairs
Branch of the PUC.
Support and Opposition : (3/17/04)
Support : Golden State Mobilehome Owners League, Inc.
Opposition : None received