Gas and electric utility service: master-meter customers.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. 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 electric corporation providing service in the area in which the park or community is located, pursuant to specified transfer and cost allocation procedures. Existing law authorizes the gas or electric corporation to charge a $150 fee for initial inspection. Existing law requires the commission to adopt a standard transfer agreement to serve as the basis for expedited approval of transfers. This bill would correct existing references in the above-described master-meter system transfer statutes by revising an "electric corporation" to an "electrical corporation." The bill would require a gas or electrical corporation that receives an offer to transfer a gas or electric system from a master-metered mobilehome park or manufactured housing community that is within its service territory to accept transfer if certain criteria are met and require the corporation to assign a representative who will have responsibility for oversight of the proposed transfer, until the transfer is complete or the transfer process is terminated. The bill would increase the authorized fee amount for initial inspection to $200. The bill would require a gas or electrical corporation to provide the commission with copies of certain notices, reports, and estimates generated during the transfer process and would require the commission, upon receipt of these materials, to monitor and facilitate the transfer until the transfer is completed or the transfer process is terminated. The bill would authorize the commission to modify the expedited approval process to allow for extensions of time to establish a queue of priority for expedited approvals in a calendar year with an extraordinarily high volume of transfers. The bill would authorize the owner of a master-metered mobilehome park or manufactured housing community to bring a complaint before the commission for violation of the transfer laws and require the commission to establish an expedited procedure for the review of the complaint and to ensure that a final determination of the issues raised by the complaint be reached not later than one year after filing of the complaint.