Residential: utility service.

(1) Existing law governs the obligations of tenants and landlords under a lease or tenancy. This bill would authorize a tenant or occupant who has made a payment to a public utility or publicly owned utility to deduct the amount of the payment from the rent when due, as specified. (2) The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , with jurisdiction over all public utilities, including electrical, gas, heat, and water corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. The existing Public Utilities Act requires every public utility to furnish and maintain adequate, efficient, just, and reasonable service, instrumentalities, equipment, and facilities as are necessary to promote the safety, health, comfort, and convenience of its patrons, employees, and the public. Existing law provides for the furnishing of utility services, including the furnishing of electricity, gas, heat, and water, by publicly owned utilities, including municipal corporations, municipal utility districts, and public utility districts. Publicly owned utilities are not subject to the jurisdiction and control of the PUC. A municipal corporation is subject to control by its governing bodies, while a municipal utility district and a public utility district are each subject to control by its board of directors. Existing law provides that if an electrical, gas, heat, or water corporation furnishes individually metered residential service to residential occupants in a multiunit residential structure, mobilehome park, or permanent residential structures in a labor camp, as defined, and the owner, manager, or operator is listed by the corporation as the customer of record, the corporation is required to make every good faith effort to inform the residential occupants, by means of a specified notice, when the account is in arrears, that service will be terminated at least 10 days prior to termination. Existing law also provides for procedures by which those residential occupants may become customers of the corporation, one option being that if one or more of the residential occupants are willing and able to assume responsibility for the entire account to the satisfaction of the corporation, the electrical, gas, heat, or water corporation is required to make service available to the residential occupants. Similar provisions exist for a publicly owned utility that furnishes individually metered residential light, heat, water, or power to residential occupants in a multiunit residential structure, mobilehome park, or permanent residential structures in a labor camp if the owner, manager, or operator is listed by the public utility or district as the customer of record. This bill would provide that, where a landlord-tenant relationship exists, if an electrical, gas, heat, or water corporation furnishes individually metered residential service to residential occupants in a detached single-family dwelling, multiunit residential structure, mobilehome park, or permanent residential structure in a labor camp, and the owner, manager, or operator is the customer of record, the corporation is required to make every good faith effort to inform the residential occupants, by means of a specified written notice, when the account is in arrears, that service will be terminated at least 10 days prior to termination, except as specified. The bill would require that the notice be in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean. The bill would revise the above-described option by which residential occupants may become customers of the corporation, to provide that if one or more of the residential occupants are willing and able to assume responsibility for the subsequent charges to the account to the satisfaction of the corporation, the electrical, gas, heat, or water corporation is required to make service available to the residential occupants. The bill would enact similar provisions for a publicly owned utility that furnishes individually metered residential light, heat, water, or power to a detached single-family residence or to residential occupants in a multiunit residential structure, mobilehome park, or permanent residential structure in a labor camp. (3) Existing law provides that if an electrical, gas, heat, or water corporation furnishes residential service to residential occupants through a master meter in a multiunit residential structure, mobilehome park, or permanent residential structure in a labor camp, as defined, and the owner, manager, or operator is listed by the corporation as the customer of record, the corporation is required to make every good faith effort to inform the residential occupants, by means of a written notice posted on the door of each residential unit at least 15 days prior to termination, when the account is in arrears, that service will be terminated on a date specified in the notice. Existing law requires that the notice be in English and, to the extent practical, in any other language that the corporation determines is the primary language spoken by a significant number of the residential occupants. Similar provisions exist for a publicly owned utility that furnishes light, heat, water, or power to residential occupants through a master meter in a multiunit residential structure, mobilehome park, or permanent residential structure in a labor camp, as defined, if the owner, manager, or operator is listed by the public utility or district as the customer of record. This bill would require that the notice be in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean. (4) Existing law makes any public utility that violates the Public Utilities Act guilty of a crime. Because certain of the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the definition of an existing crime. (5) 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.