HomeMy WebLinkAbout14 Non Conforming water accounts Agenda Item # 14
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WORKSHOP
To: Board of Directors
From: Neil Kaufman
Date: September 02, 2009
Subject: Discussion of Non-Conforming Water Accounts
1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD
It involves the upcoming transition from flat rate billing to volume based billing.
2. HISTORY
AB 2572 requires that the District begin reading the water meters installed since 1992
and commence billing on a volumetric basis by January 1, 2010. AB 2572 also
requires that all connections be equipped with water meters and billed on a volumetric
basis by January 1, 2025.
In preparation for the implementation of metered billing, the Water Department and
Administrative Services have reviewed the status of the existing water system
customers. As of December 31, 2008 there were 11,814 residential accounts and 680
commercial accounts. During this review, a number of non-conforming situations have
been identified. This issue was previously discussed at a Board workshop in May 2009.
3. NEW INFORMATION
Non-conforming water services are those customers that are not in compliance with
current practices regarding metering as described in the recently revised Title 6 of the
District code. For the most part, these customers were in compliance with District
requirements at the time the service was installed. These situations will be discussed
below generically in order to protect privileged customer information.
A. Multiple Accounts in a Single Structure - There are a number of situations
where a single structure such as a duplex, fourplex or mixed-use is fed by a
single service line, but each unit receives a separate bill for water service. In
some cases, the units are under common ownership, in others they are owned
by separate parties. The physical piping is arranged such that the individual
units cannot be easily separated and that an individual customer cannot be
disconnected for non-payment.
B. Single-Family Residential in Multiple Structures - There are a few of
situations where a group of separate single-family residential structures is fed
by a single water pipe, but each residential structure receives a separate bill for
water service. An example would be a mobile home park where each mobile
home receives a separate bill for water service. In some cases, the ownership
and maintenance responsibility of the exterior piping may be unclear.
C. Unbilled Services - There are few properties where a separate connection
was installed for irrigation purposes, but a bill for service is not being issued.
D. Unmetered Outdoor Usage - There is at least one situation where the meter is
located inside the building but irrigation and other outdoor usage occurs before
the meter.
E. Other Non-Conforming Accounts - There are a number of other unique
situations that will need to be dealt with on an individual basis.
Proposed Solutions
Ideally, the all of the non-conforming situations should be brought into compliance with
current practices. However, that could require reconstruction of the internal and
external plumbing of the structure to provide separate water service to individual units.
Such an effort could be quite expensive and there will undoubtedly be disagreement
regarding who is financially responsible, the property owner or the District.
As an alternative, it will often be possible to install a master meter for the property, or
relocate an existing meter to a more appropriate location. This would require that an
acceptable party such as the property owner or a homeowner's association, exist to
be financially responsible for the monthly billings. This arrangement could potentially
require the modification of lease agreements between tenants and owners. There
may also be a revenue impact to the District as well. Under the current water rate
structure, the Water Department receives more revenue for four individual residential
accounts than it would for a single master metered account with a slightly larger
meter.
A third and least desirable option would be the creation of a "Non-Conforming Bulk
Rate" for water service. Considering the customer's usage would be unknown, the
following rate methodology is proposed:
"The customer shall be charged a monthly bill for service based the base charge,
commodity charge and pump zone charge corresponding to that customers location
and class (residential or commercial). For determining the commodity charge and
pump zone charge the customer shall be charged a volume equal the 90t" percentile
of usage for all customers with the same customer class and meter size. This
determination of the 90th percentile shall occur annually in January and shall be based
upon the metered usage data for the prior calendar year."
Given the current workload and priorities for 2009, it is expected that the Water
Department will begin to address these non-conforming accounts in 2010. These
customers would continue to receive the appropriate monthly bill for an un-metered
service in the interim.
4. FISCAL IMPACT
There is no direct fiscal impact associated with this workshop. It is expected that the
number of customers that fall into the Non-Conforming Bulk Rate will be small.
5. RECOMMENDATION
Receive this report and provide comment.
Ed Taylor Michael D. Holley
Water Utility Manager General Manager