(a) During periods described in subdivision (a) of Section 367, excessive water use is prohibited by a residential customer in a single-family residence or by a customer in a multiunit housing complex in which each unit is individually metered or submetered by the urban retail water supplier.
(b) Each urban retail water supplier shall establish a method to identify and discourage excessive water use, through one of the following options:
(1) Establishing a rate structure, subject to applicable constitutional and statutory limitations, that includes block tiers, water budgets, or rate surcharges over and above base rates for excessive water use by a residential water customer.
(2) (A) Establishing an excessive water use ordinance, rule, or tariff condition, or amending an existing ordinance, rule, or tariff condition, that includes a definition of or a procedure to identify and address excessive water use by metered single-family residential customers and customers in multiunit housing complexes in which each unit is individually metered or submetered and may include a process to issue written warnings to a customer and perform a site audit of customer water usage prior to deeming the customer in violation.
(B) For the purposes of subparagraph (A), excessive water use shall be measured in terms of either gallons or hundreds of cubic feet of water used during the urban retail water supplier’s regular billing cycle. In establishing the definition of excessive use, the urban retail water supplier may consider factors that include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(i) Average daily use.
(ii) Full-time occupancy of households.
(iii) Amount of landscaped land on a property.
(iv) Rate of evapotranspiration.
(v) Seasonal weather changes.
(C) (i) A violation of an excessive use ordinance, rule, or tariff condition established pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall result in an infraction or administrative civil penalty. The penalty for a violation may be based on conditions identified by the urban retail water supplier and may include, but is not limited to, a fine of up to five hundred dollars ($500) for each hundred cubic feet of water, or 748 gallons, used above the excessive water use threshold established by the urban retail water supplier in a billing cycle.
(ii) Any fine imposed pursuant to this subparagraph shall be added to the customer’s water bill and is due and payable with that water bill.
(iii) Each urban retail water supplier shall have a process for nonpayment of the fine, which shall be consistent with due process and reasonably similar to the water supplier’s existing process for nonpayment of a water bill.
(D) (i) Consistent with due process, an urban retail water supplier shall establish a process and conditions for the appeal of a fine imposed pursuant to subparagraph (C) whereby the customer may contest the imposition of the fine for excessive water use.
(ii) As part of the appeal process, the customer shall be provided with an opportunity to provide evidence that there was no excessive water use or of a bona fide reason for the excessive water use, including evidence of a water leak, a medical reason, or any other reasonable justification for the water use, as determined by the urban retail water supplier.
(iii) As part of the appeal process, the urban retail water supplier shall provide documentation demonstrating the excessive water use.
(c) (1) The provisions of subdivision (b) do not apply to an urban retail water supplier that is not fully metered in accordance with Section 527. An urban retail water supplier shall comply with the provisions of subdivision (b) when all of the water supplier’s residential water service connections are being billed based on metered water usage.
(2) An urban retail water supplier that is not fully metered shall prohibit water use practices by an ordinance, resolution, rule, or tariff condition that imposes penalties for prohibited uses of water supplied by the water supplier. The urban retail water supplier may include a process to issue written warnings prior to imposing penalties as well as increased penalty amounts for successive violations.
(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 561, Sec. 260. (AB 1516) Effective January 1, 2018.)