(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “After-meter services” includes, but is not limited to, leak investigation, inspecting customer piping and appliances, carbon monoxide investigation, pilot relighting, and high bill investigation.
(2) “Basic gas service” includes transmission, storage for reliability of service, and distribution of natural gas, purchasing natural gas on behalf of a customer, revenue cycle services, and after-meter services.
(3) “Metering services” includes, but is not limited to, gas meter installation, meter maintenance, meter testing, collecting and processing consumption data, and all related services associated with the meter.
(4) “Revenue cycle services” means metering services, billing the customer, collection, and related customer services.
(b) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) In order to ensure that all core customers of a gas corporation continue to receive safe basic gas service, each existing gas corporation shall continue to provide this essential service.
(2) A customer shall not be required to pay separate fees for utilizing services that protect public or customer safety.
(3) It is the policy of the state that the commission and each gas corporation place safety of the public and gas corporation employees as the top priority. The commission shall take all reasonable and appropriate actions necessary to carry out the safety priority policy of this paragraph consistent with the principle of just and reasonable cost-based rates.
(c) (1) The commission shall require each gas corporation to provide bundled basic gas service to all core customers in its service territory unless the customer chooses or contracts to have natural gas purchased and supplied by another entity.
(2) A gas corporation shall continue to be the exclusive provider of revenue cycle services to all customers in its service territory, except that an entity purchasing and supplying natural gas under the commission’s existing core aggregation program may perform billing and collection services for its customers under the same terms as currently authorized by the commission, and except that a supplier of natural gas to noncore customers may perform billing and collection for natural gas supply for its customers.
(3) The gas corporation shall continue to calculate its charges for services provided by that corporation. If the commission establishes credits to be provided by the gas corporation to core aggregation or noncore customers who obtain billing or collection services from entities other than the gas corporation, the credit shall be equal to the billing and collection services costs actually avoided by the gas corporation.
(4) The commission shall require the distribution rate to continue to include after-meter services and shall authorize sufficient revenues and employee staffing to provide for prompt provision of these services to the public, consistent with the policy developed and implemented by the gas corporation and approved by the commission pursuant to Section 961.
(Added by Stats. 2011, Ch. 522, Sec. 2. (SB 705) Effective January 1, 2012.)