Section 963 Of Article 2. Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act Of 2011 From California Public Utilities Code >> Division 1. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 4.5. >> Article 2.
963
. (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.