SB 58

Current law imposes a two-year deadline on public utility bills for service.

Under the deadline, a public utility must bill a customer for service within two years

of the service. Current law also provides that a customer is not liable for unbilled

service two years after the date of the service, unless certain specified exceptions

apply. As a result, under current law, a customer is liable, without exception, for

service billed within the two-year deadline, but is liable for service billed after the

two-year deadline only if an exception applies.

This bill creates an exception to customer liability for service billed within the

two-year deadline. Under the bill, a customer is not liable for service if a public

utility fails to bill the customer in a timely manner and the failure resulted from the

inaccurate measurement of service caused in whole or in part by the public utility's

act or omission. The bill provides that service is considered billed in a timely manner

if it is billed in the same billing cycle in which the service is delivered. The bill also

prohibits the Public Service Commission from allowing a public utility to recover in

rates any amounts that the bill prohibits the public utility from collecting from

customers.