Code Section

60371.  

(a) If a district furnishes residential light, heat, water, or power through a master meter, or furnishes individually metered service in a single-family dwelling, multiunit residential structure, mobilehome park, or farm labor camp and the owner, manager, or farm labor employer is the customer of record, the district shall make every good faith effort to inform the actual users of the services, by means of written notice, when the account is in arrears, that service will be terminated in 10 days. The written notice shall further inform the actual users that they have the right to become customers of the district without being required to pay the amount due on the delinquent account. The notice shall be in English and in the languages listed in Section 1632 of the Civil Code.

(b) The district is not required to make service available to the actual users unless each actual user agrees to the terms and conditions of service, and meets the requirements of the district’s rules and tariffs. However, if one or more actual users are willing and able to assume responsibility for the subsequent charges to the account to the satisfaction of the district, or if there is a physical means, legally available to the district, of selectively terminating service to those actual users who have not met the requirements of the district’s rules and tariffs, the district shall make service available to the actual users who have met those requirements.

(c)  If prior service for a period of time is a condition for establishing credit with the district, residence and proof of prompt payment of rent for that period of time is a satisfactory equivalent.

(d) Any actual user who becomes a customer of the district pursuant to this section whose periodic payments, such as rental payments, include charges for residential light, heat, water, or power, where these charges are not separately stated, may deduct from the periodic payment each payment period all reasonable charges paid to the district for those services during the preceding payment period.