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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | August 5, 2015 10:19 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Dan Moul |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Amending Public Utility Code to address foreign load in rental property. |
| In the near future I plan to introduce legislation amending the Public Utility Code (Title66) to address foreign load in rental property. Utility service usage registered on one tenant’s meter but used by another tenant or common area of a rental unit is called foreign load. Under current law, any time a tenant’s utility meter registers usage outside of the tenant’s unit, the utility account is transferred into the landlord’s name until such time as the appliance is removed from the meter. This means that if a single light bulb in a hallway is registering usage on a tenant’s meter and is reported to a utility, the utility must transfer the tenant’s utility account into the landlord’s name and the landlord becomes responsible for payment on the account. There is no exception for de minimus foreign load nor is the statute waivable by a contract where the tenant agrees to pay for the foreign load. This is unreasonable and produces an unduly harsh result to landlord’s who provide appliances in common areas to maintain the property in a safe, sanitary, habitable condition. My legislation does several things to correct this problem. First, in the event of foreign load, my bill makes a landlord responsible only for the metered usage attributable to the foreign load rather than the entire bill. Second, my bill provides for waiver of the prohibition against foreign load in situations where the foreign load is de minimus and the tenant agrees, in writing, to be responsible for usage attributable to the foreign load in exchange for a rent reduction. My bill maintains necessary protections for tenants from unscrupulous landlords while honoring the ability of a tenant to contractually agree to have foreign load register on his utility meter. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. |
Introduced as HB1686