Plain English Breakdown
The official source states that prepay options are allowed if 'certain conditions' are met, but does not list all specific conditions beyond providing return-to-billing info and low-balance alerts.
AB-1945: Changes to Utility Service Termination Rules
This law allows municipal utility districts to send overdue bills electronically and lets smaller districts offer prepaid electricity plans with specific safety rules.
What This Bill Does
- Allows customers to choose electronic delivery for notices about unpaid accounts.
- Permits districts serving fewer than 100,000 customers to create a prepay option for residential electrical service if certain conditions are met.
- Requires districts offering prepaid plans to give information on how to switch back to standard billing.
- Mandates that districts send automated alerts when a customer's prepaid balance is low before stopping power.
- Removes the requirement to send a delinquency notice before cutting off service for customers using the prepay option.
Who It Names or Affects
- Municipal utility districts with fewer than 100,000 customers
- Residential electricity customers in these districts
Terms To Know
- Prepay option
- A billing method where a customer pays for electricity before using it instead of receiving a bill after use.
- Notice of delinquency
- An official warning sent to a customer stating that their account has an unpaid balance and service may stop if not paid.
Limits and Unknowns
- The prepay option is only available for electrical service, not water or heat.
- Only districts serving fewer than 100,000 customers can offer the prepaid plan.
- The effective date of this law is not listed in the provided text.