(a) The commission shall establish a uniform billing per space or lot surcharge to be paid by operators with distribution systems subject to this chapter on natural gas purchased for distribution to their tenants. The surcharge shall be designed to recover the commission’s costs of the mobilehome park safety inspection and enforcement program required by this chapter.
(b) The commission shall require gas corporations to adjust their rates on an annual basis to recover the surcharge specified in subdivision (a). Mobilehome parks which are served by publicly owned public utilities shall be inspected at the request of the serving utility. However, publicly owned public utilities which serve mobilehome parks subject to this chapter shall only be required to adjust their gas rates to recover the surcharge specified in subdivision (a) when a mobilehome park within the utility’s jurisdiction is inspected.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law or local ordinance, rule, regulation, or initiative measure, the operator shall be entitled to recover the surcharge collected pursuant to subdivision (a) from its tenants on a monthly basis. However, the charge to any tenant shall not exceed 30 cents per month for the period from July 1, 1991, until July 1, 1992, and shall not exceed 25 cents per month after that date. If the commission establishes the surcharge at a lesser amount, the operator’s recovery shall not exceed the actual surcharge.
(d) All surcharge fees collected by gas corporations pursuant to this section shall be forwarded to the commission, as required by the commission. All surcharge fees collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the Public Utilities Commission Utilities Reimbursement Account in the General Fund, which fees shall be used, upon appropriation, for purposes of this chapter.
(Amended by Stats. 1991, Ch. 633, Sec. 2. Effective October 8, 1991.)