Sub-metered tenant & landlord responsibilities

1. When your landlord bills you directly for gas and electricity, you are a sub-metered tenant.
2. As a sub-metered tenant, you are not a PG&E customer. 

Master-metered customers with sub-metered tenants

As a master-metered customer with sub-metered tenants, you are required to abide by California Public Utilities Section 739.5 and PG&E-filed tariffs. This page:

• Describes your obligations as a sub-metered landlord
• Provides the information that you must give to your sub-metered tenants

As a sub-metered tenant, you have special utility billing rights, including:

• Billing rates that match what PG&E charges
• Itemization of electricity and/or gas charges with:
  • Opening and closing meter readings
  • Identification of all rates and quantities connected to each rate structure block
  • Total charges for the billing period
  • Name, address and telephone number of the billing agent or company
• Reduction of your bill by a percentage based on your energy use and by rebates that may be applied to the master-metered landlord account during the billing period
• Posting of gas and electric rate schedules in easy-to-find locations
• Landlord retention, for at least 12 months, of all pertinent rate schedules and tenant billings
  • Records must be made available at reasonable times for inspection and copying by you and the County Sealer
• Landlord furnishing, installation, maintenance and repair of sub-meters
  • Landlords must also submit information to the County Department of Weights and Measures (DWM) for accuracy testing

In addition, qualifying master-meter landlords who change to sub-metered service must reduce tenant rental amounts to remove energy-related charges for the duration of the lease. This policy is consistent with Public Utilities Code Section 739.5 and Decision 05-05-026.

 Note: Sources include California Public Utilities Code §739.5 and California Code of Regulations §4090. Rights are provided by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the County DWM and PG&E. This information is not intended to be an exhaustive summary of all sub-metered home issues.

Established by law, a baseline represents a daily number of kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity or therms of gas offered at our lowest rates.

• Baselines help assure residential customers of a minimum supply of energy, rather than all energy, at these rates.
  

Your baseline is determined by:

• Geographic region within our service area
• The season
• Whether you heat your home with electricity or gas

Your baseline is calculated at an estimated 70% of the average residential energy use within your geographic area. Your past energy use is not a factor.

You pay a higher rate for energy used above the baseline amount. Increasing rate tiers help reduce energy consumption.

Learn more about baseline quantities. Visit baseline allowance.

The CPUC requires that we remind you of your obligation to follow Public Utilities Code Section 739.5 and applicable PG&E tariffs annually. Find more detailed information about the obligations from Public Utilities Code Section 727-758 or by visiting PG&E Tariffs.

The following Section 739.5 of the California Public Utilities Code discusses your obligations and the information that you must provide to your sub-metered tenants:

• Section 739.5 (a) discusses your obligation to charge at the same rate as the utility charges when receiving gas or electricity, or both, directly from the gas or electrical corporation.
• Section 739.5 (b) discusses your obligation to pass along any rebates to your tenants.
• Section 739.5 (c) discusses your obligation to post current rate schedules in a conspicuous place accessible to all users.
• Section 739.5 (d) discusses your responsibility for maintenance and repair of your sub-metered facilities.
• Section 739.5 (e) discusses the information that should be present on tenant bills.
• Section 739 (a) The commission shall designate a baseline quantity of gas and electricity, which is necessary to supply a significant portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential customer. In estimating those quantities, the commission shall take into account differentials in energy needs between customers whose residential energy needs are currently supplied by electricity alone, or by both electricity and gas. The commission shall develop a separate baseline quantity for all-electric residential customers. For these purposes, "all-electric residential customers" are residential customers having electrical service only or whose space heating is provided by electricity or both. The commission shall also take into account differentials in energy use by climatic zone and season.
• Section 739 (b) (1) The commission shall establish a standard limited allowance, which shall be in addition to the baseline quantity of gas and electricity for residential customers dependent on life-support equipment, including, but not limited to, emphysema and pulmonary patients. A residential customer dependent on life-support equipment shall be given a higher energy allocation than the average residential customer.
• Section 739 (b) (2) "Life-support equipment" means that equipment, which utilizes mechanical or artificial means to sustain, restore or supplant a vital function, or mechanical equipment, which is relied upon for mobility both within and outside of buildings. "Life-support equipment," as used in this subdivision, includes all of the following: all types of respirators, iron lungs, hemodialysis machines, suction machines, electric nerve stimulators, pressure pads and pumps, aerosol tents, electrostatic and ultrasonic nebulizers, compressors, IPPB machines and motorized wheelchairs.
• Section 739 (b) (3) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available to paraplegic and quadriplegic persons in consideration of the increased heating and cooling needs of those persons.
• Section 739 (b) (4) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available to multiple sclerosis patients in consideration of the increased heating and cooling needs of those persons.
• Section 739 (b) (5) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available to scleroderma patients in consideration of the increased heating needs of those persons.
• Section 739 (b) (6) The limited allowance shall also be made available to persons who are being treated for a life-threatening illness or have a compromised immune system, provided that a licensed physician and surgeon, or a person licensed pursuant to the Osteopathic Initiative Act certifies in writing to the utility that the additional heating or cooling allowance, or both, made available pursuant to this subdivision is medically necessary to sustain the life of the person or prevent deterioration of the person's medical condition.
• Section 739 (c) (1) The commission shall establish a standard limited allowance, which shall be in addition to the baseline quantity of gas and electricity for residential customers dependent on life-support equipment, including, but not limited to, emphysema and pulmonary patients. A residential customer dependent on life-support equipment shall be given a higher energy allocation than the average residential customer.
• Section 739 (c) (2) "Life-support equipment" means that equipment, which utilizes mechanical or artificial means to sustain, restore or supplant a vital function, or mechanical equipment, which is relied upon for mobility both within and outside of buildings. "Life-support equipment," as used in this subdivision, includes all of the following: all types of respirators, iron lungs, hemodialysis machines, suction machines, electric nerve stimulators, pressure pads and pumps, aerosol tents, electrostatic and ultrasonic nebulizers, compressors, IPPB machines, and motorized wheelchairs.
• Section 739 (c) (3) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available to paraplegic and quadriplegic persons in consideration of the increased heating and cooling needs of those persons.
• Section 739 (d) (1) The commission shall require that every electrical and gas corporation file a schedule of rates and charges providing baseline rates. The baseline rates shall apply to the first or lowest block of an increasing block rate structure which shall be the baseline quantity. In establishing these rates, the commission shall avoid excessive rate increases for residential customers, and shall establish an appropriate gradual differential between the rates for the respective blocks of usage.
• Section 739 (d) (2) In establishing residential electric and gas rates, including baseline rates, the commission shall assure that the rates are sufficient to enable the electrical corporation or gas corporation to recover a just and reasonable amount of revenue from residential customers as a class, while observing the principle that electricity and gas services are necessities, for which a low affordable rate is desirable and while observing the principle that conservation is desirable in order to maintain an affordable bill.
• Section 739 (e) Wholesale electrical or gas purchases, and the rates charged therefore, are exempt from this section.
• Section 739 (f) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit experimentation with alternative gas or electrical rate schedules for the purpose of achieving energy conservation.