With our cost of living continuously on the rise for all of us, particularly utility bills your readers should be made aware of a project underway that over time will cost us more than a penny or two. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and our utility companies have made a “take back” agreement with park owners to convert mobile/manufactured home parks from a sub-metered utility system to a direct pay system. For those not aware of this long standing system, I will explain.
From the beginning, when mobile/manufactured home parks were built the utility usage went through a master meter plus each lot had a meter. The park owners are billed at a wholesale rate and allowed to bill residents at a retail rate. This difference is allowed to encourage park owners to maintain their systems in good repair. For parks that have been in business for 30, 40 or 50 years this adds up to a substantial amount. FYI a fairly recent example brought before the Chula Vista Rent Review Commission (2010) offers documentation to the kind of money that can accumulate. It was stated that they were receiving $ .272 per space per day and had been since they purchased the park approximately four years previously. With this fact they reduced their replacement cost by $93,000 plus. Just calculate one space, $ .272 X 30 days X 12 months = & 97.92 every year and that is just for one space. Parks range from just a few to over 200 spaces. The pink elephant in the room when it comes to wholesale vs retail is in the language of the original agreement, it states park owners should not shall use that money to maintain their systems.
With this loophole several parks have fallen into disrepair and in some cases unsafe conditions. So what have they done with the extra money? A few parks have done what was suggested and maintained their utility systems in good repair.
Who will pay for this conversion? Not park owners. To convert the systems it will take, new wiring, new pedestals, new meters and constructions cost from sub-metered to individual metering? This is being called a pilot program and will start with 10% of the spaces statewide. We see a couple of problems up front: 1. Parks must apply for the conversion and then wait for approval from the CPUC. 2. For parks that have maintained their systems, why would they want to reduce their bottom line by giving up their ongoing rebates?
With this information WHO do you think will be paying for all these changes? All utility customers, not park owners.
We know it sounds complicated… it is.
Vaughn is president of the Chula Vista Mobile Home residents Association
