[Ord. No. 14.100 §2, 4-6-1981; Ord. No. 14.103 §1, 8-1-1994; Ord. No. 14.543, 10-1-2018]
A.
Level
Of Service And Deposit Required.
1.
Commercial Consumers/Customers.
a.
Service business and small commercial consumers shall be required
to make a deposit in an amount not to exceed one hundred fifty dollars
($150.00). Such "consumers" are defined as those
utilizing horsepower of one hundred (100) horsepower or less.
b.
Large commercial customers shall be required to make a deposit in
an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00). Such "large commercial consumers" are defined as those utilizing
in excess of one hundred (100) horsepower motors.
2.
Residential Customers.
a.
Single-family residential customers shall be required to make a deposit
in an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00). "Single-family residential customers" are defined as: Those
residing in a single dwelling, designed to accommodate one (1) family
or household unit. Examples would include a house, one (1) unit of
an apartment or one (1) unit of a duplex.
b.
Multiple-family residential customers shall be required to make a
deposit in an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00). "Multiple-family residential customers" are defined as those
customers obtaining service for more than one (1) housing unit (at
each location for which service is requested). Examples include: The
owner or manager of an apartment complex making deposit for service
to all units.
c.
Those customers with a good credit history may be assessed a lesser
fee of forty dollars ($40.00) per residence. "Good credit" is defined as a person or customer with a history of prompt and timely
payment with the City of California, or who can provide a letter of
credit from another utility company, showing no penalties for delinquent
payments for a continuous twelve (12) month period. Good credit status
may be denied, at the discretion of the City Clerk, for a history
of insufficient fund checks, delinquent obligations due the City or
prior utility disconnects.
3.
Non-Owner Customer.
a.
Non-owner customers (such as tenants) shall be assessed a deposit
fee of one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00) per residence if said customer
has good credit, and up to two hundred dollars ($200.00) per residence
if said customer does not have a satisfactory credit history. Upon
request by the Office of the City Clerk, the non-owner customer shall
provide to the City, before provision of any utility service to the
non-owner customer, documentation as to the identity of the actual
lessee or adult resident at the non-owned residence or location. It
is the intent that all utility services shall be in the name of each
adult person responsible under the lease or agreement with the landlord.
If no lease, then the City may require a signed statement from the
property owner as to the identity of each adult residing at the premises.
Each adult (tenant or non-owner customer) shall be jointly and severally
responsible for the utilities, for the term of the lease, or for the
period of time that he or she resides there. Each person shall be
deemed to be responsible for the utility services until such time
that each responsible person signs a deposit transfer or similar document
with the City, transferring the deposit and assigning responsibility
for the utilities outstanding and charges incurred in the future.
By making application for utility service, each applicant understands
and consents that the City may verify residency, and responsibility
for payment of utilities with the property owner or landlord.
B.
Deposits
paid may be applied in payment of any unpaid charges for utility services
which may be rendered. The deposit (made for electric, water, sewer
or trash service) may be applied by the City of California to the
final utility bill for that customer. This Section shall not be construed
so as to require the City of California to apply the deposit in payment
of the last bill or statement for the utility customer without first
requiring that customer to make payment in compliance with the City's
regulations, ordinances, policies and procedures. The payment or existence
of a deposit shall in no way relieve a customer of his/her/its obligation
to comply with the City's procedures and regulations as to prompt
and timely payment of bills, nor does it constitute a waiver or modification
of the regular practices of the City providing for the suspension
or termination of service for non-payment. The City has the right
to terminate or discontinue all municipal services provided to a customer
or household for failure to furnish a suitable deposit, as well as
failure to pay for municipal services when due. When conditions appear
that require the City to require additional credit protection in the
form of a deposit, an additional deposit, or a guarantee of payment
the City may impose such requirements after providing the customer
with written notification of the requirement. Said written notification
shall be provided by U.S. Mail, postage prepaid, to the mailing address
provided the City by the customer at the time the customer makes application
for service. In the alternative, said written notice may be personally
served upon the customer by an employee, representative or agent of
the City of California, Missouri.
C.
The
City may make application of a deposit for utility services to any
past due bill owed by the customer; in the event of the application
of deposit, the City may require an additional deposit be paid by
the customer and may terminate the utility service in the event the
customer fails to make said deposit.
D.
Any
part or portion of the amount deposited which is not credited to a
customer's account shall be returned to the customer within thirty
(30) days of the date of the termination of all utility services;
subject however to the ordinance(s) of the City permitting application
of deposits paid toward outstanding obligations with the City. Any
deposit not credited toward a customer's account (or applied to some
other arrearage with the City in the customer's name) may be returned
at any time previous to termination of service, at the option of the
City, when it is deemed that the customer has established satisfactory
credit with the City.
E.
The
City of California is not obligated to furnish any municipal service
to any individual or firm that has an unpaid and undisputed delinquent
account for any service previously rendered by the City until arrangements
(acceptable to the City) have been made to liquidate such previous
indebtedness to the City.
F.
It
is the intent of this Section to require deposits for both water and
electricity service; in the event only electrical service is requested
or required, the minimum deposit shall be eighty percent (80%) of
the above amounts. The Department of Utilities may, in its discretion,
apportion the deposit between and for various services. If only water
service is requested, the standard deposit required shall be twenty
percent (20%) of the above amounts.
[Ord. No. 14.100 §3, 4-6-1981; Ord. No. 14.100(a) §3, 9-3-1991; Ord.
No. 14.102 §1, 2-4-1991; Ord. No. 14.540, 7-2-2018; Ord. No. 14.544, 12-3-2018[1]]
A.
An
account for any utility service furnished by the City of California
shall be due on the first (1st) day of the following month after which
service was furnished The account will become delinquent if not paid
in full by the end of the tenth (10th) day of the month following
the month when services were provided. The utility services shall
be disconnected if not paid in full (including penalty charge) by
10:00 a.m. on the twentieth (20th) day of the month next following
the month in which the services were furnished. A forty dollar ($40.00)
reconnect fee will be assessed for services disconnected due to non-payment
which are reconnected between the hours of 8:00 a.m. through 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday. An eighty dollar ($80.00) reconnect fee
will be assessed for services disconnected due to non-payment which
are reconnected between the hours of 4:30 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., Monday
through Friday, and for all reconnections which take place outside
of the City's regular business hours, including on holidays and weekends.
This charge shall be paid in advance of the resumption of service
to a customer.
As to connection and reconnection fees, for non-emergency situations
outside of non-payment, there shall be a fifteen dollar ($15.00) disconnect
or reconnect fee assessed for services connected or disconnected which
are reconnected between the hours of 8:00 a.m. through 4:30 p.m.,
Monday through Friday. For such non-emergency connections and disconnects,
there shall be an eighty dollar ($80.00) reconnect fee assessed for
services which are disconnected or reconnected between the hours of
4:30 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., Monday through Friday, and for all disconnects
and reconnections which take place outside of the City's regular business
hours, including on holidays and weekends. In the event of a non-emergency
reconnect or disconnect, or both a reconnect or disconnect occur within
a week of each other, only one (1) fee will be assessed. This charge
shall be paid in advance of the resumption of service to a customer.
B.
A penalty charge of ten percent (10%) of the unpaid bill shall be
added to those accounts that have not been paid in full as of the
tenth (10th) day of the next month following the month in which services
were provided.
C.
Any municipal service furnished to a customer by the City may be
disconnected if the customer is delinquent, as defined above, for
any other service provided by the City.
D.
In
addition to any penalty charge assessed under this Section, all accounts
delinquent (i.e., not paid in full the end of the tenth (10th) day
of the month following the month when the services were provided)
shall bear an assessment at the rate of one and one-half percent (1.5%)
per month of the entire balance due, said assessment to continue to
accrue until the entire balance of the account is paid in full. This
assessment shall be considered as interest payable to the Department
of Utilities of the City of California on a past due account. Interest
shall be assessed upon the entire balance due and owing, including
the original amount of the delinquent account balance, the penalty
charge, as well as any previous interest assessed against the account
and remaining due and owing.
E.
In
the event of a payment by check which is returned for insufficient
funds or closed account, or not honored by the bank for any reason,
in addition to penalty, reconnect, and interest charges, there shall
be assessed a fee of thirty ($30.00) to be paid to the City. This
charge shall be paid in advance of the resumption of service to a
customer.
F.
Payment
By Telephone. In the event a customer chooses to make payment of the
utility charges by telephone, the City has the option of charging
an additional one dollar ($1.00) fee for collection and administration
of the payment.
G.
Transfer
Of Service. In the event of a customer's request for transfer of service
(service for a new customer or service transferred from one (1) location
to another location), there shall be charged a fee of ten dollars
($10.00) per account transferred.
[1]
Editor's Note: The title of this Section was changed to include
"disconnects/reonnects."
