Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 38, September 21, 2024
(a)
Excess use charges.
(1)
Excess use charges are a positive means of securing compliance with a plan. If
a public water supply agency elects to include excess use charges in a plan,
the maximum excess use charge authorized to be imposed is as follows:
| First 2,000 gallons or portion thereof | 5 times
the actual rate charged for water |
| Each 1,000 gallons or portion thereof
thereafter | 10 times the actual rate charged for water |
(2)
Excess use charges may only be assessed against meter customers and shall be
based upon actual meter readings.
(b)
Water allotments. A
residential or nonresidential water customer who exceeds the water allotments
established by the plan shall be subject to an excess use charge. Public water
supply agencies in the emergency service area are authorized to collect an
excess-use charge based on the amount by which a water customer's use exceeds
the water allotment established in the plan. The charges will be specified in
the plan.
(c)
Disposition
of excess use charges. Moneys collected by public water supply
agencies through excess use charges may not be accounted for as income to the
public water supply agency, but shall be placed in a reserve account. The
disposition of funds placed in the reserve account shall be governed as
follows:
(1) Funds collected by a public
utility or a municipal corporation rendering services beyond its corporate
limits shall be used to offset drought related costs as directed by orders and
procedures adopted by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
(2) Funds collected by any public water
supply agency not covered in paragraph (1) shall be used to offset
drought-related costs.
(d)
Additional penalties. In
addition to the excess use charge, noncompliance with the plan may result in
the following:
(1) For the first excess use,
the public water supply agency will warn the water customer that its water use
may be discontinued if the water customer continues its noncompliance
practices.
(2) For the second
excess use, the public water supply agency may interrupt or shut off service to
the water customer for a period not to exceed 48 hours per incident. As an
alternative, the public water supply agency may install a flow restriction in
the water customer's service line for the duration of the water shortage
emergency. The cost incurred by the public water supply agency to interrupt or
shut off and reinstate service, or to install and remove a flow restriction,
shall be assessed to the water customer by the public water supply
agency.
(e)
Appeal of decision or action. A water customer aggrieved by a
decision or action taken by a public water supply agency under the authority of
this section may proceed in accordance with the following:
(1) Each public water supply agency shall
adopt procedures which provide an opportunity for the water customer to rebut
the finding of a violation or to present evidence of circumstances beyond the
water customer's control which resulted in the violation. Each public water
supply agency shall keep a record of the evidence presented by the water
customer concerning the disputed violations and shall provide the water
customer with a written notice of its final decision and action in the
case.
(2) A water customer
aggrieved by the final decision or action of a water supply agency may file an
appeal with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, if the water supply
agency is regulated by the Public Utility Commission, and in all other
instances with the Court of Common Pleas in the county where the water service
is provided, in accordance with
2
Pa.C.S. §
§ 551-555 and
751-754 (relating to the
Local Agency Law).
This section cited in 4 Pa. Code §
118.4 (relating to contingency
plans-public water supply agencies).
