TALLAHASSEE – Florida apartment owners with individually metered properties are one step closer to exemptions from utility regulations. Florida HB 491 successfully passed the House Regulatory Affairs Committee on February 4.
The bill originated in a separate Study Committee on Investor-Owned Water and Wastewater Utility Systems, which was created in 2012. HB 491 includes several of the Study Committee’s recommendations, including a special exemption for apartment owners.
As passed, the bill specifically exempts from regulation as a utility any person who resells water service to a tenant or to individually metered residents at a price that does not exceed the pur-chase price of water plus the actual cost of meter reading and billing, capped at nine percent of the actual cost of service.
In Florida, the Public Service Commission (PSC) currently has jurisdiction to regulate the rates and service of water and wastewater utilities in 37 of 67 counties. The Study Committee deter-mined that some customers, such as apartments and condominiums, have very little investment in the equipment and lines needed to provide water service, and therefore have no need to be regulated by the PSC. This will make it much easier for apartment owners to submeter their properties, especially if they wish to use third-party billing companies.
If enacted, the bill would take effect on July 1, 2016.
Source: Florida House of Representatives