SECTION 24.277. Owner Registration and Records

(a) Registration. An owner who intends to bill tenants for submetered or allocated utility service or who changes the method used to bill tenants for utility service shall register with the commission in a form prescribed by the commission.

(b) Water quantity measurement. Except as provided by subsections (c) and (d) of this section, a manager of a condominium or the owner of an apartment house, manufactured home rental community, or multiple use facility, on which construction began after January 1, 2003, shall provide for the measurement of the quantity of water, if any, consumed by the occupants of each unit through the installation of:

(1) submeters, owned by the property owner or manager, for each dwelling unit or rental unit; or

(2) individual meters, owned by the retail public utility, for each dwelling unit or rental unit.

(c) Plumbing system requirement. An owner of an apartment house on which construction began after January 1, 2003, and that provides government assisted or subsidized rental housing to low or very low income residents shall install a plumbing system in the apartment house that is compatible with the installation of submeters for the measurement of the quantity of water, if any, consumed by the occupants of each unit.

(d) Installation of individual meters. On the request by the property owner or manager, a retail public utility shall install individual meters owned by the utility in an apartment house, manufactured home rental community, multiple use facility, or condominium on which construction began after January 1, 2003, unless the retail public utility determines that installation of meters is not feasible. If the retail public utility determines that installation of meters is not feasible, the property owner or manager shall install a plumbing system that is compatible with the installation of submeters or individual meters. A retail public utility may charge reasonable costs to install individual meters.

(e) Records. The owner shall make the following records available for inspection by the tenant or the commission or commission staff at the on-site manager's office during normal business hours in accordance with subsection (g) of this section. The owner may require that the request by the tenant be in writing and include:

(1) a current and complete copy of TWC, Chapter 13, Subchapter M;

(2) a current and complete copy of this subchapter;

(3) a current copy of the retail public utility's rate structure applicable to the owner's bill;

(4) information or tips on how tenants can reduce water usage;

(5) the bills from the retail public utility to the owner;

(6) for allocated billing:

(A) the formula, occupancy factors, if any, and percentages used to calculate tenant bills;

(B) the total number of occupants or equivalent occupants if an equivalency factor is used under §24.281(e)(2) of this title (relating to Charges and Calculations); and

(C) the square footage of the tenant's dwelling unit or rental space and the total square footage of the apartment house, manufactured home rental community, or multiple use facility used for billing if dwelling unit size or rental space is used;

(7) for submetered billing:

(A) the calculation of the average cost per gallon, liter, or cubic foot;

(B) if the unit of measure of the submeters or point-of-use submeters differs from the unit of measure of the master meter, a chart for converting the tenant's submeter measurement to that used by the retail public utility;

(C) all submeter readings; and

(D) all submeter test results;

(8) the total amount billed to all tenants each month;

(9) total revenues collected from the tenants each month to pay for water and wastewater service; and

(10) any other information necessary for a tenant to calculate and verify a water and wastewater bill.

(f) Records retention. Each of the records required under subsection (e) of this section shall be maintained for the current year and the previous calendar year, except that all submeter test results shall be maintained until the submeter is permanently removed from service.

(g) Availability of records.

(1) If the records required under subsection (e) of this section are maintained at the on-site manager's office, the owner shall make the records available for inspection at the on-site manager's office within three days after receiving a written request.

(2) If the records required under subsection (e) of this section are not routinely maintained at the on-site manager's office, the owner shall provide copies of the records to the on-site manager within 15 days of receiving a written request from a tenant or the commission or commission staff.

(3) If there is no on-site manager, the owner shall make copies of the records available at the tenant's dwelling unit at a time agreed upon by the tenant within 30 days of the owner receiving a written request from the tenant.

(4) Copies of the records may be provided by mail if postmarked by midnight of the last day specified in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of this subsection.

Source Note: The provisions of this §24.277 adopted to be effective October 17, 2018, 43 TexReg 6826