AN ACT Relating to utility mistakes in customer billing; amending RCW 35.92.050, 54.16.040, and 80.28.080; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. Section 35.92.050, chapter 7, Laws of 1965 as amended by section 9, chapter 445, Laws of 1985 and RCW 35.92.050 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) A city or town may also construct, condemn and purchase, purchase, acquire, add to, alter, maintain and operate works, plants, facilities for the purpose of furnishing the city or town and its inhabitants, and any other persons, with gas, electricity, and other means of power and facilities for lighting, heating, fuel, and power purposes, public and private, with full authority to regulate and control the use, distribution, and price thereof, together with the right to handle and sell or lease, any meters, lamps, motors, transformers, and equipment or accessories of any kind, necessary and convenient for the use, distribution, and sale thereof; authorize the construction of such plant or plants by others for the same purpose, and purchase gas, electricity, or power from either within or without the city or town for its own use and for the purpose of selling to its inhabitants and to other persons doing business within the city or town and regulate and control the use and price thereof.

(2) If any city or town operating a utility pursuant to subsection (1) of this section bills a customer for less than the amount owed by the customer under the proper and applicable rates and charges because of the utility's mistake or error, the customer shall not be liable for the difference between the amount billed and the amount properly owed, except amounts not billed during the previous six months, and the customer shall not be liable for any interest on any amounts not billed to the customer because of the utility's mistake or error.

Sec. 2. Section 5, chapter 390, Laws of 1955 and RCW 54.16.040 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) A district may purchase, within or without its limits, electric current for sale and distribution within or without its limits, and construct, condemn and purchase, purchase, acquire, add to, maintain, conduct, and operate works, plants, transmission and distribution lines and facilities for generating electric current, operated either by water power, steam, or other methods, within or without its limits, for the purpose of furnishing the district, and the inhabitants thereof and any other persons, including public and private corporations, within or without its limits, with electric current for all uses, with full and exclusive authority to sell and regulate and control the use, distribution, rates, service, charges, and price thereof, free from the jurisdiction and control of the utilities and transportation commission, in all things, together with the right to purchase, handle, sell, or lease motors, lamps, transformers and all other kinds of equipment and accessories necessary and convenient for the use, distribution, and sale thereof: PROVIDED, That the commission shall not supply water to a privately owned utility for the production of electric energy, but may supply, directly or indirectly, to an instrumentality of the United States government or any publicly or privately owned public utilities which sell electric energy or water to the public, any amount of electric energy or water under its control, and contracts therefor shall extend over such period of years and contain such terms and conditions for the sale thereof as the commission of the district shall elect; such contract shall only be made pursuant to a resolution of the commission authorizing such contract, which resolution shall be introduced at a meeting of the commission at least ten days prior to the date of the adoption of the resolution: PROVIDED FURTHER, That it shall first make adequate provision for the needs of the district, both actual and prospective.

(2) If any district acting pursuant to subsection (1) of this section bills a customer for less than the amount owed by the customer under the proper and applicable rates and charges because of the district's mistake or error, the customer shall not be liable for the difference between the amount billed and the amount properly owed, except amounts not billed during the previous six months, and the customer shall not be liable for any interest on any amounts not billed to the customer because of the district's mistake or error.

Sec. 3. Section 80.28.080, chapter 14, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 2, chapter 427, Laws of 1985 and RCW 80.28.080 are each amended to read as follows:

No gas company, electrical company or water company shall charge, demand, collect or receive a greater or less or different compensation for any service rendered or to be rendered than the rates and charges applicable to such service as specified in its schedule filed and in effect at the time, nor shall any such company directly or indirectly refund or remit in any manner or by any device any portion of the rates or charges so specified, or furnish its product at free or reduced rates except to its employees and their families, and its officers, attorneys, and agents; to hospitals, charitable and eleemosynary institutions and persons engaged in charitable and eleemosynary work; to indigent and destitute persons; to national homes or state homes for disabled volunteer soldiers and soldiers' and sailors' homes: PROVIDED, That the term "employees" as used in this paragraph shall include furloughed, pensioned and superannuated employees, persons who have become disabled or infirm in the service of any such company; and the term "families," as used in this paragraph, shall include the families of those persons named in this proviso, the families of persons killed or dying in the service, also the families of persons killed, and the surviving spouse prior to remarriage, and the minor children during minority of persons who died while in the service of any of the companies named in this paragraph: PROVIDED FURTHER, That water companies may furnish free or at reduced rates water for the use of the state, or for any project in which the state is interested: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That gas companies, electrical companies, and water companies may charge the defendant for treble damages awarded in lawsuits successfully litigated under RCW 80.28.240.

No gas company, electrical company or water company shall extend to any person or corporation any form of contract or agreement or any rule or regulation or any privilege or facility except such as are regularly and uniformly extended to all persons and corporations under like circumstances.

If a gas company or electrical company bills a customer for less than the amount owed by the customer under the proper and applicable rates and charges because of the company's mistake or error, the customer shall not be liable for the difference between the amount billed and the amount properly owed, except amounts not billed during the previous six months, and the customer shall not be liable for any interest on any amounts not billed to the customer because of the company's mistake or error.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.