(a) This section applies only to a retail water supplier that is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission.

(b) Rates for recycled water that is provided to the customer by a retail water supplier regulated by the Public Utilities Commission shall be established by the commission pursuant to Section 455.1 of the Public Utilities Code. A regulated water utility may request the commission to establish the rate or rates for the delivery of recycled or nonpotable water, with the objective of providing, where practicable, a reasonable economic incentive for the customer to purchase recycled or nonpotable water in place of potable water.

(c) A regulated water utility may propose a rate or rates for recycled or nonpotable water by tariff or by contract between the retail water supplier and the customer. Where the rate or rates are set by contract, the water utility and its customer shall meet, confer, and negotiate in good faith to establish a contract rate.

(d) The commission shall, as appropriate, provide a discount from the general metered rate of the water utility for potable water by either of the following means:

(1) Passing through to the customer the net reduction in cost to the water utility in purchasing and delivering recycled or nonpotable water as compared to the cost of purchasing and delivering potable water.

(2) Granting to the customer a uniform discount from the water utility’s general metered potable water rate when the discount in paragraph (1) is determined to be an insufficient incentive for the customer to convert to the use of recycled or nonpotable water. If the commission provides for a discount pursuant to this paragraph that is greater than the water utility’s reduction in cost, the commission shall authorize the water utility to include the aggregate amount of that discount in its revenue requirements to be applied to, and recovered in, rates that are applicable to all general metered customers.

(Added by Stats. 1998, Ch. 753, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 1999.)