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A. A landlord may, itself or through a third party billing agent, bill tenants for master metered or other unmetered utility services, including electric service provided to tenants of multi-unit buildings; provided, that the following requirements are met:

1. Notice. Billing practices may be adopted only upon advance written notice to a tenant as part of a new or renewed rental agreement. Tenants must receive such written notice at least 90 days before expiration of their rental agreements, or, in the case of month-to-month tenancies, at least 90 days before any such billing practices may become effective. Notwithstanding the foregoing two sentences, if billing practices are already in place at the time the ordinance codified in this chapter becomes effective, written notice must be given within 30 days of the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter.

2. Methodology. The notice required under subsection (A)(1) of this section must include a copy of this chapter and a detailed written disclosure of the methodology used by the billing agent to allocate the charges to each tenant, including the methodology used to allocate utility services for common areas of the building, along with all other terms and conditions of the billing arrangement. If submetering is used, the notice required under subsection (A)(1) of this section shall also include descriptions of the location of the submeter and of the access requirements, if any, required by the landlord for access to tenant units for submeter installation, reading, repair, maintenance, or inspections, including removal of the submeter for testing, consistent with the provisions of RCW 59.18.150 of the RLTA. An additional written notice must also be given at least 30 days prior to the due date of the next rental payment in order to implement a change in billing agents, apportionment methodology, fees, or other terms and conditions of the billing arrangement.

3. Posting of Information.

a. In addition to the written notification required by subsection (A)(2) of this section, any landlord employing billing practices shall post in a conspicuous public space in the interior of the building copies of the three most current utility bills for master metered or other unmetered utility services provided to the building as a whole that are included in the bill sent to the tenant, together with a written description of the methodology used to allocate each such utility service and a copy of this chapter. The landlord shall also post the provisions of this chapter in a conspicuous public space in the interior of the building.

b. Where such postings are physically impracticable due to the absence of a suitable conspicuous public space, a landlord may satisfy the posting requirements by hand-delivering or mailing to each of the tenants a paper copy of the written notification required by subsection (A)(2) of this section, together with a written description of the methodology used to allocate each such utility service and a copy of the provisions of this chapter. In lieu of posting the three most current utility bills for master metered or other unmetered utility services provided to the building as a whole that are included in the bill sent to the tenant, the landlord must make such utility bills available upon request within five business days and must inform tenants in the written notification required by subsection (A)(2) of this section of the method by which they may request such utility bills.

c. Landlords shall keep bills for master metered or other unmetered utility services on file in the building for at least two years and shall make such bills available to tenants for inspection and copying upon request. Where it is physically impracticable to keep such bills on file due to the absence of a suitable office or other storage space, a landlord may store the bills in another location and must make such bills available within five business days of receiving a request from a tenant.

4. Limitations on Charges. The total of all charges for any utility service included in the bills sent to all units cumulatively shall not exceed the amount of the bill sent by the utility itself for the building as a whole, less any late charges, interest or other penalties owed by the landlord, with the exception of the following, which may be included in each bill covering an independent unit within the multi-unit building:

a. A service charge of no more than $2.00 per utility per month, not to exceed a cumulative service charge of $5.00 per month for all the utilities included in any bill.

b. Late payment charges of no more than $5.00 per month plus interest at a rate not to exceed one percent per month, which late payment charge shall not accrue until at least 30 days after the tenant receives the bill.

c. Insufficient funds check charges for dishonored checks, not to exceed the amount established in the city’s fee schedule for dishonored checks presented to the city.

5. Licensing of Third Party Billing Agents. Any third party billing agent must be properly registered and licensed to do business in the state of Washington and city of Auburn and must be in compliance with all applicable Washington State and Auburn laws and regulations, and all applicable Washington and Auburn license identification numbers, if any, must be disclosed upon request.

6. Content of Bills. Each billing statement sent to a tenant by a billing entity must disclose all required information in a clear and conspicuous manner and at minimum must:

a. Include the name, business address and telephone number of the billing entity;

b. Identify and show the basis for each separate charge, including service charges and late charges, if any, as a line item, and show the total amount of the bill;

c. If the building units are submetered, include the current and previous meter readings, the current read date, and the amount consumed (or estimated to have been consumed if Auburn has provided the landlord with an estimated bill);

d. Specify the due date, the date upon which the bill becomes overdue, the amount of any late charges or penalties that may apply, and the date upon which such late charges or penalties may be imposed;

e. Identify any past due dollar amounts;

f. Identify a mailing address and telephone number for billing inquiries and disputes, identify the entity responsible for resolving billing inquiries and disputes and its business hours and days of availability, and describe the process used to resolve disputes related to bills as set forth in this chapter; and

g. Include a statement to the effect that “this bill is from [landlord name] and not from Auburn Public Utilities.”

7. Protection of Personally Identifiable Information.

a. A third party billing agent who, prior to the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter, has obtained a tenant’s personally identifiable information shall take such actions as are necessary to protect such personally identifiable information and to prevent its use or disclosure except as expressly permitted in this chapter.

b. A third party billing agent who, prior to the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter, has obtained a tenant’s personally identifiable information may disclose such personally identifiable information only to the extent necessary to render its billing services.

c. To the extent required by federal, state, or local law, a billing entity may disclose personally identifiable information in its possession (i) pursuant to a subpoena or valid court order authorizing such disclosure, or (ii) to a governmental entity.

8. Estimated Billing. If Auburn has billed the landlord using an estimate of utility service consumed, the billing agent may estimate the charges to be billed to tenants until billing based on actual consumption resumes. Upon receipt of a corrected bill showing that the estimated bill overstated charges, the landlord must refund the difference to tenants. Upon receipt of a corrected bill showing that the estimated bill understated charges, the landlord may attempt to recover the underpayment from the tenants that actually incurred the charges during the billing period, but shall not attempt to recover an underpayment from a tenant who did not reside in the unit during the billing period in which the charges were incurred.

9. Submetering. Submetering is permitted as a way of allocating master metered utility services to tenants provided the following conditions are met:

a. The submeters must be read prior to each billing.

b. A landlord may not enter a unit without, and a tenant may not unreasonably withhold, consent to enter the unit in order to perform sub-meter installation, reading, repair, maintenance, and inspection, including removal of the submeter for testing; provided, however, that a landlord may enter a unit without a tenant’s consent in the case of a submeter leak or emergency related to that unit’s submeter.

c. If a tenant contests the accuracy of the submeter, the tenant shall have the option of demanding an independent test of the meter by a certified testing company. If the meter reads within a five percent range of accuracy, the tenant requesting the test shall pay the cost of the meter test. If the meter reads outside a five percent range of accuracy, the landlord shall pay for the cost of the meter test and within 30 days refund any overpayments for the past three months based on a recalculation of the past year’s billings by correcting for the inaccuracy of the submeter. Submetering thereafter shall only be permitted with a repaired submeter.

B. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent a landlord from addressing billing of master metered or other unmetered utility services in a written addendum to a lease. A lease addendum may be used to give the notice required under subsection (A)(1) of this section, so long as the lease addendum is provided to the tenant with the notice required under that subsection, and so long as all other requirements of this chapter are satisfied. (Ord. 6706 § 3 (Exh. C), 2018; Ord. 6084 § 1, 2007.)