13.04.130 Water meters.
A. All meters installed shall be located only in and upon streets, easements or rights-of-way that have been formally dedicated and accepted for public use, and shall be owned by the city.
B. Changes in Size of Water Meter.
1. The cost to change the size of a meter on existing services will be at the parcel owner’s or customer’s expense.
2. A request for a change in size of meter will require approval of the utilities director. Upon approval, the parcel owner or customer will be responsible for obtaining all necessary permits (plumbing, encroachment, etc.) and payment of any applicable expenses and fees.
3. Parcels with flow rates having an average rate that exceeds the meter manufacturer’s maximum rated operating flow or other reliable benchmark as determined by the utilities department shall be required to upsize the meter at parcel owner or customer’s expense, including payment of any applicable expenses and fees.
C. Change in Location of Meters. Meters moved for the convenience of the parcel owner or customer shall be approved by the utilities department and will be relocated at the parcel owner or customer’s expense.
D. Meter Errors.
1. Meter Test.
a. On parcel owner or customer request:
i. A parcel owner or customer may, giving not less than one week’s notice, request the utilities department to test the meter serving his or her parcel.
ii. To cover the reasonable cost of a meter test, the utilities department will require the parcel owner or customer to deposit such amount as may be established from time to time by resolution of the city council.
iii. This deposit will be returned if the meter is found to register more than two percent fast. The parcel owner or customer will be notified not less than five days in advance of the time and place of the test.
iv. A written report giving the results of the test will be shown to the parcel owner or customer within ten days after completion of the test.
2. Adjustment of Bills for Meter Error. When, upon test, a meter is found to be registering more than two percent fast under conditions of normal operations, the utilities department will refund to the customer the full amount of the overcharge, based on corrected meter readings for the period, not exceeding one year that the meter was in use.
3. Nonregistering Meters. The utilities department may bill the customer for water consumed while the meter was not registering. The bill will be computed upon an estimate of consumption based either upon the customer’s prior use during the same season of the year or upon a reasonable comparison with the use of other customers receiving the same class of service during the same period and under similar circumstances and conditions.
4. Retirement or Removal of Meter. The cost of retiring or removing a meter service for the convenience of the parcel owner will be at the parcel owner’s expense.
E. Size of Water Meter. Water meters shall not be larger in size than the associated water service size. Sizing calculations shall be provided to justify service and meter sizing.
F. Where a nonresidential, multifamily, or mixed-use project has one thousand square feet of landscaping or greater, the project shall provide a separate city-owned landscape water meter.
G. New residential and nonresidential uses within a mixed-use development shall be separately metered.
H. New caretaker units, duplexes, triplex, and fourplex units shall be separately metered. Dwellings with five or more units shall have privately owned sub-meters.
I. All new residential and commercial condominiums shall be separately metered. Privately owned sub-meters may be provided by the property owner upon approval of the utilities director or her/his designee. The CC&Rs for the property/homeowner association (P/HOA) shall require that the sub-meters be read monthly by the association (or P/HOA contracted service) and each condominium billed according to water use. Records of meter reading and associated billing shall be provided to the city upon request.
J. New attached or detached accessory dwelling unit may connect to the property’s primary residential meter if maximum flow velocities through the water meter meet California Plumbing Code requirements. (Ord. 1704 § 3, 2021; Ord. 1597 § 13, 2014: prior code §§ 7410.12 and 7410.16. Formerly 13.04.170)