3.36.050 Electricity tax.

A. There is imposed a tax upon every person in the city using electrical energy in the city. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of six percent of the charges made for such energy and shall be paid by the person paying for such energy.

"Charges" as used in this section, shall include charges made for: (1) energy; (2) distribution and transmission; (3) metering; (4) stand-by reserves, firming, ramping, voltage support, regulation, emergency, or other similar services; (5) minimum charges for such services, including customer charges, service charges, demand charges, fuel or other cost adjustments, independent system operator (ISO) charges, stranded investment or competitive transition charges (CTC), public goods surcharge, franchise fee, franchise surcharge; and (6) all other annual and monthly charges or surcharges for electricity services or programs, which are authorized by the California Public Utilities Commission or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, whether or not such charges appear on a bundled or line item basis on the customer billing. "Charges" shall also include the value of any other services, credits, property, or other consideration provided by the service user in exchange for the energy or services related to the provision of such energy. (Ord. 98-1181 § 2, 07/28/98)

B. As used in this section, the term "using electrical energy" shall not be construed to include the storage of such energy by a person in a battery owned or possessed by him for use in an automobile or other machinery or device; provided, however, that the term shall include the receiving of such energy for the purpose of using it in the charging of batteries. The term shall not include electricity used in water pumping by water corporations; nor shall the term include the mere receiving of such energy by an electrical corporation at a point within the city for resale; or the use of such energy in the production or distribution of water by a public utility or a governmental agency.

C. The tax imposed in this section shall be collected from the service user by the billing agent, or person, business or entity that provides billing collection services for electrical power generation and distribution within the City. The amount of tax collected in one month shall be remitted to the tax administrator on or before the last day of the following month; or at the option of the person, business or entity required to collect and remit the tax, an estimated amount of tax, measured by the tax billed in the previous month, shall be remitted to the tax administrator on or before the last day of each month. Remittance of tax may be predicated on a formula based upon the payment pattern of the supplier's customers. (Ord. 98-1181 § 3, 07/28/98; Ord. 95-1137 § 4, 1995; prior code § 30-47)

Back to HomePage | Back to Code Index | Back to Finance Index

Back to Utility Tax Index