Public Utilities Code § 739.5 is the price ceiling for submetered gas and electric in a master-metered community: each resident must be charged “at the same rate that would be applicable if the user were receiving gas or electricity … directly” from the serving utility. The community buys energy on a discounted master-meter schedule; that CPUC-set discount is the community's entire lawful compensation for running the submeter system. Residents pay exactly the direct-service residential rate — same tiers, same baseline allowances, same fixed charges, same CARE/FERA treatment, same proportional share of rebates and climate credits. No markup, and no separate administrative fee on energy (that is a water-only concept under Civ. Code § 798.40(c)).
The Same-Rate Mandate and the Master-Meter Discount
Subdivision (a) carries both halves of the bargain. The master-meter customer must charge each user at the direct-service rate. In exchange, the CPUC requires utilities to set master-meter rates with “a sufficient differential to cover the reasonable average costs” of providing submeter service, capped at the utility's avoided cost of serving those users directly (methodology: CPUC Decision 04-11-003). The discount stays on the master account as the community's compensation — it is never a resident line item, and it is never a license to mark up.
Rebates and the Climate Credit
Subdivision (b) requires rebates to be distributed or credited to each user in proportion to consumption — expressly including greenhouse-gas allowance credits, which is why submetered residents are entitled to their share of the California Climate Credit. Missed climate-credit passthroughs are among the most reliable generators of CPUC complaints.
Itemized Billing
Subdivision (e) requires bills generally conforming to residential utility-bill form: opening and closing readings, rates and quantities per tier, with the rate schedule posted or its website provided and free copies on request. The same shape the Mobilehome Residency Law's § 798.40(a) requires.
The Tier-Parity Consequence
Because each resident must be billed as if direct-served, each resident gets their own baseline allowance — by climate zone, season, and billing days — and climbs the residential tier ladder on their own submetered usage. Two consequences worth stating plainly: the sum of residents' tiered bills will not reconcile to the community's master-meter bill (different schedule; that mismatch is the design, not an error), and submetered residents are calculated on the tiered residential schedule — do not assume the time-of-use default that now applies to many direct customers.
The AB 205 Fixed-Charge Interaction
AB 205 and CPUC Decision 24-05-028 restructured residential electric bills at the large investor-owned utilities: a flat monthly income-graduated fixed charge, with CARE and FERA households at reduced tiers, in exchange for lower volumetric rates. Under § 739.5(a), once the fixed charge is operative in a territory, a directly-served resident would pay it — so the submetered bill calculation must include the resident-level fixed charge at the correct program-graded amount. A resident's bill is no longer purely volumetric: zero usage no longer means a zero bill. The specific amounts and effective dates are set per utility by tariff — which is exactly the class of change Sentinel's rate monitoring exists to catch.
Who § 739.5 Applies To
Master-meter customers serving residents of “a mobilehome park, apartment building, or similar residential complex” on CPUC-jurisdictional gas or electric service. Publicly owned utilities (SMUD, LADWP) sit outside § 739.5 — their parallel obligations live in their own statutes and tariffs. And water is never § 739.5 — that's § 798.40(c).
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a mobile home park charge more for electricity than the utility does?
No. Cal. Pub. Util. Code § 739.5(a) requires each submetered resident to be charged at the same rate that would apply if they received service directly from the utility. The community's compensation is a CPUC-set discount on its master-meter bill — never a markup on residents.
Who keeps the master-meter discount?
The community — lawfully. The CPUC requires utilities to set master-meter rates with a differential covering the reasonable average costs of providing submeter service, capped at the utility's avoided cost (Cal. Pub. Util. Code § 739.5(a); CPUC D.04-11-003). The discount is the utility's payment for the community owning, maintaining, and billing the submeter system. What is unlawful is billing residents above the direct-service rate or keeping resident-owed credits.
Do submetered residents get the California Climate Credit?
Yes. Cal. Pub. Util. Code § 739.5(b) requires rebates — expressly including greenhouse-gas allowance credits like the California Climate Credit — to be distributed or credited to each user in proportion to their consumption.
Does § 739.5 cover water?
No — gas and electric only. Water and sewer billing in California manufactured housing is governed by Cal. Civ. Code § 798.40(c), a different regime with different rules and its own administrative fee cap.
Do the new fixed charges on California electric bills apply to submetered residents?
Once operative in a territory, yes in effect. Under AB 205 and CPUC Decision 24-05-028, the large electric utilities bill an income-graduated fixed monthly charge. Because § 739.5(a) requires each submetered resident to be billed as if served directly, the fixed charge — at the CARE- or FERA-graded amount where applicable — belongs in the submetered bill calculation. The amounts and effective dates are set per utility by tariff.
This page explains the statute in plain English for operators; it is not legal advice. Statutory text verified against the official California Legislative Information site, August 2026.