1 STAFF REPORT
DAT
E: June 6, 2023
T
O: Justin Hess, City Manager
F
ROM: Dawn Roth Lindell, General Manager, Burbank Water and Power BY: Riad Sleiman, Assistant General Manager, Electric Services Sean Aquino, Assistant General Manager, Customer Service S
UBJECT: Adoption of a Resolution Adopting the Updated Rules and Regulations Governing Utility Service
RE
COMMENDATION
Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK ADOPTING
THE UPDATED RULES AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING UTILITY SERVICE (Attachment 1).
BACKG
ROUND
Update to Burbank Water and Power ( BWP) Rules and Regulations Governing Utility Service
In 1927, when the Burbank City Charter was first approved by voters, the municipal utility Rules and Regulations Governing Utility Service was developed to delineate how to administer utility services to Burbank customers. The charter delegates authority to the BWP General Manager to administer the r ules and r egulations through the Burbank Municipal Code under Section Title 8, Chapter 2, Utilities: Sections 8-2-102 and 8-2-103 (water) and Sections 8-2-202 and 8-2-203 (electric).
B
WP provides new services and administers existing utility services to customers through the rules and regulations. BWP periodically updates the r ules and regulations to reflect contemporary practices, legislative mandates, and City Council policy.
DI
SCUSSION
The rules and r egulations are presented in seven parts , and each section includes guidelines for that specific utility operation. The proposed changes are critical to BWP recuperating substation-related building costs and ensuring new developments have the power capacity they need. These changes are also essential to clarifying objective standards which would most impact Senate Bill 35 (SB35) and Senate Bill 9 (SB9) driven projects.
WATER AND
POWER
Sean Aquino
2 The most notable change is the addition of a capacity charge under section 3.26(g) which will impact all developments proposing an addition or upgrade to a commercial panel or single-family residential panels above 200A. Currently, BWP recuperates the costs of a substation buildout to ensure capacity for the project through a per gross leasable square foot fee, which is not accurately recovering the cost impact from tenant improvement projects and electric vehicles charging stations. The new proposed charge is based on electrical panel size, which is more reflective of the impact each addition or upgrade of service has on Burbank’s substation capacity.
The proposed change to section 1.12(f) better defines the customer’s role in maintaining vegetation on their property to reduce wildfire risk. Other proposed changes to sections
2.1(j), 2.30(c), 2.52(b), 2.52(k), and 2.53(c) provide clearer specifications around customer services and their responsibility. Proposed changes to sections 2.90(a) and
3.26(h) clarify BWP’s substation requirements for developments with loads above 5MVA.
For convenience, the proposed changes are summarized in Attachment 2, along with a brief explanation of why each change is being proposed.
Attachment 3 contains the entire rules and regulations text with the appropriate sections redlined with the proposed changes.
BWP Board Vetting Discussion
At the April 6, 2023, BWP Board meeting, the Board approved 7- 0 to recommend the update to BWP Rules and Regulations Governing Utility Service for adoption by the City Council of the City of Burbank.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This activi ty has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, and as such, is not a “project” subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 14 Cal. Code Regs § 15378.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution adopting the updated BWP Rules and Regulations Governing Utility Service.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Resolution
Attachment 2 – Summary of Proposed Changes to BWP Rules and Regulations Attachment 3 – Redlined Version of Proposed Changes to Existing BWP Rules and Regulations