A. Unlawful Acts:
1. It shall be unlawful for any person to install a bypass for any utility service without the express written authorization of the Chief Executive Officer.
2. It shall be unlawful for any customer or the user at any premises knowingly to receive utility service by means of a bypass which has not been authorized in writing by the Chief Executive Officer.
3. It shall be unlawful for any person to tamper with a utility meter or other utility equipment without the express written authorization of the Chief Executive Officer.
4. It shall be unlawful for any customer or the user at any premises knowingly to receive utility service by means of tampering.
5. It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in unauthorized metering which has not been authorized in writing by the Chief Executive Officer.
6. It shall be unlawful for any customer or the user at any premises knowingly to receive utility service by means of unauthorized metering which has not been expressly authorized in writing by the Chief Executive Officer.
7. It shall be unlawful for any customer, person or user to intentionally distort the electric wave shape to cause the meter to register inaccurately.
B. Restitution: As a condition of granting probation, deferred prosecution, deferred sentence or suspended sentence, the court 1 may order any person who is charged with or found guilty of, as the case may be, violating any of the provisions of subsection A of this section to pay as restitution estimated or actual user charges for the period during which the violation existed, the cost of repairing or replacing any damaged utility equipment, and any other costs incurred by the City related to the violation including, but not limited to, costs of investigation, disconnection, reconnection and service calls.
C. Evidence Of Violations:
1. Proof of the existence of any bypass, tampering or unauthorized metering, as prohibited in this section, shall be deemed prima facie evidence that the user at the premises where bypass, tampering or unauthorized metering is proved to exist had knowledge of the bypass, tampering or unauthorized metering if it is proved that the user is an occupant of the premises and that the user had access to the meter or other utility equipment where the bypass, tampering or unauthorized metering is proved to exist.
2. Proof of the existence of any bypass, tampering or unauthorized metering, as prohibited by this section, shall be deemed prima facie evidence that the customer had knowledge of the bypass, tampering or unauthorized metering if it is proved that the customer controlled access to the utility meter or other utility equipment where the bypass, tampering or unauthorized metering is proved to exist.
D. Termination Of Service: A violation of any of the provisions of subsection A of this section constitutes a serious safety hazard. Any such violation is grounds for immediate disconnection of service without notice to the customer or user. Service will not be reconnected until all violations of this section have been remedied.
E. Violations And Charges:
1. In the event a violation of subsection A of this section occurs for one or more services on a customer's premises, the customer is subject to imposition of the following charges:
a. For a first violation, Utilities will notify the customer in writing of the violation and may add a charge of up to one hundred dollars ($100.00) to the customer's utility bill for the premises.
b. For a second violation, Utilities will notify the customer in writing of the violation and may add a charge of up to two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) to the customer's utility bill for the premises.
c. For a third violation, Utilities will notify the customer in writing of the violation and may add a charge of up to five hundred dollars ($500.00) to the customer's utility bill for the premises.
d. For a fourth or any subsequent violation, Utilities will notify the customer in writing of the violation and may add a charge of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) to the customer's utility bill for the premises.
e. Escalation of charges will follow Utilities' customer record history. Subsequent violations will accumulate over the life of the customer's service with Utilities and will follow the customer from one premises to another premises.
2. The notice of violation may be personally served upon the customer or served by posting the notice on the premises of the customer in a conspicuous place, by personal delivery or by U.S. mail, first class. If by mail, service shall be deemed complete upon mailing.
3. Any charges assessed pursuant to this subsection will be due prior to the restoration of services.
4. Charges assessed pursuant to this subsection are in addition to any fees or charges authorized by Utilities' tariff including, but not limited to, restitution, reconnection fees and charges incurred for utility services.
5. Utilities' Chief Executive Officer or the Officer's designee is authorized to enforce this section.
F. Dispute Resolution: Customer disputes with Utilities concerning subsection E of this section shall be resolved in accord with the dispute resolution procedures set forth in Utilities' tariffs. Requests for informal review or mediation must be received by Utilities within thirty (30) days from the date of the notice of violation.
G. Criminal Charges: In addition to the remedies described above, criminal charges may also be filed against any person who violates subsection A of this section. (Ord. 98-173; Ord. 01-42; Ord. 05-157; Ord. 18-42)
Notes
| 1 | 1. See chapter 11, "Municipal Court" of this Code. |