A. 1. There is imposed a tax (herein called the “electricity users tax”) upon every person in the City other than an electrical corporation using electrical energy in the City. The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of two and forty hundredths percent (2.40%) of the charges made for such energy by an electrical corporation franchised to service the City and shall be billed to and paid by the person using the energy. If the charges made for such energy by the franchised electrical corporation are negotiated either (1) on the basis that the service user has provided its own transmission voltage reduction facilities or (2) as individualized negotiated cogeneration avoidance transmission voltage rates, and the resulting negotiated rates are not available to the City, such negotiated rates shall be made available to the City by the service user.
B. The tax applicable to electrical energy provided by a nonutility supplier shall be based on the above tax rate and the charges made for such electrical energy if there is an arms-length transaction for the sale of the electrical energy between the nonutility supplier and the service user. If there is not an arms-length sale from a nonutility supplier, the tax shall be determined by applying the tax rate to the equivalent charges the service user would have incurred if the energy used had been provided by the electrical corporation franchised by the City. Rate schedules for this purpose shall be available from the City. Nonutility suppliers shall install, maintain and use an appropriate utility-type metering system which will enable compliance with this section.
C. If the electrical energy is generated by the service user for its own use, the service user shall provide the City with the actual monthly cost of generating the electrical energy so used and the electricity users tax shall be based on the above tax rate applied to such actual cost. Cost figures supplied by the service user shall be subject to periodic audit by the City and appropriate adjustment pursuant thereto.
D. “Charges,” as used in this section, shall include charges made for: (1) metered energy and (2) minimum charges for service, including customer charges, service charges, demand charges and all other annual and monthly charges (other than standby charges), fuel or other cost adjustments, authorized by the California Public Utilities Commission or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
E. As used in this section, the term “using electrical energy” shall not be construed to mean the storage of such energy by a person in a battery owned or possessed by such person for use in an automobile or other machinery device apart from the premises upon which the energy was received, provided, however, that the term shall include the receiving of such energy for the purpose of using it in the charging of batteries; nor shall the term include electricity used and consumed by an electric utility supplier in the conduct of its business; nor shall the term include the mere receiving of such energy by an electric public utility or governmental agency at a point within the City for resale; nor shall the term include the use of such energy in the production or distribution of water by a public utility or a governmental agency.
F. The electricity users tax shall be collected from the service user by the service supplier or nonutility supplier. The electricity users tax on use supplied by self-generation or co-generation or from a nonutility supplier not subject to the jurisdiction of this chapter, shall be collected and remitted to the Tax Administrator in the manner set forth in Section 3.34.060. The amount of tax collected by a service supplier or a nonutility supplier in one month shall be remitted by United States mail to the Tax Administrator, postmarked on or before the last day of the following month; or, at the option of the person required to collect and remit the tax, an estimated amount of tax measured by the tax billed in the previous month shall be remitted by United States mail, to the Tax Administrator, postmarked on or before the last day of each month. The amount of the tax remitted may be estimated by a formula based upon the payment pattern of the supplier’s customers.
G. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 3.34.090A, if the amount paid by a service user is less than the full amount of the energy charge and tax which has accrued for the billing period, such amount and any subsequent payments by a service user shall be applied to the energy charge first until such charge has been fully satisfied. Any remaining balance shall be applied to taxes due.
(Ord. 1888, (part), 2001; Ord. 1534, (part), 1990)