Virginia Administrative Code › Title 20 - PUBLIC UTILITIES AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS › Agency 5 - STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION › Chapter 305 - RULES FOR ELECTRICITY AND NATURAL GAS SUBMETERING AND FOR ENERGY ALLOCATION EQUIPMENT › Section 20VAC5-305-10 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
Certain words as used in this chapter shall be understood to
				  have the following meaning:
"Apartment house" means a building or buildings with the
				  primary purpose of residential occupancy containing more than two dwelling
				  units all of which are rented primarily for nontransient use, with rental paid
				  at intervals of one week or longer. Apartment house includes residential
				  condominiums and cooperatives whether rented or owner-occupied.
"Building" means all of the individual units served through
				  the same utility-owned meter within an apartment house, office building, or
				  shopping center as defined in this section.
"Campground" means and includes but is not limited to a
				  travel trailer camp, recreation camp, family campground, camping resort,
				  camping community, or any other area, place, parcel, or tract of land, by
				  whatever name called, on which three or more campsites are occupied or intended
				  for occupancy, or facilities are established or maintained, wholly or in part,
				  for the accommodation of camping units for periods of overnight or longer,
				  whether the use of the campsites and facilities is granted gratuitously, or by
				  rental fee, lease, or conditional sale, or by covenants, restrictions, and
				  easements. "Campground" does not include a summer camp, migrant labor camp, or
				  park for mobile homes as defined in §§ 32.1-203 and 35.1-1 of the Code of
				  Virginia, or a construction camp, storage area for unoccupied camping units, or
				  property upon which the individual owner may choose to camp and not be
				  prohibited or encumbered by covenants, restrictions, and conditions from
				  providing sanitary facilities within the individual owner's property
				  lines.
"Campsite" means and includes any plot of ground within a
				  campground used or intended for occupation by the camping unit.
"Commission" means the State Corporation Commission of
				  Virginia.
"Dwelling" means a room or rooms suitable for occupancy as a
				  residence containing kitchen and bathroom facilities.
"Energy allocation equipment" means any device, other than
				  submetering equipment, used to determine approximate electric or natural gas
				  usage for any dwelling unit, nonresidential rental unit, or campsite within an
				  apartment house, office building, shopping center, or campground.
"Energy unit" means the billing units for energy delivered to
				  the master-metered customer. For electricity, the units are generally kilowatt
				  hours (Kwh). For natural gas, the units are generally therms, but may be
				  dekatherms (Dth), cubic feet (cf), hundreds of cubic feet (Ccf), or thousands
				  of cubic feet (Mcf).
"Master meter" means a meter used to measure for billing
				  purposes, all electric or natural gas usage of an apartment house, office
				  building, shopping center, or campground, including common areas, common
				  facilities, and dwelling or rental units therein.
"Month" or "monthly" means the period between two consecutive
				  meter readings, either actual or estimated, at approximately 30-day
				  intervals.
"Nonresidential rental unit" means a room or rooms in which
				  retail or commercial services, clerical work, or professional duties are
				  carried out.
"Office building" means a building or buildings containing
				  more than two rental units which are rented primarily for retail, commercial,
				  or professional use, with rental paid at intervals of one month or
				  longer.
"Owner" means any owner, operator, or manager of an apartment
				  house, office building, shopping center, or campground engaged in electrical or
				  natural gas submetering or the use of energy allocation equipment.
"Owner-paid areas" means those areas for which the owner
				  bears financial responsibility for energy costs which include but are not
				  limited to areas outside individual residential or nonresidential units or in
				  owner-occupied or - shared areas such as maintenance shops, vacant units,
				  meeting units, meeting rooms, offices, swimming pools, laundry rooms, or model
				  apartments.
"Shopping center" means a building or buildings containing
				  more than two stores which are rented primarily for commercial, retail, or
				  professional use.
"Submeter" means electric energy or natural gas measurement
				  device used in submetering.
"Submetering" means dwelling or rental unit electrical or
				  natural gas direct remetering performed by the owner to measure the tenant's
				  electrical or natural gas usage and to render a bill for such usage.
"Submetering equipment" means equipment used to measure
				  actual electricity or natural gas usage in any dwelling unit, nonresidential
				  rental unit, or campsite when such equipment is not owned or controlled by the
				  electric or natural gas utility serving the apartment house, office building,
				  shopping center, or campground in which the dwelling unit, nonresidential
				  rental unit, or campsite is located.
"Tenant" means the occupant or occupants of a submetered
				  dwelling, rental unit, or campsite.
"Utility" means the supplier of electric service or natural
				  gas service to a master meter.
Statutory Authority
§§ 12.1-13 and 56-245.3 of the Code of Virginia.