Cal. PUC § 16485
This is the official text of Cal. PUC § 16485, part of California’s Public Utilities Code — regulates utilities such as electricity, gas, water, and transportation carriers.
Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
Official statutory text
(a) A public utility district which acquires, constructs, owns, operates, controls or uses works for supplying its inhabitants with electricity, may fix and collect charges in the manner provided in Article 3 (commencing with Section 16461) and Article 8 (commencing with Section 16641), Chapter 4, Division 7 of the Public Utilities Code, for an electricity standby or immediate availability charge on all lands within its boundaries to which electricity is made available for any purpose by the district, whether the electricity is actually used or not.
(b) The board of directors of the districts which fixes such a charge may exempt certain classes of users from such a charge and may establish schedules varying the charges in different months and in different localities within a public utility district depending upon factors such as the uses to which the electricity is put, the cost of transmitting the electricity to the user, the degree of availability or quantity of use of such electricity. The board may not, however, fix an annual charge in excess of twenty dollars ($20) per acre or in excess of ten dollars ($10) for a parcel of less than one acre.
(c) Any funds derived from the charges levied pursuant to this section may be used by the district for all purposes which a public utility district is authorized to expend funds insofar as these purposes relate to the acquisition, construction, operation, control, or use of works for supplying its inhabitants with electricity.
(b) The board of directors of the districts which fixes such a charge may exempt certain classes of users from such a charge and may establish schedules varying the charges in different months and in different localities within a public utility district depending upon factors such as the uses to which the electricity is put, the cost of transmitting the electricity to the user, the degree of availability or quantity of use of such electricity. The board may not, however, fix an annual charge in excess of twenty dollars ($20) per acre or in excess of ten dollars ($10) for a parcel of less than one acre.
(c) Any funds derived from the charges levied pursuant to this section may be used by the district for all purposes which a public utility district is authorized to expend funds insofar as these purposes relate to the acquisition, construction, operation, control, or use of works for supplying its inhabitants with electricity.
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
Need a lawyer in California?
Find a California lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the
Open US Law dataset
(Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine
(Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.