A.    Water service charges to a property shall begin for a preexisting structure when the service applicant of the property notifies the finance director to activate such water service, and shall begin for a new water service at the completion of all the work required in the water connection permit for the property.

    B.    Separate bills will be rendered for each service installation except where the department has, for its own convenience, installed two or more services in place of one. The city council may authorize a bimonthly billing system.

    C.    All water service charges shall be billed to the service applicant.

    D.    Deposits equal to three months of the city average residential water bill may be collected from the service applicant when the service applicant is not the property owner. Deposits shall be based upon the creditworthiness of the service applicant as defined in Section 10009.6(a) and (c) of the State of California Public Utilities Code. Such deposits shall be returned after the service applicant has established a payment history with the city over a twelve-month period with all payments made prior to the ten-day notice date defined in Section 13.04.310 of this chapter. If it is determined that a deposit is required and the service applicant fails to provide such deposit within a reasonable amount of time, the water service may be disconnected without further notice. (Ord. 544 § 3, 1996: prior code § 23-26)