MOBILE HOME UTILITY PROGRAM BENEFITS PARK OWNERS AND RESIDENTS, BUT AT WHAT COST?

By Mike Allen

Photo: Barbara Kimbler, Shady Lane manager

January 14, 2016 (San Diego) -- A statewide utility upgrade program aimed at giving mobile home owners improved service and replacing old and defective gas pipelines and electric power lines benefits both park owners and tenants, but the considerable cost for the project, yet unknown, will be borne by the ratepayers of the eight investor-owned utilities participating in the program.

The impetus for the three-year pilot program that began last year is replacing aging and deteriorating gas and electrical lines at most mobile home parks, systems that haven’t been upgraded in decades, and could cause safety problems if left unattended, say industry sources.

“This is focused on safety and soundness issues that mostly followed the San Bruno explosions,” said Sheila Dey, executive director of the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association, the Sacramento based trade group representing owners of the state’s 5,000 mobile home parks.

In 2010, an explosion of a leaking gas pipeline in the Bay area suburb of San Bruno killed eight residents, injured another 58 people and resulted in extensive damage to the area near San Francisco International Airport.

WMA along with the state’s largest investor-owned utilities, including San Diego Gas & Electric, have been working with the state Public Utilities Commission for three years to devise a way to replace the aging utility lines without the passing the hefty costs on to park owners or the mobile home owners.

The result was Decision 14-03-021, issued in March 2014, a legal framework that established the rules for the voluntary conversion of utility systems from a master meter arrangement to one that delivers power directly to each individual mobile home.

Tim Sheahan, past president of the Golden State Manufactured Home Owners League representing mobile home owners, said the master meter arrangement that exists at most parks was intended to let park owners purchase power at wholesale rates and charge their tenants retail rates. The power bills would be passed on to tenants’ monthly rent bills. The profit margin on the difference for the power was supposed to give park owners the funds needed to maintain the systems and pay for any needed replacements, Sheahan said.

The problem was many park owners let things slide and just added that profit margin to their bottom lines. “They typically pocketed that money and did not make the necessary repairs,” he said.

While the state’s Housing and Community Development Department is responsible for overseeing mobile home parks and the safety of utility lines, the fact is there aren’t sufficient inspectors and many parks were falling through the cracks, Sheahan said.

“Without a hammer forcing them to do (the repairs) lives could be at risk in many of those communities,” Sheahan said.

Especially following the San Bruno disaster, utility companies, park owners and mobile home owners all made a concerted effort to develop some solution to address the issue, he said.

The program’s goal was to convert 10 percent of the mobile homes within the territories of each of the seven utility providers. In the case of San Diego Gas & Electric, the PUC selected 32 parks among an undisclosed number of applicants for the pilot program.

PUC records indicate that one park in Rancho San Marcos had 58 leads.  Another in Chula Vista had 32 leaks. 

Hanan Eisenman, SDG&E spokesman, said the PUC and the state HCD selected the parks for the program and began work last year. Among the criteria used in the process was the age of the gas systems, the material of the pipes, and the size of the systems. He declined to answer whether any of the selected parks contained leaking or damaged pipes, stating that the pipes were the responsibility of the park owners.

“However, we are very proud of our role in this pilot program, and what we are doing to enhance the safety and reliability of natural gas service to mobile home park residents,” Eisenman said.

Shady Lane Trailer Park in El Cajon is one of the first parks accepted to the pilot program in the county to have its power lines replaced, and switched over to direct power delivery last week. It has had three gas leaksreported.

Shirley Watkins, the owner of the 41-space park near Second Street, said the upgrading project will greatly benefit tenants who previously had to be careful about how many appliances they ran at one time due to lower amperage capacity of their trailers or homes.

“Before, they couldn’t watch television and run a lot of things at one time like their air conditioning. If they ran a microwave that would make it pop (blow a fuse),” Watkins said.

Occasionally during the summer blown fuses would trigger a shut down of all the power in some parts of the park, she said. Watkins said the utility systems at her park were regularly maintained, but didn’t say how much was spent over the years. “The electrical system was so old and it became almost impossible to find (replacement) parts for it,” she said.

Not only did the upgrading improve power capacity, it also removed overhead electric lines and came with the addition of five new overhead security lights to improve visibility and security for residents, Watkins said. Because all the tenants are being directly served by SDG&E, they now can take advantage of any energy savings or discount payment programs they were heretofore excluded from, she said.

The tenants were promised their bills would stay close to what they were previously and would not increase because of the upgrades, Watkins said.

Rita Watkins, Shirley’s cousin and owner of Turn In Trailer Park, also in El Cajon and with 38 spaces, said she thought the size and age of her park helped it qualify for the program. The Turn In park has had gas leaks nine times.

The preliminary work began in July, and once construction started took a few months to complete, she said. “It’s way more convenient and easier for the tenants, and easier for the owners, Rita Watkins said. “And all the lights seem to be brighter now,” she said.

Because of the upgrades and the fact that many of the residents are on fixed incomes, they qualified to get newer and more energy appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, and water heaters, Rita Watkins said. “SDG&E has these programs that will replace those older appliances, and are doing other things to conserve energy such as weather proofing windows,” she said.

Jerry Fisher, a San Diego consultant in the mobile home park industry, said from meetings he attended about a San Marcos mobile home park, the rough estimate for upgrading gas and electric lines is about $30,000 a space. However, in many instances the pipe replacement will also trigger added costs if the work involves a required replacement of water and sewer lines, Fisher said.

Basing the costs for a 100-space park and replacing all four utility lines, it could run about $60,000 per space or $6 million for the park, he said.

Questions about the program’s cost directed to the PUC, the CHCD, SDG&E, Southern California Gas, and several trade groups all produced the same answer: Unknown.

“We don’t know what the costs will be,” said Dey of the WMA, the owners trade group. “We only know the estimates for it and that’s cents on the dollar.”

SDG&E stated the costs for pilot program in several communications citing the PUC Decision.

“Program costs for work done in SDG&E’s service area will be funded by all SDG&E customers, per CPUC Decision 14-03-021. The CPUC estimates costs ranging from one-fifth of a penny to 6.3 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity, and from two-fifths of a penny per therm of natural gas,” according to a company question and answer report on the pilot program.

Fisher said there has been little or no publicity about either the potential hazards from aging utility pipelines at most mobile home parks, or the state’s pilot program that addresses a small fraction of the 5,000 parks throughout the state.

“The public has no knowledge whatsoever about this program and the passing of this multi-million dollar situation on to ratepayers,” Fisher said. “The bottom line is they’re not telling the public the whole story, what the true costs will be.”