CHAPTER 1. General Provisions and Definitions

Chapter 1 enacted by Stats. 1951, Ch. 764.

§§ 201–248 · 65 sections

§ 201 This part may be cited as the “Public Utilities Act.”
§ 202 Neither this part nor any provision thereof, except when specifically so stated, shall apply to commerce with foreign nations or to interstate commerce, except…
§ 203 Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions and general provisions set forth in this chapter govern the construction of this part.
§ 204 “Corporation” includes a corporation, a company, an association, and a joint stock association.
§ 205 “Person” includes an individual, a firm, and a copartnership.
§ 206 As used in this chapter “person” and “corporation” include the lessees, trustees, receivers or trustees appointed by any court whatsoever, of the person or…
§ 207 “Public or any portion thereof” means the public generally, or any limited portion of the public, including a person, private corporation, municipality, or…
§ 208 “Transportation of persons” includes every service in connection with or incidental to the safety, comfort, or convenience of the person transported and the…
§ 209 “Transportation of property” includes every service in connection with or incidental to the transportation of property, including in particular its receipt,…
§ 210 “Rates” includes rates, fares, tolls, rentals, and charges, unless the context indicates otherwise.
§ 211 “Common carrier” means every person and corporation providing transportation for compensation to or for the public or any portion thereof, except as otherwise…
§ 212 (a) “Common carrier” shall not include: (1) Any corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any vessel, by reason of the furnishing of…
§ 214.5 With respect to a motor vehicle used in the transportation of passengers for compensation by a passenger stage corporation, “owner” means the corporation or…
§ 215 “Between fixed termini or over a regular route” means the termini or route between which, or over which any passenger stage corporation usually or ordinarily…
§ 215.6 “Food products for human consumption” means articles used for human food or drink and articles used as components of any of those articles.
§ 215.7 “Nonfood product” means any article, material, substance, or product which is not food.
§ 216 (a) (1) “Public utility” includes every common carrier, toll bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone…
§ 216.2 Notwithstanding Section 216, “public utility” does not include a motor carrier of property.
§ 216.4 “Cable television corporation” shall mean any corporation or firm which transmits television programs by cable to subscribers for a fee.
§ 216.6 “Cogeneration” means the sequential use of energy for the production of electrical and useful thermal energy. The sequence can be thermal use followed by power…
§ 216.8 “Commercial mobile radio service” means “commercial mobile service,” as defined in subsection (d) of Section 332 of Title 47 of the United States Code and as…
§ 217 “Electric plant” includes all real estate, fixtures and personal property owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate the…
§ 218 (a) “Electrical corporation” includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any electric plant for compensation within this…
§ 218.3 (a) “Electric service provider” means an entity that offers electrical service to customers within the service territory of an electrical corporation and…
§ 218.5 (a) The following terms have the following meanings: (1) “Exempt wholesale generator” has the same meaning as defined in the Public Utility Holding Company Act…
§ 219 “Express corporation” includes every corporation or person engaged in or transacting the business of transporting any freight, merchandise, or other property…
§ 220 “Freight forwarder” means any corporation or person who for compensation undertakes the collection and shipment of property of others, and as consignor or…
§ 221 “Gas plant” includes all real estate, fixtures, and personal property, owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate the…
§ 222 “Gas corporation” includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any gas plant for compensation within this state, except…
§ 222.5 “Golden State Energy” means the nonprofit public benefit corporation that is incorporated and operating pursuant to Division 1.7 (commencing with Section 3400).
§ 223 “Heating plant” includes all real estate, fixtures, and personal property owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate the…
§ 224 “Heat corporation” includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any heating plant for compensation within this state,…
§ 224.2 “Landfill gas technology” means the process of extraction of gas or gaseous compounds from sanitary landfill areas which gas or compound was generated as a…
§ 224.3 “Local publicly owned electric utility” means a municipality or municipal corporation operating as a “public utility” furnishing electric service as provided…
§ 224.4 (a) “Mobile data service” means the delivery of nonvoice information to a mobile device and includes nonvoice information communicated to a mobile telephony…
§ 224.6 “Motor carrier of property” means a motor carrier of property as defined in Section 34601 of the Vehicle Code.
§ 224.8 “Network railroad transportation” means railroad transportation that is subject to the jurisdiction of the federal Surface Transportation Board pursuant to…
§ 225 “Passenger stage” includes every stage, auto stage, or other motor vehicle used in the transportation of persons, or persons and their baggage or express, or…
§ 226 (a) “Passenger stage corporation” includes every corporation or person engaged as a common carrier, for compensation, in the ownership, control, operation, or…
§ 227 “Pipe line” includes all real estate, fixtures, and personal property, owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate the…
§ 228 “Pipeline corporation” includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any pipeline for compensation within this state.…
§ 229 “Railroad” includes every commercial, interurban, and other railway, other than a street railroad, and each branch or extension thereof, by whatsoever power…
§ 230 “Railroad corporation” includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any railroad for compensation within this State.
§ 230.3 “Service area,” for purposes of the operations of a telephone corporation, means a local access and transport area as defined and approved by the United States…
§ 230.5 “Sewer system” includes all real estate, fixtures, and personal property owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate sewage…
§ 230.6 “Sewer system corporation” includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any sewer system for compensation within this state.
§ 231 “Street railroad” includes every railway, and each branch or extension thereof, by whatsoever power operated, being mainly upon, along, above or below any…
§ 232 “Street railroad corporation” includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any street railroad for compensation within this…
§ 233 “Telephone line” includes all conduits, ducts, poles, wires, cables, instruments, and appliances, and all other real estate, fixtures, and personal property…
§ 234 (a) “Telephone corporation” includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any telephone line for compensation within this…
§ 235 “Telegraph line” includes all conduits, ducts, poles, wires, cables, instruments, and appliances, and all other real estate, fixtures, and personal property…
§ 236 “Telegraph corporation” includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any telegraph line for compensation within this State.
§ 237 “Toll-bridge corporation” includes every private corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any bridge or appurtenance thereto, used for…
§ 237.5 “Transportation electrification” means the use of electricity from external sources of electrical power, including the electrical grid, for all or part of…
§ 238 (a) “Vessel” includes every species of watercraft, by whatsoever power operated, which is owned, controlled, operated or managed for public use in the…
§ 239 (a) (1) “Voice over Internet Protocol” or “VoIP” means voice communications service that does all of the following: (A) Uses Internet Protocol or a successor…
§ 240 “Water system” includes all reservoirs, tunnels, shafts, dams, dikes, headgates, pipes, flumes, canals, structures, and appliances, and all other real estate,…
§ 241 “Water corporation” includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any water system for compensation within this State.
§ 242 (a) The commission and Energy Commission shall collaborate to develop and maintain a list of community-based organizations to help ensure adequate public…
§ 243 This part shall not release or waive any right of action by the State, the commission, or any person or corporation for any right, penalty, or forfeiture which…
§ 244 No transit district, common carrier, or publicly owned transit system shall require any person to waive, limit, or qualify any right to recover damages for…
§ 246 A person or corporation shall not be a public utility subject to the jurisdiction, control and regulation of the commission and the provisions of this part…
§ 247 Any provision of this part that is in conflict with the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, (47 U.S.C. Sec. 332(c)(3)) shall not apply to commercial mobile…
§ 247.1 (a) The Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act (Public Law 106-252) was enacted for the purpose of establishing nationwide uniform sourcing rules for the…
§ 248 Any provision of the Public Utilities Act that is in conflict with the railroad provisions of Part A of Subtitle 4 of Title 49 of the United States Code shall…