§ 52. Gas, electric and steam service to tenants provided through\nshared meters. 1. Definitions: As used in this section, the following\nterms shall have the following meanings:\n (a) "Owner" means and includes the owner or owners of the freehold of\nthe premises or lesser estate therein, mortgagee or vendee in\npossession, assignee of rents, receiver, executor, trustee, lessee,\nagent, or any other person, firm or corporation, directly or indirectly\nin control of a dwelling.\n (b) "Shared meter" means any utility meter that measures gas, electric\nor steam service provided to a tenant's dwelling and also measures such\nservice to areas outside that dwelling and such tenant pays charges for\nthe service to areas outside the dwelling measured through such meter.\n (c) "Dwelling" means any building or structure or portion thereof\nwhich is occupied in whole or in part as the home, residence or sleeping\nplace of one or more human beings, including any equipment located\noutside such building or structure or portion thereof which is under the\nexclusive use and control of the occupant, and is either rented, leased,\nlet or hired out, to be occupied, or is occupied as the residence or\nhome of one or more human beings.\n (d) "Utility" means any gas, electric and steam corporation and/or\nmunicipality providing service to residential customers.\n (e) "Shared meter customer" means any tenant who rents a dwelling from\nan owner that is served by a shared utility meter for which the tenant,\nrather than the owner, is the utility's customer of record.\n (f) "Extraordinary cost" means the cost, as determined by a qualified\nprofessional, of installing equipment necessary to eliminate a shared\nmeter in a dwelling or portion thereof which is in excess of the amount\nof rent for four months rental of such dwelling. The commission shall\nadopt additional rules for determining extraordinary cost based upon\nwhether the amount of service measured by the shared meter that is\nutilized outside the shared meter customer's dwelling is sufficient to\nwarrant the cost of such installation.\n (g) "Legal impediment" means a restriction which prevents separate\nmetering, rewiring, or repiping due to zoning ordinances which limit the\nnumber or type or location of meters in a building or due to the\nhistorical significance of the structure or such other legal\nrestrictions as determined by the commission in its rules.\n (h) "Shared area charges" means that portion of charges billed to the\nshared meter customer which remains after excluding the estimated\ncharges for service used by the shared meter customer and where\napplicable, a third party, for the period during which the owner\nmaintained a shared meter condition in violation of this section or six\nyears whichever is shorter.\n (i) "Third party involvement" means that a third party whose utility\nservice was to be measured through another meter had caused or\nbenefitted from a shared meter condition.\n 2. Owner's responsibility for service measured through a shared meter.\n(a) An owner shall eliminate any shared meter condition or, in the\nalternative, establish an account in the owner's name for all the shared\narea charges for service measured through a shared meter effective six\nyears prior to the discovery of or determination that a shared meter\ncondition exists, or the first day of the tenancy, or the date the\nshared meter condition began, or the sixtieth day after the owner knew\nor should have known that third party involvement exists, or the date\nthe owner assumed title to the dwelling, whichever is most recent in\ntime and for all future service measured by the shared meter. The\nutility shall, upon an owner's application, open such an account and\nbill the owner for all applicable shared area charges and all future\nservice measured by the shared meter through such account.\n (b) (i) In the event that a legal impediment or extraordinary cost\nprevents elimination of a
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