Request By:
Mr. Robert L. Caummisar
City Attorney
City of Grayson
302 E. Main Street
Grayson, Kentucky 41143
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of October 13, in which you present the following facts and question:
"The Fourth Class City of Grayson operates its own water, sewage and gas distribution utilities. Rates for service, security deposits, tap-fees, rereadings, etc. are set by ordinance. Higher security deposits are required for renters, as opposed to owners of residences.
Our question is as follows:
A renter of a residence leaves the community without paying his utility bill. The renter's security deposit is insufficient to cover the accumulated bill. May the city terminate the service to the residence until the owner of the property pays the arrearage owed by his former tenant."
Our response to your question would be in the negative since the property owner is not the customer in this instance that is contracting for the utility services. Referring to the case of
Commonwealth v. Kentucky Power and Light Company, 257 Ky. 66, 77 S.W.2d 395 (1934), in which the Court cited KRS 278.460 as requiring the utility company to refund service deposits with interest to the customer, the Court said:
". . . In arriving at what the Legislature intended by this act, we must remember that the deposit of the customer was subject at all times to a demand by the customer for its return. The customer, of course, would in that contingency have to cease to be a patron of the company or make other arrangements about securing his bill. . . ." (Emphasis added.)
You will note that the patron or customer required by the utility to make a service deposit is the one responsible for paying the utility bill, whether it be the renter or the property owner. If the ordinance requires the deposit to be made by the renter as in this instance, for utility services, then he alone in our opinion can be held responsible for that portion of the delinquent bill not covered by his deposit fee. Consequently, the owner of the property cannot be held responsible for the delinquent bill of the departed renter by shutting off the utility services to his property until said bill is paid.