A. The Public Advocate shall submit its budget recommendations as part of the unified current services budget legislation in accordance with Title 5, sections 1663 to 1665. The assessments and expenditures provided in this section are subject to legislative approval. The Public Advocate shall make an annual report of its planned expenditures for the year and on its use of funds in the previous year. The Public Advocate may also receive other funds as appropriated by the Legislature.

B. The Public Advocate may use the revenues provided in accordance with this section to fund the Public Advocate and 9 employees and to defray the costs incurred by the Public Advocate pursuant to this Title, including administrative expenses, general expenses, consulting fees and all other reasonable costs incurred to administer this Title.

C-1. Except as specified in this subsection, funds that are not expended at the end of a fiscal year do not lapse but must be carried forward to be expended for the purposes specified in this section in succeeding fiscal years; but, with the exception of funds carried forward from fiscal year 1996-97 to fiscal year 1997-98 and with the exception of funds carried forward at the end of fiscal year 2000-01 and fiscal year 2001-02 for use in the following fiscal year, unexpended funds in excess of 10% of the total annual assessment authorized in this section must, at the option of the Public Advocate, either be presented to the Legislature in accordance with paragraph A for reallocation and expenditure or used to reduce the utility assessment in the following fiscal year. In the case of funds carried forward from fiscal year 1996-97 to fiscal year 1997-98 and funds carried forward from fiscal year 2000-01 and fiscal year 2001-02 for use in the following fiscal year, 100% of these funds may be expended for the purposes specified in this section.

D. Any utility, subject to this section, that willfully fails to pay the assessments in accordance with this section commits a civil violation for which a forfeiture of not more than $500 may be adjudged per day for which payment is not made following the due date.

E.__For water utilities that do not have a customer metering