Procedural Background
Thirteen years passed between BVES' last general rate case and its June 27, 2008 filing of Application 08-06-034. The application filing was noticed on the Commission Daily Calendar on July 16, 2008. Consistent with Commission Rule 2.6, less than 30 days after notice of filing of the application appeared on the Daily Calendar, on August 13, 2008, the City of Big Bear Lake (the City) filed a protest to the BVES application.1 On August 15, 2008, the Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA) sought and obtained permission to late-file a protest to the BVES application. On November 28, 2008, BVES filed a motion for an interim rate increase to recover the increase in the GSWC costs allocated to BVES in
Decision (D.) 07-11-037. The City and DRA filed responses to BVES' request for interim rate increase on December 5, 2008 and December 8, 2008, respectively.2 On December 2, 2008, a public participation hearing was held in the City.
DRA and Snow Summit served testimony on January 9, 2009.3 Rebuttal testimony was served by BVES on January 9, 2009. Following the submission of testimony, the parties engaged in settlement negotiations via the Commission's Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) procedures. The matter was not resolved through ADR and evidentiary hearings were held from February 23 through February 27, 2009.4 Opening and reply briefs were submitted by DRA, BVES, and Snow Summit on March 18 and 25, respectively.5 After briefs were filed, DRA and BVES engaged in further settlement negotiations. Per Rule 12.1, a settlement conference was noticed and held on April 16, 2009. The resulting Settlement Agreement was executed on May 12, 2009 and BVES and DRA (the Settling Parties) filed a motion to approve the settlement pursuant to Rule 12.1 on May 13, 2009. On June 12, 2009, Snow Summit filed its opposition to the joint motion to approve the settlement (Opposition to Settlement).
1 Unless otherwise noted, all references to Rules refer to the California Public Utilities Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure.
2 In D.09-06-010, we granted BVES authority to establish a memorandum account to track some of its unrecovered costs related to the allocation set forth in D.07-11-037.
3 Snow Summit, Inc., a company that operates two ski resorts in Big Bear Lake, submitted a motion requesting party status on December 4, 2008. This request was granted on December 15, 2008.
4 During the hearings, a stipulation between DRA and BVES was presented on various issues. The settlement subsumes the stipulation between the parties.
5 The City filed a "closing" brief on March 25, 2009.
