6. Reasonableness of Requested Compensation

TURN requests $246,368.73¹⁸ for its participation in these proceeding, as follows:¹⁹

Attorney/Staff Work on D.05-04-024 (R.04-04-025)
Attorney/Staff	Year	Hours	Hourly Rate	Total
Michel P. Florio	2004	9.25	$470	$4,347.50
Michel P. Florio	2005	0.75	$470	$352.50
Hayley Goodson	2004	.50	$190	$95.00
Hayley Goodson	2005	2.75	$190	$522.50
William Marcus	2004	19.50	$195	$3,802.50
William Marcus (travel)	2004	4.00	$97.50	$390.00
Jeff Nahigian	2004	4.25	$140	$595.00
Cynthia Mitchell	2004	18.00	$115	$2,070.00
Cynthia Mitchell	2005	4.50	$140	$630.00
Nina Suetake	2004	1.50	$190	$285.00
Subtotal		65.00		$13,090.00

Attorney/Staff Work on D.06-06-063 (R.04-04-025)
Attorney/Staff	Year	Hours	Hourly Rate	Total
Michel P. Florio	2006	.50	$485	$242.50
Marcel Hawiger	2005	1.75	$270	$472.50
Hayley Goodson	2005	9.25	$190	$1,757.50
Hayley Goodson	2006	57.25	$195	$11,163.75
William Marcus	2006	21.42	$220	$4,712.40
William Marcus (travel)	2006	8.00	$110	$880.00
Cynthia Mitchell	2005	28.00	$140	$3,920.00
Cynthia Mitchell (travel)	2005	3.00	$70.00	$210.00
Cynthia Mitchell	2006	99.00	$140	$13,860.00
Cynthia Mitchell (travel)	2006	3.00	$70.00	$210.00
Subtotal		231.17		$37,428.65

Attorney/Staff Work on D.08-01-006 (R.04-04-025)
Attorney/Staff	Year	Hours	Hourly Rate	Total
Hayley Goodson	2007	7.25	$210	$1,522.50
Cynthia Mitchell	2007	6.25	$140	$875.00
Subtotal		13.50		$2,397.50

Preparation of NOI and Compensation Request (R.04-04-025)
Attorney/Staff	Year	Hours	Hourly Rate	Total
Michel P. Florio	2004	1.00	$235	$235.00
Hayley Goodson	2007	3.50	$105	$367.50
Hayley Goodson	2008	32.00	$140	$4,480.00
Subtotal		36.50		$5,082.50

Expenses
Consultant Travel	$464.97
Consultant Lodging	$534.95
Photocopying Expenses	$153.87
Auto, Parking and Tolls	$134.40
Postage	$2.13
Subtotal	$1,290.32
Total Requested Compensation for R.04-04-025	$59,288.97

Attorney/Staff Work on D.06-02-032 (R.04-04-003)
Attorney/Staff	Year	Hours	Hourly Rate	Total
Michel P. Florio	2005	2.50	$470	$1,175.00
Michel P. Florio	2006	0.75	$485	$363.75
Robert Finkelstein	2005	2.50	$395	$987.50
Marcel Hawiger	2005	.75	$270	$202.50
Marcel Hawiger	2006	3.00	$280	$840.00
Matthew Freedman	2005	7.50	$270	$2,025.00
Matthew Freedman	2006	10.75	$280	$3,010.00
Hayley Goodson	2004	.25	$190	$47.50
Hayley Goodson	2005	39.00	$190	$7,410.00
Hayley Goodson	2006	3.50	$195	$682.50
Nina Suetake	2005	44.00	$190	$8,360.00
William Marcus	2005	1.33	$210	$279.30
William Steinhurst	2005	17.75	$180	$3,195.00
Bruce Biewald	2005	4.50	$180	$810.00
Cynthia Mitchell	2004	1.00	$115	$115.00
Cynthia Mitchell	2005	61.50	$140	$8,610.00
Cynthia Mitchell (travel)	2005	6.00	$70	$420.00
Subtotal		205.58		$38,533.05

Attorney/Staff Work on D.05-12-022 (R.04-04-003)
Attorney/Staff	Year	Hours	Hourly Rate	Total
Michel P. Florio	2005	8.25	$470	$3,877.50
Robert Finkelstein	2005	.50	$395	$197.50
Subtotal		8.75		$4,075.00

Attorney/Staff Work on D.06-07-032 (R.04-04-003)
Attorney/Staff	Year	Hours	Hourly Rate	Total
Michel P. Florio	2006	5.75	$485	$2,788.75
Matthew Freedman	2006	1.75	$280	$490.00
Subtotal		7.50		$3,278.75

Attorney/Staff Work on D.07-09-040 (R.04-04-003)
Attorney/Staff	Year	Hours	Hourly Rate	Total
Michel P. Florio	2004	5.75	$470	$2,702.50
Michel P. Florio	2005	76.50	$470	$35,955.00
Michel P. Florio	2006	52.50	$485	$25,462.50
Michel P. Florio	2007	43.25	$520	$22,490.00
Robert Finkelstein	2005	.25	$395	$ 98.75
Matthew Freedman	2004	7.50	$270	$2,025.00
Matthew Freedman	2006	3.75	$280	$1,050.00
Hayley Goodson	2006	1.25	$195	$243.75
William Marcus	2004	4.33	$195	$844.35
William Marcus	2005	25.17	$210	$5,285.70
William Marcus (travel)	2005	4.00	$105.00	$420.00
William Marcus	2006	8.50	$220	$1,870.00
William Marcus (travel)	2006	4.00	$110	$440.00
William Marcus	2007	1.17	$235	$274.95
Greg Ruszovan	2005	13.05	$155	$2,022.75
Kevin Woodruff	2004	9.00	$200	$1,800.00
Kevin Woodruff	2005	6.50	$200	$1,300.00
Subtotal		266.47		$104,285.25

Attorney/Staff Work on D.08-07-048 (R.04-04-003)
Attorney/Staff	Year	Hours	Hourly Rate	Total
Michel P. Florio	2007	2.75	$520	$1,430.00
Subtotal		2.75		$1,430.00

Attorney/Staff Work on D.08-09-024 (R.04-04-003)
Attorney/Staff	Year	Hours	Hourly Rate	Total
Michel P. Florio	2007	21.75	$520	$11,310.00
Michel P. Florio	2008	10.50	$535	$5,617.50
Subtotal		32.25		$16,927.50
Attorney/Staff Work Mohave - MACS (R.04-04-003)
Attorney/Staff	Year	Hours	Hourly Rate	Total
James Helmich	2005	51.00	$160	$8,160.00
Subtotal		51.00		$8,160.00

Preparation of NOI and Compensation Request (R.04-04-003)
Attorney/Staff	Year	Hours	Hourly Rate	Total
Michel P. Florio	2007	3.00	$260.00	$780.00
Michel P. Florio	2008	21.75	$267.50	$5,818.13
Nina Suetake	2008	4.00	$112.50	$450.00
Subtotal		28.75		$7,048.13

Expenses
Consultant Travel	$825.30
Consultant Lodging	$197.93
Photocopying Expenses	$565.20
Auto, Parking and Tolls	$237.10
Postage	$41.34
Phone & Fax	$85.22
Subtotal	$1952.09
Total Requested Compensation for R.04-04-003	$185,689.77

In general, the components of this request must constitute reasonable fees and costs of the customer's preparation for and participation in a proceeding that resulted in a substantial contribution. The issues we consider to determine reasonableness are discussed below.

6.1. Hours and Costs Related to and Necessary for Substantial Contribution

We first assess whether the hours claimed for the customer's efforts that resulted in substantial contributions to Commission decisions are reasonable by determining to what degree the hours and costs are related to the work performed and necessary for the substantial contribution.

TURN documented its claimed hours by presenting a daily breakdown of the hours of its attorneys, accompanied by a brief description of each activity. In general, the hourly breakdown reasonably supports the claim for total hours with the exception of the hours claimed for the Mohave work and travel that we consider routine.

We note that TURN's request for compensation (at 37-39) does not show travel time, while consultant's timesheets reflect travel. On page 42 of the Request for Compensation, TURN explains that in its timesheets the consultant's time spent on travel has been reduced by 50%, to achieve the arithmetic result as billing at one-half of the regular hourly rate. We remind TURN that timesheets shall reflect "time records of hours worked" (Rule 17.4(b) of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure), or actual time, not reduced in half. Monetary claims should be itemized so that travel time does not appear as time associated with the merits of the proceeding, as TURN did in this request.

Marcus's timesheets in R.04-04-003 show several trips to and from
San Francisco: On December 13 and 14, 2005, to attend settlement negotiations, and February 2, 2006, to attend a hearing. His timesheets in R.04-04-025 also show travels to and from San Francisco, to attend workshops: on June 30 -
July 1, 2004, January 24, 2006, and March 14, 2006. Unfortunately, his timesheet's travel-related entries improperly combine travel time with other activities, such as attending negotiations, hearings, or workshops, which violates the provisions of Rule 17.4(b)(2) of the Rules of Practice and Procedure. In order to separate travel time from professional activities, we assume that one-way trip between JBS Energy's offices in West Sacramento and San Francisco takes approximately
two hours. We consider travel within the radius of approximately 120 miles (one way) to and from San Francisco as routine and not compensable. Based on our assumption that his travel between his office and the Commission is approximately two hours long, for each four actual hours of travel we deducted two hours from Marcus's professional time. The results are reflected in the corrected claim in the previous tables. Here we disallow as routine Marcus's travel time, at half hourly rate. A table below summarizes these steps:

Proceeding	Year	Detail	Hours Deducted from the requested professional hours at full hourly rate	Disallowed travel hours at half hourly rate
R.04-04-003	2005	Round trip in December	2.00	4.00
R.04-04-003	2006	Round trip in February	2.00	4.00
R.04-04-025	2004	Round trip June 30-July 1st	2.00	4.00
R.04-04-025	2006	Round trip in January and March	4.00	8.00

Consultant Mitchell's timesheets also reflect several trips between Reno, Nevada, and San Francisco, and report only half the actual travel hours, while in the request her travel time is not designated. In the request table (above) and in our award, we designate her actual travel hours, at half her hourly rate.

We also note that although the number of hours claimed for preparation of the compensation request are higher than we typically find, they are reasonable give the number of decisions covered in the request.

6.2. Intervenor Hourly Rates

We next take into consideration whether the claimed fees and costs are comparable to the market rates paid to experts and advocates having comparable training and experience and offering similar services. TURN seeks the following previously approved rates:

Attorney	Work Year	Rate	Reference
Robert Finkelstein	2005	$395	D.05-12-038
Michel Florio	2004 2005 2006 2007 2008	$470 $470 $485 $520 $535	D.05-12-038 D.06-07-011 D.06-11-039 D.08-03-012 D.08-07-043
Hayley Goodson	2004 2005 2006 2007 2008	$190 $190 $195 $210 $280	D.05-01-007 D.06-02-016 D.07-17-026 D.07-12-026 D.08-08-037
Marcel Hawiger	2005 2006	$270 $280	D.06-04-029 D.07-12-026
Nina Suetake	2004 2005 2008	$190 $190 $225	D.06-04-065 D.06-04-065 D.08-11-053
Matthew Freedman	2004 2005 2006	$270 $270 $280	D.05-06-049 D.06-04-029 D.07-12-026

Consultant	Work Year	Rate	Reference
Bill Marcus	2004 2005 2006 2007	$195 $210 $220 $235	D.05-03-016 D.06-04-029 D.07-05-043 D.08-11-027
Cynthia K. Mitchell	2004 2005 2006 2007	$115 $140 $140 $140	D.05-01-007 D.06-02-016 D.07-17-040 D.07-17-040
Jeff Nahigian	2004	$140	D.05-04-031
Greg Ruszovan	2005	$155	D.06-10-018
James Helmich	2005	$160	D.06-10-018
Kevin Woodruff	2004 2005	$200 $200	D.04-08-042 D.06-07-011
Bruce Biewald20	2005	$180	D.07-06-031

TURN also asks us to set the year 2005 hourly rate for Steinhurst. Steinhurst's year 2004 hourly rate was set at $150 in D.06-06-057, and his 2006 hourly rate was set at $180 in D.07-06-031. TURN requests an hourly rate of $180 for Steinhurst's year 2005 work. In support of this request, TURN states that were the Commission to merely escalate Steinhurst's approved $150 rate for 2004 by 3% per year pursuant to D.05-11-031, the 2006 rate would be $160 (rounded to the nearest $5). To put this into perspective, TURN notes that the $180 rate requested for Steinhurst's year 2005 work is still in approximately the bottom quartile of the range, even though his credentials and experience would seem to indicate a rate in the upper reaches of the range. TURN submits that under the circumstances this would be unfair and inappropriate, and instead the 2005 rate for Steinhurst should be set at $180.

The guidelines governing the exception to the 3% limit on increases for hourly rates which TURN relies on generally applies "[w]here a representative's last authorized rate is below that of the range of rates shown in the tables [above] for representatives with comparable qualifications."²¹ In D.05-11-031, we adopted a range of $110-$360 for hourly rates for experts in 2005. Thus the prior rate, the prior rate with a 3% increase, and the requested rate are all within the range of rates for representatives with Steinhurst's qualifications. The exception does not seem to provide for increases within a particular range. However, rather than strict adherence to this guideline we have, when contemplating increases under this provision, looked at the totality of circumstances surrounding the request. In D.07-06-031, we were persuaded by "TURN's argument that given his education and experience, Synapse could have charged an even higher rate for Steinhurst and still have a Commission finding of reasonableness." (D.07-06-031 at 20.) Indeed, after acknowledging that this exception is also generally applicable only to work performed in 2005, that Steinhurst performed work in 2004 and 2006 but not in 2005, and that rates for work performed in 2006 and 2007 are addressed in D.07-01-009 (which did not include this specific condition for adjusting rates for either of those years) we approved the requested 2006 hourly rate of $180 for Steinhurst.

Here, we note that the rates at issue are for work done in 2005 and so the exception provided for in D.05-11-031 is more relevant. Moreover, as was the case in D.07-06-031, we are persuaded by TURN's argument that given his education and experience, Synapse [Steinhurst's employer] could have charged an even higher rate for Steinhurst and still have a Commission finding of reasonableness. (D.07-06-031 at 20.) However, irrespective of Steinhurst's impressive credentials, we believe that experience gained by practicing at the California Public Utilities Commission allows even the most experienced practitioner to better contribute to our decision making process. In short, we believe Steinhurst's 2006 work benefitted from the work he did with us in 2005 and that this improvement should be reflected in his hourly rate. With these considerations in mind, we find an hourly rate of $175 per hour for 2005 to be reasonable for Steinhurst.

Consultant	Work Year	Rate	Reference
William Steinhurst	2004 2005 2006	$150 $175 $180	D.06-06-057 Approved D.07-06-031

6.3. Direct Expenses

TURN seeks reimbursement for direct expenses as follows:

Consultant Travel	$1,290.27
Consultant Lodging	$732.88
Photocopying Expenses	$719.07
Auto, Parking and Tolls	$371.50
Postage	$43.47
Phone & Fax	$85.22
Subtotal	$3,242.41

This amount includes reimbursements for TURN's work on the Mohave alternatives/Complements Study as follows:

Parking	$20.00
Airport shuttle	$45.00
Airfare	$374.40
Lodging	$197.93
Total	$637.33

As we are denying TURN's compensation request for work on the Mohave Alternatives/Complements Study (without prejudice), we will not include the direct expenses associated with this work the amount of $637.33 in TURN's compensation award. We also disallow travel expenses related to Marcus's travels to and from San Francisco, as follows: $194.00 (mileage) in R.04-04-003; and $205.25 (mileage) and $37.90 (parking and tolls) in R.04-04-025. The remaining amount of $2,167.93 is consistent with the total amount of TURN's claim and the number of proceedings to which TURN has substantially contributed. We therefore find TURN's requested award, as modified, to be reasonable.

¹⁸ In the tables below we correct, where necessary, TURN's calculation errors. Our corrections bring different results than those requested by TURN: it is $59,288.97 in R.04-04-025, $185,689.77 in R.04-04-003, and $244,978.74 for the whole claim. We also separate travel hours, in accordance with TURN's timesheets and the actual travel time, as explained in more detail in Section 6.1 of the decision.

¹⁹ TURN's correspondence of August 31 and September 2, 2009, provided breakdown of the requested amount by decisions.

²⁰ The hours claimed for Biewald are set forth in Appendix A to the Request as work initiated by Schissel. Compensation for these hours was not sought by Schlissel.

²¹ In relevant part, section 2 in D.05-11-031 provides: "Where a representative's last authorized rate is below that of the range of rates shown in the tables above for representatives with comparable qualifications, an increase is reasonable to bring the representatives rate to at least the bottom level of the rate range. Here, we have in mind certain representatives who have historically sought rates at or below the low end of the range of rates for their peers [footnote omitted]. We emphasize, however, that for any given level of qualifications, there will always be a range of rates in the market, so this increase is intended to narrow but not necessarily eliminate perceived disparities."