2. Background
On September 3, 2010, Ms. Epps tendered to the Commission's Docket Office a petition for modification of Decision (D.) D.06-07-027 and D.09-03-027. The Docket Office rejected the pleading, requesting that the Applicant re-file this matter as an application for modification.1
After the correction of some technical errors, the Application of Heather Epps for Modification of D.06-07-027 and D.09-03-026 (Application) received a filing date of September 17, 2010. The Application characterized Pacific Gas and Electric Company's (PG&E) Smart Meter upgrade as a "$500,000,000 mistake" resulting from "lack of proper testing and research before implementing Smart Meters."2 The Application requested "that [the Commission] ... shift all costs related to the Smart Meter program ... onto PG&E and its investors."3
PG&E filed Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Protest to the Application of Heather Epps for Modification of D.06-07-027 and D.09-03-026 (PG&E Protest) on October 27, 2010. The PG&E Protest argued that the Application "mischaracterizes the reasons for PG&E's technology upgrade and fails to provide any declaration of facts that would warrant a modification of PG&E's Smart Meter decisions."4 PG&E requested "that the [Commission] dismiss the Application."5
On November 5, 2010, the Commission received the Reply to Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Protest to the Application of Heather Epps for Modification of D.06-07-027 and D.09-03-026 (Applicant's Reply). The Applicant's Reply disputed PG&E's arguments and asserted that there are "sufficient new facts to warrant modification of the decisions at issue."6
1 The Rules of Practice and Procedure (Rules) state at Rule 16.4 that "... a petition for modification must be filed and served within one year of the effective date of the decision proposed to be modified. If more than one year has elapsed, the petition must also explain why the petition could not have been presented within one year of the effective date of the decision." With the passage of time, a request for changes in a decision is viewed as a new application.
2 Application at 1.
3 Id.
4 PG&E Protest at 1-2.
5 Id. at 2.
6 Applicant's Reply at 7.
