2. Background
In Decision (D.) 09-11-006, a settlement agreement of many of the Phase II issues in the 2010 through 2012 cost allocation proceeding of San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) was adopted and approved by the Commission.1 The settlement agreement was attached to D.09-11-006 as Appendix A. As part of that settlement agreement, section II.B.3.M.a provides that SDG&E and SoCalGas "shall file a new cost allocation application no later than September 1, 2011, for rates to be effective January 1, 2013 for the three year period ending on December 31, 2015."
When SDG&E and SoCalGas filed their Test Year 2012 general rate case (GRC) applications in Application (A.) 10-12-005 and A.10-12-006, they proposed a procedural schedule which would have minimized scheduling conflicts with the required filing of the TCAP by no later than September 1, 2011. However, due to the constraints of some of the parties and the overlapping conflict of the GRC applications of SDG&E and SoCalGas with the GRC application of Southern California Edison Company in A.10-11-015, a procedural schedule in the consolidated GRC applications of SDG&E and SoCalGas was adopted on March 2, 2011. The procedural schedule that was adopted in A.10-12-005 and A.10-12-006 creates an overlap with the required filing of the TCAP by no later than September 1, 2011.
On April 14, 2011, the Commission issued D.11-04-032. That decision approved some changes to the open season process for obtaining firm rights on the backbone transmission system of SoCalGas and SDG&E, and also approved the further unbundling of backbone transmission costs. The changes to the open season process are to take effect in the summer of 2011, and the unbundling of the backbone transmission costs is to take effect on October 1, 2011.
On May 19, 2011, SDG&E, SoCalGas, and ten other parties, filed a joint petition for modification of D.09-11-006.2 The petition for modification requests that D.09-11-006 be modified to allow SDG&E and SoCalGas to file the TCAP application by no later than November 1, 2011, rather than the September 1, 2011 date as provided for in the settlement agreement of that decision.3
No responses to the petition for modification were filed.
1 Prior to D.09-11-006, the time period covered by the cost allocation proceeding for SDG&E and SoCalGas was a two year period. Section II.B.3.M of the settlement agreement that was adopted in D.09-11-006, changed the period covered by the cost allocation proceeding to a three-year period or Triennial Cost Allocation Proceeding (TCAP).
2 The ten other parties are as follows: Division of Ratepayer Advocates, Southern California Edison Company, Indicated Producers, Southern California Generation Coalition, City of Long Beach, Southwest Gas Corporation, Watson Cogeneration Company and the California Cogeneration Council, California Manufacturers and Technology Association, and The Utility Reform Network.
3 The petition for modification also set forth the reasons why it was not filed within one year of the effective date of D.09-11-006 as required by Rule 16.4(d) of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure.
