2. Discussion

The Joint Utilities ask that the Commission modify D.98-07-097 to eliminate the criterion requiring reports for incidents that "involve or allegedly involve trees or other vegetation in the vicinity of power lines and result in fire and/or personal injury whether or not in-patient hospitalization is required." Such incidents are generally referred to as "vegetation-related incidents."

The other reporting criteria in D.98-07-097, Appendix B, would remain unchanged. Utilities would continue to report and provide written accounts for utility incidents that: (1) result in fatality or personal injury requiring in-patient hospitalization; (2) are the subject of significant public attention or media coverage, and (3) involve damage to property of the utility or others estimated to exceed $20,000.

2.1 Eliminating Minor Vegetation-Related Incidents

Eliminating the requirement to report all vegetation-related incidents, regardless of how small, will not eliminate reports of major incidents where trees come in contact with power lines and cause fires, injuries, property damage or outages. According to Joint Applicants, eliminating the small vegetation-related incidents (e.g., fires with little or no property damage and no significant injuries or media attention) will focus the attention of both the utility and the Commission on significant incidents that do involve major injuries, significant property damage or considerable public attention.

In 2004, the utilities reported 259 electric incidents. The following table shows the number that met each of the four reporting criteria in D.98-07-097, Appendix B:

2004 Electric Incidents Pursuant to Existing Reporting Criteria

Criteria	Number of Incidents
Personal Injury or Fatality	18	16	5	39
Newsworthy Event	43	4	1	48
Property Damage	14	1	18	33
Vegetation-Related	110	8	21	139
TOTALS	185	29	45	259

Based on declarations attached to the application and summarized above, there were 139 vegetation-related incidents, representing more than half the incidents for all of 2004. The majority of these incident fires were small and involved no associated property damage. For example, PG&E found that most of the reported fires were fewer than 1,000 square feet (about the size of a small office) and were the result of privately owned trees or tree branches found outside the utility right-of-way that fell into the lines.

Of the 139 vegetation-related incidents reported in 2004, five of the most significant incidents previously reported as tree-caused fires would still have been reportable under the remaining criteria - personal injury or fatality, newsworthy event or significant property damage. (See table below.)

2004 Electric Reportable Incidents

Criteria	Existing			Using Proposed Criterion			Change
	PG&E	SCE	SDG&E	PG&E	SCE	SDG&E	PG&E	SCE	SDG&E
Personal Injury or Fatality	18	16	5	19	17	5	1	1	0
Newsworthy Event	43	4	1	44	4	1	1	0	0
Property Damage	14	1	18	16	1	18	2	0	0
Vegetation-Related	110	8	21	0	0	0	---	---	---
Totals	185	29	45	79	22	24	4	1	0

Joint Applicants argue that this distillation would allow both the utilities and the Commission to focus on those incidents that cause the most significant impact on utility operations, customer service and greatest media or public attention.

2.2. Authority to Investigate Any Utility Incident

The California Constitution vests in the Commission exclusive power and authority with respect to "all matters cognate and germane to the regulation of public utilities." (Cal. Const., Art. XII, § 5; Pacific Tel. & Tel. v. Eshleman (1913) 166 Cal. 640, 652-660.) As the Commission has noted:

The California Constitution gives the state Legislature "plenary power...to confer...authority and jurisdiction upon the commission...." (Cal. Const. Art. XII, § 5.) And the state Legislature in turn has granted broad authority to the Commission to regulate utilities. The Commission is authorized by statue to "do all things...which are necessary and convenient in the exercise of its power. (Public Utilities Code § 701.) (Re Rules, Procedures and Practices Applicable to Transmission Lines Not Exceeding 200 Kilowatts, D.94-06-014, 55 CPUC2d 87, 95.)

Both the Commission and the California courts have repeatedly reaffirmed the Commission's exclusive jurisdiction over public utility facilities and operations. "[S]uch matters as the location of lines, their electrical and structural adequacy, their safety, and their meeting of the needs of the public within this state are clearly, by law, subject to the jurisdiction of this Commission." (55 CPUC2d at 95, citing Duncan v. PG&E (1965) 61 PUR3d 388, 394.) Even in the absence of specific utility incident reporting requirements for vegetation-related incidents, the Commission retains plenary authority to investigate any utility accident that poses a risk to public safety and system reliability.

We agree with Joint Applicants that regardless of any change in the reporting criteria, the Commission would retain its statutory authority to investigate any incident, including, for example, the power to subpoena witnesses (Pub. Util. Code § 311), to require production of documents (§ 313), to conduct audits (§ 314.5) and to investigate accidents (§ 315).

Accordingly, we agree that it is not necessary that accident reporting criteria described in Appendix B of D.98-07-097 require reports of every possible vegetation-related fire. The Commission may, in the reasonable exercise of its discretion, elect to narrow the scope of the accident reporting requirements to focus on those accidents that present the greatest potential risk to public and worker safety and utility system reliability. Yet, even with slightly narrowed reporting criteria, the Commission will retain full authority to investigate any incident with data request, site visits and other means.

Moreover, we agree that reporting relatively minor vegetation-related incidents are unnecessarily wasteful of utility and Commission staff and resources. Since the Commission will continue to receive reports of significant vegetation incidents under the remaining criteria and since the Commission retains authority to investigate any utility accident, the requested relief is sensible and is supported by our Energy Division staff.