ALJ/JHE/sid Date of Issuance 9/22/2008
Decision 08-09-039 September 18, 2008
BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Southern California Edison Company's (U 338-E) Application for Approval of Advanced Metering Infrastructure Deployment Activities and Cost Recovery Mechanism. |
Application 07-07-026 (Filed July 31, 2007) |
(See Appendix B for a list of appearances.)
DECISION APPROVING SETTLEMENT ON SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA EDISON COMPANY ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE DEPLOYMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
DECISION APPROVING SETTLEMENT ON SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA EDISON COMPANY ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE DEPLOYMENT 2
1. Summary 2
2. Background 2
3. Late-Filed Exhibits 8
4. TURN Motion to Reopen the Record 9
5. Alliance of Retail Energy Market/Electric Service Provider Issues 11
6. Litigation Positions of Parties 11
7. Standard of Review 14
8. Summary of the DRA/SCE Settlement Agreement and TURN/SCE Stipulations 15
8.1. SCE /TURN Stipulations 19
9. Discussion of Remaining Contested Issues 21
9.1. Cost Effectiveness of the Business Case 22
9.1.1. Use of the Cost-Effectiveness Framework Proposed by Parties to R.07-01-041 22
9.1.2. Programmable Communicating Thermostat Proposal 23
9.2. Peak-Time Rebate Benefits Assumptions 27
9.3. Transmission and Distribution Costs 30
9.4. Societal Benefits 32
10. Uncontested Aspects of the Business Case 34
10.1. Settlement Agreement Adjustments to Costs and Benefits
of Business Case 35
10.1.1. Costs and Benefits of Prepayment Services 35
10.1.2. Field Inspections and Meter Tampering 35
10.1.3. Meter Panel Repairs 36
10.1.4. Billing Costs 36
10.1.5. Increased Accuracy of Meter Reads 36
10.1.6. Increased Power Purchase Costs During Deployment Period 36
10.1.7. Increased Field Supervisors and Analysts 37
10.2. Cost Overrun Risk-Sharing Mechanism 37
10.3. Credit Operational Benefits to Ratepayers
When Funds are Spent 37
10.4. PTR Program Two-Tiered Rebate 38
10.5. Avoid Double-Recovery of AMI Costs in GRCs 38
10.6. Allocation of Revenue Requirement for
Deployment Period Costs 39
10.7. Remote Connect/Disconnect Policies 39
10.8. Ratemaking for Results Sharing 40
11. Cost Effectiveness of the Settlement Agreement Business Case 40
12. Reasonableness of the Chosen Technology 41
12.1. Minimum Functionality Requirements 41
12.2. Flexibility and Value Over the Life of the Project 43
13. Reasonableness of the Settlement 45
14. Third-Party Metering Issues 46
15. PCT Program 51
16. Penalty Proposal 52
17. Comments on Proposed Decision 54
18. Assignment of Proceeding 54
Findings of Fact 54
Conclusions of Law 59
ORDER.. 59
APPENDIX A - Settlement Agreement
APPENDIX B - List of Appearances
DECISION APPROVING SETTLEMENT ON SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA EDISON COMPANY ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE DEPLOYMENT
1. Summary
This decision adopts a settlement proposed by Southern California Edison Company (SCE) and the Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA) to allow $1.63 billion in ratepayer funding for SCE's proposed Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Project from 2008 through 2012. We find that there are between $9 million and $304 million in net benefits for the Settlement Agreement. In this decision, we analyze the Settlement Agreement in light of the litigation positions of the parties in order to consider its reasonableness. We find the Settlement Agreement to be reasonable in light of the whole record, consistent with the law, and in the public interest.
This decision is part of our effort to transform California's investor-owned utility distribution network into an intelligent, integrated network enabled by modern information and control system technologies. SCE's deployment is scheduled to begin in 2008. From 2008 through 2012, SCE will install approximately 5.3 million new, AMI-enabled electric meters that can, among other things, measure energy usage on a time-differentiated basis. The deployment will improve customer service by providing customer premise endpoint information, assisting with electric systems outage detection, and providing real near-term usage information to customers.
