ALJ/CAB/hkr Date of Issuance 10/6/2008

Decision 08-10-012 October 2, 2008

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Order Instituting Rulemaking to Integrate Procurement Policies and Consider Long-Term Procurement Plans.

Rulemaking 06-02-013
(Filed February 16, 2006)

OPINION GRANTING INTERVENOR COMPENSATION
TO THE UTILITY REFORM NETWORK
FOR SUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO DECISION (D.) 06-07-029,
D.07-09-044, AND D.07-12-052 AND DENYING INTERVENOR
COMPENSATION FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO APPLICATION 05-06-003

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

OPINION GRANTING INTERVENOR COMPENSATION TO THE UTILITY REFORM NETWORK FOR SUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO DECISION (D.) 06-07-029, D.07-09-044, AND D.07-12-052 AND DENYING INTERVENOR COMPENSATION FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO APPLICATION 05-06-003 2 2

1. Background 2 2

2. Requirements for Awards of Compensation 4 4

3 Procedural Issues 5 5

3.1. Filing a Timely NOI to Claim Compensation 5 5

3.2. Meeting the Definition of "Customer" 6 6

3.3. Filing a Timely Request for Compensation 6 6

3.4. Demonstrating Significant Financial Hardship 7 7

4. Substantial Contribution 7 7

4.1. Contributions to D.06-07-029 8 8

4.2. Contributions to A.05-06-003 9 9

4.3. Contributions to D.07-09-044 9 9

4.4. Contributions to D.07-12-052 10 10

5. Contributions of Other Parties 14 14

6. Reasonableness of Requested Compensation 15 15

6.2. Intervenor Hourly Rates 17 17

6.3. Direct Expenses 19 19

7. Productivity 21 21

8. Award 22 22

9. Waiver of Comment Period 24 24

10. Assignment of Proceeding 24 24

Findings of Fact 24 24

Conclusions of Law 25 25

ORDER 25 25

Appendix

OPINION GRANTING INTERVENOR COMPENSATION
TO THE UTILITY REFORM NETWORK
FOR SUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO DECISION (D.) 06-07-029, D.07-09-044, AND D.07-12-052 AND DENYING INTERVENOR COMPENSATION FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO APPLICATION 05-06-003

This decision awards The Utility Reform Network (TURN) $265,111.39 in compensation for its substantial contributions to Decision (D.) 06-07-029, D.07-09-044, and D.07-12-052 in Rulemaking (R.) 06-02-013. This decision denies TURN compensation for its contributions to Application (A.) 05-06-003.

Today's award is $8,608.94 less than the amount requested by TURN due to three factors: (1) the Commission disallows compensation for TURN's work on A.05-06-003 because TURN failed to meet the procedural requirements in filing its request for compensation; (2) the Commission slightly reduces the requested 2006 hourly rate for one of TURN's attorneys to be consistent with the 2006 hourly rate granted for that attorney in another decision; and (3) the Commission reduced the reimbursement of direct expenses to disallow meals.

R.06-02-013 remains open to address further long-term procurement issues.

1. Background

Rulemaking (R.) 06-02-013 is the Commission's long-term procurement proceeding for review and approval of the 2006 integrated long-term procurement plans (LTPPs) for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison Company (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E), the investor-owned electric utilities (IOUs). R.06-02-013 is the successor to R.01-10-024 and R.04-04-003 (both now closed proceedings).

Decision (D.) 06-07-029 adopted a new cost-allocation mechanism on a limited and transitional basis, specifying that the IOUs were to procure new generation pursuant to long-term contracts for power purchase agreements (PPA). The resulting energy and capacity from the PPAs would be unbundled. The load serving entities (LSEs) in the IOUs' service territories would be allocated rights to this capacity. The energy would be auctioned and the LSEs' customers would only pay for the net cost of this capacity, determined as a net of the contract price minus the energy revenues from the auction. The decision reserved for Phase II of the proceeding the development of long-term market rules and institutions to supersede the above temporary arrangements.

D.07-09-044 adopted, with clarifications, all provisions of a joint settlement agreement outlining principles for the process and products pertaining to the IOUs' energy auctions that the Commission established in D.06-07-029.

D.07-12-052 adopted, with modifications, the LTPPs for PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E for the period of 2007 to 2016. This decision also provided direction to the IOUs on preparing their conformed 2006 LTPP compliance filings. Furthermore, the decision required the IOUs to aim for higher levels of performance beyond the targets set by the Legislature and the Commission.

In a separate proceeding, Application (A.) 05-06-003, SCE proposed to acquire additional capacity through new long-term PPAs. Over a dozen parties contributed to the discussion of SCE's proposal. SCE then moved to withdraw its application. The Commission granted SCE's motion to withdraw in D.06-01-004.

The Utility Reform Network (TURN) filed a request for compensation on September 19, 2006, for its work performed from December 2005 to September 2006 on Phase I of R.06-02-013. TURN also included in this filing a request for compensation for its work performed in 2005 under A.05-06-003. No party opposed this request.

TURN filed a second request for compensation on February 19, 2008, for its work performed from August 2006 to December 2007 on Phase II of R.06-02-013 as well as for its work performed in July 2006 on Phase I. No party opposed this request.

R.06-02-013 remains open to address further long-term procurement issues.