ALJ/VSK/MOD-POD/lil Date of Issuance 2/24/2009
Decision 09-02-030 February 20, 2009
BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Harbor City Estates, LLC, Complainant, vs. Southern California Gas Company (U904G), Defendant. |
Case 07-01-007 (Filed January 4, 2007) |
Edward G. Poole, Attorney at Law, for
Anderson & Poole, complainant.
Allen K. Trial, Attorney at Law, for
San Diego Gas & Electric Company, defendant.
MODIFIED PRESIDING OFFICER'S DECISION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Tittle Page
MODIFIED PRESIDING OFFICER'S DECISION 2
1. Procedural History 2
2. The Harbor City Submetered Gas System 4
3. Transfer of Harbor City's Submetered Gas System to SoCalGas under §§ 2791 et seq. 6
3.1. The Statute 7
3.2. Standards of Safety and Reliability 7
3.3. "Safe and Reliable Source" 9
3.4. Compliance with the Commission's General Orders 16
3.5. Capable of Serving the Customary Expected Load 18
3.6. Transfer is Appropriate Under § 2794(a) 18
4. Valuation of Harbor City's Submetered Gas System 18
5. Other Issues 22
6. Disposition of Rulings and Motions 23
7. Testimony and Exhibits 24
8. Appeal 26
9. Assigned Commissioner and Presiding Officer 28
Findings of Fact 28
Conclusions of Law 30
ORDER 31
MODIFIED PRESIDING OFFICER'S DECISION
Harbor City Estates, LLC seeks an order that Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) accept transfer of Harbor City's submetered gas system pursuant to Pub. Util. Code §§ 2791-2799. This decision finds that the System meets the requirements set forth in § 2794 and has a value of $132,544, and orders SoCalGas to complete the transfer as set forth in §§ 2791-2799.
1. Procedural History
Harbor City Estates, LLC (Harbor City) operates a manufactured housing community, commonly known as a mobile home park (MHP), in Harbor City, California. On January 4, 2007, Harbor City filed this complaint against SoCalGas. Harbor City asks that SoCalGas be required to accept transfer of Harbor City's submetered gas system (System) pursuant to Pub. Util. Code §§ 2791-2799.
On February 21, 2007, SoCalGas answered the complaint and also moved to dismiss. Harbor City responded to the motion on March 8, 2007, and SoCalGas replied to the response on March 16, 2007.
A key procedural defect alleged by SoCalGas was the failure of the parties to engage in Commission-sponsored mediation. Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Victoria S. Kolakowski, in a ruling on April 6, 2007, offered the services of the Commission's Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program to help the parties in reaching a settlement of the dispute. In response to the ruling, the parties engaged in mediation with a neutral ALJ otherwise not involved in this proceeding. On August 2, 2007, mediation concluded; no settlement was reached.
A prehearing conference (PHC) was held on September 10, 2007. At the PHC, the parties discussed the issues, and agreed upon a schedule for the conclusion of the proceeding. The parties later held an unreported status conference call with ALJ Kolakowski on October 12, 2007, and agreed upon a schedule that could not be completed within the statutory period of 12 months. The assigned Commissioner and ALJ Kolakowski issued a Scoping Memo on October 23, 2007, which included the extended schedule.
The Commission granted an extension of six months for the statutory deadline in Decision (D.) 07-12-041, dated December 20, 2007. The new deadline for completion of this proceeding was July 7, 2008.
Hearings were held on December 17 and 18, 2007, at the Commission's headquarters in San Francisco.1 Harbor City's opening brief, along with a request for official notice of certain documents, was filed on January 18, 2008. SoCalGas' opening brief was filed on February 1, 2008. Harbor City filed a reply brief on February 8, 2008, at which point the record was closed and the case submitted for decision.
During the drafting of this decision, ALJ Kolakowski determined that additional testimony was necessary, and so issued a ruling on April 7, 2008, reopening the record for supplemental testimony. The parties submitted supplemental testimony on April 23, 2008, and rebuttal testimony on April 30, 2008.
On April 23, 2008, Harbor City requested supplemental hearings, which were held on June 23, 2008, at the end of which the record was again closed and the case submitted for decision.
Because the delay caused by the supplemental hearings would result in the present decision issuing after July 7, 2008, the Commission approved in D.08-06-033 (dated June 26, 2008) an additional six-month extension for resolving this matter, setting a new deadline is January 7, 2009. The Commission subsequently extended the deadline in D.08-12-051 (dated December 18, 2008) to May 29, 2009.
Harbor City's request for official notice was granted in an ALJ's Ruling on August 15, 2008. That ruling opened the record to receive the noticed documents as exhibits, then closed the record and resubmitted the case for decision.
1 Certain evidentiary issues arising from those hearings are addressed in Section 4 below.
