Comments on Proposed Decision

The proposed decision of ALJ Brown was mailed to the parties in accordance with Pub. Util. Code § 311 and Rule 14.3 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure.

Comments were received on September 5, 2007 from AReM and Settling Parties. No reply comments were received. In general, the comments support the PD, but request some modifications to the clarifications the Commission made to the Settlement Agreement. The Commission has carefully weighed the balance of interests achieved in the Settlement Agreement with the clarifications made in the PD to accommodate Commission staff's role in the allocation of the benefits of energy auction contracts, and makes some adjustments that should reach an acceptable equilibrium. The changes have been incorporated into the final decision but address the following: a procedure for switching from quarterly reallocation of capacity to monthly; the timing for RA credit allocations; and adding language to Section VIII.A.2.e.concerning changes in load migration associated with an energy auction contract.

In addition, the Commission added a further refinement to the final decision specifying that since this decision establishes the details of the energy auction process, PG&E should make an election within 45 days of the date of mailing of this final decision, by way of an Advice Letter, as to which of the five PPA resources from its 2004 RFO results, as approved by the Commission in D.06-11-048, would be subject to the cost sharing mechanism as developed in D.06-07-029.