XX. Decommissioning Costs

Edison also asks the Commission to include decommissioning costs for Mountainview in Edison's GRC filing, to be updated, as necessary, in future GRC filings. Edison contends that it is appropriate for Edison customers to be responsible for both decommissioning costs of the Mountainview plant, as well as those of the retired plant at the San Bernardino site. Edison justifies this request on the grounds that Edison customers will receive the residual value of Mountainview upon the termination of the 30-year PPA.

ORA does not agree with Edison's decommissioning cost proposal-ORA wants ratepayers to be able to "opt-out" of decommissioning liability.

We will adopt Edison's proposal to include decommissioning costs in its GRC since that will give the Commission the opportunity to accept, revise, or reject the revenue requirement Edison submits. We find it reasonable for Edison to include a Mountainview site-specific decommissioning study in its 2006 GRC to be updated in future GRCs; the amount will be recovered from customers through generation base rates; and the Mountainview decommissioning obligation is to be treated for accounting and ratemaking purposes as a regulatory obligation on Edison's general ledger, to be collected from customers over the life of the project.