5. Reasonableness of Requested Compensation

TURN requests $16,684.51 for its participation in this proceeding, as follows:

ATTORNEYS' FEES	HOURS	HOURLY RATE	YEAR	FEES
Hayley Goodson	33.75	$190.00	2003	$6,412.50
Hayley Goodson	22.00	$190.00	2004	$4,180.00
Hayley Goodson (intervenor comp.)	2.75	$95.00	2003	$261.25
Hayley Goodson (intervenor comp.)	8.00	$95.00	2004	$760.00
Subtotal				$11,613.75
Marcel Hawiger	2.75	$250.00	2003	$687.50
Marcel Hawiger (intervenor comp.)	0.75	$250.00	2004	$187.50
Subtotal				$875.00
Robert Finkelstein	0.50	$365.00	2003	$182.50
Robert Finkelstein	1.00	$365.00	2004	$365.00
Robert Finkelstein (intervenor comp.)	0.25	$182.50	2003	$45.63
Subtotal				$593.13
Michel Florio	7.00	$435.00	2004	$3,045.00
Subtotal				$3,045.00
ATTORNEYS' FEES Subtotal				$16,126.88
OTHER REASONABLE COSTS
Photocopying Expenses				$499.60
Postage Costs				$44.28
Miscellaneous Expense (parking)				$13.75
Subtotal				$557.63
TOTAL REQUEST				$16,684.51

The components of this request must constitute reasonable fees and costs of the customer's preparation for and participation in a proceeding that resulted in a substantial contribution. Thus, only those fees and costs associated with the customer's work that the Commission concludes made a substantial contribution are reasonable and eligible for compensation.

To assist us in determining the reasonableness of the requested compensation, D.98-04-059 directed customers to demonstrate productivity by assigning a reasonable dollar value to the benefits of their participation to ratepayers. The costs of a customer's participation should bear a reasonable relationship to the benefits realized through their participation. This showing assists us in determining the overall reasonableness of the request.

TURN claims that its work was productive in this proceeding because it assisted the Commission in establishing the reasonableness of the proposed settlement and provided core gas ratepayers with protection against future rate increases resulting from unauthorized bypass of PG&E's system and tariffs. The settlement also provided for a lump sum payment to PG&E, with $81,372 going to core customers and $176,081 going to noncore customers. While TURN notes that the vast majority of the $2.7 million settlement proceeds went to PG&E's shareholders (who were at risk for gas transmission revenue recovery during the period of time covered by the settlement due to PG&E's current ratemaking set-up), TURN also states that these ratemaking practices could change in the future. "If that were the case, PG&E's incentive to act promptly in the event of potential unauthorized bypass would decline. . . . TURN's agreement with PG&E regarding notice of defendants' plans regarding interconnection, referenced in D.04-07-006, will mitigate the risk that core ratepayers will face rate increases resulting from unauthorized bypass in the future."³ Based on the foregoing, we agree that TURN's input was productive.

Next, we must assess whether the hours claimed for the customer's efforts that resulted in substantial contributions to Commission decisions are reasonable. TURN documented its claimed hours by presenting a daily breakdown of the hours of its attorneys, accompanied by a brief description of each activity. The hourly breakdown reasonably supports the claim for total hours.⁴ Since we found that TURN's efforts made a substantial contribution to the delineated decisions, we need not exclude from TURN's award compensation for certain issues. However, we note that TURN broke down its efforts by issue; had we needed to eliminate certain issues from the award, this breakdown would have facilitated the process.

Finally, in determining compensation, we take into consideration the market rates for similar services from comparably qualified persons. For work in 2003 by Marcel Hawiger (Hawiger), Robert Finkelstein (Finkelstein) and Michel Florio (Florio), TURN seeks hourly rates that the Commission has already approved.⁵ TURN seeks those same rates for these attorneys for their work in 2004, without prejudice to its right to seek higher rates for them for 2004 work in other requests for compensation. We find that the rates requested for 2003 and 2004 for Hawiger ($250), Finkelstein ($365) and Florio ($435) are reasonable, without prejudice to TURN's right to seeking higher 2004 hourly rates in other proceedings.

For Hayley Goodson (Goodson), TURN seeks $190 per hour for work in 2003 and 2004. This is the same rate TURN sought for Goodson in R.01-08-028. Because a decision on that request has not been adopted as of this writing, we recite TURN's R.01-08-028 assertions, and adopt a rate here. Goodson is a 2003 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law and a 1996 graduate of Brown University. Goodson joined TURN's staff as a legal assistant in 1998 and worked for TURN as a summer law clerk between her second and third years of law school. She joined TURN's attorney staff in 2003. In D.03-10-080, we awarded Goodson $80 per hour for her work as a paralegal in 1999 and 2000, and in D.03-05-065 and D.04-05-048 we awarded $95 per hour for work in 2002.

TURN claims $190/hour is reasonable based on comparable market rates for new law school graduates, citing the Of Counsel survey of attorneys' fees. Further, in comments on the R.01-08-028, draft decision, which more fully discusses the proposed Goodson rate, TURN notes that we awarded a colleague of Goodson's, Daniel Edington, $190 per hour for work in 2003 in D.04-05-048. TURN asserts that Edington and Goodson's experience levels are virtually identical, with the possible qualification that Goodson had the advantage of prior Commission experience due to her employment with TURN during law school. TURN acknowledges that its Request for Compensation in this proceeding did not bring to the Commission's attention the then-pending request for a similarly-situated attorney for work earlier in 2003.

We note that in D.03-10-061 (p. 7), the Commission recognized that it should "strive to ensure that there are not major discrepancies in awards to attorneys and experts with substantially similar backgrounds and experience." We find that the evidence here amply demonstrates that the appropriate hourly rate for Goodson's work in this proceeding is the $190 rate awarded for work Edington performed in the first half of 2003, very shortly after he joined TURN's staff directly out of law school.

The itemized direct expenses submitted by TURN include costs for travel, photocopying, and postage and total $557.63. The cost breakdown included with the request shows the miscellaneous expenses to be commensurate with the work performed. We find these costs reasonable.