COM/JB2/tcg Date of Issuance 5/12/2010

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Order Instituting Rulemaking on the Commission's Own Motion to Consider Revising Energy Utility Tariff Rules Related to Deposits and Adjusting Bills as They Affect Small Business Customers.

FILED PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION MAY 6, 2010 SAN FRANCISCO OFFICE RULEMAKING 10-05-005

ORDER INSTITUTING RULEMAKING
TO CONSIDER REVISING ENERGY UTILITY TARIFF RULES
RELATED TO DEPOSITS AND ADJUSTING BILLS
AS THEY AFFECT SMALL BUSINESS CUSTOMERS

1. Summary

This Order Instituting Rulemaking (OIR or rulemaking) is opened to determine whether any revisions and/or updates are necessary to utility tariff rules governing adjustments of customer bills due to meter and/or billing errors and whether utility deposit rules need to be revised. The revisions are strictly limited to considering whether to treat small business customers, as defined in Government Code Section 14837 under the definition of "micro-business,"¹ the same as residential customers for specific billing and deposit purposes. The economic crisis in California and recent increases in utility required deposits has led us to reexamine utility tariff rules and practices as it pertains to billing and deposits.

Our objectives in issuing this OIR are to ensure that the policies set forth in existing utility tariff rules are adequate, to consider whether adjustments to the tariff rules are needed to ensure fairness, and whether the existing tariff rules give utilities the right signals to reduce billing and metering errors. As stated above, however, these objectives are narrowly focused to consider treating specified small businesses the same as residential customers for purposes of billing adjustments and deposits. Any rules adopted in this rulemaking will apply to all investor-owned energy utilities operating under the jurisdiction of the Commission.

¹ A "micro-business" is a small business that, together with affiliates, has average annual gross receipts of two million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($2,750,000) or less over the previous three years, or is a manufacturer, as defined in subdivision (c), with 25 or fewer employees.