5. The Reasonableness of Requested Compensation

UCAN requests compensation in the amount of $16,823.06 as follows:

Attorney Fees

Michael Shames 79.7 hours³

Less for Petition for Modification 9.3

Total 70.4 hours @ $195 = $13,728.00

Expert Witness

JBS Energy, Inc.

William Marcus 14.25 hours @ $150 = $2,137.50

Miscellaneous Costs

Photocopying and Postage = $ 110.56

Travel Cost = $ 847.00

Subtotal = $ 957.56

TOTAL =$16,823.06

5.1 Hours Claimed

According to UCAN, the work of its attorney Michael Shames was limited to preparation of the protest, discovery and negotiation. In preparing this case, UCAN was obligated to conduct discovery, coordinate among a number of other parties in this proceeding and prepare a settlement document. JBS Energy, Inc. was used as a consultant and limited to the time of William Marcus.

UCAN documented the claimed hours by presenting a daily breakdown of hours for Shames with a brief description of each activity. UCAN states that it has deducted 9.3 hours that relate to a response to a SDG&E petition for modification of the Commission decision that determined the cost of capital applied to unused revenue reduction bond monies. The petition is linked to this proceeding and the outcome will have a direct impact upon SDG&E's application. However, as this issue is not addressed by D.99-05-051, UCAN believes it should defer seeking compensation for it at this time. We agree that UCAN may seek recovery of these hours in a future request for compensation.

5.2 Hourly Rates

UCAN requests compensation for Shames at a rate of $195 per hour for work in 1999. This rate represents an approximate 2% increase over the $190 rate for Shames that was accepted by the Commission for his work in 1998 (see D.99-09-006, p. 7 and D.98-04-027). We agree that a rate of $195 per hour for Shames is reasonable for his work in 1999.

UCAN states that the rate of $150 per hour for Marcus has been established in other Commission decisions (see D.99-02-066, p. 7). We agree that a rate of $150 per hour for Marcus is reasonable.

5.3 Other Costs

We agree that UCAN's request for $957.56 to cover miscellaneous expense, is reasonable.

5.4 Overall Benefits of Participation

In D.98-04-059, the Commission adopted a requirement that a customer must demonstrate that its participation was "productive," as that term is used in Section 1801.3, where the Legislature gave the Commission guidance on program administration. (See D.98-04-059, mimeo., at 31-33, and Finding of Fact 42.) In that decision, we discuss the fact that participation must be productive in the sense that the costs of participation should bear a reasonable relationship to the benefits realized through such participation. Customers are directed to demonstrate productivity by assigning a reasonable dollar value to the benefits of their participation to ratepayers. This exercise assists us in determining the reasonableness of the request and in avoiding unproductive participation.

Unfortunately, UCAN did not address the overall benefits to ratepayers of its participation relative to the compensation it requests. Arguably, UCAN's participation was productive in that the costs it claims for its participation were less than the benefits realized to the extent that the settlement adopted in D.99-05-051 implemented certain accounting, ratemaking, and customer information requirements for compliance by SDG&E following the ending of the transition period.

We put UCAN on notice that in all future compensation requests, it should address the matter of overall benefits of its participation. Also, we will require a detailed accounting for time charged by JBS Energy, Inc. employees, allocating time by issue (see D.99-12-005).