BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Order Instituting Investigation on the Commission's own motion into the Operations and Practices of Ponderosa Sky Ranch Water Company and its Owner and Operator, Orville Figgs, and Order to Show Cause why findings should not be entered by the Commission under Public Utilities Code Section 855 |
FILED PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION March 21, 2002 San Francisco Office I.02-03-023 |
ORDER INSTITUTING INVESTIGATION
AND TO SHOW CAUSE
I. INTRODUCTION
The California Public Utilities Commission's (CPUC) Water Division, believes, as supported in the Declaration of Donald McCrea, attached hereto, that Ponderosa Sky Ranch Water Company, Inc. ("PSR"), and its owner Orville Figgs, Jr. ("Figgs") ("Respondents") are unwilling or unable to adequately serve PSR's ratepayers and have effectively abandoned PSR. The purpose of this proceeding is to allow the Respondents to show cause why the Commission should not make findings under Public Utilities Code1 § 8552 for the purpose of appointing a received for PSR.
As required by this statute, the presiding officer of the administrative law division will set a hearing on this matter no later than April 19, 2002.
Attached to this order is a declaration by Commission Senior Utilities Engineer-Supervisory, Donald McCrea (McCrea), documenting the events that have initiated this proceeding. The events set forth in the McCrea declaration include a series of complaints about PSR's billing practices. The declaration sets forth a description and chronology of actions taken by the Commission in response to the complaints against PSR and the response of PSR to each Commission action. The declaration also sets forth the proceedings and actions of the Department of Health Services and the Tehama Tax Collector with regard to PRS.
1 Unless otherwise noted, all statutory references herein are to the California Public Utilities Code. 2 Section 855 provides: "Whenever the commission determines, after notice and hearing, that any water or sewer system corporation is unable or unwilling to adequately serve its ratepayers or has been actually or effectively abandoned by its owners, or is unresponsive to the rules or orders of the commission, the commission may petition the superior court for the county within which the corporation has its principal office or place of business for the appointment of a receiver to assume possession of the property and to operate its system upon such terms and conditions as the court shall prescribe. The court may require, as a condition to the appointment of such receiver, that a sufficient bond be given by the receiver and conditioned upon compliance with the orders of the court and the commission, and the protection of all property rights involved. The court shall provide for disposition of the facilities and system in like manner as any other receivership proceeding in this state.
