9. Assignment of Proceeding
Michael R. Peevey is the assigned Commissioner and Thomas R. Pulsifer is the assigned ALJ in this proceeding.
1. PG&E and other active parties entered into an all-party settlement, covering the scope of Phase 3 issues relating to proposals for a Revised Customer Energy Statement.
2. California's public policy is to favor settlements, thereby supporting worthwhile goals, such as reducing litigation expense, conserving scarce resources, and reducing parties' risk that litigation will produce unacceptable results.
3. The Commission considers individual settlement provisions but, in light of California's strong public policy in favor of settlements, does not base its conclusion primarily on whether any single provision is the necessarily optimal result but rather on whether the settlement as a whole produces a just and reasonable outcome.
4. The RCES settlement is sponsored by all active parties participating in the review of RCES issues. As such, the RCES settlement is fairly reflective of the affected interests.
5. No term of the settlement contravenes statutory provisions or prior Commission decisions.
6. The settlement conveys to the Commission sufficient information to permit it to discharge its future regulatory obligations with respect to the parties and their interests.
7. Under the settlement, PG&E will implement the following specific changes to its Customer Energy Statement to meet Legislative requirements: (a) graphic representation of cost per tier for gas and electric; (b) a clear definition of baseline; and (c) presentation of the TTY number as prominently as the main customer service number, and presentation of key information in large print.
8. Under the settlement, the Customer Energy Statement will use a large font for the customer name and address unless the targeted low-vision focus group and quantitative research provides feedback indicating that a font size smaller than 14 point is more appropriate.
9. PG&E and CforAT agree to work together to ensure that feedback on the need for large print customer name and address is elicited appropriately at the targeted low-vision focus group.
10. The Settlement Amount of $19.012 million represents a reasonable allowance for implementation of the RCES and related outreach efforts as set forth in the adopted settlement in Appendix 1.
11. Since the approved Settlement Amount of $19.012 million is less than the $34. 7 million originally requested by PG&E, PG&E will not be able to fund the full scope of energy statement revisions described in testimony.
12. The Settlement Amount of $19.012 million covers the costs of customer outreach and inquiry, and for the specific IT functionalities and tasks identified in the settlement agreement, although no specific amounts are allocated to individual tasks.
13. The RCES settlement, along with the full evidentiary record of testimony on RCES issues, contains sufficient information for the Commission to discharge its future regulatory duties relating to the Customer Energy Statement.
14. The RCES settlement meets the goals of (a) improving the clarity and usefulness of the billing information in the Customer Energy Statement, (b) motivating the customer to understand the effect of their behavior on energy usage, and (c) promoting customers' interest in pursuing dynamic pricing options.
1. The Commission will not approve a settlement unless it is reasonable in light of the whole record, consistent with law, and in the public interest.
2. The Commission will not approve an all-party settlement unless the settlement commands the unanimous sponsorship of all active parties, sponsoring parties are fairly reflective of the affected interests, no settlement term contravenes statutory provisions or prior Commission decisions, and the settlement conveys sufficient information to permit the Commission to discharge future regulatory obligations with respect to parties and their interests.
3. The all-party settlement submitted in this proceeding, covering RCES issues, satisfies the Commission's criteria for reasonableness and should be approved. The pending motion to approve the RCES settlement should be granted.
4. PG&E should be authorized to proceed with implementation of the RCES project in accordance with the provisions set forth in the Settlement approved and adopted, as set forth in Appendix 1.
5. PG&E should be authorized to record its actual costs associated with the implementation of the RCES project in the RCES One-Way Balancing Account pursuant to the accounting procedures approved and adopted in Attachment A of Appendix 1 to this decision, and transfer the balance to the appropriate revenue adjustment mechanism at the end of each year, as outlined in Attachment A to Appendix 1, for recovery in rates in its Annual Electric and Gas True-Up Proceedings.
6. Subject to the requirements for the RCES One-Way Balancing Account as outlined in Attachment A to the settlement (included in Appendix 1), ratepayers will only pay the revenue requirements associated with actual expenditures up to $19.012 million.
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. The November 15, 2011, motion, filed by Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which requests approval of the settlement agreement on Revised Customer Energy Statement issues, is hereby granted.
2. The Revised Customer Energy Statement Settlement Agreement appended to this decision as Appendix 1 is hereby approved and adopted.
3. In accordance with the terms of the approved Settlement, Pacific Gas and Electric Company is directed to implement the terms of the adopted Revised Customer Energy Statement Settlement (RCES), including the RCES one-way balancing account in conformance with the accounting procedures as prescribed in Attachment A to the settlement, and reproduced in the appendix to this decision.
4. Pacific Gas and Electric Company is authorized to transfer the balance in the Revised Customer Energy Statement One-Way Balancing Account to the appropriate revenue adjustment mechanism at the end of each year, as prescribed in Attachment A to the settlement, and as attached to this decision, for recovery in rates through its Annual Electric and Gas True-Up Proceedings.
5. Pacific Gas and Electric Company is authorized to file an advice letter for approval of its revised customer energy statements in accordance with the terms and conditions of the adopted settlement.
6. Application 10-03-014 remains open.
This order is effective today.
Dated March 8, 2012, at San Francisco, California.
MICHAEL R. PEEVEY
President
TIMOTHY ALAN SIMON
CATHERINE J.K. SANDOVAL
MARK J. FERRON
Commissioners
I abstain.
/s/ MICHEL PETER FLORIO
Commissioner
APPENDIX 1
Settlement Agreement on the Revised Customer Energy
Statement Issues in PG&E's Application 10-03-014
