13. Separate Tariffs for Public Water or Wastewater and other Program Participants Eliminated

This decision directs PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E to combine existing tariffs setting forth their § 399.20 FiT Program into a single tariff for each utility.

The § 399.20 FiT Program, as originally enacted by AB 1969, was limited to "electric generation facilities," as defined therein, owned and operated by a public water or wastewater agency. In D.07-07-027 and D.08-09-033, the Commission applied the "owned and operated" requirement to include other generators, beyond public water or wastewater agencies and directed regulated utilities to maintain two sets of tariffs on file with the Commission under § 399.20: one set of tariffs for generation owned and operated by public water or wastewater agencies and a second set of tariffs for generation owned and operated by other types of renewable generators. As a result of this directive in D.07-07-027 and D.08-09-033, the three largest regulated electric utilities currently have two § 399.20 FiT Program rate schedules on file with the Commission.

Now is the appropriate time to consolidate these tariff schedules. SB 380 amended § 399.20(b) by removing the requirement that electric generation facilities be owned and operated by a public water or wastewater agency. Subsequent amendments to § 399.20(b), including SB 32 and SB 2 1X retain the following language: "As used in this section `electric generation facility' means an electric generation facility located within the service territory of, and developed to sell electricity to, an electrical corporation that meets all of the following criteria:..."⁸¹

Overall, parties support the recommendation to consolidate tariff schedules. Consolidation of tariffs will decrease transaction costs by simplifying the administration of the program. In addition, based on the removal of the language in § 399.20 restricting the program to public water or wastewater agencies, we find no legal reason exists to maintain two separate tariff schedules and find it reasonable to direct PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E to consolidate the two schedules. Any related conforming changes to the § 399.20 FiT Program contracts must also be implemented. This direction to consolidate tariffs does not apply to the small utilities because we have directed them in Section 11 of this decision to withdraw their tariffs related to § 399.20.

Accordingly, PG&E, SCE and SDG&E shall modify tariff and contract provisions to reflect the consolidation of tariffs applicable to public water or wastewater agencies and tariffs for other customers into the § 399.20 FiT Program. These modifications shall be incorporated into the standard form contract and/or tariff that is being developed in this proceeding in accordance with the schedule set forth in the January 10, 2012 ALJ ruling. The Commission will review these provisions submitted by the utilities and, in a separate decision accept, reject, or modify the provisions. Related FiT tariff modifications will also be addressed in this separate decision.

⁸¹ Additional criteria are omitted and are not relevant for purposes of this discussion.