3. Request for Compensation
On June 22, 2001, Greenlining/LIF filed a request for an award of compensation seeking $63,108.18,5 for participation in this proceeding.
On July 16, USP&C responded stating that the Commission had no basis for imposing any intervenor compensation award on USP&C because:
1. The intervenor compensation statutes, Sections 1801-1812, may only be enforced against a "public utility" as defined in Section 216, and USP&C is a "billing agent," not a "public utility;"
2. Sections 2889.9 and 2890 do not expressly authorize the Commission to impose an intervenor compensation award against billing agents such as USP&C;
3. The Commission does not approve USP&C's rates and therefore cannot set a rate allowing USP&C to fully recover the amount of an award from ratepayers within one year of the date of the award as required by section 1807; and
4. Greenlining/LIF was not a "customer" of USP&C and Greenlining/LIF failed to make a "substantial contribution to" this proceeding.
Pacific also responded to the Greenlining/LIF request, stating that the Commission could not order it to fund an intervenor compensation award because Pacific was not a respondent in the proceeding. Pacific contended that Greenlining/LIF had failed to make a substantial contribution, and that it sought hourly rates which were excessive.
Replying to USP&C's and Pacific's responses, Greenlining/LIF argued that USP&C was the equivalent of a public utility, and that the Commission has previously rejected USP&C's ratemaking argument. Greenlining/LIF stated that its intervention led to a remedy that "addressed the relationship between the LEC and USP&C," as well as other directives to the LECs in this decision. Greenlining/LIF also stated that its cross-examination "elicited important contextual evidence reflecting the scope and nature of USP&C's fraudulent conduct."
5 Footnote 8 on p. 8 of the request noted that an addendum or errata would be filed reflecting the itemized hours and allocation by issue for work performed by Susan E. Brown (Brown). That errata, filed on July 17, 2001, waived the hours of Brown in this proceeding. The effect of the waiver reduces the amount requested by $2,600. Thus, the total amount requested by Greenlining/LIF in this proceeding is $60,508.68.
