V. Evidentiary Hearing

An evidentiary hearing held in San Francisco on August 19 and 20, 2002 was necessarily continued to November 12 and 13, 2002 because the State of California's fiscal year 2002/2003 budget impasse precluded four of the six ORA witnesses, located in Los Angeles, from attending the August hearings. This continuance precluded the Commission from issuing a timely decision and from implementing rate changes on January 1, 2003, as provided for in the Commission's Rate Case Processing Plan.

By D.02-12-063, dated December 19, 2003, we affirmed delaying the evidentiary hearing to ensure that the final decision was based on a complete record with intervenor analysis. That interim decision authorized AVR's test year 2003 rates to become effective January 1, 2003. Such authority was made with the explicit understanding that it does not constitute precedent in any future proceeding. All customers were notified that any rate change would be effective January 1, 2003.

AVR and ORA revised some of their individual test year estimates during the evidentiary hearing to correct errors. As a result, the parties were requested to file a joint comparison exhibit summarizing their final revised estimates and identifying the remaining disputed issues. This matter was submitted on March 11, 2003.