Decision 99-06-058 6/10/99
BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
In the Matter of The Revenue Adjustment Proceeding (RAP) application of San Diego Gas and Electric Company (U 902-E) for approval of 1) Consolidated changes in 1999 authorized revenue and revised rate components; 2) the CTC rate component and associated headroom calculations; 3) RGTCOMA balances; 4) PX credit computations; 5) disposition of various balancing/memorandum accounts; and 6) electric revenue allocation and rate design changes, |
Application 98-07-006 (Filed July 1, 1998) (Filed July 1, 1998) |
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Application of Pacific Gas and Electric Company for verification, consolidation and approval of costs and revenues in the transition revenue account, |
Application 98-07-003 (Filed July 1, 1998) |
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Application of Southern California Edison Company (U-338-E) to: 1) consolidate authorized rates and revenue requirements; 2) verify residual competition transition charge revenues; 3) review and dispose of amounts in various balancing and memorandum accounts; 4) verify regulatory balances transferred to the transition cost balancing account on January 1, 1998; and 5) propose rate recovery for Santa Catalina Island diesel fuel costs. |
Application 98-07-026 (Filed July 1, 1998) |
(See Appendix A for List of Appearances.)
This decision resolves issues raised in the first "revenue allocation proceeding" (RAP) for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison Company (Edison), and San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E). The purpose of the proceeding is to review entries to electric utility accounts which have been established to effect the provisions of Assembly Bill (AB) 1890 and previous Commission orders in pursuit of promoting competition in electric generation markets.
I. Background
In July 1998, PG&E, Edison, and SDG&E filed these applications pursuant to Decision (D.) 96-12-077 and the Coordinating Commissioner's Ruling dated March 14, 1998.
D.96-12-077 referred to the need for this proceeding as follows:
"To streamline our proceedings while retaining our ability to carry out our remaining ratemaking obligations, we will establish a new annual proceeding, the Revenue Allocation Proceeding (RAP), to consolidate pending changes in authorized revenues and to track revenues collected at frozen rate levels. Authorized levels of revenue requirement will be established in other proceedings can be consolidated in the RAP."
D.97-10-057 provided further guidance regarding accounting during the rate freeze period and approved, among other things, a "transition revenue account (TRA)" for PG&E, which Edison and SDG&E later implemented as well. TRA tracks authorized costs and revenues for the purpose of calculating "headroom," that is, the revenues available to the utilities during the rate freeze period for recovery of costs associated with stranded generation investments. The entries into these accounts are subjects of this proceeding. The Assigned
Commissioner Ruling dated March 14, 1998 issued in Rulemaking (R.) 94-04-031 further specified that these applications would consider revenue allocation, rate design, the accuracy of the Power Exchange (PX) credit and other accounting issues.
Several parties filed protests to the utilities' applications, and the Commission held a prehearing conference to address related procedural matters. By ruling dated September 16, 1998, the Commission further specified the scope of this proceeding to include:
Allocation of transition costs between customer groups;
Allocation of Pub. Util. Code Section 376 costs between customer groups;
The accounting treatment of Edison's fuel costs for service to Santa Catalina Island;
The accuracy of PX calculations and PX credit components performed by the utilities; and
The elimination or modification of balancing accounts and memorandum accounts.
Subsequently, the assigned Commissioner issued a ruling directing the applicants to file supplemental testimony addressing post-real time settlement costs, the California Alternative Rates for Energy (CARE) surcharge, and discount and residential minimum charges.
On December 18, 1998, the Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA) and PG&E filed a stipulation that would resolve a number of controversies between them. On December 22, 1998, ORA and Edison filed a stipulation, and ORA and SDG&E filed a stipulation. No party has opposed any of these three stipulations.
On January 8, 1999, applicant utilities Enron Corporation (Enron) and Western Power Trading Forum (WPTF) filed stipulations regarding certain elements of the PX credit calculation.
Numerous parties have been active in this proceeding, among them, ORA, The Utility Reform Network (TURN), the California Large Energy Consumers Association, the California Manufacturers Association, the California Industrial Users and the Energy Producers and Users Coalition (jointly, CLECA), California Department of General Services (DGS), Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), Enron, California Farm Bureau Federation (Farm Bureau), the United States Department of Navy representing all Federal Executive Agencies (FEA), Commonwealth Energy Corporation (Commonwealth), and WPTF.
The Commission held seven days of hearings in this proceeding during December 1998, one of which was attended by the assigned Commissioner. This order is issued within the eighteen-month period allotted for ratesetting proceedings by Senate Bill 960.
