Decision 00-05-022 May 4, 2000

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Order Instituting Rulemaking for Electric Distribution Facility Standard Setting. (U 39 E)

Rulemaking 96-11-004 (Filed November 6, 1996)

(See Attachment 2 for List of Appearances.)

OPINION 2

I. Summary 2

II. Background 2

III. Comments on the Draft Decision of Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) O'Donnell 3

IV. Standards Proposed in D.98-03-036 4

V. Restoration Time Standard 5

A. Need for a Standard 5

1. Initial Positions of Parties 5

a) PG&E 5

b) SCE 8

c) SDG&E 9

d) Sierra Pacific Power Company (Sierra) 10

e) Southern California Water Company (SoCal Water) 11

f) PacifiCorp 11

g) TURN and ORA 11

B. Design of a Standard 12

1. Initial Positions of Parties 12

a) TURN and ORA 12

b) SDG&E 16

c) PG&E 17

C. Joint Proposal of TURN, ORA, SDG&E, and SCE 18

1. Positions of Parties 19

a) TURN and ORA 19

b) SDG&E 24

c) SCE 26

d) Sierra 27

e) SoCal Water 27

f) PG&E 27

2. Discussion 29

a) Reasonableness 30

b) Cost-Effectiveness 30

c) Likelihood of Having the Intended Effect 31

d) Jurisdiction 31

3. Conclusion 33

VI. Call Center Performance Standard 33

A. Need for a Standard 33

1. Initial Positions of Parties 33

a) PG&E 33

b) SCE 35

c) SDG&E 36

d) Sierra 38

e) SoCal Water 39

f) PacifiCorp 39

g) TURN and ORA 40

B. Design of a Standard 40

1. Initial Positions of Parties 40

a) TURN and ORA 40

b) PG&E 41

c) PacifiCorp 42

C. Joint Proposal 42

1. Positions of Parties 43

a) TURN and ORA 43

b) SDG&E 44

c) SCE 45

d) Sierra 45

e) SoCal Water 45

f) PG&E 45

2. Discussion 46

3. Conclusion 46

Findings of Fact 47

Conclusions of Law 48

ORDER 49

ATTACHMENT 1 Additional Provisions to G.O. 166

ATTACHMENT 2 List of Appearances

OPINION

I. Summary

In this decision we close this proceeding with the adoption of restoration criteria and call center standards proposed jointly by The Utility Reform Network (TURN), the Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA), San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E), and Southern California Edison Company (SCE). The adopted criteria and standards, included as Attachment 1, establish rebuttable presumptions of reasonableness applicable to utility responses to major weather-related outages. The standards do not exclude transmission as proposed by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). Utilities with less than 150,000 electric customers are excluded.