V. Comments on Draft Decision

The draft decision of the ALJ in this matter was mailed to the parties in accordance with Section 311(g)(1) of the Public Utilities Code and Rule 77.7 of the Rules of Practice and Procedure. TURN and PG&E filed comments and PG&E filed reply comments.

PG&E claims that draft decision erred in finding that PG&E should not be allowed to recover its in-house counsel attorneys' fees in the amount of $305,300 in any Commission proceeding. PG&E reasons that "California utilities such as PG&E play a critical role in supporting efforts by this Commission and the State of California to prosecute complaints against entities in the wholesale and upstream energy markets whose illegal activities have resulted in harm to the customers of the utilities."¹⁶ (We do not express an opinion on whether PG&E played such a role in this case, as defendants make no admission of liability in the Settlement Agreement.) PG&E also claims that the Commission has not disallowed recovery of in-house attorneys' fees in other cases, and that recovery of a portion of the fees from the settlement proceeds benefits ratepayers and should not preclude recovery of the remaining fees.

On consideration of PG&E's comments, we believe PG&E is correct that it did not forego its right to recover its in-house fees from ratepayers by discounting the outside counsel fees charged to the settlement proceeds. We change the draft decision to reflect our conclusion.

TURN's comments point out that its support for the settlement was conditioned on PG&E's agreement to share with TURN, ORA and the Commission any notices it receives from defendants pursuant to the settlement. TURN asks us to reflect this condition in the discussion of TURN's support for the Agreement. PG&E supports TURN's request. We modify the decision as TURN requests.