PROTESTS

TURN recommends that the Commission reject PG&E's advice letter and instead conduct a comprehensive investigation; otherwise TURN proposes modifications to the AL.

TURN protested AL 2581-G/2568-E on November 4, 2004. TURN recommends that we reject the AL and consider issues raised by the AL in a formal proceeding. After issuing its protest on PG&E's AL, TURN filed a motion in A.02-11-017, et. al., requesting that the Commission open an investigation into PG&E's billing and collection practices. TURN proposes the modifications summarized below in the event that we consider the AL:

· Failure to issue a timely and accurate bill whether due to reliance on estimated meter reads or other delays constitutes billing error and did so prior to issuance of AL 2581-G/2568-E.

· Extended reliance on an estimated bill constitutes billing error as tariffs are currently written.

· Rule 17.1 should not exclude from billing error causes beyond the reasonable control of the utility.

· PG&E's proposed Rule 17.3 should be rejected.

· PG&E's assertion that bills rendered prior to the effective date of AL 2581-G/2568-E are not subject to the provisions of the tariffs proposed in the AL should be rejected.

PG&E states that TURN's protest is unfair and unreasonable and urges the Commission to reject the protest.

PG&E responded to TURN's protest on November 12. A summary of PG&E's response is as follows:

· PG&E cannot eliminate all estimated bills; limiting adjustments of estimated bills to 3 months is unfair; estimation is justified for extended periods for reasons beyond PG&E's control such as when roads are inaccessible, or access to the meter is denied.

· Under TURN's proposal a customer would have a financial incentive to block access to a meter since PG&E would only be able to back bill for a 3 month period.

· PG&E cannot be limited to 3 months for adjustment of delayed bills when the cause is beyond the utility's reasonable control.

· PG&E's proposed Rule 17.3 is designed to be an accommodation to the customer.

· The Commission should approve PG&E's AL without opening a broad investigation proposed by TURN; past conduct is not an issue in PG&E's AL.

· The tariff changes proposed by PG&E in its AL are prospective and intended to address the "long" bills that customers have disputed; these customers benefited from usage charged in the "long" bills.

· The Commission can act on PG&E's AL without addressing TURN's argument that Rule 17.1 already defined delayed bills as "billing error".