Procedural Background

On May 4, 2001, Edison filed its Petition. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA), and The Utility Reform Network (TURN) filed timely responses.

On June 14, 2001, the Commission adopted D.01-06-038 which extended Edison's PBR mechanism until superseded by Edison's next GRC. D.01-06-038 left unresolved how the Commission should modify Edison's PBR, if at all, in light of changes in California's electricity markets.

On August 23, 2001, the Commission held a prehearing conference (PHC) to determine the next steps in this proceeding. At that PHC, parties agreed to an aggressive schedule in an effort to resolve the issues in this proceeding by the end of 2001. That schedule was formalized in an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Ruling issued on August 30, 2001.

Working with the parties in this proceeding, Edison filed a case status statement on October 16, 2001 that delineated outstanding issues and proposed a plan for managing the evidentiary hearings. In addition, Edison filed revised testimony and additional testimony on October 16, 2001.

Evidentiary hearings were held on October 17 and October 18. Following oral argument, Edison's motion for the acceptance of the additional testimony filed on October 16, 2001 was denied because there was no way of accepting this additional testimony without extending the duration of the proceeding to permit parties to review and respond to the last minute filing. With the submission of reply briefs, the case was deemed submitted as of November 5, 2001.