STATE OF CALIFORNIA GRAY DAVIS, Governor

PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

505 VAN NESS AVENUE

SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102-3298

May 24, 2001

TO: PARTIES OF RECORD IN APPLICATION 00-11-009 ET AL.

This is the draft decision of Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Allen. It will be on the Commission's agenda at the continuation meeting on June 7, 2001. The Commission may act then, or it may postpone action until later.

When the Commission acts on the draft decision, it may adopt all or part of it as written, amend or modify it, or set it aside and prepare its own decision. Only when the Commission acts does the decision become binding on the parties.

Rule 77.7(f)(9) provides for reduction or waiver of the 30-day period for public review and comment when public necessity requires such reduction. We must balance whether the public necessity of adopting an order outweighs the public interest in having the full 30-day review and comment period. We are convinced that this draft decision falls under Rule 77.7(f)(9), and for that reason, we established a shortened period for comments on the draft decision.

Comments on the draft decision must be filed within seven days of its mailing and no reply comments will be accepted.

In addition to service by mail, parties should send comments in electronic form to those appearances and the state service list that provided an electronic mail address to the Commission. Finally, comments must be served separately on ALJs Allen and Gottstein and the Assigned Commissioner, and for that purpose I suggest hand delivery, overnight mail, or other expeditious methods of service.

/s/ LYNN T. CAREW

Lynn T. Carew, Chief

Administrative Law Judge

LTC:eap

Attachments

ALJ/PVA/eap DRAFT Item 10

For Continuation Meeting 6/7/2001

Decision DRAFT DECISION OF ALJ ALLEN (Mailed 5/24/2001)

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Compliance Application of Pacific Gas and Electric Company for Approval of Year 2001 Low Income Programs, in Compliance with Ordering Paragraph 4 of Decision 00-09-036. (U 39 M)	Application 00-11-009 (Filed November 6, 2000)
Application of Southern California Gas Company (U 904-G) for Authority to Continue Low Income Assistance programs and Funding Through 2001.	Application 00-11-011 (Filed November 6, 2000)
Application of San Diego Gas & Electric company (U 902-E) for Authority to Continue Low Income Assistance Programs and Funding Through 2001.	Application 00-11-012 (Filed November 6, 2000)
Southern California Edison Company Compliance Applicants for Approval of year 2001 Low Income Program Plans.	Application 00-11-020 (Filed November 6, 2000)

INTERIM OPINION:
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA AND RATE DISCOUNT LEVEL
FOR LOW-INCOME ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

I. Summary

By today's decision, we increase the rate discount under the California Alternative Rates for Energy (CARE) from 15% to 20% for all electric and gas customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E), Southern California Edison Company (SCE) and Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas). We also set the income eligibility levels for the CARE and Low-Income Energy Efficiency (LIEE) programs at 175% of the federal poverty guidelines across all four utilities. This raises the income eligibility thresholds for both programs up to the levels recently established for PG&E's and SCE's CARE programs in Decision (D.) 01-03-082. Customers with a senior or disabled head of household continue to be eligible at 200% of the federal poverty guidelines for the LIEE program.