2. Background and Issues

PG&E, SCE, SDG&E and SoCal currently collect approximately $140 million per year to fund the CARE program and $60 million per year for LIEE services through the PGC. In D.01-05-033, the Commission augmented these funding levels in order to rapidly deploy CARE and LIEE programs during the energy crisis.⁶ LIEE budgets were augmented by funds available from prior year unexpended LIEE budgets and funds appropriated by Senate Bill (SB) 5 from the First Extraordinary Session (referred to as SB X1 5). Funding for CARE administrative costs and rate subsidies were also augmented by the one-time SBX1 5 appropriations.⁷ The Commission directed that rapid deployment of these programs continue "until further Commission order," and required PG&E, SDG&E, SCE and SoCal to file monthly status reports on the results of these efforts. The Commission also articulated its expectation that rapid deployment would need to continue "through the end of 2001 and perhaps well into 2002."⁸

Consistent with that direction, the Assigned Commissioner and Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) scheduled status conferences to monitor rapid deployment activities and program accomplishments. These were held on July 11, 2001 (San Francisco), August 28, 2001 (Los Angeles) and February 8, 2002 (San Francisco).

In order to explore ways to further increase participation in these programs, the Assigned Commissioner issued a ruling on June 14, 2001 requesting comments on the issue of "automatic enrollment," i.e., automatically enrolling customers into CARE or LIEE when they enroll in other low-income assistance programs, such as food stamps or Medi-Cal. Comments were filed on June 29, 2001 by AARP,⁹ jointly by Bay Area Poverty Resource Council and Community Resource Project, Inc., by DCSD, Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA) and jointly by SDG&E, SoCal, PG&E and SCE. Reply comments were filed on July 5, 2001 by AARP and jointly by SDG&E, SoCal, PG&E and SCE.

On October 8, 2001, the Governor signed SBX2 2 into law. Among other things, SBX2 2 modifies Pub. Util. Code § 739.1 to require that the Commission take certain steps to improve CARE enrollment and participation, "including comparing information from CARE and the [ULTS] program to determine the most effective means of using that information to increase CARE enrollment through automatic enrollment of ULTS customers who are eligible for the CARE program, and identify customer privacy issues and alternative mechanisms for outreach to potential enrollees." SBX2 2 also requires that the Commission establish penetration goals for the CARE program. By ruling dated November 20, 2001, the Assigned Commissioner requested parties to this proceeding and the ULTS proceeding R.98-09-005 to respond to CARE enrollment issues and other requirements of the statute. The Assigned Commissioner also directed Energy Division to hold workshops on penetration rates for CARE and ULTS.¹⁰ In particular, he directed Energy Division to develop recommendations on the following:

1. Any methodological issues that need to be addressed to improve the methods currently used by the energy utilities to develop and report penetration rates, in order to ensure consistent and accurate reporting across utilities.




2. How to effectively update current methods to reflect the 2000 Census data.




3. How the methods discussed at the workshop could be used to develop comparable penetration rates under the ULTS program.

Comments on CARE enrollment issues were filed on December 14, 2001 by AARP, Avista, AT&T Communications of California, Inc., ORA, Pacific Bell Telephone Company (Pacific Bell), PG&E, SCE, jointly by SDG&E and SoCal and by Verizon California Inc. (Verizon). Reply comments were filed by AARP, Latino Issues Forum and Greenlining Institute (LIF/G), SCE, SDG&E/SoCal and Verizon.

PG&E, SDG&E, SCE, SoCal, Avista and Southwest filed proposals to establish penetration goals for their CARE programs on December 19, 2001. LIF/G filed joint comments on the utility proposals on January 3, 2002, and SCE filed a reply to those comments on January 10, 2002. Supplemental comments on how penetration goals could be developed to address differences in program penetration among different demographic groups were filed on February 19, 2002 by PG&E, SCE, SDG&E/SoCal and ORA.

Energy Division held workshops on CARE and ULTS penetration rates on February 6 and March 6, 2002. Energy Division's workshop report was issued on April 2, 2002. Comments were filed on April 19, 2002 jointly by Pacific Bell/Verizon, SCE, SDG&E/SoCal and ORA. Reply comments were filed on April 29, 2002 by Pacific Bell/Verizon, SCE, ORA, and LIF/G.

In today's decision, we briefly summarize the status of rapid deployment efforts to date. Based on the workshop report and comments, we discuss the methods currently used to develop penetration rates for the CARE and ULTS programs, and identify areas for further improvement. Within this context, we establish our longer term goal for CARE program participation, adopt minimum benchmarks for CARE penetration rates between now and 2005, and adopt an automatic enrollment program for CARE. Finally, we briefly outline the program planning process we envision for CARE and LIEE in the coming months. In that discussion, we present estimates of the amount of funding that is currently collected via the PGC, available from prior year carryovers and remaining from SBX1 5 appropriations for low-income assistance programs during 2002.