ALJ/JPO/avs DRAFT Agenda ID #2894

Ratesetting

2/11/2004 Item 3

Decision DRAFT DECISION OF ALJ O'DONNELL (Mailed 10/21/2003)

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

In the Matter of the Application of Citizens Telecommunications Company of California, Inc. (U-1024-C) dba Frontier Communications of California to Review its New Regulatory Framework.

Application 03-04-002 (Filed April 1, 2003)

DECISION ADDRESSING NEW REGULATORY FRAMEWORK AUDIT, MONITORING REPORTS, AND REVIEW SCHEDULE

I. Summary

By this decision, we require Citizens Telecommunications Company of California, Inc. (Citizens) to reimburse the Commission for the cost of an audit required by Public Utilities Code § 314.5, and to be conducted by the Commission's Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA).¹ The results of the audit will be used in addressing Citizens' New Regulatory Framework (NRF). The audit will be performed by consultants hired and supervised by ORA. Citizens will be allowed to recover those costs through its NRF, provided it reasonably cooperates with the audit.

We will postpone review of Citizens' NRF, except for monitoring report requirements, until after a final decision in Rulemaking (R.) 01-09-001 and Investigation (I.) 01-09-002, the NRF reviews for Pacific Bell Telephone Company (Pacific) and Verizon California Incorporated (Verizon). As a result, we close this proceeding, require Citizens to reapply no later than 90 days after a final decision in R.01-09-001 and I.01-09-002, and require ORA to file a report on the results of the audit in the new proceeding.

Regarding monitoring report requirements, we adopt an all-party settlement that modifies the requirements, but does not diminish the amount of reported information.