3. Procedural History

Golden State filed these seven applications on January 5, 2007. The Commission in Resolution ALJ 176-3185 preliminarily determined these applications to be ratesetting proceedings and indicated that these proceedings were expected to go to hearing. On February 9, 2007, the Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA) protested Golden State's application as unreasonable or insufficiently justified.

A scoping memo, issued on March 30, 2007, confirmed the category and need for hearings, defined the issues, established a schedule, and designated Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Regina DeAngelis as the presiding officer.

The ALJ held a prehearing conference on February 26, 2007, at which time she consolidated all seven applications into one docket to facilitated management of the cases and directed Golden State to file supplemental testimony proposing low income rates for each CSA in Region I. Golden State filed this supplemental testimony on June 25, 2007. Two formal motions to intervene were filed, one by the City of Ojai and the second by Latino Issues Forum. The ALJ granted both motions. ALJ DeAngelis, with assistance from other ALJs, conducted public participation hearings (PPHs) during April and May 2007 in Pittsburg, Clearlake, Rancho Cordova, Santa Maria, Ojai, Los Osos, and Bay Point. Attendance and participation by the public at these PPHs is discussed in detail below. DRA submitted a report of its analysis of the requested rate increases on May 14, 2007. Golden State submitted additional testimony responding to DRA's report on June 11, 2007.

Evidentiary hearings were held in San Francisco in June 2007. During the evidentiary hearings, DRA and Golden State indicated that both parties had engaged in settlement discussions as required by the scoping memo and that the parties intended to continue these discussions after the close of hearings. The parties further indicated that they anticipated offering the Commission a settlement on a variety of issues. On August 17, 2007, DRA and Golden State filed a joint motion requesting that the Commission adopt their stipulation, with supporting exhibits (Stipulation). The Stipulation, with the supporting reconciliation exhibits, is attached to today's decision at Attachment A.

On August 24, 2007, the ALJ issued a ruling seeking to include additional evidence in the record on the issue of fluoridation in the Bay Point CSA. After reviewing Golden State's response to this ruling, the ALJ issued a subsequent ruling to include the evidence, in part, into the record.

The consolidated proceeding was submitted on October 4, 2007.

On November 19, 2007, Golden State filed a request for interim rate relief after the ALJ advised parties that the Commission would be unable to approve final rates due to delays within the Commission. In response to this motion, the ALJ issued a ruling granting interim rates in accordance with Section 455.2 of the Public Utilities Code.