President Batjer: Good morning, and welcome to the California
Public Utilities Commission Business Meeting of September
26, 2019. It is now 10:02. Public Agenda number 3446 to
order. It is with great sadness that I call this meeting
in honor of Rashid Rashid, an attorney in the Commission's
Legal division, who passed away this month. Rashid joined
the Commission in 2005, not long after graduating from
King Hall at the University of California Davis. People
who knew Rashid best tell me he was a lovely, kind, and
gentle soul. His work in the legal division was primarily on
the advocacy side, with a strong focus on enforcement
matters. He was particularly proud of his work on the CPUC’s
Disability Advisory Committee. Rashid worked in the San
Francisco office before relocating in Los Angeles to work
in the LA office. He will be dearly missed. I ask for a
moment of reflection before we turn to today's business.
Thank you for joining me in a moment of silence.
Everyone, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Thank you so much. Please listen to the safety announcement that is going to be played.
Safety Announcement: As you're aware, our number one priority is safety.
As such, we will address certain safety concerns in this venue. In the event
of an emergency, please calmly proceed toward the exits. We have four
exits, two in the rear and one on either side of the dais. In the event we
need to evacuate the building, our assembly point is in the Garden Plaza
area between the War Memorial Herbs Theater and the War Memorial Opera House
on Van Ness. When going out the rear exits, head through the courtyard and
down the front steps, then head south on Van Ness by crossing McAllister
streets. You'll find the Garden Plaza area on your right immediately after
walking past the Herbs Theater. When going out the side exits, after heading
out either exits, you'll find yourself on Golden Gate Avenue. From there,
proceed east, turn south on Van Ness, and walk towards McAllister Street.
After crossing McAllister, the Garden Plaza area will be on your right after
passing the War Memorial Herbs Theater. In the event of an emergency,
Executive Director Alice Stebbins will call 911 and our public advisor, Alison
Brown, is certified in CPR and first aid. Thank you for your attention.
President Batjer: Thank you very much. We will now
take public comment. The public can make comments
addressing items on the consent and regular agendas
and including items not on the agenda today. Please
note that there will not be public comment on any
agenda on the closed session agenda and the falling
adjudicatory items 10 and 29. Each person who has
signed up will have three minutes. Please come
up to the podium when I call your name. There will
be a sign held up in front of you, or near you, to
alert you of the one minute remaining you have. If
you have written comments, please hand them to the
Executive Director, Alice Stebbins, who’s here in
front. Okay, thank you very much. I believe we have
one person from the public who wishes to speak
today. Would Mr. David McCord please come forward?
We can't. I think you need an adjustment.
David McCord: I'm David McCord. I live in El
Solito, and I welcome President Batjer, welcome
to the CPUC, and the Bay Area, and I look forward to getting many years of a smoothly
running agency with a forward-looking perspective. For all the Commissioners, thank you
for giving me the opportunity to speak. Yesterday, the IPCC issued a new report on the
oceans and ice-covered regions. It emphasized,
again, the need for quickly and deeply reducing
greenhouse gases emissions worldwide. And this
relates to the rule making 1901011 crafts
a policy framework surrounding a decarbonization
of buildings for the reduction of greenhouse
gas emissions associated with energy use in the buildings. That's what we need. And
with that, low income households should be prioritized, in both the build and the tech
programs, with an emphasis on efficiency and
energy savings. And it properly focuses staff
proposal properly focuses on electric and new
construction and electric technologies with
an emphasis on efficiency and energy savings. Another matter on item number 14 on our
Consent Agenda, it requires treating behind the
meter solar as a supply side resource in a
model feeding into the RPS procurement. I hope
the Commission can find a way to count this
directly towards a large saving energies RPS
requirement. This will encourage rooftop solar
installation and a renewable energy production and resiliency of the grid. Thank you.
President Batjer: Thank you, Mr McCord, very much. Is there
anyone else today here who would like to address the Commission?
Okay. Without further comments, public comment period is now
closed. We’re now moving on to the next agenda item, which is the
hold list. I will read through that. The following items are being
held or withdrawn. Item number two held to 10-24-2019. Item
number three held to 10-10-2019. Item number four held to 10-10-2019.
Item number six has been withdrawn. Item number seven has
been held to 10-10-2019. Item 10 has been withdrawn. Item 34 has
been withdrawn. Item 35 will be taken up with the Consent Agenda.
Item 36 will also be taken up with the Consent Agenda. Item 37
has been withdrawn. Item 38 has been withdrawn. Item 39 has
been withdrawn. Item 40 has been withdrawn. Item 41 has been
withdrawn. Item 42 will be taken up with the Consent Agenda. Item
45 has been held to 10-10-2019. We will now take up the consent
items. Is there anyone who would like to give me a motion?
Commissioner Randolph: So moved.
President Batjer: Is there a second?
Commissioner Rechtschaffen: Second.
President Batjer: It has been moved and seconded.
All in favor, please say aye. The Consent Agenda
items have been passed unanimously. Excuse me. I
don't think I spoke. For the record, I said I aye.
We're moving on to the next agenda item. We will take
up the regular agenda items now. I will call out
the item and the assigned Commissioner, and then we
will take a vote. Item 28. Commissioner Randolph.
Commissioner Randolph: Good morning. I am presenting
item 28 to you, which is a proposed decision
addressing the 2019 General Rate Case applications
for San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California
Gas Company, both of which are owned by Sempra
Utilities. The decision adopts a revenue requirement
of 1.990 billon for SDG&E’s combined operations and
2.770 billion for SoCal gas using a Test Year of
2019. The decision also adopts post-Test Year revenue
requirement adjustments in 2020 and 2021. The
decision adopts a revenue requirement that is 9.65%
lower than what was requested by SDG&E and 5.66% lower
than what was requested by SoCal Gas. The adopted
revenue requirement and post-Test Year increases
for SDG&E and SoCal Gas will provide the necessary
funds to allow the two utilities to operate their
respective electric distribution, natural gas
transmission and distribution and gas storage systems,
safely and reliably, and to fulfill customer service
functions at reasonable rates. As is always the
case with general rate cases, this was a very
complex proceeding. Nearly 20 interveners actively
participated by submitting testimony, conducting cross
examination, and filing motions and briefs on nearly
50 distinct issues. The evidentiary record includes
over 500 exhibits consisting of testimony, work
papers, and other exhibits from utility and intervener
witnesses. And the decision, as you may have
noticed when you looked at it, is almost 800 pages.
The applications were filed in October 2017, so we're
completing this case just shy of two years. And if
we adopt it, then we will not need to extend the
statutory deadline, so please adopt it. While the
decision adopts revenue requirements less than what
the utilities requested, we recognize that as a result
of this decision, there will be a bill increased
for the average residential electric and gas customer.
Based on a high-level estimate, it is anticipated
that a typical residential inland electric
customer will see a monthly increase of 0.70% or
$1.01 per month, while an average residential gas
customer can expect to see a monthly bill increase of 9
to 14% or about $4.50 to $5 a month for gas services.
However, a large part of the increases represent
costs for incremental safety-related programs and
activities that are being added to the GRC for the
first time as a result of the risk assessment
mitigation phase or RAMP Process. The RAMP Process
requires SDG&E and SoCal gas to identify key safety
risks and to propose programs that mitigate those
risks. Many of these programs that are being approved
allow the companies to perform increased mitigation
efforts to mitigate key safety risks, such as wild
fires caused by utility equipment, catastrophic
damage from pipeline failures and third party dig-ins,
and other key risks. One example is SDG&E Pole
Risk Management and Engineering program called
Prime. It will utilize local wind data conditions
gathered from SDG&E’s fleet of anemom, I don't even
know how to say this word, anemometers, whatever. 3D
modeling software that goes beyond the capability
of visual inspections, allowing for an analysis of
wood poles at all reasonably known potential wind and
conductor loading conditions, including worse case
conditions, in order to guide maintenance for those
poles that have been subjected to increase loads due
to additional attachments, thereby adding to the list
of things I know now that I did not learn in law
school. A large portion of the cost increase is for
the Pipeline Safety Enhancement Program, also called
PSEP, which consists of 11 pressure tests projects,
10 pipeline replacement projects and 284 valve
replacement projects. In 2011, by way of background,
the Commission ordered California's investor of
natural gas utilities to submit individual PSEP
plans for the purpose of addressing pipeline safety
issues in the wake of the 2010 San Bruno natural gas
explosion. In the intervening time period, utilities
have come forward with applications containing PSEP
plans. However, this particular GRC represents
the first instance of the utility, including their
PSEP projects, in the general rate case, pursuant
to Decision 160803. So an example of the kind of
incremental safety projects included is the Gas Leak
Survey IT Project, which uses software to track the
progress of leak survey activities through electronic
mapping and reports, all of which are pronounceable.
Line 235 memo account. So this decision takes
a look at Line 235 which is scheduled for pressure
testing during this period. On October 1, 2017, a
rupture occurred on Line 235, and numerous leaks
have ensued as the company has sought to bring the
line back on service, and the line is currently out
of service. I have been quite vocal in many meetings
and forums regarding the concerning pattern of leaks
on Line 235. As a result, this decision orders
SoCal Gas to establish a memorandum account to record
all costs related to 235, West Sections 1 & 2.
This includes capital costs, including rate of
return, operations and maintenance costs, repair and
replacement costs, and any other costs related to the
line. Cost to repair the rupture and leaked on Line
235 are not requested in this GRC. But this memo
account will allow the Commission the future ability
to adjust the revenue requirement for 2019, 2020, and
2021, should a future inquiry find that Line 235
is no longer used and useful, and if costs related
to 235 are unreasonable. SoCal Gas and SDG&E did
request a third attrition year in this case, which
would have had the effect of creating a four-year
general rate case. We considered parties’ arguments
in support of this, such as more flexibility in
resource management, and arguments against it,
such as leaving a larger a longer gap between the
Commission's review of utility operations. But as I noted
when we voted out PG&E’s GT&S decision at our last
meeting, we currently have a general rate case plan
rulemaking that is considering the appropriateness
of a four-year rate case cycle, and I didn't find
anything unique in this particular rate case that
would warrant stepping outside of that rate case
cycle proceeding. So we deny the request for the
four-year because we find that any decision should
be, about the four-year rate case, should be applied
uniformly to all of the utilities and deferred to that
rate case plan rulemaking. If a decision adopting
a four-year GRC cycle is made in the rate case
planmaking, rulemaking, then our decision includes an
ordering paragraph telling the utilities to file a petition to
modify this decision. With regard to executive compensation,
during the course of this general rate case cycle, SB 901 was
signed into law. Among many other important changes to the Public
Utilities Code was an amendment prohibiting investor-owned
utilities, such as SDG&E and SoCal gas, from recovering from
ratepayers any annual salary bonus benefits paid to executive
officers of the utility and required that compensation be funded
by shareholders. The revision to Section 706 became effective
on January 1, 2019, which was the first day of the Test Year
for the utilities. Because of that timing, we were not able to
extract executive compensation from the revenue requirement
as proposed by the utilities. And so our decision requires
that any and all executive compensation and benefits that fall
under SB 901 must be tracked in a memo account and refunded to
ratepayers beginning January 1, 2020.Aas with any general rate
case, it takes a very large group of people to produce the
decision. So I am going to do a long list of thank you's. First,
I want to express my thank you to Judge LaRock. I don't see,
where is he? There he is. The administrative law judge on this
case, Rafael LaRock, worked tirelessly and very collaboratively
through the entirety of this proceeding and just did a fabulous
job and is now working on another GRC, just as this one is
finishing. So we were in hearings…was that yesterday? Day before
yesterday? Anyway, so we're on a break, and he's, like, running
to start to make sure the revisions for this decision were
properly done and being posted, and he's just been just incredibly
hardworking, very thorough, a lot of great attention to
detail, and I really appreciate his work on this decision. I
also want to thank Assistant Chief ALJ Michelle Cook, who put a
great deal of work into it, and proceeding analysts Marianne
Davina and Nathan Poon for their invaluable support during the
review and revision process. Marianne, in particular, created a
tool that was hugely helpful for us in reviewing the comments
filed on the decision and made sure to track all of the revisions
that were requested and needed to be made. And I think we
stopped counting after 3000 individual revisions. In Energy
Division and the Safety Enforcement Division, there was a great
group of talented staff who worked on this case with dedication,
resourcefulness and expertise. I want to especially thank
Laura Martin and Belinda Gotti for acting as project managers
in this case. Not only did they do a fantastic job of keeping
everything organized and moving forward, they also provided a
lot of great subject matter expertise. Since this case was both
gas and electric, we were really pulling on a lot of our
resources here at the Commission. I'd like to thank our RO model
master, Bess Liquer, who worked very diligently, including nights
and weekends in our LA office, making sure all the numbers
in this decision was correct. And I want to give a special
thanks to Michael Conklin, Julia Andy and Renee Guild for their
excellent work. From legal division, I get to thank my former
adviser and Commissioner Shiroma’s current chief of staff, Leuwam
Tesfai, who, when she was in legal division, served as our advisory
attorney on this case. And then a shout out to Greg Haydn,
who stepped in and did some terrific pinch hitting on legal
issues. I'd like to thank my BK partner, Commissioner Guzman
Aceves, and her chief of staff, Adenike Adeyeye, and her adviser,
Jonathan Koltz, for giving a lot of great thoughtful input
through this process. And for my office, I would like to thank
my chief of staff, Rachel Peterson, my advisors, Suzanne Casazza
and Anand Durvasula, who just put a ton of work. Again, you know,
lots of great expertise and organization and thoughtfulness
and careful attention to detail. So thank you all for your
work on this, and I ask for your support of this decision.
President Batjer: And Commissioner Randolph, I thank you for all of your
very, very hard. Over this, nearly, two years. So thank you. And I add my
thanks to that list of fine people that worked so very hard. I appreciate that.
Now, we'll open item number 28 up for the Commissioners to make comments.
Commissioner Guzman Aceves: Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Randolp,
for all of the amazing work and coordination. I also, I won't go through
all the list of staff, but the amazing resources that they've been to
our office in this process, and I absolutely agree that Judge LaRock
has done a great coordination job in really giving time to every issue.
I wanted to just highlight a couple of small revenue issues, but
important issues, that are included in this decision that took a priority
for me about a year ago when we heard from our Consumer Affairs branch
in L. A. about a series of customers that were receiving up to two week
delays in getting their gas reconnected after they paid their bills.
So I want to thank Commissioner Randolph for including a provision that
requires, that provides SoCal Gas with more resources as well as a
provision to require that they provide a report back on how they're
improving reconnection rates with these new resources and how they're going
to ensure that customers are reconnected within 36 hours. I hope that
they'll take the opportunity to fix the problems customers have had with
paying their bills and believing that, when customers, one of the problems
has been, when customers pay their bills, they don't automatically
get put in the queue for reconnection. They have to actually call back,
and most normal people don't know that. They think I pay my bill, I'm
going to get reconnected. So I hope part of the process that SoCal looks
at is remedying that and making that an immediate fix. In addition,
I want to thank Commissioner Randolph for including a provision that
requires the utility to conform with existing law as it comes to their
advocacy amongst, particularly, sister agencies in relation to decarbonization
of buildings and transportation electrification. As Mr. McCord,
actually, mentioned this morning, our climate is heating at a very rapid
pace and all of the impacts that we know there are taking place are
becoming more extreme. And we need the partnership of the gas company
and SDG&E, but we need it in an honest way. So I thank you for the
amendment to including very stern language to ensure that those resources
are not used against fighting for climate goals. Thank you very much.
President Batjer: Are there other Commissioner comments? Yes, Miss Commissioner?
Commissioner Shiroma: I'll go next. Thank you. Thank you, President Batjer. Thank
you. Well, I'm in support, of course, for the proposed decision and to say thank
you, Commissioner Randolph and to the entire team is, you know, an understatement.
Really. I am just so impressed by the caliber of the work. You alluded to an 800-page
decision. Well, I was going through the table of contents and the sheer detail. I mean,
there were 30 pages to the table of contents itself. It shows you the magnitude of
what it takes to do a general rate case on and consideration of all aspects, all four
corners of what it means to put together the future budgeting and all the pieces that
go into it. And so I hope to live up to your work as the assigned Commissioner for the
Phase Two for San Diego, and we will be looking to, once adopted, to update the work
papers to take a look at the precise rate and bill impacts on customers and the
revenues that we’re poised to adopt today. And I think it's very, very key that this is
the first general rate case and it’s twofer for San Diego and SoCal gas on the RAMP.
This Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase. It's infusing assertively upfront safety
requirements and safety review requirements that are right there in the general rate
case. And again, I thank you so much and I'm ready to support the decision. Thank you.
President Batjer: Thank you, Commissioner.
Commissioner Rechtschaffen: Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Randolph,
for resolving so many thorny issues in this well-reasoned decision. And it
does take a very large village to produce an 800-page decision. But I want
to especially thank Judge LaRock for his great work on this. I support the
decision. I want to highlight two points very quickly. One is the decision’s
very careful treatment of Line 235, as Commissioner Randolph explained, and
the ability of us to revisit, later on, whether or not that line remains used
and useful. And second, I wanted to reiterate the point that Commissioner
Guzman Aceves made. I was concerned by party comments about the use of ratepayer
dollars to oppose state climate goals. And I think it's important that
in this decision, a judge, Commissioner Randolph included language reiterating
that SoCal Gas is not permitted to use money in its customer strategy
and engagement budget or for its policy and environmental solutions group
inappropriately, and in particular, that means not to be used in opposition
to established state policy goals promoting building electrification and
transportation electrification. With that, I will fully support this decision.
President Batjer: All right, are there any other comments from the Commision at
this time? Okay, seeing none, may I ask the Agenda Clerk, please to call the roll.
Agenda Clerk: For Item 28, Commissioner Shiroma. Commissioner Shiroma: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: Commissioner Guzman Aceves. Commissioner Guzman Aceves: Aye.
Commissioner Randolph: Commissioner Randolph Commissioner Randolph: Aye
Agenda Clerk: Commissioner Rechtschaffen Commissioner Rechtschaffen: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: President Batjer. President Batjer: Aye.
President Batjer: Thank you. With that, the vote is unanimous.
I think, as a result of the vote, item number 30, which is
connected to item number 28, will be withdrawn from the Consent
Agenda. Moving on, now, to item 29. Again, Commissioner Randolph.
Commissioner Randolph: Okay, so this, it's kind
of a long and complicated case. This complaint
was filed by AT&T. Well, first of all, this is an order extending statutory deadline.
The complaint was filed by AT&T alleging that Vaya violated, Vaya Telecom, violated
ordering paragraph three of decision 14-06-00,
I’m sorry, 14-01-006. The specific complaint
is that Vaya is continuing to send InterLATA,
which in layman's terms, an InterLATA call
can generally be described as a long distance
call. So InterLATA traffic over AT&T’s local
interconnection trunks. Similarly, Vaya sent InterLATA traffic to AT&T’s point trunks.
Again, more things I did not know in law school,
did not learn in law school. A presiding
officer's decision was issued on April 9, 2019. Vaya filed an appeal on May 9, 2019. A
modified presiding officer's decision, or mod
POD, was voted out on August 15, 2019. That
decision set a second phase to determine the
dollar amount for the access charges owned by
Vaya as well as potential penalties. Before
that second phase had a chance to begin, Vaya
filed an application for rehearing of decision 19-8-028. Therefore, in order to resolve
the application for rehearing, as well as to address the phase two issue of determining
the dollar amount for the access charges owed by Vaya, the statutory deadline for this
proceeding needs to be extended to September
29, 2020. I ask for your support on item 29.
President Batjer: Thank you, Commissioner Randolph. IN Now Open item 29 up for the
Commissioner’s comments. Seeing none, will the agenda clerk please call the roll?
Agenda Clerk: For item number 29, Commissioner Shiroma. Commissioner Shiroma: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: Commissioner Guzman Aceves. Commissioner Guzman Aceves: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: Commissioner Randolph. Commissioner Randolph: Aye.
Commissioner Rechtschaffen: Commissioner Rechtscheffen. Commissioner Rechtschaffen: Yes.
President Batjer: President Batjer. President Batjer: Aye.
Thank you. The vote count is unanimous. Thank you very much, Commissioner
Randolph. We're now turning to item 31. Commissioner Guzman Aceves.
<v Commissioner Guzman Aceves>This extension is not as
complicated as the last one. This is dealing with the Southern
California Edison's energy resource recovery account. The ERA
compliance of 2017, and I'm asking for a short extension
to March of next year, which will really not be necessary,
hopefully, because we have issued a proposed decision, and
we hope to vote on it at the October 24th meeting. So I ask
for your extension just to cover that timeframe. Thank you.
President Batjer: Okay. Turning item number 31 over to the Commissioners for comment.
I only have one comment, and I underscore, hopefully, that it will come in before
March of 2020. Thank you. Any other comments?
Okay. Would the agenda clerk please call the roll?
Agenda Clerk: For item 31, Commissioner Shiroma. Commissioner Shiroma: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: Commissioner Guzman Aceves. Commissioner Guzman Aceves: Aye.
Commissioner Randolph: Commissioner Randolph. Commissioner Randolph: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: Commissioner Rechtscheffen. Commissioner Rechtschaffen: Yes
Agenda Clerk: President Batjer. President Batjer: Aye.
The vote is unanimous. Thank you very much. We're
now moving on to items 32. Commissioner Randolph.
Commissioner Randolph: This is an order extending statutory deadline in the
resource adequacy program. Typically, every other year, we do a new OIR to
kick off the next set of issues in the RA program. However, we have been so
busy actually dealing with those issues that we have not yet drafted a new
OIR. We just voted out a decision on the Consent Agenda today. And then we
have another one coming up in October, so we are extending the statutory
deadline in order to give ourselves a little more time to prepare a new order
instituting rulemaking in a few months, hopefully. So I ask for your support.
President Batjer: Okay. Thank you. I'm turning item 32 over to the Commissioners
for comment. Okay, seeing none, would the agenda clerk please call the roll.
Agenda Clerk: For item 32. Commissioner Shiroma. Commissioner Shiroma: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: Commissioner Guzman Aceves. Commissioner Guzman Aceves: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: Commissioner Randolph. Commissioner Randolph: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: Commissioner Rechtschaffen. Commissioner Rechtschaffen: Aye
Agenda Clerk: Rresident Batjer. President Batjer: Aye. Thank you, Commissioner Randolph. Turning
now to item 33 which is assigned to me. Item 33 is
an order instituting investigation, an OII. The
Commission is opening on its motion to consider the
ratemaking and other implications of a proposed
plan for resolution of voluntary case filed by
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, PG&E, pursuant to
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy code in the United States
Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco. PG&E elected to file
Chapter 11 case in bankruptcy court in January of
this year. As primary state regulator of PG&E,
before the Chapter 11 matter can be resolved, the
Commission must review and approve any proposed
resolution and find it compliant with California
law, including AB1054. This proceeding establishes a
preliminary schedule and scope of issues for the
Commission's consideration of whether to approve a
plan of reorganization and any associated proposed
settlement agreements and make other statutory
findings necessary for PG&E’s participation in the
Wildfire Fund, created pursuant to 1054. Initiation
of this proceeding is not an indication that the
Commission approves or disapproves of any proposed
plan of reorganization that has been announced to
date. The Commission is party to the Chapter 11
matter in the bankruptcy court and will continue
to represent the interests of California in this
matter. The Commission's focus remains solely on
ensuring Northern Californians receive safe and
reliable service at reasonable rates and consistent
with achieving California's climate goals. I asked
my fellow Commissioners for any comment and, of
course, for their support. Are there any comments?
<v Commissioner Rechtschaffen>Thank you. Thank
you, President Batjer. I wanted to say just
a couple of quick things. As President Batjer notes, this proceeding and the resulting
plan of reorganization is a central part of resolving PG&E's bankruptcy. This is not
entirely new ground for this Commission. We
heard and resolved a similar plan in the prior
PG&E bankruptcy, and I’m confident that we could do so, expeditiously, providing full
opportunity for the parties to participate. In
this proceeding, as President Batjer notes, the
scope of the proceeding includes issues that we must resolve under AB1054 in order to
approve a plan of reorganization. Central among
those include ensuring that the governance
structure of a new reorganized PG&E is appropriate
to deal with its safety record, especially
in light of its poor safety performance in the past, that the reorganized company will
further state climate goals, that any plan is
ratepayer neutral. Those are the statutory
requirements. We also have a mandate to ensure
that the plan is consistent with the public
interest and ratepayer interests under our existing statutory schemes. Again, this is a
regular, even though it's in the context of the
bankruptcy, this is a regular OII. All the
procedural opportunities for public input that are available in a normal OII will be
available, in this case, and we look forward to
robust stakeholder participation. Thank you.
President Batjer: Thank you, Commissioner. Are there any other comments? Yes.
Commissioner Shiroma: Thank you. Thank you.
Present Batjer. I support the proposed decision
to issue the OII. It is essential to provide for timely decision making on the formal
bankruptcy, and it'll provide the opportunity to gather comments and information from
stakeholders and including those who aren't
involved in the formal bankruptcy proceedings
in court. I look forward to a robust record on any proposed plan of reorganization,
the effect on customer bills and rates, including those for low income households and
disadvantaged communities in the PG&E territory,
and along with that, also achieving our
progress towards greenhouse gas goals, and, of course safety requirements. Thank you.
President Batjer: Thank you, Commissioner. Are there any other comments at this time?
Commissioner Guzman Aceves: I think my fellow Commissioners have all
said it very well and just the importance of having this public forum to
be able to hear things that the limited parties in bankruptcy will not
provide. And I think it's excellent that we’ll be including all of the
swath of things that you've included in the OII, and look for to additional
comments from the public on what else we should be considering and
ensuring the protections that my fellow Commissioners have mentioned in
terms of a safety culture and to be rate neutral. Thank you very much.
President Batjer: Thank you Commissioner.
Commissioner Randolph: I'll just briefly reiterate, you know, the importance of
this proceeding. As my fellow Commissioners mentioned, this is, as much as we get
criticized for being complicated and arcane, we are nothing compared to the bankruptcy
court. So this really is the opportunity for parties with more diverse interests to
participate in a somewhat more publicly accessible process. And for us to not only
ensure the statutory goals of 1054, but also
our constitutional responsibility to ensure
safe and reliable service provided with reasonable rates. So thank you, President
Batjer, for getting this OII started, and I look forward to assisting in any way I can.
President Batjer: Thank you. I thank my fellow
Commissioners very much for your comments. Any
further comment to be made? Okay. Thank you. I'll
turn the vote over to the agenda clerk, please.
Commissioner Shiroma: Item 33. Commissioner Shiroma Commissioner Shiroma: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: Commissioner Guzman Aceves Commissioner Guzman Aceves: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: Commissioner Randolph. Commissioner Randolph: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: Commissioner Rechtschaffen. Commissioner Rechtschaffen: Aye.
Agenda Clerk: President Batjer. President Batjer: Aye. Thank you very much. We'll now turn to the next agenda item.
And that is the management reports. And we have no management reports. Excuse
me, Alice. I didn't have any on my agenda. (inaudible speech from off-mic) No. Yeah, I do not. Unfortunately, I understood
that the manager reports come before the Commissioner's
reports. So thank you for the correction.
But having said that, there are no management reports today, so let's just move on.
Unknown 1: I just have one, Maryam, well, it's not really report, but Deputy
Executive Director Maryam Ebke would like to introduce her new staff person.
President Batjer: That's lovely. Thank you.
Maryam, are you here? Yes. Please. Please introduce
yourself, Maryam. And then that of your staff.
Maryam Ebke: Good morning, Commissioners.
President Batjer. Thank you. Maryam Ebke, Deputy
Executive Director, Safety and Consumer Protection.
I'm pleased to introduce Doug Ito. He's our new
division director for the Division of Consumer
Protection and Enforcement Division. Doug joined the
Commission on September 9th. He comes to us from
the Air Resources Board where has worked there
for almost 20 years, mostly the past 14 years in
management positions and leadership positions.
Most recently, Doug was the Assistant Division
Chief for the Division of Toxic Transportation and
Toxic Division working on implementing, developing,
and implementing regulations and incentives for
cleaner freight transportation equipment and
facilities. Doug earned a Master of Science degree
in Transportation Technology and Policy and a
Bachelor of Science in Environmental Policy Analysis
and Planning, both from the University of California
at Davis. Doug’s extensive background both in
work experience and his educational background in
transportation and enforcement is much welcomed
in CPED. As you know, we now have four branches in
the division of Consumer Protection Enforcement
Division. We have an Enforcement branch in Southern
California, Enforcement Branch in Northern
California, Transportation Licensing and Analysis
Branch in San Francisco and also a Utility
Enforcement Branch. Doug is at 300 Capitol Mall
in Sacramento. But you’ll see him in our San
Francisco and LA office with his staff, and I just
wanted to introduce him and welcome into the PUC.
President Batjer: Maryam, thank you. And we welcome you, Mr Ito.
Thank you very much. Executive Director Stebbins,
do you have anything else? I apologize
for taking that out of order. All right. Thank
you. We'll now move on to the Commissioner's
reports. Who wants to start?
Commissioner Guzman Aceves: Okay. Okay. Just as a quick update. I did have
few events over the last week or so, and I wanted to share some of them. Last
Thursday, I was down in a community called Parlier, where the Solar Task Force,
the interagency task force that has been formed with the Contractor State
Licensing Board, the Department of Business Oversight and the Fresno County
District Attorney, where we were doing a press conference to bring the attention
to the electric customers in Fresno County of a bulletin that was sent out
jointly to 300,000 residents in Fresno County and letting them know about some
of their new requirements that are in place and giving them tips on how to get
solar in a safe and affordable way without any sort of fraud. And so, at the
end of the month, we will be requiring the California Solar Consumer Protection
Guide as part as of interconnection. I did also join Southern California
Edison in Tulare for their Hispanic Heritage Day, which was actually a really
fabulous day down in Tulare. I think over 300 people were there. Tremendous
community partnerships and business partnerships that were discussed there,
so it's a real honor to be there with them. Right after our LA visit, I did a
tour with some of the communities in South LA, Southwest LA, and this was in
partnership with State Water Resources Control Board, the regional board, many
community partnerships. And we went to visit these unincorporated parts of LA,
Sativa, Maywood, Linwood, all of these areas that are served currently with
private mutual water companies that are not regulated by the PUC, and obviously
they're not elected by their citizens. So there's been a real story,
unfortunately, of neglect. LA County has stepped in with one particular system,
Sativa, to improve their infrastructure. And just while we were there, they issued
their RFP for who will take over that system. It's very likely that an IOU will
try to bid for that. So this issue will be coming our way, most likely, of
these communities and others like them, where the rule of potentially of private
water utilities taking over these failing systems. So I really look forward
to our water division stepping up and looking at not just the accounting of
these systems and the affordability but the public process of how to take into
account what the communities there really, really want. And this was something
we heard during the tour from the communities themselves of being able
to participate and something that we struggle with here. So we're gonna need to
be grounded. We're gonna be need to be in LA, at least, for these communities,
but there will be many others. And as Commissioners Roma and I are working
with the State Water Board on their bigger agenda of safe drinking water,
this is gonna be a continued need to focus on. I did also visit a couple of the
CCAs over the last few weeks, and the most recent one was with MCE Board and
just really had a brief visit with them here in Richmond, last week, which was
really impressive in terms of the amount of dedication and leadership from
the local governments to the issue of energy procurement. So I hope we can
continue to do more of those engagements and dialogues as we move forward. Okay.
Almost done. Two more things. I also, with Commission Rechtschaffen, did one
of the consultations down for tribal consultations that we've been doing on
two topics on broadband access and on the tribal land policy. We were down in
Tuolumme with the Miwok Native Americans, hosted the consultation there, and
that was just a fabulous story on the amount of progress has been made in their
communities. We have two more consultations. The next one is this Monday at
the Blue Lake Rancheria, and the final one will be down in the Pechanga area
with the Pechanga in the Tumecula area of Riverside County on October 11th. So
those will be our final consultations. And in in that vein, tomorrow is Native
American Day at the Capitol, and President Batjer and I will be joining the
Tribal Council tonight at their forum, which is a great honor and a tremendous
progress that we have done in really the restitution of our tribal nations
here in California, as the state with the most tribal governments. And also
in that vein, I wanted to finally recognize Darcy Hauk, who unfortunately is
leaving. I don't think she's here today, but she will be leaving the Commission.
Administrative Law Judge Hauk has done a tremendous amount of work for tribal
communities in our policy development here at the Commission, amongst many
other things, like all over work on nuclear decommissioning. Songs, YABO, you
name it. She is going to be a huge loss for us, but she is not going too far.
She will be general counsel at the California Energy Commission. So we look
forward to working with her in her new role, but are very sad to see her leave.
But thank her for her tremendous service here at the Commission. Thank you.
President Batjer: Thank you, Commissioner. Who would like to report next?
Commissioner Shiroma: Thank you. Thank you, President Batjer. Okay, so a number
of things to share with you since the last voting meeting, we had what's called
the Universal Life Line Telephone Service Trust Administrative Committee Meeting.
And these are folks who have volunteered to advise us on the lifeline program,
which is the discount telephone program, discount phones. And this committee meets
quarterly. And so at this committee meeting, we received a very informative
presentations from the Communications Division staff on the rollout of two pilot
programs. The Boost Care program, which Boost has access to the customers
who are on the CARE discount electricity and gas utility programs. And over
750,000 postcards have been sent out to eligible participants, letting them know
that they qualify, by qualifying for the care program, they qualify for the
Lifeline program. And I'd like to thank Caleb Jones for sharing the information and
managing the program, and Shari Worster for the overall coordination, the meeting
and heading up the group that implements these programs. There's also a pilot
program referred to as I Foster and that will be launching soon, and that will
be for riding discounts and phones to the California's Foster Youth. And I
think we heard that there were 30 or there are 33,000 youth in California that
would qualify for the program, and we had voted this out earlier this year. Now,
on October 16 and 17, we’ll have two days of workshops, right here in San Francisco,
to talk about some additional pilot programs and to garner other ideas that
people may come forth with for pilot programs to provide for greater opportunity
for access to the Lifeline program. Now, we also will be having an autonomous
vehicle pilot workshop on October 22 here as well, and we'll be discussing the
quantitative and qualitative data provided by companies so far, and also looking
at, again, what other ideas do companies have, the public have, about the
autonomous vehicle program and other ideas that can be applied for and potentially
authorized by the CPUC under the autonomous vehicle program and proceedings.
Okay, then last week, I've been talking about this low income oversight board
meeting, and we did have it. In San Ysidro, The investor owned utilities provided
a preview of their applications for the next phase of the CARE and EASA programs,
again for the utilities, those are the discount programs for bills and also
weatherization and appliances. Those next applications are due November 4th, we
had voted out the CARE and EASA decision earlier this year. And this next phase
is underway. We received some good information from the investor owned utilities
as a preview, again, their applications are due on November 4th. We emphasize
it's very important to have metric goals and they will, which is required by
the decision, and we look forward to seeing what is submitted. Also, during the
committee meeting, we heard some good news from the Water division staff, in
so far as, as a requirement that all schools test for lead, and for those
investor-owned water utilities, under the jurisdiction of the CPUC, the schools have
completed their testing. Those where there was lead found, the pipes have been
replaced and that work is completed. That was very, very good news to hear for the
investor-owned water utilities. Now, it was also Mexican Independence Day. We
had a wonderful celebration. After the meeting, we were at a middle school and
their Folklorico Dance group dance. Also, a nearby high school mariachi band came
and played a number of traditional songs. And then we were joined by Senator
Ben hueso, who did indeed sing a number of songs along with the band. And we were
also joined by Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez and also the San Diego Mexican
Consul General. It happened also be Assembly Member Gonzalez's birthday, so the
Mariachi band serenaded her as well. Well, it really raised the bar in terms of
Low Income Oversight board meetings. And I do want to thank our board member,
Robert Castaneda, for helping to organize that, and within the CPUC, it does take
a lot to organize these meetings, and I do want to thank Zayda Amaya, formerly
with the Energy Division, now with the Rail division. She was the LIOB's staff
coordinator for 17 years and what a wonderful job she has done all these years
keeping the LIOB organized, doing minutes, agendas, making sure we have all the
materials well ahead of time, and I know that the Rail division is very, very lucky
to have her. I also want to thank, from the News and Outreach office, Monica
Palmera, for her help. Again, we heard yesterday in committee about what the
Public Adviser's office does, and having Monica there with the audio-visual and
all the pieces that go into an advisory committee meeting. She really helped to
make that a very smooth process and allow people for the public to listen in
online and also to provide comments through the voice feature. So thank you very
much. We’ll see what happens next in the two weeks before our next meeting.
President Batjer: Would anybody else like to report?
Commissioner Rechtschaffen: I have a couple of quick
thank yous. One, I want to echo what Commissioner
Guzman Aceves said about Darcy Hauk. I’m happy for her
that she's got a new, exciting job as the Chief Counsel
for the Energy Commission, but sorry to see her leave.
She did fantastic work on the tribal lands policy, and
she has a lot of existing relationships with tribes
that allowed us to work cooperatively with them in a
way that was really very effective. So we're gonna miss
her. And second, I want to say thank you and goodbye
to Amy Chumarty. Amy's been serving as an interim
advisor for me for the past year. She took over when my
advisor, Simi George, was on maternity leave. I want
to thank particularly Director Lisa Veramalashenko for
first reluctantly, but then, maybe more enthusiastically,
agreeing to lend Amy to our office. Amy provided
a lot of expertise on our safety and risk management
programs, which she had developed when she was in the
Safety division, so it was a great transition. She
also worked on water and telecommunications issues. In
addition to that, she was the main staff person on the
enforcement initiative that President Picker and I, and
President Batjer and I now, have been leading with
Director Stebbins. And she did a great job on that. In
her spare time, she also became the unofficial Commission
photographer. And most importantly, she schooled
me in the use of social media, allowing me to enter
the 21st century effectively. She's leaving to become
the director of the Consumer Affairs branch of the
Commission, where she'll do a great job. I'm very happy
for her there, but I will certainly miss you. And thank
you very much, Amy, for your great work. (applause)
President Batjer: Commissioner Randolph?
Commissioner Randolph: Okay. A couple of quick
things. I am introducing a new energy advisor in
my office, Jason Ordego, over there. Jason joined
the Commission in 2015 as a senior regulatory
analyst in the Energy division, where he has worked
exclusively on the integrated resource planning
proceeding, so I got to know him quite well there.
He has focused on how load serving entities can
account for their greenhouse gas emissions as they
plan toward a lower carbon profile, and he helped
develop the standards and requirements so that
each of the 43 LSEs file plans that can be easily
compared to one another. He has recently been our
point staffer for the joint workshops that we're
holding around the state with the Energy Commission
and the Air Resources board on our progress
towards SB100. Before joining the Commission, Jason
worked as a program manager at Global Footprint
Network and a research associate at the National
Academy of Sciences. He holds an MA in International
Affairs and Technology Policy from George Washington
University and a BA in English from Louisiana
State. He is 100% Cajun-French, born and raised
in Southern Louisiana. So welcome to my office,
Jason. I also wanted to note, to give a small plug
for those SB100 workshops. There is one coming
up on September 30th on Monday in Fresno, another
one in Reading on October 25th, and a technical
workshop here, in this auditorium, on November 18.
So I encourage you to get involved in the public
process around the SB100 statutory report. And then,
I will also note that I, last week, I had the
opportunity to attend a peer review in Cambodia,
sponsored by the National Association of Regulatory
Utility Commissioners, or NERUC, and the State
Department, where a team of myself, an analyst
from Minnesota and an expert in solar issues who
is now at USEPA, had the opportunity to go and
meet with the Electricity Authority of Cambodia,
EAC, to talk about time of use rates and solar
interconnection. In the last 15 to 20 years, EAC has
done a big push to get the entire country electricity
service, and they are working towards that goal.
And in addition, they have proposed some new
time of use rates and are looking at solar interconnection
issues, both for utility scale and behind
the meter solar. So, they have two utility scale
projects underway and have about five or six more
in the queue to provide increased electricity
reliability and to displace some of the coal and fuel
oil resources they have there. So we had spent three
days meeting and having detailed conversations
about their proposals and sharing with them our
experiences in California, Minnesota, and other
parts of the United States. I wanna give a quick
thanks to some staff people who helped me pull
together some documents, so that my staff and I could
come up with the powerpoint presentations that
I worked on. So from Energy division, Whitney
Richardson and Paul Phillips were a big help. And
from ALJ division Sofia Park and Steve Roscoe were
forwarding me some of the information that they
have compiled over the years. So thank you very
much. And that's it for my Commissioner comments.
President Batjer: Thank you to all the Commissioners for your important
updates. As I'm continuing to introduce myself to folks and going through
some meet and greets, I, last weekend, this week, met with Elizabeth Echols,
the Executive Director of the Public Advocate's office, and yesterday
with Mark Toney, who, of course, is with Utility Reform Network, TURN. They
both represent entities that are integral to the CUPC’s process, and I
look forward to working with them further as well as their staffs. Just a
note, we are working on finalizing 2020 Commission meeting schedule and
want everyone to know that we anticipate releasing that schedule soon.
Most importantly, I am also thrilled to introduce Saul Gomez. Saul was
recently appointed by Governor Newsome as the Deputy Executive Director for
the Office of the Commission. Saul brings a depth of administrative and
policy making experience from both the public and private sectors, including
serving in the Governor's Office and the Natural Resources Agency and
the Energy Commission. Saul will be reporting directly to me and among other
efforts, will be assisting me and Executive Director Stebbins, in the
implementation of the recently enacted legislation AB1054 and AB111. These
measures established the new Wild Fire Safety Advisory Board, the new
Wilfire Safety Division and tasks the CPUC with many new critical
responsibilities. Saul will also advise me and the Commissioners as we continue
to move on organizational goals and policy initiative the CPUC is charged
with. I look forward very much to working, again, here at the CPUC with
Saul. Welcome. I'd like to thank Forest Keyser, who has been my interim,
this short little interim I have had, interim advisory energy adviser and
has been a tremendous help to me with my transition into this new role.
He has been appointed as supervisor at the newly created Resiliency and
Microgrids Unit within the Energy Division. Thank you, Forest, very much. I
look forward to continuing your work, although I'm terribly sad to see you
go. Forest, of course previously and admirably served under President Picker.
Thank you so much, Forest. I believe that finishes the Commissioner's
reports, and I want to thank you all for coming. The public meeting is
now adjourned. Please clear the room for the closed session. Thank you.