Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

WEBA Update: Amended Application filed by SCE, SDG&E and PG&E for Uninsured Wildfire Expense Billings to Customers

Southern California Edison has filed a joint amended application for authority to bill customers for outstanding Wildfire Expense Balancing Account (WEBA) amounts that record future uninsured wildfire legal and related costs. The amended WEBA application by SCE, SDG&E, and PG&E was ordered to be filed back in December 2009 by Administrative Law Judge Maribeth Bushey and Assigned Commissioner Timothy Simon.

If WEBA authority is granted, then the investor owned utilities (known to CPUC as the IOUs) will be able to pass on all uninsured wildfire claims costs to consumers regardless of utility responsibility for causing and contributing to wildfires in San Diego County or in other IOU service areas. Negligent and other unreasonable utility actions contributing to wildfires and uninsured wildfire liability would have to be challenged in a separate CPUC complaint proceedings to be excluded from WEBA, but in any case, a CPUC finding that a utility violated CPUC orders or rulings in any wildfire would be ground for CPUC by statute to sue the utility for damages to the fullest extent of the law.

Curiously, even being sued by CPUC for wildfire negligence is also eligible to be included as a legitimate utility WEBA charge to consumers unless there are additional CPUC hearings, also subject to payment by consumers ad nausem.

A persistent countywide hazard exists in SDG&E's use of overhead transmission and distribution lines, and the countywide hazard will persist until about 2063, when SDG&E estimates that most lines will finally be placed underground. This persistent hazard is made obvious by its failure to be mentioned at all within the four corners of the IOUs' amended WEBA application.

Also conspicuous by absence is any mention of the utility holding company's first priority condition to infuse working and other needed capital into an owned utility, where CPUC previously decided that such infusions need take place even if they caused a loss, as those same holding companies both received the benefits of dividends from utility gross receipts and removed capital from the owned utilities that could have been used to put power lines underground or to make other similar safety and service improvements to public utility property in the first place.

New Proceeding Calendar Ordered by ALJ Bushey

All protests to the amended WEBA application A0908020 must be filed under CPUC specific rules of practice by September 8, 2010. All persons filing protests are parties to the proceeding, although the assigned administrative law judge may limit or even exclude parties from participation if a specific party's position are well represented by other parties in support or opposition. Protests would be considered in good form if they are served on all persons currently listed to receive service of both the underlying initial application A0908020 and subsequent filings to CPUC proceeding. CPUC may take action against parties who file papers only for the purpose of delaying CPUC business. Parties should seek legal advice from someone familiar with CPUC proceedings procedure in ratesetting matters with evidentiary hearings and time-sensitive responses.

Replies to protests will be filed and served by noon on September 13, 2010.

The prehearing conference will be on September 14, 2010, at the 10:00 AM Hearing Courtroom session at the Office State Building, 505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco. Persons making a verbal protest at the prehearing conference may become parties to the proceeding.

By law, individual parties may be compensated for the reasonable costs of intervening if their comments form part of the decision issued by CPUC in the matter. Parties must comply with applicable Public Utility Code standards for receiving utility payments of intervening costs in the public interest.

If I file a protest to the amended WEBA application, then I will do so by also stating that I will not participate as a party, I will not apply for intervenor compensation, and any party is free to adopt any of my comments sent to CPUC or posted at the Reader website that may be cited by CPUC in its decision.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About doTERRA

Next Article

WAV College Church reminds kids that time is short

College is a formational time for decisions about belief

Southern California Edison has filed a joint amended application for authority to bill customers for outstanding Wildfire Expense Balancing Account (WEBA) amounts that record future uninsured wildfire legal and related costs. The amended WEBA application by SCE, SDG&E, and PG&E was ordered to be filed back in December 2009 by Administrative Law Judge Maribeth Bushey and Assigned Commissioner Timothy Simon.

If WEBA authority is granted, then the investor owned utilities (known to CPUC as the IOUs) will be able to pass on all uninsured wildfire claims costs to consumers regardless of utility responsibility for causing and contributing to wildfires in San Diego County or in other IOU service areas. Negligent and other unreasonable utility actions contributing to wildfires and uninsured wildfire liability would have to be challenged in a separate CPUC complaint proceedings to be excluded from WEBA, but in any case, a CPUC finding that a utility violated CPUC orders or rulings in any wildfire would be ground for CPUC by statute to sue the utility for damages to the fullest extent of the law.

Curiously, even being sued by CPUC for wildfire negligence is also eligible to be included as a legitimate utility WEBA charge to consumers unless there are additional CPUC hearings, also subject to payment by consumers ad nausem.

A persistent countywide hazard exists in SDG&E's use of overhead transmission and distribution lines, and the countywide hazard will persist until about 2063, when SDG&E estimates that most lines will finally be placed underground. This persistent hazard is made obvious by its failure to be mentioned at all within the four corners of the IOUs' amended WEBA application.

Also conspicuous by absence is any mention of the utility holding company's first priority condition to infuse working and other needed capital into an owned utility, where CPUC previously decided that such infusions need take place even if they caused a loss, as those same holding companies both received the benefits of dividends from utility gross receipts and removed capital from the owned utilities that could have been used to put power lines underground or to make other similar safety and service improvements to public utility property in the first place.

New Proceeding Calendar Ordered by ALJ Bushey

All protests to the amended WEBA application A0908020 must be filed under CPUC specific rules of practice by September 8, 2010. All persons filing protests are parties to the proceeding, although the assigned administrative law judge may limit or even exclude parties from participation if a specific party's position are well represented by other parties in support or opposition. Protests would be considered in good form if they are served on all persons currently listed to receive service of both the underlying initial application A0908020 and subsequent filings to CPUC proceeding. CPUC may take action against parties who file papers only for the purpose of delaying CPUC business. Parties should seek legal advice from someone familiar with CPUC proceedings procedure in ratesetting matters with evidentiary hearings and time-sensitive responses.

Replies to protests will be filed and served by noon on September 13, 2010.

The prehearing conference will be on September 14, 2010, at the 10:00 AM Hearing Courtroom session at the Office State Building, 505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco. Persons making a verbal protest at the prehearing conference may become parties to the proceeding.

By law, individual parties may be compensated for the reasonable costs of intervening if their comments form part of the decision issued by CPUC in the matter. Parties must comply with applicable Public Utility Code standards for receiving utility payments of intervening costs in the public interest.

If I file a protest to the amended WEBA application, then I will do so by also stating that I will not participate as a party, I will not apply for intervenor compensation, and any party is free to adopt any of my comments sent to CPUC or posted at the Reader website that may be cited by CPUC in its decision.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Sempra Energy Emphasis on Utilities over Commodity Trading a Plus for Power Line Undergrounding?

Next Article

Analysis of SDG&E WEBA Application to CPUC and Supporting Arguments (Part I)

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader