Utility Reform Network v. Public Utilities Commission

The Utility Reform Network (TURN) petitions for review of an order of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) awarding TURN only part of the attorney fees it sought for participating in lawsuits about deregulation of the electrical power market in California. The PUC declined to award TURN compensation under the intervener compensation provisions of the Public Utilities Code for TURN’S unsuccessful court challenge to the PUC’s settlement of a lawsuit with a utility. The PUC concluded that TURN’S failed litigation did not make a substantial contribution to the PUC’s proceedings. Applying the required deference, we cannot say that the PUC’s decision bore no reasonable relation to the purpose and language of the governing provisions of the Public Utilities Code. Nor did the PUC err in denying a multiplier. But the PUC did err in awarding TURN’S outside counsel hourly rates of up to $470 per hour instead of the $550 per hour they asked for. We therefore affirm in part and reverse in part.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

1. Assembly Bill No. 1890, the Early PUC Proceedings, and Our SCE Decision.

Much of the history underlying TURN’S petition for review is set forth in our…