PUC

To accommodate the connection of newly created sources of electrical energy to a transmission facility that is part of the national grid, it is often necessary to upgrade the grid at the point of interconnection. Federal law, as set forth in a recent order of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), states that the generator of the energy is initially responsible for the costs of the upgrade but further provides that the owner of the transmission facility, typically a public utility such as petitioner Southern California Edison (SCE), may elect to pay those costs. (In either case, the costs are later reimbursed through energy sales.) California Public Utilities Code section 399.25, as interpreted by respondent California Public Utilities Commission (PUC), permits a requirement that the public utility pay the up-front costs. The issue in this case is whether PUC’s interpretation has been preempted by federal law. We conclude that it has. Accordingly, on a petition for a writ of review filed by SCE, we annul certain PUC decisions to the extent they purport to interpret Public Utilities Code section 399.25 to permit a requirement that transmission owners pay the…