Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Department of Water Resources

Good Law

112 Cal. App. 4th 477·2003 Cal. App. LEXIS 1506·2003 D.A.R. 11·2003 Daily Journal DAR 11169·5 Cal. Rptr. 3d 283

Court of Appeal of CaliforniaOctober 2, 2003C041864California12,260 words

Opinion

Sims, J.

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) buys electric power from the California Department of Water Resources.

The Department of Water Resources and its director, Thomas M. Hannigan (collectively DWR), appeal from a judgment granting a petition for writ of mandate filed by PG&E. PG&E challenged the manner in which DWR carried out emergency legislation authorizing it to buy and sell electrical power during a statewide energy crisis. The legislation at issue is Assembly Bill No. 1X (2001-2002 1st Ex. Sess.) (Assem. Bill No. 1X) (see Stats. 2001, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 4, § 4), amended by Senate Bill No. 31X, (2001-2002 1st Ex. Sess.) (Sen. Bill No. 31X) (see Stats. 2001, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 9), codified at Water Code section 80000 et seq. Assembly Bill No. 1X authorizes DWR to recover its costs by submitting a “revenue requirement” to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for incorporation into utility rates. (§§ 80110, 80134.)

The trial court concluded (1) section 80110 required DWR to conduct a review to determine whether the costs to be included in its revenue requirement were just and reasonable, and (2) the review had to be conducted pursuant to the…

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