PG&E Corp. v. Public Utilities Commission

I. INTRODUCTION

Disputing the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC or Commission) over entities other than public utilities, the parent holding companies of California’s three large investor-owned electric utilities seek to be dismissed from a pending PUC proceeding investigating actions taken by the holding companies and their utility subsidiaries during the electricity energy crisis of 2000 and 2001. The holding companies and their utility subsidiaries also challenge an interim opinion of the PUC interpreting one of the conditions imposed at the time the utilities sought approval to form holding company structures.

The challenged rulings arise out of an investigation initiated by the PUC during the height of California’s electricity energy crisis in 2001. (See Cal.P.U.C. Order Instituting Investigation, Investigation No. 01-04-002 (Apr. 3, 2001) [2001 Cal.PUC LEXIS 405] (hereafter Order Instituting Investigation).) In addition to naming the utilities as parties to the investigation, the PUC also included as parties their parent holding companies—Edison International (EIX), Sempra Energy (Sempra), and PG&E Corporation (PG&E Corporation) (collectively,…