An administrative law judge’s recent ruling could ultimately raise your electric bill. A judge intends to decide against Southern California Edison’s request to increase water rates on Catalina, according to a press release issued by attorneys representing opponents of the Edison request. The ruling, if approved, could result in mainland residents’ electricity bills increasing to pay for Catalina’s water. The electric bill increase would be temporary and last only for one year. The alternative to raising Catalina water fees was part of Edison’s rate increase request.
The California Public Utilities Commission will have the final say on the matter.
Administrative Law Judge Robert Barnett issued his proposed decision in the Edison General Rate Case on Monday, April 23. Southern California Edison sought to more than double the water rates charged to Catalina Island ratepayers.
In reaching his decision to pass $10,700,000 of Edison’s Rate Base to mainland electric ratepayers, Barnett said that the “water system primarily serves . . . visitors,” and that Catalina ratepayers, who currently are paying the highest rates in California, facing a doubling or more of their current bills, “would welcome the relief, as was made clear at the public hearing.”
This isn’t news to Sun readers. As first reported in February 2011, SCE’s Harvey said that if the alternative plan is approved by the Utilities Commission, the rate increase would be a one-time only increase for a one-year period. Edison’s 5 million mainland electricity customers would share the $10.7 million bill for improvements to Catalina’s water system.
Otherwise, roughly 4,000 Catalina Island residents will have to split the cost of the $10.7 million.
At the time, Harvey told the Sun that Edison’s argument was that if the cost of the water system improvements would be too much to be born only by Catalina residents.
“The Island could cease to exist,” Harvey said. He did not believe businesses could operate on the Island under the circumstances.
Lawyers representing both Edison and Catalina residents will have 25 days as of April 23, 2012, to comment on Barnett’s proposed decision and five days to reply to each other’s comments, according to Norris J. Bishton Jr., the attorney who represented the opponents of the proposed rate increase.
The decision will then go to the Public Utilities Commission. Bishton said he spoke with commission staff members. “They felt there was a 90 percent chance it would be approved,” he said.
Edison representatives had mixed reviews for Judge Barnett’s proposed decision. “SCE disagrees that some capital improvements were too expensive,” said a joint statement by Ben Harvey, Edison Local Public Affairs region manager, and Ron Hite, SCE Catalina Island Transmission and Distribution district manager.
“Enhancements, repairs and operations on Catalina Island are very expensive; it is a remote, isolated island. Other California water utilities do not have comparable operating costs or fixed costs spread among only about 2,000 customers,” said the Edison statement.
“SCE inherited the water system decades ago from the city of Avalon and William Wrigley, who designed and built it for his family. SCE made substantial capital investments in recent years to serve the entire island and replace aging infrastructure and business systems at a cost of more than $15 million to provide safe and reliable water and should be permitted to recover those costs from those benefiting from the upgrades,” the statement said.
