Agenda for May 2 Ratesetting Working Group Meeting
At the 4/26/97 Ratesetting Working Group meeting, the agenda established
for the next continuation meeting of the working group (scheduled for
10 AM on Friday, May 2, at PG&E Energy Center, 851 Howard St., San
Francisco) was to determine topics for further discussion by the working
group. Nominations of topics were invited.
Thus, in formal agenda structure, the agenda is:
1. Introduction
2. Planning for Future Meetings ("Where do we go from here?")
As ORA's representative, I stated that I had five topics to propose, and
now that our opening brief from the Unbundling hearings has been filed, I
have a chance to circulate them: (1) discussion of and feedback on the
utilities' upcoming tariff filings, scheduled by the Roadmap II decision
for June 1997, (2) development of procedures for updating distribution
loss factors prior to day-ahead bidding, (3) criteria for operation of
interruptible retail rate programs, (4) formation of a joint Ratesetting
Working Group (RWG)/ Direct Access Working Group (DAWG) subteam on load
profiling, and (5) working group contribution to the utilities' upcoming
revenue cycle unbundling cost studies. Concerning item #4, discussion
among several parties who convened a meeting recently to discuss plans
for the upcoming workshops outlined in the proposed Direct Access
decisions revealed that DAWG may not be reconvening its efforts,
yielding instead to a structured workshop process in which both DAWG and RWG
participants, and others, would be invited to participate -- thus making
item #4 moot. Concerning item #5, the proposed Revenue Cycle Unbundling
decision has been held until May 6, and it would probably not be
productive to establish plans until the CPUC has reached a decision.
Items 1 to 3 are still ripe for discussion.
In addition, Mike Jaske of the Energy Commission has sent me some
suggested topics, which I have extracted:
> From: MIKE JASKE [SMTP:MJASKE@energy.state.ca.us]
> Sent: Monday, April 28, 1997 4:26 PM
> Subject: Agenda for May 2 RWG Meeting
>
> Would parties be willing to discuss their 4/30 opening briefs, or is
> this too adversarial? One subset of this topic that might be useful is
> the positions that various parties have taken on the idea that some
> interim implementation of improved rates should occur before 2002, and
> that a process is needed to develop as much of this in a stakeholder
> process as possible.
>
> Another idea is to review all of the various things that will have to
> be accomplished as a result of the interim decision by the CPUC in the
> May/June time period in utility filings in September. Are we all clear
> what this includes? I do not have a firm list in my mind, although I am
> sure that certain basic factors will spill over from the initial phase
> we are completing with these briefs.
>
> Another idea is to review the discussion that Commissioner Neeper
> elicited in his "conversation with SCE" meeting on April 21. How should
> the broader aspects of unbundling that were originally part of the March
> 1996 roadmap be resurrected? Is this track 2 as we once used the term,
> or are there several tracks with intermediate and longer term subsets
> of topics?
>
> As I finish this list, I see that all of these are "looking ahead"
> topics for the RWG to try to get its bearings again. Some are very
> short term and others very long term. Clearly the longer term items
> will be driven out by the short term items if there is a lot of energy
> to discuss short term items in this setting.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Mike Jaske
> CEC
> 916-654-4777
There should be no limit on making other suggestions on Friday, within
the scope of the working group.
=====================================================================
Jim Price California Public Utilities Commission
j.price@cpuc.ca.gov Office of Ratepayer Advocates
fax (415) 703-1981 voice (415) 703-1797
.