Proposed Practices
for the
Unbundling/ Pricing/ Rate Design/ PBR Working Group

  1. Ground Rules for the WG Process

    1. As a body that will seek official recognition by the CPUC, the purpose of the WG is to implement CPUC decisions and not to recreate disputes over matters already settled by the CPUC's policy decisions. Where pertinent policy issues have not been clearly settled by CPUC decisions, interpretations will be addressed as substantive issues.

    2. The WG should include broad stakeholder representation.

    3. All parties should contribute time and effort to the WG process and attempt to seek their preferred solution inside of the WG process. (We do not consider parties taking positions on legislation to be contrary to this rule.)

    4. The workload of the WG should not be carried by any single party.

    5. A coordinating committee will be organized to provide procedural assistance to the efforts of the overall WG.

    6. Several other working groups and forums (Direct Access Working Group, ESWG-CC Study Team on Information Access, Consumer Protection Working Group, etc.) are addressing similar or related topics. This WG should seek to coordinate its efforts and to minimize duplication with other existing or emergent working groups.

    7. All deliberations of the WG will be publicly noticed. Private meetings of subsets of the WG may occur, but all members will be notified.

  2. Meeting Notices, Minutes, Distribution of Materials

    1. An opportunity to be included within the WG process should be extended to all parties.

    2. All parties specifically designating interest in the WG will be placed on a mailing list and will receive mailings of materials, notices, etc. In addition, meeting notices will be provided to Michelle Cooke of the CPUC for inclusion on their Internet website (http://www.cpuc.ca.gov), and notices, minutes, and other materials of general interest will be posted on DRA's Internet website (http://dra1.cpuc.ca.gov/wk-group/, alternatively http://162.15.5.2/wk-group/ or Gopher at dra1.cpuc.ca.gov or 162.15.5.2).

    3. An attempt will be made to avoid scheduling meetings that conflict with related working group activities.

    4. Written notices will be provided by internet, mail or fax, and received by parties whenever possible at least 7 working days, and in no event less than 48 hours, in advance of each meeting of the WG.

    5. Minutes of discussions will be prepared and distributed to all persons on the mailing list. Minutes will identify all decisions, major points of discussion, and areas of substantial agreement and disagreement, but will not identify parties. All handouts distributed at WG meetings will be included with minutes, except that lengthy handouts may be provided only on DRA's Internet website.

    6. Specific parties will be identified that are willing to undertake the burden of preparing, duplicating, and mailing minutes, handouts, and other materials, and perhaps other administrative services.

  3. Meetings

    1. All meetings will be chaired by a person who agrees to refrain from any advocacy for the duration of the meeting. The meeting chair's responsibility is to get the group to work through the agenda in a productive manner. Individual participants agree to conform to the decisions of the chair, unless the chair is overruled by a majority of the participants.

    2. The coordinating committee will develop a detailed agenda for each meeting. The first order of business of each meeting is to verify that the proposed agenda is acceptable, and if not to develop a consensus around a revised agenda. The second order of business is to ensure that appropriate notetaking responsibilities are assigned to ensure that minutes are produced.

    3. The goal of a meeting is to review materials that are pertinent to a specific issue within the scope of the WG's activities that has been identified on the agenda for that meeting, and to use a discussion process to make a decision that is acceptable to the WG.

    4. Decision-making during meetings will be by consensus, which is interpreted to mean "a decision that all parties can live with".

    5. The final order of business will be to identify the subject(s), tentative agenda, date, place, and time for the next meeting.

    6. Meeting location will rotate among sites as needed with the objective of minimizing overall travel requirements for the active participants in the WG.

  4. Substantive Efforts of the WG

    1. The WG will develop a written mission statement that identifies what it is trying to accomplish.

    2. The WG will develop a written scope of work that identifies the specific activities, products, reports that it intends to use in accomplishing its mission.

    3. The WG coordinating committee will request volunteers and/or assign participants to develop analyses, position papers, studies or other materials that are needed to assess issues, identify options, and provide a substantive basis for developing solutions to issues.

    4. The WG itself will prepare written reports as needed to document its activities in developing solutions to issues. If consensus cannot be reached, then options will be produced and advantages and disadvantages will be identified.