Report 2012-118 Recommendation 3 Responses
Report 2012-118: California Public Utilities Commission: Despite Administrative Weaknesses, It Has Generally Awarded Compensation to Intervenors in Accordance With State Law (Release Date: July 2013)
Recommendation #3 To: Public Utilities Commission
To ensure that utilities and commission staff pay the correct amount of interest to intervenors, the commission should complete its effort to develop and distribute a methodology for calculating reasonable interest on compensation decisions issued after the 75-day deadline. The commission should follow the new procedure to ensure that it calculates interest payments appropriately. To the extent reasonable, the commission should recoup the interest overpaid to intervenors.
6-Month Agency Response
The Commission has taken action to recover interest overpayments to intervenors. On November 12, 2013, the Commissions Fiscal Office sent letters to nine intervenors that were overpaid a total of $41,903.00 in interest from the Commissions Intervenor Compensation Program Fund. Copies of these letters have been submitted to aaronf@auditor.ca.gov. As of this report, six of the nine intervenors have repaid $15,334.42 in interest overpayments.
- Completion Date: November 2013
- Response Date: January 2014
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented
60-Day Agency Response
In June 2013, the ALJ Division surveyed the methods that utilities use to compute interest on compensation awards. On August 6, 2013, the ALJ Division published for public comment Draft Resolution ALJ-294 recommending guidelines for computing interest on approved claims and, on September 5, 2013, the resolution was adopted. A copy of Resolution ALJ-294 has been submitted to aaronf@auditor.ca.gov.
The ALJ Division worked with the Commission's Fiscal Office to establish written procedures for computing interest on approved claims using the same method adopted by Resolution ALJ-294. A copy of the ALJ Division's procedures memo has been submitted to aaronf@auditor.ca.gov.
- Completion Date: September 2013
- Response Date: September 2013
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented
The commission has created a methodology and corresponding procedure for calculating reasonable interest on compensation decisions issued after the 75-day deadline. However, the commission's response does not address whether it has made any attempt to recoup the interest overpaid to intervenors.
All Recommendations in 2012-118
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.