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Regulatory Rate Filings | 6 Months Ended
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Jun. 30, 2015
Regulated Operations [Abstract] |
Regulatory Rate Filings | Regulatory Rate Filings On September 15, 2014, San Jose Water Company filed an application for rehearing of 2012 General Rate Case Decision No. 14-08-006 to address a limited set of issues from San Jose Water Company's General Rate Case Decision No. 14-08-006. Specifically, San Jose Water Company sought rehearing on the duration of the interim rate period used to determine the General Rate Case true-up recovery and rehearing on the treatment of excess capacity labor in the provision of non-tariffed products and services. On March 27, 2015, the CPUC issued Decision No. 15-03-048 granting a limited rehearing and modifying Decision No. 14-08-006 to recover lost revenue related to the extension of interim rates from the date of the 2012 General Rate Case Decision (August 14, 2014) to the date 2014 rates became effective (September 29, 2014). On May 1, 2015, San Jose Water Company filed Advice Letter No. 471 with the CPUC requesting to recover the remaining cumulative balance of $1,937 in the 2013 General Rate Case Interim Rates Memorandum Account for the period August 15, 2014, through September 28, 2014. The recovery of the remaining balance for this 45-day period was authorized in General Rate Case rehearing Decision No. 15-03-048. San Jose Water Company's request was authorized and became effective May 6, 2015. San Jose Water Company recorded revenue in the amount of $1,937 for the six months ended June 30, 2015 for the authorized interim true-up. Please see table in Note 9. Decision No. 15-03-048 also provided for a limited rehearing on the treatment of excess capacity labor in the provision of non-tariffed products and services. A prehearing conference was held on May 18, 2015 and a Scoping Memo was issued by the CPUC on June 17, 2015. The Scoping Memo set the limited rehearing schedule with a final decision to be issued in the first quarter of 2016. On January 5, 2015, San Jose Water Company filed General Rate Case Application No. 15-01-002 requesting authority for an increase of revenue of $34,928, or 12.22%, in 2016, $9,954, or 3.11%, in 2017 and $17,567, or 5.36%, in 2018. This General Rate Case filing also includes several “special requests”, including but not limited to: (1) recovery of the under-collected balance of $4,752 in balancing accounts, (2) disbursement of the over-collected balance of $976 accrued in various memorandum accounts, and (3) implementation of a full revenue decoupling Water Revenue Adjustment Mechanism and associated Modified Cost Balancing Account. The CPUC's Office of Ratepayer Advocates (“ORA”) submitted testimony on April 23 2015, recommending increases of $23,468, or 8.54%, in 2016, $13,803, or 4.42%, in 2017 and $16,261, or 4.95% in 2018. San Jose Water Company and the CPUC's ORA reached a settlement agreement on a range of issues, including full settlement on all contested utility plant in-service items. Evidentiary hearings to address all remaining unsettled items took place in June 2015 and briefs were submitted in July 2015. A final decision is expected to occur in the second half of 2015 with new rates becoming effective at the beginning of 2016. If a decision is not reached by the end of 2015, the CPUC has mechanisms in place that will allow San Jose Water Company to request interim rates, effective January 1, 2016, until such time a decision is adopted. Interim rates would be set equal to fiscal year-end 2015 rates plus an increase for inflation up to the change in the consumer price index and would remain in effect until a decision is adopted. On March 26, 2015, San Jose Water Company filed Advice Letter No. 468 with the CPUC. With this advice letter San Jose Water Company is requesting authorization to recover the $9,567 under-collection accumulated in the MCRAMA during the period April 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014. The MCRAMA approved by the CPUC allows San Jose Water Company to track lost revenue associated with reduced sales due to the ongoing drought and the associated calls for water use reduction from the SCVWD. San Jose Water Company seeks to recover the accumulated balance via a quantity based surcharge on all potable usage for a period of 12 months. This advice letter is currently under CPUC review and a decision is anticipated sometime in the second half of 2015. On May 11, 2015, San Jose Water Company filed Advice Letters No. 472 and No. 473 with the CPUC. With Advice Letter No. 472, San Jose Water Company sought to modify the existing Water Shortage Contingency Plan in Tariff Rule 14.1, so that the plan reflects examples put forward by the CPUC and so that the restrictions provided within the plan more closely matched the restrictions adopted by local government agencies. Advice Letter No. 473 was filed pursuant to Executive Order B-29-15 by the Governor of the State of California, and by orders of the State Water Resources Control Board and the CPUC. With Advice Letter No. 473, San Jose Water Company requested authority from the CPUC to activate Stage 3 of Tariff Rule 14.1 and activate the Water Shortage Contingency Plan in Schedule No. 14.1 with staged mandatory reductions in water usage and drought surcharges. Both Advice Letters No. 472 and No. 473 became effective on June 15, 2015. The drought surcharges will be recorded in a drought account authorized by the CPUC to track lost revenues from conservation. The amount collected will offset future rate increases that would be necessary to recover lost revenue due to drought conservation efforts. On May 29, 2015, San Jose Water Company filed Advice Letter No. 474 with the CPUC requesting authorization to increase revenues by $18,357, or approximately 6.44%. This increase is intended to recover increased costs for purchased water and groundwater production charged to San Jose Water Company by the SCVWD. As directed by the CPUC's Water Division, the revenue increase will be recovered via surcharges on the existing quantity rate. San Jose Water Company's request was authorized and became effective July 1, 2015. Effective September 1, 2014, CLWSC became subject to the economic regulation of the Public Utilities Commission of Texas (“PUCT”). Prior to that time, CLWSC was subject to economic regulation by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (“TCEQ”). Both the PUCT and TCEQ authorize rate increases after the filing of an Application for a Rate/Tariff Change. Rate cases may be filed as they become necessary, provided there is no current rate case outstanding. Further, rate cases may not be filed more frequently than once every 12 months.

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