The City of San Diego and the County of San Diego were granted party status in the state power regulator proceeding that would allow San Diego Gas and Electric Company to bill power customers for the utility's uninsured wildfire legal costs and other related expenses.

The recognition as a party to the proceeding, announced by the California Public Utilities Commission earlier today, allows both City and County attorneys to formally oppose the Wildfire Expense Balancing Account (WEBA) A0908020 amended application. WEBA was first proposed in 2009 by SDG&E, Southern California Edison Company components and Pacific Gas and Electric Company when SDG&E was unable to find wildfire insurance after the 2007 San Diego Wildfire Complex (including the Rice and Witch Creek fires) which resulted in the largest mass evacuation in San Diego history.

CPUC accepted the joint argument in the party recognition motion that both the City and County had interest in the ongoing WEBA matter as a result of legal action against SDG&E for wildfire claims, and that SDG&E was seeking WEBA reimbursement from customers for the same damages that both City and County were seeking from the Sempra Energy-owned power utility.

There is some irony in the CPUC decision as much recent activity in the WEBA proceeding has been prompted by protests and other motions filed on behalf of protester Ruth Henricks by her representative, former San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre.

See ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE’S RULING GRANTING PARTY STATUS at:

http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/EFILE/RULINGS/125283.PDF