The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has issued for public comment a proposed decision by an administrative law judge (ALJ) and an alternate proposed decision by Commissioner Timothy Alan Simon regarding requests by San Diego Gas and Electric and Southern California Gas Co. to recover from ratepayers costs related to wildfires that affect their operations. The ALJ’s proposal rejects the utilities’ requests, finding that the companies haven’t proven that the proposed rates would be just and reasonable. Simon’s alternate proposal partially approves the utilities’ requests by limiting the wildfire costs to 90% of uninsured payments that are more than $10 million per wildfire and imposing restrictions on the recoveries. “As assigned commissioner to this state’s fire safety proceedings, I harbor grave concerns regarding the liability risk surrounding critical energy system infrastructure in this fire-prone region of our great state,” said Simon. Comments on the proceeding, No. A.09-08-020, are due by Nov. 5; reply comments are due by Nov. 13. CPUC could vote on the proposals as soon as Nov. 29. For information contact the CPUC Public Advisor’s Office at (415) 703-2074, (866) 849-8390 or e-mail public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said it will hold a public meeting on Oct. 25 at 1:00 p.m. EDT to consider a notice of proposed rulemaking on enhancing protections afforded customers and customer funds held by futures commission merchants and derivatives clearing organizations. The meeting will be held at the CFTC headquarters conference center in Washington, DC.

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