By John Stang
A California Public Utilities Commission administrative judge has recommended approval of a settlement agreement on the division of costs for the premature shutdown on the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
Judge Darcie Houck recommended June 22 that the CPUC approve the January agreement between the plant’s primary owners and several public watchdog organizations designed to save utility ratepayers at least $775 million.
Houck, though, said a $12.5 million grant in the settlement for California State University to research strategies to combat greenhouse gases cannot be legally backed up and should be eliminated.
“With the exception of the proposed Greenhouse Gas Program, the 2018 Settlement Agreement is reasonable in light of the record, is consistent with the law, and in the public interest,” Houck wrote.
The earliest the commissioners can discuss and vote on the settlement agreement is at their July 26 voting meeting. If the commission sets a July 26 date for a decision, it must provide public notice at least 10 days in advance.
The nuclear power plant in San Diego County closed permanently in 2013 due to issues with faulty steam generators installed for its two remaining operational reactors. The original settlement between lead plant owners Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and a host of advocacy groups would have left ratepayers on the hook for $3.3 billion of the $4.7 billion in closure costs.
The Public Utilities Commission reopened the settlement in 2016 after it was found that former commission President Michael Peevey had conducted ex-parte talks on the matter with an executive for SONGS majority owner SCE in 2013. That led to mediation among the parties and a new settlement proposal early this year.
Southern California Edison did not respond to a request for comment on Houck’s recommendation. There was also no immediate comment from Michael Aguirre, an attorney representative most of the groups that challenged the 2014 settlement in federal court, or Charles Langley of Public Watchdogs, a San Diego County-based organization that has said the 2018 agreement does not go far enough to protect ratepayers.
However, attorney Maria Severson, Aguirre’s law partner, told the San Diego Union-Tribune the recommendation “is great news for ratepayers.”
“By doing this, the ratepayers will avoid paying the last five years of what they were charged under the original settlement agreement,” Severson said.
Terms of the new settlement include:
- SCE and SDG&E ratepayers will not have to pay for $775 million in San Onofre-related charges that had not to date been collected under the 2014 settlement. On average ratepayers will each save $121 over four years.
- Customers will receive refunds for any charges collected by the two utilities above the $775 million while the settlement awaits a decision before CPUC.
- Plaintiffs to a lawsuit against the 2014 settlement will dismiss the case once CPUC signs off on the new deal.
- SDG&E will receive a $151 million reimbursement from SCE for its portion of the $775 million.
