Suburban Water Systems General Rate Case (A.23-01-001)

BACKGROUND

All investor-owned utilities must obtain approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) of their budgeted expenses and investments before utilities are able to include those costs in rates charged to customers.  This is done primarily through a General Rate Case (GRC) application to the CPUC to justify a proposed budget.

On January 1, 2023, Suburban filed its GRC application to change customer rates beginning 2024. Suburban requests authorization to increase its current average system rates for water service by approximately 33% by 2026. On February 6, 2023, the Public Advocates Office protested Suburban’s application and provided its report and recommendations on August 14, 2023. Cal Advocates report is based upon its independent analysis of Suburban’s GRC application.  The links to the reports are provided below.

PUBLIC ADVOCATES OFFICE’S POSITION

The following table compares Suburban's proposed and the Public Advocates Office' recommended average system rate changes.

The Public Advocates Office recommends a total revenue requirement of $106.9 million in 2024, $12.7 million less than Suburban’s requested revenue requirement of $119.6 million in its application. These recommendations provide a reasonable level of ratepayer funding for Suburban to maintain safe and reliable service levels.  The Public Advocates Office also made the following recommendations to the Commission:

• The ratemaking process should be transparent to decision-makers and ratepayers and encourage utilities to operate efficiently and within a reasonable budget.
• As a substitute for competition, the Commission must ensure that Suburban does not abuse its position as a natural monopoly.
• The Commission should limit alternative ratemaking mechanisms that result in surcharges on customers’ bills.

DOWNLOAD TESTIMONY AND REPORTS:

• Executive Summary: Report on 2022 Recorded Data, RO Model Changes, and Escalation Year Increases (Ibrahim)
• Operations & Maintenance Expenses, Admin &General Expenses, Payroll, and Conservation Report (Goldberg)
• Pipeline Replacement, Depreciation Reserve & Expense, Rate Base & Early Retirements and Sativa Pipeline Projects Report (Sarkar)
• San Jose Hills Planned Projects and Water Quality Testimony (Andrade)
• Suburban's General Office Expenses (Excluding Payroll) Report (Keowen)
• Customer Service, Environmental and Justice Action Plan, Special Requests, and Annual Projects Report (Nguyen)
• Plant Projects for Whittier-La Mirada System Report (Yu)
• Sales & Operational Revenues, Rate Design and Bama (Ronco)

Additional information regarding this proceeding can be obtained from the CPUC’s docket.