Our Work

In 2013, the Legislature in Public Resources Code section 2827.1 required the CPUC to grow and expand customer-sited distributed generation such as rooftop solar. It directed the CPUC to create a tariff based on the costs and benefits of privately funded facilities that customers install on their own property to generate renewable energy for use on-site and locally. PCF continues to fight for all ratepayers, including the most vulnerable.

View CPUC docket for R.20-08-020 

View CPUC docket for R.14-07-002  

These proceedings are initiated every three years and are the proceedings in which the CPUC authorizes the utilities to earn profits (paid for by ratepayers) when the utilities spend money on capital projects (also paid by ratepayers). This is referred to as the rate of return (ROR). The CPUC authorizes RORs by authorizing: 

1. Capital Structure: The CPUC decides how the utilities are financed (i.e. the percentage of investments financed by less expensive debt and the percentage of investments financed by equity investments which are more expensive);
2. Return on Debt: The CPUC ascertains the interest rates the utilities pay to borrow money:
3. Return on Equity (ROE): The CPUC authorizes the profit percentage allowed for shareholders.  

PCF advocates that (1) the CPUC should optimize the utilities’ capital structures in a way that minimizes overall costs to ratepayers and includes the ratepayer-provided cash that the utilities already have available to use for investments; and (2) the CPUC should set authorized ROEs equal to the utilities’ market-based costs of equity. 

View PCF’s Opening Brief in A.25-03-010 et al. 
View PCF’s and the Sierra Club’s Reply Brief in A.25-03-010 et al. 

View CPUC docket for A.25-03-010 et al.  
View CPUC docket for A.22-04-011 et al. 
View CPUC docket for A.21-08-014 et al. 

General rate case proceedings are initiated every four years and are the proceedings where the CPUC authorizes the amount of money the utilities can collect from ratepayers to cover the costs of operating and maintaining the utility system, including the utilities' wildfire spending. These costs include “operations and maintenance” as well as “capital costs.” 

View CPUC docket for A.22-05-015, -016 

These are proceedings that the Legislature requires the CPUC to initiate periodically. This proceeding is intended to ensure that California ratepayers served by investor-owned utilities have a safe, reliable, and cost-effective electricity supply. The CPUC is required by law to implement a process for integrated resource planning that will ensure that load serving entities (LSEs) meet targets that allow the electricity sector to contribute to California’s economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals. The law requires the CPUC to direct load serving entities like the utilities to develop procurement plans that minimize impacts on customer bills and rely as much as possible on zero-emissions resources.  

View CPUC docket for R.25-06-019 
View CPUC docket for R.20-05-003 

RA proceedings are required by statute and are intended to ensure the reliability of electric service in the parts of California where ratepayers are served by privately-owned utility companies. At the direction of the Legislature, the CPUC establishes RA obligations applicable to all Load Serving Entities (LSEs) within the CPUC’s jurisdiction, including investor-owned utilities, energy service providers, and community choice aggregators. The Commission’s RA policy framework guides resource procurement and promotes infrastructure investment by requiring that LSEs procure certain types of capacity so that capacity is available to the CAISO when and where needed.