Consumers Bearing Too Much Financial Burden in Shutting Down SONGS, Agency Says

Modifications to a proposed settlement between utilities and ratepayer groups regarding the financial responsibilities in shutting down the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station needs to be made before the agreement can be taken up by the state Public Utilities Commission, the agency announced today.

The decision was reached by the commissioner in charge of the issue, Michael Florio, and the agency’s administrative law judges.

According to a CPUC statement, consumers under the proposed settlement bear too much of the burden of paying for the shutdown of the nuclear plant on the northern San Diego County coastline and the cost of replacement power.

The plant has been idle since a small, non-injury leak in January 2012. Subsequent investigations placed the blame on steam generators made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan installed only a few years earlier.

The majority owner of the facility, Rosemead-based Southern California Edison, shelved restart plans in June 2013 in favor of retiring the reactors.

SCE, San Diego Gas & Electric, the Coalition of California Utility Employees, Friends of the Earth, Office of Ratepayer Advocates and The Utility Reform Network negotiated a settlement that has since drawn stiff opposition for its costs.

According to the CPUC, the groups need to decide how financial losses will be recovered from Mitsubishi, a nuclear insurance fund, the utilities and customers.

Florio and the administrative law judges determined that the deal “disfavors consumers.” They also objected to a provision to have utility ratepayers pick up the entire tab for replacement power, since that’s supposed to be reimbursed by insurance.

“With the changes identified in our ruling today, I feel confident that the proposed settlement would better benefit the overall public interest and would potentially offer a constructive resolution to the challenges posed by the closure of San Onofre,” Florio said.

The settling parties must file comments on the modifications proposed in the ruling within 14 days. Other parties may file comments on the proposed modifications within 10 days.

“We asked the CPUC to approve the proposed settlement announced in March as a fair and reasonable resolution of the investigation that provides significant benefits to our customers,” SCE President Ron Litzinger said. “The proposed settlement has broad support from leading consumer organizations. However, we will evaluate the changes proposed in today’s ruling and provide our comments to the commission by Sept. 19, as called for by the ruling.”

He said the proposed settlement would have consumers pay for replacement power, but not for the cost of the steam generator project after the time of the leak.

--City News Service

PHOTO Patch file photo.