California Supreme Court Watch

#22-134 Golden State Water Co. v. Public Utilities Commission, S269099. Original proceeding. The court issued a writ of review regarding notice and due process requirements in proceedings before the Public Utilities Commission. (See also California-American Water Co. v. Public Utilities Commission, S271493.)

Alternative writ issued: 5/18/2022

Case consolidated – all subsequent events to be docketed in lead case: 6/01/2022

Case fully briefed: 1/13/2023

Cause argued and submitted: 5/08/2024

Opinion filed: 7/08/2024

See the Petition for Review.

See the Answer to Petitions for Review.

See the Joint Reply to Answer.

See the Oral Argument.

See the California Supreme Court Opinion.  (Golden State Water Co. v. Public Utilities Commission (2024) 16 Cal.5th 380.)

“To reduce that financial incentive to sell more water to more consumers, and thus to encourage water conservation, the Public Utilities Commission in 2008 allowed certain water companies to structure their rates in a way that ‘decouples’ revenue from the amount of water sold. More than a decade later, in a proceeding ostensibly focused on improving the accuracy of water sales forecasts necessary for use of this decoupling mechanism, the Commission ordered that the mechanism be eliminated altogether.

The issue before us does not concern the merits of this decision, but the process that led up to it. The question is whether the Commission gave adequate notice that the elimination of the decoupling mechanism was one of the issues to be considered in the proceeding. We conclude that the answer is no. We further conclude that the Commission’s failure to give adequate notice requires us to set the order aside.”

Justice Kruger authored the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice Guerrero and Justices Corrigan, Liu, Groban, Jenkins, and Evans concurred.