Although a final order is not yet available, we were able to glean the basic content of the Commission's latest refund order from the discussion had at the Commission meeting this morning.   It appears that the Commission has not strayed far from Judge Wagner's recommendations, which came out of the settlement conference ordered by FERC.  Highlights include:

In California, refunds/offsets apply only to spot transactions in CAISO and CalPX, and only as of October 2.

Both public and non-public utilities are subject to refund.

It appears that the refund methodology will be similar to that of the June 19 Order, as refined by Judge Wagner.

Daily spot gas prices will be utilized in the methodology.

A 10% creditworthiness premium will be added.

An evidentiary hearing will be ordered to collect the data needed for the methodology;  it is our understanding that the CAISO will have 15 days to provide certain information and the Judge must certify the record in 45 days.

A separate preliminary evidentiary hearing will be ordered to consider Pacific Northwest refunds.  It was briefly described as consisting of an information gathering proceeding of 15 days, followed by an evidentiary proceeding of 30 days.  The Judge would then have an additional 7 days to report to the Commission.  An issue will be the definition of "spot" transaction for the Pac NW, since counsel to the Commission noted that it could differ from the spot definition for California.


We are awaiting the final order and will update this report as soon as it issues.  

RA