Golden State Water Co. v. Public Utilities Com.

Summary

The California Supreme Court held that the Public Utilities Commission lacked adequate notice before eliminating the water utilities’ existing decoupling mechanisms in a proceeding formally focused on improving water-sales forecasting. The court concluded that the deficient scoping memos deprived the utilities of a meaningful opportunity to present evidence and arguments on preserving those mechanisms, and it set aside the portion of the Commission’s order prohibiting their continued proposal. The court also declined to dismiss the consolidated proceedings as moot because later legislation did not provide all of the relief sought and the public interest favored resolving the notice issue.