The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has reaffirmed its intention to pay $72,289 to the nongovermental Friends of the Earth for its “substantial contribution” to the commission’s San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station shutdown settlement, despite the environmental group’s request for $483,503.
The commission offered $72,289, 85 percent under the requested amount, to the group in October. Friends of the Earth then suggested CPUC place an emergency hold on the request at its Dec. 1 meeting, allowing the board to consider comments at its next meeting. The CPUC rendered its final decision at its Jan. 19 meeting, without altering the original amount.
According to CPUC’s decision, Friends of the Earth contributed to the commission reaching a deal that saves California ratepayers $420 million over the course of 10 years.
CPUC announced in April that it was reopening the SONGS settlement, which dictated that state ratepayers pay $3.3 billion of the $4.7 billion cost to close the plant. The settlement was reached two years after closed-door conversations between then-CPUC President Michael Peevey and Stephen Pickett, at the time an executive for plant owner Southern California Edison, at a meeting in Warsaw, Poland. CPUC has since ordered interested parties to reconvene and determine if the settlement should be adjusted.
