State regulators are likely to decide whether to hold a public hearing on San Diego Gas & Electric’s push to charge customers for uninsured wildfire expenses after a key deadline in the case.
The filing deadline to submit comments in SDG&E’s request to bill customers for uninsured wildfire costs including expenses from the '07 fires is this Friday. However, a Public Utilities Commission spokesperson said regulators will most likely decide after this Friday whether a public hearing is necessary.
But Diane Conklin, a spokeswoman for the watchdog group Mussey Grade Road Alliance, said by not extending the filing deadline to accommodate a public hearing, regulators are expressing indifference to customer concerns.
“You can’t let the people of San Diego tell the commission what they think of this idea? You’re going to stand in the way of the democratic process of having a public participation hearing?”
Conklin said commissioners rarely read transcripts from public hearings after the filing deadline. A PUC spokesman said the transcripts are entered into the public record.
SDG&E’s parent company, Sempra, has told investors that PUC will likely allow to recover uninsured wildfire costs.
