ABSTRACT: Re: In the Matter of the Application of California American Water Company (U 210 W) for Approval of the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project and Authorization to Recover All Present and Future Costs in Rates, OPENING BRIEF OF THE OFFICE OF RATEPAYER ADVOCATES document is embedded. V. CONCLUSION There is an undisputed need to find an alternative to the water supply that Cal-Am draws from the Carmel River. With the Settlement Agreements that are before the Commission, an opportunity exists to move forward with a project that has the widest and most popular support of any alternative ever presented to the Commission. After decades of contentious discussions and hardened perspectives regarding water supplies on the Monterey Peninsula, it is unlikely that any project could ever achieve the unanimous support and the utopian designation of a perfect project. However, contained within the Settlement Agreements, is a good project that balances the multiple and varied interests of the parties.
In regard to ORA and the ratepayers that ORA represents, the Settlement Agreements achieve a project framework that is far more beneficial than any other project the Commission has considered and authorized. Ratepayer protections such as reasonable estimates of the most probable project costs, limitations placed upon the use of customer contributions, and the assurances of Cal-Am to “striv[e] to get the lowest cost financing at all times to finance the project,”11 combine to make for a balanced settlement. Hence, ORA respectfully requests that the Commission adopt both Settlement Agreements and pave the way to solving Monterey’s long-term water problem.
Filing Date 01-21-14
OPENING BRIEF OF THE OFFICE OF RATEPAYER ADVOCATES
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