Control Number : 40356
Item Number : 63
Addendum StartPage : 0
SOAH DOCKET NO. 473-12-6077
PUC DOCKET NO. 40356
APPLICATION OF CENTERPOINT
ENERGY HOUSTON ELECTRIC, LLC
FOR APPROVAL OF AN ADJUSTMENT
TO ITS ENERGY EFFICIENCY COST
RECOVERY FACTOR
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PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSIO^,.}
OF TEXAS
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ORDER ON CERTIFIED ISSUE
This Order addresses the issue certified to the Commission by the State Office of
Administrative Hearings' administrative law judge (SOAH ALJ):
Whether the allocation of municipal rate case expenses to
ratepayers in the cities that have intervened i[n] Energy Efficiency
Cost Recovery Factor cases is consistent with the relevant law and
represents appropriate public policy.
In Order No. 6, the SOAH ALJ stated that on July 18, 2012, the Gulf Coast Coalition of
Cites, Reliant Energy Retail Services, and TXU Energy Retail Company filed a joint motion for
certification of issue.' The SOAH ALJ additionally stated that given the issue has been certified
in another case, and in the interest of continuity among the same types of cases, the joint motion
for certification of issue is granted. Briefs on the certified issue were timely filed by CenterPoint
Energy Houston Electric, LLC, Commission Staff, Gulf Coast Coalition of Cities, the City of
Houston, Reliant Energy Retail Services LLC, and TXU Energy Retail Company LLC. Alliance
for Retail Markets filed an amicus brief.
The Commission declines to answer the certified issue because it is procedurally
improper. The purpose of certified issues is to allow the Commission to give guidance to the
SOAH ALJ so that the ALJ may decide the matter, not that it be decided at the Commission.
Since the SOAH ALJ certified the issue simultaneously with remanding the entire docket to the
Commission, the ALJ no longer needs an answer to the certified issue.
1 SOAH Order No. 6 Certifying Issue to the Commission (Jul. 27, 2012).
63
DOCKET NO. 40356
ORDER ON CERTIFIED ISSUE
SIGNED AT AUSTIN, TEXAS the
Page 2 of 2
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day of August, 2012.
PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS
NNA L. NELSON, CHAIRMAN
[ONER
ROLANDO PABLOS. COMMISSIONER
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