SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report: January 4, 2001
Exact Name of
Commission Registrant State or other IRS Employer
File as specified Jurisdiction of Identification
Number in its charter Incorporation Number
---------- -------------- --------------- --------------
1-12609 PG&E Corporation California 94-3234914
1-2348 Pacific Gas and California 94-0742640
Electric Company
Pacific Gas and Electric Company PG&E Corporation
77 Beale Street, P.O. Box 770000 One Market, Spear Tower, Suite 2400
San Francisco, California 94177 San Francisco, California 94105
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Pacific Gas and Electric Company PG&E Corporation
(415) 973-7000 (415) 267-7000
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
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Item 5. Other Events.
California Energy Crisis
As previously disclosed, the California Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC) held emergency hearings on December 27, 28, 29, 2000, and January
2, 2001, concerning the post transition period electric ratemaking
proceedings for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (Utility).
Specifically, the stated purpose of the hearings was to address (1) when
the rate freeze will end, (2) any necessary adjustments to the Utility's
current transition cost recovery plan, (3) if the rate freeze has ended,
determine what adjustments are appropriate to maintain the Utility's
ability to provide adequate service, (4) address the statutory
requirement for notice of a rate increase, (5) evaluate whether it is in
the public interest for the Utility to divest remaining generation
facilities, and (6) evaluate whether power produced from retained
generation assets should serve the Utility's customers.
On the morning of January 3, 2001, the administrative law judge in the
proceedings issued a proposed decision and the CPUC also heard final
oral arguments from parties that afternoon. The CPUC is scheduled to
issue a final decision on January 4, 2001. The proposed decision
addresses only the issues of a temporary rate increase and a change in
accounting methodology for the generation memorandum accounts. All
other issues will be addressed at some future point after the
independent auditors engaged by the CPUC to review the overall financial
position of the Utility have submitted their report. The report also is
expected to include a review and analysis of the financial position of
PG&E Corporation, the holding company of the Utility, its other
affiliates, and the flow of funds between these entities and the
Utility.
Under the proposed decision, the Utility would be allowed to implement
an immediate, interim surcharge of one cent per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
The interim surcharge would remain in effect for 90 days, and would be
subject to refund. The surcharge is expected to result in rate
increases of approximately 9 % for residential customers, 7 % for small
business customers, 12 % for medium commercial customers, and 15 % for
large commercial customers.
The proposed decision also adopts a modification in the methodology used
for accounting for year-end excess revenues accrued in the Utility's
generation memorandum accounts. The proposed modification would require
that the Utility credit the net amounts in these accounts as of December
31, 2000 to the under-collections accrued in the Transition Revenue
Account (TRA) rather than to the Transition Cost Balancing Account
(TCBA). (The TRA is a regulatory balancing account in which the
Utility's under-collected power purchases are recorded, and the TCBA is
a regulatory balancing account used to track recovery of transition
costs.) The Utility would be required to reverse and adjust all
necessary accounting entries to these accounts retroactively. The
proposed decision states that as of November 30, 2000, the Utility's
generation memorandum accounts related to its hydroelectric, fossil
fuel, and nuclear assets contain excess revenues of $1.1 billion.
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SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrants have duly caused this report to be signed on their behalf by
the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
PG&E CORPORATION
By BRUCE R. WORTHINGTON
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BRUCE R. WORTHINGTON
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY
By DINYAR B. MISTRY
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DINYAR B. MISTRY
Vice President and Controller
Dated: January 4, 2001
