San Gabriel Valley Water Company GRC (A.25-01-001)

San Gabriel water rates for 2026/27 - 2028/29

BACKGROUND

All investor-owned utilities must obtain approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or Commission) of their budgeted expenses and investments before utilities are able to include those costs in rates charged to customers. This is done primarily through a General Rate Case (GRC) application to the CPUC to justify a proposed budget.

On January 2, 2025, San Gabriel Valley Water Company (San Gabriel) filed its GRC application to change customer rates on July 1, 2026. San Gabriel requests authorization to increase its current average system rates for water service by approximately 22.15% in San Gabriel's Los Angeles County Division (LA Div.) and 21.63% in San Gabriel's Fontana Water Company Division (FWC Div.) for the 2026-2029 GRC cycle. On February 3, 2025, the Public Advocates Office protested San Gabriel's application and provided its report and recommendations on July 25, 2025. Cal Advocates report is based upon its independent analysis of San Gabriel's GRC application. The links to the reports are provided below.

PUBLIC ADVOCATES OFFICE'S POSITION

The Public Advocates Office recommends a total revenue requirement of $105.16 million for LA Div. and $100.27 million for FWC Div. in the fiscal year 2026-2027, $12.57 million less and $9.07 less than San Gabriel's respective requested revenue requirement. These recommendations provide a reasonable level of ratepayer funding for San Gabriel to maintain safe and reliable service levels. In addition to recommending decreases in the average system rate for water services for 2026, the Public Advocates Office also made the following recommendations to the Commission:

The ratemaking process should be transparent to decision-makers and ratepayers and encourage utilities to operate efficiently and within a reasonable budget.
As a substitute for competition, the Commission must ensure that San Gabriel does not abuse its position as a natural monopoly.
The Commission should limit alternative ratemaking mechanisms that result in surcharges on customers’ bills.

SAN GABRIEL REQUEST, PUBLIC ADVOCATES RECOMMENDATION, AND CPUC DECISION COMPARISON

	San Gabriel’s LA Div. Request		Public Advocates Office’s Recommendation		CPUC Decision D. 26-07-032
Fiscal Year	Revenue Increase	Percentage Increase	Revenue Increase	Percentage Increase	Revenue Increase	Percentage Increase
Test Year 2026-2027	$13.76 M	13.23%	$0.51 M	0.49%	$7.73 M	7.4%
Escalation Year 2027-2028	$4.55 M	3.75%	$2.32 M	2.13%	$2.92 M	2.6%
Escalation Year 2028-2029	$4.87 M	3.98%	$2.34 M	2.21%	$2.92 M	2.6%

	San Gabriel’s FWC Request		Public Advocates Office’s Recommendation		CPUC Decision D. 26-07-032
Fiscal Year	Revenue Increase	Percentage Increase	Revenue Increase	Percentage Increase	Revenue Increase	Percentage Increase
Test Year 2026-2027	$12.34 M	12.72%	$2.40 M	2.45%	$7.35 M	7.5%
Escalation Year 2027-2028	$4.37 M	3.87%	$3.17 M	3.10%	$3.81 M	3.6%
Escalation Year 2028-2029	$4.47 M	3.88%	$2.81 M	2.75%	$3.40 M	3.3%