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

BACKGROUND

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

PUBLIC ADVOCATES OFFICE'S POSITION

The following table compares SGV’s proposed and the Public Advocates Office’s recommended average system rate changes.

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 SGV’s respective requested revenue requirement. These recommendations provide a reasonable level of ratepayer funding for SGV 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 SGV does not abuse its position as a natural monopoly.
• The Commission should limit alternative ratemaking mechanisms that result in surcharges on customers’ bills.

Download:

 A2501001 Public Advocates Office San Gabriel Valley Water Company Protest

Testimony and Reports:

A2501001 Public Advocates Office - Aslam - Executive Summary

A2501001 Public Advocates Office - Sweeney - Report on Sales Revenues Rate Design

A2501001 Public Advocates Office - Tosney - Report on Utility Plant Depreciation Rate Base

A2501001 Public Advocates Office - Sarkar - Report on General Office Operations Taxes SR 4

A2501001 Public Advocates Office - Andrade - Report on O&M Expenses and Administrative and General Office Expenses

A2501001 Public Advocates Office - Gee - Report on SCADA New Positions Cust Service Water Quality ESJ

A2501001 Public Advocates Office - Rubang - Report on CWIP and BAMAs