California Court of Appeal

A petition for a writ of mandate challenging the Public Utilities Commission's (PUC) implementation of the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC), which requires electric utility corporations serving California to collect a surcharge on their ratepayers' electricity bills to fund renewable energy research, development, and demonstration projects with the aim of making electricity service cheaper, safer, and more reliable for the corporations' own ratepayers, is denied, where: 1) the PUC possesses the constitutional and statutory authority to implement EPIC; 2) EPIC is not an unlawful delegation of the PUC's authority; and 3) the surcharge is not a tax requiring legislative enactment, but a valid regulatory fee.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/18/2014
• Published 06/18/2014

Judges

• ALDRICH

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel