Dive Summary:

• San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), which owns 20% of the closed San Onofre nuclear power plant (SONGS) in Southern California, has asked the California Public Utilities Commission to approve the collection of $808 million from customers to recoup its investment in SONGS and fund its decommission.
• State utility regulators are investigating whether this request is reasonable and are considering if customers should pay for the SONGS fiasco. Southern California Edison, which owns the majority of the plant, has requested more than $2 billion.
• Customers should pay for generation assets even when they are retired, SDG&E argues. “Just as customers would see the benefit of assets that are still productive after fully depreciated (paid off), they should also be responsible for paying costs for assets that are retired early as long as those assets were operated prudently," SDG&E testified to the commission.

From the article:

"Both investor-owned utilities still intend to profit from their investments in the plant. They have proposed speeding up the pay-off timeline while collecting a reduced rate of return -- 5.54 percent for Edison and 5.07 for SDG&E."

Edison's said it plans to request permission to tap funds set aside for the decommissioning of San Onofre to defray expenses and reduce near-term costs to customers.