Investors or customers? Who will pay for San Onofre?

The operators of the dormant San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant should refund ratepayers $94 million for costs that were neither reasonable nor necessary. That’s the recommendation from two administrative law judges with the California Public Utilities Commission. The entire PUC will consider the recommendation before voting on the issue. The nuclear plant between Los Angeles  and San Diego has been idle since January 2012, when a small leak was discovered in a recently-purchased steam
generator…The L.A. City Council has pulled the plug on two DWP non-profits that received tens of millions of dollars in ratepayer funds, but have little to show for it. The council also directed the city controller to perform a sweeping audit of the trusts, which are co-run by DWP General Manager Ron Nichols and Bryan D’Arcy, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18. Council members say are increasingly frustrated by the groups’ inability to explain how they’ve spent their money…Governor Jerry Brown says a deal to solve California’s prison overcrowding problem is within reach. The courts have given the state until February to reach accord with attorneys for inmates who have sued the state over substandard health care. If no agreement is reached, the state would have to release or find alternative housing for thousands of inmates. Brown says court-ordered talks with a federal moderator have been productive…LAUSD continues to acknowledge that its ambitious drive to equip every student and teacher with an iPad will cost more than was first disclosed. The latest revelation involves licensed software. District officials say English and math curriculum on the district’s iPads will expire after three years. That could increase expenses by as much as $60 million annually…And finally, Diane Disney Miller, a philanthropist and the daughter of Walt Disney, died at her home in California’s Napa Valley. Miller chaired an L.A. gala in September commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Miller went up against some powerful L.A. politicians and civic leaders when she fought to keep architect Frank Gehry involved in Disney Hall. She was 79.