Commission how the completed projects will benefit ratepayers. The Scoping Memo determined that the issues raised by ORA should remain in the scope of this proceeding because the planned workshops would provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to resolve their differences on the adequacy of the administrators’ showings. ORA also makes several specific recommendations based on its review of each utility’s plan, stating that the Commission should: Reduce SCE’s 2018-2020 budget because SCE funded a previously authorized EPIC project with GRC funds; Deny SCE’s request to re-litigate the funding of research institutes; Require program administrators to file more detailed plans for Cyber Security for Industrial Control Systems; and Deny the utility administrators' second-life EV batteries program, and require future RD&D applications to be coordinated among the IOUs to sufficiently demonstrate that no duplication of efforts is made. We review each of ORA’s recommendations, and the utilities’ replies, as we consider each utility administrator’s investment plan below. At the outset of our review, we also refer back to the EPIC Evaluation findings and recommendations addressed previously in this decision: the Evaluation found that the utilities, while technically compliant with the letter of program requirements, could better fulfill the spirit of many of those requirements, and should improve several aspects of their program administration practices. Areas needing improvement include metrics tracking and reporting to quantify project benefits, as well as improving stakeholder engagement and transparency throughout the entire investment planning and implementation process. This is why we directed the utilities file a joint
Commission how the completed projects will benefit ratepayers. The Scoping Memo determined that the issues raised by ORA should remain in the scope of this proceeding because the planned workshops would provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to resolve their differences on the adequacy of the administrators’ showings. ORA also makes several specific recommendations based on its review of each utility’s plan, stating that the Commission should: Reduce SCE’s 2018-2020 budget because SCE funded a previously authorized EPIC project with GRC funds; Deny SCE’s request to re-litigate the funding of research institutes; Require program administrators to file more detailed plans for Cyber Security for Industrial Control Systems; and Deny the utility administrators' second-life EV batteries program, and require future RD&D applications to be coordinated among the IOUs to sufficiently demonstrate that no duplication of efforts is made. We review each of ORA’s recommendations, and the utilities’ replies, as we consider each utility administrator’s investment plan below. At the outset of our review, we also refer back to the EPIC Evaluation findings and recommendations addressed previously in this decision: the Evaluation found that the utilities, while technically compliant with the letter of program requirements, could better fulfill the spirit of many of those requirements, and should improve several aspects of their program administration practices. Areas needing improvement include metrics tracking and reporting to quantify project benefits, as well as improving stakeholder engagement and transparency throughout the entire investment planning and implementation process. This is why we directed the utilities file a joint
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