Facts

The San Diego County Water Authority filed suit against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, challenging the legality of four of the rates it set.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
San Diego argued that there were three primary defects in how the Metropolitan Water District set its rates. San Diego argued that the Water District improperly allocated the bulk of its costs, associated with its contract with the California Dept. of Water Resources' State Water Project, to the System Access Rate, and the System Power Rate. San Diego also argued that it illegally treated all of its costs for conservation and local water supply development programs as transportation costs.

Result

The court ruled in favor of San Diego on the first two issues, finding that the Metropolitan Water District violated Proposition 26 when calculating its transportation rates. However, the court found in favor of the Water District on the third issue, concluding that San Diego failed to show that dry year peaking issues exited, in which the Water District would improperly assign costs to other member agencies.

Other Information

FILING DATE: Sept. 10, 2012.