In a 142-page ruling Thursday, FERC partly affirmed an administrative law judge’s decision on Pacific Gas and Electric’s proposed increases to its transmission rates, reversing the judge on the utility’s cost of long-term debt and other issues (ER16-2320).

The commission directed further briefing on PG&E’s return on equity and told the utility to recalculate its tariff rates based on the ROE and other factors.

PG&E filed its 18th revised transmission owner tariff in July 2016, which was followed by numerous objections. After an evidentiary hearing, the judge ruled in October 2018 on 11 disputed categories including ROE, capital structure and depreciation rates.

The judge found PG&E’s forecasted cost of long-term debt to be unreasonable, ordering it be reduced, and lowered its ROE from a proposed 10.4% to 9.13%, which the company said was too low and objecting parties said was too high.