Opinion ID: 566757
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Corrigan Affidavit

Text: 56 We uphold the Commission's handling of the new evidence submitted by the Cities on rehearing of Opinion 347. In response to the Commission's decision affirming Edison's ECAC adjustment, the Cities included with their petition for rehearing an affidavit from an expert witness, Timothy R. Corrigan, that reformulated the Cities' rate-of-return analysis to include the adjustment. The affidavit indicated the existence of price discrimination in subperiods not previously alleged by the Cities. See 53 F.E.R.C. at 61,318-19. The Commission rejected the new study as proof of additional discrimination; it reasoned that 57 acceptance of Edison's adjustment to the [ECAC] balancing account does not permit Cities to expand the scope of this already lengthy proceeding at this late date. Cities have long been aware of this adjustment to the balancing account since Edison proposed this adjustment not only in this proceeding but also in the proceeding which is the subject of Opinion No. 284. If Cities were of the opinion that the Commission's acceptance of Edison's adjustment would result in price discrimination during additional subperiods, they could have raised that contention long before this stage of the proceeding. 58 Id. at 61,319. 59 Nevertheless, the Commission found the submission relevant to the issue of remedy and denied Edison's motion to strike. Because the Corrigan affidavit indicated, contrary to the Cities' earlier contentions, that no price squeeze had occurred in the second subperiod, the Commission accepted the affidavit as a concession on this point. Id. 60 The Cities claim that the Commission's refusal to recognize additional periods of price squeeze and its selective use of the evidence violated their due process rights and was arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion. We disagree, largely for the [291 U.S.App.D.C. 330] reasons we discussed above in rejecting their challenge to the exclusion of the composite rate-of-return study in the companion case. The Cities knew early on of Edison's ECAC arguments and easily could have submitted the modified analysis of price discrimination at the outset of Phase II. There was no fundamental unfairness and nothing arbitrary in refusing to recognize such expansive new evidence long after the close of the hearing. 61 The Cities further argue that the Commission should have treated their submission as a motion to reopen the record. We have held that [t]he Commission should address even improperly styled motions to supplement the record under relevant criteria. Cooley v. FERC, 843 F.2d 1464, 1473 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 933, 109 S.Ct. 327, 102 L.Ed.2d 344 (1988). But in Cooley we also stated that at some point an agency must be able to say, 'Enough is enough,'  and thus [w]e normally reverse an agency's decision not to reopen the record only for an abuse of discretion. Id. (internal quotes omitted). Under its own rules of procedure, the Commission has discretion to reopen a hearing for good cause. 18 C.F.R. § 385.716(a). The Commission acted within this broad discretion here because it addressed criteria relevant to reopening the record--the timing of the request and the opportunity afforded the Cities to explore the issue at any point before or during the Phase II hearing. 62 We also uphold the Commission's deeming the affidavit a concession that no price squeeze had occurred in the second subperiod. See 53 F.E.R.C. at 61,319. The submission was a representation by the complaining parties that they no longer contested a portion of their original case. In the absence of any controversy over the second subperiod, the agency would have wasted time and resources by requiring Edison to prepare a compliance filing for the entire five-and-a-half months.