Ventura County Waterworks District No. 5 v. Public Utilies Commission

TRAYNOR, J. The Camino Water Company applied to the Public Utilities Commission for a certificate of public convenience and necessity to extend its public utility water service to Area No. 1 and Area No. 2, which are adjacent to its presently certified area near the unincorporated community of Camarillo. Area No. 1 is also adjacent to land included in and served by Ventura County Waterworks District No. 5. The district was organized under the County Waterworks District Law (Wat. Code, § 55000 et seq.) and is not subject to the jurisdiction of the commission. The district applied for a hearing pursuant to section 1005 of the Public Utilities Code to protest Camino’s application for a certificate to serve Area No. 1.

At the hearing it was stipulated that Area No. 1 was not within the boundaries of the district; that no proceedings to annex Area No. 1 to the district had been commenced; and that, with the exception of service to one ranch under a contract for surplus water, no owner of land in Area No. 1 had requested service from the district. On the basis of this stipulation, the hearing examiner sustained Camino’s objection to the district’s offer to prove that it could provide better and more economical water service to Area No. 1 than Camino.1 In a three-to-two decision the commission approved its examiner’s ruling and granted a certificate of public con[464]venience and necessity to Camino. After its petition for rehearing was denied, the district petitioned for a writ of review and we granted the writ.

A public utility has no constitutional right to be protected from competition, but it is entitled to a hearing before the commission may grant a certificate of public convenience and necessity to a competitor. (Pub. Util. Code, § 1005; Sale v. Railroad Com., 15 Cal. 2d 612, 614-615 [104 P.2d 38]; California Motor Transport Co. v. Public Utilities Com., 59 Cal.2d 270, 271 [28 Cal.Rptr. 868, 379 P.2d 324].) An order granting or denying such a certificate may be reviewed in this court (Pub. Util. Code, § 1756), and if the commission did not regularly pursue its authority, its order will be annulled. (Pub. Util. Code, §§ 1757, 1758.) Errors in the admission or exclusion of evidence do not constitute a failure of the commission regularly to pursue its authority unless they result in an unfair hearing. (Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Devlin, 188 Cal. 33, 40 [203 P. 1058]; Brewer v. Railroad Com., 190 Cal. 60, 77-78 [210 P. 511]; Southern Pac. Co. v. Railroad Com., 13 Cal.2d 125, 129-130 [87 P. 1052]; Market St. Ry. Co. v. Railroad Com., 24 Cal.2d 378, 383, 405 [150 P.2d 196]; see Pub. Util. Code, § 1701.)