20060207Comments.pdf

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CECELIA A. GASSNER
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL
IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
PO BOX 83720
BOISE, IDAHO 83720-0074
[phone]
BAR NO. 6977
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Street Address for Express Mail:
472 W. WASHINGTON
BOISE, IDAHO 83702-5983
Attorney for the Commission Staff
BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF
UNITED WATER IDAHO INc. REGARDING A )TARIFF ADVICE CASE NO. UWI-O6-
COMMENTS OF THE
COMMISSION STAFF
The Staff of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, by and through its Attorney of record
Cecelia A. Gassner, Deputy Attorney General, in response to the Notice of Tariff Advice and Notice of
Modified Procedure in Order No. 29961 issued on January 26 2006, submits the following comments.
BACKGROUND
On January 5 , 2006, United Water Idaho Inc. ("United Water" or "Company ) filed a tariff
advice with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission ("Commission ) notifying the Commission of a
change to Rule 75 of Company s tariff, related to the calculation of refunds provided to developers for
the costs of water main extensions.
STAFF ANALYSIS
Under the current tariff, developers that provide or pay for special facilities, such as a storage
tank, to the Company for use in serving their development qualify for a refund of a portion of this
STAFF COMMENTS FEBRUARY 6, 2006
contribution as the development is occupied and produces revenues for the Company. This advice
changes the formula used to calculate these refunds. The refund allows the developer that provides
special facilities to receive a share of the revenues the Company receives from customers to pay for
those facilities. The proposed formula updates and refines the calculation of those revenues and
includes additional variables to address taxes, meter costs and embedded investment that were not
explicitly included in the old formula. The Company claims these revisions will result in a more
accurate determination of the net revenues provided to the Company to cover the cost of such special
facilities. In general, based upon current values for these variables, the new formula will reduce the
amount of the refund, typically from 20% to 25%. Staff agrees that the revised formula is a more
accurate calculation of revenue collected from customers and refunded to developers to pay for
contributed special facilities.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends Commission approval of the Tariff Advice.
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Respectfully submitted this tt day of February 2006.
Cecelia c.
Deputy Attorney General
Technical Staff: Wayne Hart
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STAFF COMMENTS FEBRUARY 6, 2006
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
HEREBY CERTIFY THAT I HAVE THIS 6TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2006
SERVED THE FOREGOING COMMENTS OF THE COMMISSION STAFF, IN
CASE NO. UWI-06-, BY MAILING A COpy THEREOF, POSTAGE PREPAID
TO THE FOLLOWING:
DEAN J MILLER ESQ
McDEVITT & MILLER LLP
PO BOX 2564
BOISE ID 83701
JD/
SECRET AR
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE