28549.doc

BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION OF GTE
NORTHWEST INCORPORATED FOR
APPROVAL TO REVISE DEPRECIATION
RATES. )
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CASE NO. GTE-T-00-9

ORDER NO. 28549

On June 8, 2000, GTE Northwest Incorporated filed an Application for approval of changes in its depreciation rates for its Idaho intrastate operations. The Application was submitted following a meeting between GTE, the Federal Communications Commission Staff and Idaho Commission Staff in April 2000. The meeting resulted in an agreement that GTE’s annual depreciation and amortization expense can increase from $31.183 to $34.525 million, an annual increase of $2.464 million. GTE’s Application included attachments showing the depreciation rates for specific accounts that currently exist and as proposed in its Application, which is affixed to this Order as Attachment A.
On September 13, 2000, the Commission issued a Notice of Application and Notice of Modified Procedure to process GTE’s Application. During the comment period, written comments were filed only by the Commission Staff. Staff comments provide greater detail regarding specific depreciation rates agreed to during the three-party meeting. For example, GTE proposed a three-year amortization of a reserve for Central Office Equipment Software to write off switching software that is no longer in service. The annual write off is $1,342,000 for the years 2000, 2001, and 2002. Staff recommended approval of GTE’s requested depreciation rates.
Based on the record in this case, including the recommendation of the Staff, the Commission approves booking of the depreciation rates as set forth in Attachment A effective January 1, 2000. This approval does not assure rate recovery in any future proceedings based on these depreciation rates.
O R D E R
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the revised depreciation rates proposed by GTE in its Application may be booked effective January 1, 2000.
THIS IS A FINAL ORDER. Any person interested in this Order may petition for reconsideration within twenty-one (21) days of the service date of this Order. Within seven (7) days after any person has petitioned for reconsideration, any other person may cross-petition for reconsideration. See Idaho Code § 61-626.
DONE by Order of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission at Boise, Idaho this
day of October 2000.

DENNIS S. HANSEN, PRESIDENT

MARSHA H. SMITH, COMMISSIONER

PAUL KJELLANDER, COMMISSIONER

ATTEST:

Jean D. Jewell
Commission Secretary

vld/O:GTE T009_ws2

ORDER NO. 28549 1

Office of the Secretary
Service Date
October 25, 2000