20240717SWS to Staff 63-67.pdf

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STONERiDGE
CDS StoneRidge Utilities, LLC
P.O. Box 298
Blanchard, ID 83804
Ph [phone] Extn. 4
RECEIVED
SENT By: Email
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
July 17, 2024 IDAHO PUBLIC
UTILITIES COMMISSION
Michael Duval
Deputy Attorney General
Idaho Public Utilities Commission
P.O. Box 83720
Boise, ID 83720-0074
RE: Sixth Production Request Submission
Mr. Duval, please find attached our written response to Production Request#4.
Please let us know if you have additional requests.
Sincerely
Chan Karupiah
Managing Member

Case # SWS-W-24-01-StoneRidge Water Company General Rate Case
6th Production Request
REQUEST NO 63: In the meeting between the Company and Staff that
occurred on May 9, 2024, the Company discussed revisions to Marked-up
Tariff #5 submitted on March 20, 2024, and indicated in that meeting that it
will no longer pursue tiered rates in this case. The Company and Staff also
discussed several other miscellaneous items that need to be revised in the
tariff. Please provide an update to Tariff #5 without the tiered rates and
with updates for the miscellaneous items after working with Staff. Please
include a summary of all changes to the updated tariff.
Answer:
Since the March 20, 2024, meeting (Do not believe this is the correct date
on this meeting—the proposed Tariff was submitted on this date) the
Company has been unsuccessful in working with Staff on the Tariff #5
revision. Staff initially suggested they would initiate the editing of the
existing Tariff #3.
In the interim, Company case SWS-W-23-02 was reviewed and Final Order
#36186 has been issued by the Commission, this other case was to result in
Tariff #4 being updated from the existing Tariff #3.
In discussions with Staff a strategy was agreed upon to edit Tariff #3 into
Tariff #4 first so that case SWS-W-23-02 could be finalized and closed—that
case is now out of compliance with the Final Order.
Recent email exchanges with Staff the first week of July centered on the
inability of Staff to begin work on both Tariff #3 and Tariff #4 rewrite as
Staff had anticipated. At this time the Company, based upon Staff email(s),
is expecting that Staff will begin reviewing the Tariff revisions the week of
July 15, 2024.
The Company is eager to begin work on the two tariff revisions and looks
forward to working with Staff next week.
Company Response 7/11/2024

Case # SWS-W-24-01-StoneRidge Water Company General Rate Case
6th Production Request
REQUEST NO 64: Please confirm that the Company is still proposing to
charge the Golf Course Irrigation customer the proposed minimum monthly
charge for their meter size (i.e. 6-inch meter with a $5,546 minimum
monthly charge and a 10% discounted $2.65/1,000 gallon commodity
charge) in addition to the 10% discounted commodity charge. If this is not
the case, please clarify the Company's proposal and provide an updated
tariff.
Answer:
In 2024 The Golf Course has made significant investments in their irrigation
system, including new controllers and other enhancements which are
expected to reduce water wastage by up to 50% of the volume used in past
years.
Projecting water usage of Golf Course Irrigation systems is very challenging
given the number of variables which can affect the volume used. This year
will be the first full year for the new well source and The Golf Course has
determined that "supplemental water supply" from a replacement
StoneRidge Water Company 2" meter should provide adequate water when
combined with the new Golf Well's anticipated production.
Based upon the 2024 year-to-date production volume of the new golf course
water well, the Golf Course has recently requested that the Company
downsize the existing 6" inch meter on the Golf Irrigation account with a 2"
inch meter. The Golf Course has determined that a 2" meter should be
sufficient to supplement The Company intends that the Golf Course will be
charged the appropriate minimum monthly charge along with the
appropriate discounted commodity charge for this replacement 2" meter in
accordance with the current tariff approved by IPUC at the time of the
monthly billing.
The Golf Course determined to abandon the Company's 6-inch meter and
apply for a new 2" meter service during the "transitional period" as the Golf
Course relies entirely on their own for irrigation water supply. They were
also advised that review of the existing meter location confirmed that it
complies with the CDS StoneRidge Utilities, LLC Tariff requirements for
meter location. The cost of the upsize/downsize shall be borne by the Golf
Course and they have agreed to pay for all the cost including the new meter.
Company Response 7/11/2024

Case # SWS-W-24-01-StoneRidge Water Company General Rate Case
6th Production Request
REQUEST NO 65: In response to Production Request #13 the Company
stated that 2023 total consumption is 110,936,200 gallons. The total
consumption for the system minus 46,548,200 gallons from the Golf Course
6-inch meter would be 64,388,000 gallons. In the Company's application,
Exhibit 5. Schedule A, the Company stated that 2023 total annual
consumption is 57,415,001 gallons—which excludes the Golf Course 6-inch
meter. Please reconcile these two numbers in Excel format with all formulas
intact. Additionally, please reconcile any other differences between the data
provided in response to Production Request #13 and the Application Exhibit
5, Schedule A.
Answer: A full review of "Application Exhibit 5 Schedule A" revealed that the
usage amounts and some of the number of meter amounts were not in
agreement with the "final YE 2023" report from the Water Company's billing
system.
It is not clear why this happened, but an updated "Application Exhibit 5
Schedule A" is attached to this submission and uploaded to the Box Drive.
The individual annual usage amount reports by route are attached hereto as
Exhibit C.
We also discovered that the 2023 yearly consumption report (See Exhibit A)
for the IRR-2" Use #465.4 showed 69,000 gallons of usage for Oct. 23. But
the excel table (See Exhibit B) we recently built to review these issue, for
usage in this same time period showed 99,000 gallons for Oct. 23 or a
difference of 30,000 gallons. We have corrected Exhibit B and now the total
water usage for 2023 (Exhibit B) also Agrees with the Exhibit 5 Schedule A
total gallons used for 2023—i.e. they both show a total usage of
110,906,200 (including golf irrigation use) The exhibits are attached.
Company Response 7/11/2024

Case # SWS-W-24-01-StoneRidge Water Company General Rate Case
6th Production Request
REQUEST NO 66: IN an email response to Staff on May 8, 2024, the
Company stated that the Golf Course 6-inch meter was disconnected in Fall
2023. Please provide the date of disconnection. Additionally, the Company
stated that a new well for the Golf Course irrigation was put online in fall
2023. Please provide the date that the well began serving the Golf Course's
water demands.
Answer:
The Golf Course 6-inch meter was turned off (not disconnected) in
November of 2023 and the minimum monthly billing ceased at that time (the
minimum monthly billing recommenced in April of 2024 when it became
apparent that the Golf Course's new well pump had issues—i.e. shutting
down prematurely, failing etc.
The new golf well began serving the Golf Irrigation system in October 2023.
After two pump replacements this May/June on the new Golf Well system, it
was determined that the pump controller was bad. During this time that the
new Golf Well was offline April-June 2024 the Golf Course needed water to
fill the storage reservoir and supply irrigation water. With the new Golf
Course upgrades to their golf irrigation systems—new controllers and
computers, the volume of water needed for Golf Course irrigation is
anticipated to be reduced significantly.
The current plan is to switch over the existing 6 inch Water Company supply
to the Golf Irrigation to a much smaller 1 1/2 Meter—this should be completed
by July 31, 2024. This new reduced supply of water along with the existing
new golf well 2" meter supply line should be adequate for all the Golf
Irrigation water supply needs until the Golf Course completely "disconnects"
from the Company distribution system for calendar year 2025.
Company Response 7/11/2024

Case # SWS-W-24-01-StoneRidge Water Company General Rate Case
6th Production Request
REQUEST NO 67: Please provide the estimated amount of water that the
Company is expected to provide to the Golf Course 6-inch meter in 2024 &
2025. Please provide the estimated amount of water that the Company is
expected to provide to the other Golf Course meters in 204-2025.
Answer: See answers to previous questions regarding Golf Course irrigation
system upgrades for improving water efficiency going forward. Until we
have updated volume usage from these other meters for 2024, we can only
look at prior year volume usage as a rough estimate to forecast 2024 &
2025 usage.
2024, at the rate the usage is fined tuned on the new Golf Course Well
supply system the Golf Course expects to pump less than 20,000,000
gallons in 2024 from the Company and likely zero in 2025.
Company Response 7/11/2024

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