20241126AVU to Staff 14-18.pdf

RECEIVED
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
AVISTA CORPORATION IDAHO PUBLIC
RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION UTILITIES COMMISSION
JURISDICTION: IDAHO DATE PREPARED: 11/20/2024
CASE NO: AVU-E-24-09/AVU-G-24-03 WITNESS: N/A
REQUESTER: IPUC RESPONDER: Kim Boynton
TYPE: Production Request DEPARTMENT: Energy Efficiency
REQUEST NO.: Staff-14 TELEPHONE: [phone]
REQUEST:
Please indicate the IRP year used to provide avoided cost forecasts in the Company's 2023 electric
and natural gas cost-effectiveness workpapers provided in Response to Production Request No. 8.
RESPONSE:
Electric and natural gas avoided costs for the 2023 workpapers were generated from the 2021 IRP.

AVISTA CORPORATION
RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
JURISDICTION: IDAHO DATE PREPARED: 11/20/2024
CASE NO: AVU-E-24-09/AVU-G-24-03 WITNESS: N/A
REQUESTER: IPUC RESPONDER: Kim Boynton
TYPE: Production Request DEPARTMENT: Energy Efficiency
REQUEST NO.: Staff-15 TELEPHONE: [phone]
REQUEST:
Please describe the Company's processes and controls for maintaining workpaper versioning.
RESPONSE:
Workpapers are maintained in access-controlled file shares with directories organized by year and
state. The file shares are backed up daily with previous versions maintained for the previous year.

AVISTA CORPORATION
RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
JURISDICTION: IDAHO DATE PREPARED: 11/20/2024
CASE NO: AVU-E-24-09/AVU-G-24-03 WITNESS: N/A
REQUESTER: IPUC RESPONDER: Kim Boynton
TYPE: Production Request DEPARTMENT: Energy Efficiency
REQUEST NO.: Staff-16 TELEPHONE: [phone]
REQUEST:
The Cost-effectiveness workpapers provided as Attachments B and C to the Company's response
to Production Request No. 8 differ significantly from previous years. Please explain the need to
revise the workpapers and provide a changelog of improvements made to the workpaper.
RESPONSE:
The workpapers used in the 2022 evaluation utilized multiple tabs and overly complex formulas to
pull avoided cost data. Additionally, the structures used to store and calculate savings data on the
calculation tab were unnecessarily intricate. These issues were rectified in the 2023 evaluation
document; in short, the workpapers were simply streamlined for use and review.
The specific changes from 2022 to 2023 are provided here:
• Used an explicit repository for measure life, customer incremental cost and load curve
information.
• Simplified the formula for pulling avoided cost information.
• Restructured the worksheet layout to simplify the presentation of cost-effectiveness
information.
• Provided a pared down version of avoided cost tables more relevant to energy efficiency.

AVISTA CORPORATION
RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
JURISDICTION: IDAHO DATE PREPARED: 11/20/2024
CASE NO: AVU-E-24-09/AVU-G-24-03 WITNESS: N/A
REQUESTER: IPUC RESPONDER: Kim Boynton
TYPE: Production Request DEPARTMENT: Energy Efficiency
REQUEST NO.: Staff-17 TELEPHONE: [phone]
REQUEST:
Please provide a breakdown of all 2023 third-party costs by fuel type showing cost allocation by
sector and program.
RESPONSE:
Avista does not allocate costs directly to programs due to the cost and complexity of assigning
costs directly to programs versus sectors.
Provided as Staff-PR-17-Attachment A is a breakdown of all 2023 third-party costs, allocated by
fuel type and sector.

AVISTA CORPORATION
RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
JURISDICTION: IDAHO DATE PREPARED: 11/20/2024
CASE NO: AVU-E-24-09/AVU-G-24-03 WITNESS: N/A
REQUESTER: IPUC RESPONDER: Kim Boynton
TYPE: Production Request DEPARTMENT: Energy Efficiency
REQUEST NO.: Staff-18 TELEPHONE: [phone]
REQUEST:
Please reconcile the non-incentive utility costs ("NIUC") in the NIUC tab with program and
measure level NIUC column of the Residential CE tab of Attachment B of the response to
Production Request No. 8. Please provide updated workpapers with the reconciled measure level
cost-effectiveness calculations.
RESPONSE:
Avista's accounting framework is structured around the requirement that the portfolio(rather than
each individual program) be cost-effective. As such, our accounting framework for NIUCs is
structured at the portfolio level. The framework does not currently have separate program
categories for non-incentive costs; therefore, the Company is unable to directly attribute most
non-incentive costs to specific programs. A different accounting structure would be required to
track most non-incentive costs for each program individually.