20080521Staff to Avista 29-68.pdf

SCOTT WOODBURY
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL
IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
PO BOX 83720
BOISE, IDAHO 83720-0074
[phone]
ISB NO. 1895
KRISTINE A. SASSER
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL
IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
PO BOX 83720
BOISE, IDAHO 83720-0074
[phone]
BARNO. 6618
Street Address for Express Mail:
472 W. WASHINGTON
BOISE, IDAHO 83702-5983
Attorneys for the Commission Staff
:)
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BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION
OF A VISTA CORPORATION FOR THE
AUTHORITY TO INCREASE ITS RATES
AND CHARGES FOR ELECTRIC AND
NATURAL GAS SERVICE TO ELECTRIC
AND NATURAL GAS CUSTOMERS IN THE
STATE OF IDAHO
)
) CASE NO. A VU-E-08-1
) A VU-G-08-1
)
) SECOND PRODUCTION
) REQUEST OF THE
) COMMISSION STAFF
~ TO A VISTA CORPORATION
The Staff of the Idaho Public Utilties Commission, by and through its attorney of record,
Kristine A. Sasser, Deputy Attorney General, requests that Avista Corporation (Company;
Avista) provide the following documents and information on or before WEDNESDAY, JUE
11,2008.
SECOND PRODUCTION REQUEST
TO A VISTA CORPORATION 1 MAY 21, 2008
The Company is reminded that responses pursuant to Commission Rules of Procedure
must include the name and phone number of the person preparing the document, and the name,
location and phone number of the record holder and if different the witness who can sponsor the
answer at hearing if need be. Reference IDAPA 31.01.01.228.
This Production Request is to be considered as continuing, and A vista is requested to
provide, by way of supplementa responses, additional documents that it or any person acting
on its behalf may later obtain that wil augment the documents produced.
Please provide answers to each question, supporting workpapers that provide detail or are
the source of information used in calculations, and the name, job title and telephone number of
the person preparing the documents. Please identify the name, job title, location and telephone
number of the record holder.
Please provide all Excel and electronic fies on CD with formulas activated.
MOBILE DISPATCH
REQUEST NO. 29: When the gas meter and service of a customer has actually been
turned off at a premises, does A vista require at the time of reconnection that a Company service
person relight the equipment?
REQUEST NO. 30: If the answer to Request No. 29 is yes, does Avista require that an
adult be present when gas equipment is fired at a residence or business?
REQUEST NO. 31: If the answer to Request No. 29 is yes, does Avista provide
scheduled appointments for gas connections? If A vista does not provide scheduled
appointments, does A vista provide the customer with a window of time for meeting a Company
service person for performing actual meter connections and relighting of gas equipment such as
between the hours of 8am and 10am or perhaps narowing the time to morning between 8am and
12 noon or afternoon between the hours of 1pm and 5pm?
SECOND PRODUCTION REQUEST
TO AVISTA CORPORATION 2 MAY 21, 2008
REQUEST NO. 32: Please provide a list of improvements and/or changes to Company
processes that have occured as a result of the implementation of Mobile Dispatch, especially as
they pertain to connections, reconnections and disconnections.
CUSTOMER CHARGE
REQUEST NO. 33: Customer charges are purorted to cover fixed costs such as meter
reading and billng. Since customers who receive both electric and gas service from A vista have
combined bilings and the meter readings are obtained for both services on the same trip to the
premises, has the Company considered economies of scale, thereby reducing the monthly
customer charge for those customers who have both services biled on one statement? If not,
why not?
LOW INCOME ISSUES
REQUEST NO. 34: In Case No. AVU-E 04-01 and AVU-G 04-01, in response to Staff
Production Request No. 25, Avista stated that it had a long standing practice to not collect data
regarding its customers' personal income levels. Does A vista now track or compile statistics that
show that disconnections for non-payment, reconnection fees, and/or deposit requirements are
not overly burdensome to low income customers? If so, please provide those statistics.
REQUEST NO. 35: Please provide any studies or tracking data compiled by Avista
showing the effect of: 1) energy effciency programs; 2) Cares Program; and/or 3) Project Share
Program in alleviating the burden of higher rates on low and fixed income customers.
REQUEST NO. 36: Please provide by month the number of payment arangement
agreements entered into by the Company for each of the past four calendar years (2004-2007).
REQUEST NO. 37: Please provide by month the percentage of customers who
defaulted on payment arangements in each of the past four years (2004-2007).
SECOND PRODUCTION REQUEST
TO A VISTA CORPORATION 3 MAY 21, 2008
FORMS REVIEW
REQUEST NO. 38: Have any of Avista's forms required by the Utilty Customer
Relation Rules (UCRR) been revised since 2004? If yes, please provide a copy of those forms
and notate what changes were made.
CALL CENTER TELEPHONE STATISTICS
REQUEST NO. 39: Please provide Avista's curent established service level goal for its
Customer Contact Centers.
REQUEST NO. 40: Please provide actual service levels that were attained by month for
the past four years (2004-2007).
REQUEST NO. 41: Please provide by month the percentage of incoming calls that have
been self serviced during the past four years (2004-2007), i.e. the total number of calls handled
by the Interactive Voice Response (lVR) per month and the total number of transactions handled
via the Web per month.
REQUEST NO. 42: Please provide by month the average call handle times by
representatives in the call centers durng the past four years (2004-2007).
REQUEST NO. 43: Please report by month the total number of incoming telephone
calls handled by the call centers during the past four years (2004-2007).
REQUEST NO. 44: Please report by month the number of abandoned telephone calls in
the past four years (2004-2007).
REQUEST NO. 45: Please report by month the average length of time customers
telephoning were placed on hold during the past four years (2004-2007).
SECOND PRODUCTION REQUEST
TO A VIST A CORPORATION 4 MAY 21, 2008
REQUEST NO. 46: In accordance with UCRR 304.02, when Avista makes a dilgent
attempt to contact the customer and Avista's automated system connects with the customer's
telephone, what happens if a child answers the phone? Is there any verification that an adult
answered the phone?
CREDIT AND COLLECTIONS
REQUEST NO. 47: Does Avista screen service applicants to determine their credit
worthiness? If so, please describe the process used to evaluate applicants.
REQUEST NO. 48: What happens if a customer refuses to provide a Social Security
Number at the time of application for service?
REQUEST NO. 49: Does Avista report delinquencies, non-payment, or other credit
information to credit reporting bureaus? If so, what type of information was provided to the
bureau(s) in the past year? To what bureaus was the information provided?
REQUEST NO. 50: Does Avista evaluate the effectiveness of collecting deposits? If
not, why not? If so, what kind of information is tracked? If available, please provide a copy of
Avista's most recent deposit policy effectiveness study.
REQUEST NO. 51: Please provide any documentation that provides evidence that the
collection of residential or commercial deposits benefit the Company by reducing its number of
delinquencies or reducing amounts written-off.
REQUEST NO. 52: Please provide the number of deposits curently held by Avista for
residential customers. Please include this information for gas, electric and combination
customers by individual service type. What is the average amount of the deposit for each service
type?
SECOND PRODUCTION REQUEST
TO A VISTA CORPORATION 5 MAY 21, 2008
REQUEST NO. 53: Does Avista track the number of customers on its Level Pay
program that drop out of the program due to an anual cost adjustment to their monthly
payment? If yes, please provide the number of customers in each month of the last four years
(2004-2007).
WEBSITE
REQUEST NO. 54: Since 2004, what specific enhancements and improvements have
been made to Avista's Website?
REQUEST NO. 55: Who was responsible for Avista's Website design project? i.e.
internal or outsourced? If it was outsourced, what was the name of the company who performed
the re-design?
REQUEST NO. 56: Company witness Kopczynski stated in his testimony that a 10%
incoming call reduction was expected as a result of the new self-service options. When does the
Company expect to reach the 10% reduction?
REQUEST NO. 57: How many Idaho customers are now signed up for e-biling?
NEW OUTAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
REQUEST NO. 58: Are the IVR and Outage Management System connected? If yes,
please describe what fuctions are connected and how customers and A vista customer service
personnel benefit from the two systems being linked together.
REQUEST NO. 59: How has the Outage Management System helped to minimize the
restoration time of outages?
REQUEST NO. 60: Since implementation of the Outage Management System, please
report on a monthly basis, the reduction in time necessar to isolate problems and restore service.
SECOND PRODUCTION REQUEST
TO A VISTA CORPORATION 6 MAY 21, 2008
Interactive Voice Response (lVR)
REQUEST NO. 61: Please provide the total number of customer service representatives
by month for each of the last four years (2004-2007).
REQUEST NO. 62: With the implementation of a new platform for IVR, is a reduction
in customer service representatives projected over the next four years? If so, what is that number
by year?
REQUEST NO. 63: Please provide the yearly numbers since 2004 of customers who
access the IVR system and subsequently elect to talk to a customer service representative.
OUTSOURCING OF BILLING & PRINT OPERATIONS
REQUEST NO. 64: Please provide a list of problems (as they relate to providing good
customer service) encountered as a result of outsourcing biling and print operations. Describe
each problem and how long it took to fix the problem.
RATE SCHEDULE ASSIGNMENT
REQUEST NO. 65: What is Avista's process at the time an account is first established
to determine the appropriate rate schedule?
REQUEST NO. 66: How does Avista monitor customer energy usage to ensure that the
assigned rate schedule continues to be appropriate?
CUSTOMER RELATIONS
REQUEST NO. 67: Please provide the quarerly results of Avista's customer survey for
the years 2004-2007.
REQUEST NO. 68: What efforts are being made to address the percentage of
unsatisfied customers per Avista's 2007 fourh quarer customer survey?
SECOND PRODUCTION REQUEST
TO A VISTA CORPORATION 7 MAY 21, 2008
DATED at Boise, Idaho, this hit! day of May 2008.
ii~' a. Sro AKie A. Sasser '"
Deputy Attorney General
Technical Staf: Marilyn Parker
Curis Thaden
i:umisc:prodreq/avue -l08.1 swmpct prod req2
SECOND PRODUCTION REQUEST
TO A VISTA CORPORATION 8 MAY 21, 2008
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT I HAVE THIS 21sT DAY OF MAY 2008, SERVED
THE FOREGOING SECOND PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION
STAFF TO AVISTA CORPORATION, IN CASE NOS. AVU-E-08-01 & AVU-G-08-01,
BY MAILING A COPY THEREOF, POSTAGE PREPAID, TO THE FOLLOWING:
DAVID J. MEYER
VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF COUNSEL
A VISTA CORPORATION
PO BOX 3727
SPOKANE WA 99220
E-MAIL: david.meyer(ßavistacorp.com
CONLEY E WARD
GIVENS PURSLEY LLP
601 W BANNOCK ST (83702)
PO BOX 2720
BOISE ID 83701-2720
E-MAIL: cew(ßgivenspursley.com
BRAD M. PURDY
ATTORNEY AT LAW
2019 N 17TH STREET
BOISE, ID 83702
E-MAIL: bmpurdy(ßhotmaiL.com
KELLY NORWOOD
VICE PRESIDENT - STATE & FED. REG.
A VISTA UTILITIES
POBOX 3727
SPOKANE WA 99220
E-MAIL: kelly.norwood(ßavistacorp.com
DENNIS E. PESEAU PhD
UTILITY RESOURCES INC
1500 LIBERTY STREET SE
SUITE 250
SALEM OR 97302
E-MAIL: dpeseautiexcite.com
il~
SECRETARY
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE