20040329Public Hearing Payette.pdf

BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC
ORIGINALRECEiVED JJJUTILIrt~~D COMMI SS
c--'
Ulfli ~4 no llJuHUtn .11.1'110:03
. iL;""i;U iUGLiCIN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION oFUf/UTiES COf1r11SSIONIDAHO POWER COMPANY FOR AUTHORITY ) CASE NO. IPC-E-O3-13TO INCREASE ITS INTERIM AND BASE
. RATES AND CHARGES FOR ELECTRIC SERVI CE .
BEFORE
COMMISSIONER MARSHA SMITH (?residing)
COMMIS SIONER PAUL KJELLANDER
COMMISSIONER DENNIS HANSEN
PLACE:Payette High School Auditorium
1500 6th Avenue South
payet te, Idaho
DATE:March 18, 2004
VOLUME V - Pages 336 - 344
~mh
CSB REpORTING
Constance S. Bucy, CSR No. 187
17688 Allendale Road * Wilder, Idaho 83676
[phone] * [phone]
Email csb~spro.net
For the Staff:Lisa Nordstrom, Esq.
Deputy Attorney General
472 West Washington
Boise , Idaho 83720-0074
For Idaho Power Company:Monica B. Moen, Esq.
Idaho Power Company
Post Office Box 70
Boise, Idaho 83707-0070
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho 83676
APPEARANCES
WITNESS EXAMINATION BY PAGE
Gerald Schroder
(Publ ic)
Statement 338
Nancy Jordan
(Public)339Statement
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho INDEX83676
PAYETTE , IDAHO, THURSDAY , MARCH 18, 2004 , 2:30 P. M.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Good afternoon
ladies and gentlemen.This is the time and place set for
a hearing in Idaho Public Utilities Commission Case
No. IPC-03-13, further identified as in the matter of
the application of Idaho Power Company for authority to
increase its interim and base rates and charges for
electric service.
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission is a
three -member body.You have two of us here today.
Commissioner Hansen may be on his way, we I re not sure.
He had a medical matter in his family he had to attend to
this morning.On my left is Commissioner Paul Kj ellander
who is also the president of the Commission.My name is
Marsha Smi th .I I m a Commissioner and Chairman of this
hearing.We also have representatives from Idaho Power
Company here.
MS. MOEN:I I m Monica Moen.m an
attorney at Idaho Power and with me at the table is
Celeste Schwendiman if you may have any questions at the
end of the session regarding any rate analysis.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you , and we
also have an attorney from the Commission Staff.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
336 COLLOQUY83676
MS. NORDSTROM:Good afternoon.m Lisa
Nordstrom, Deputy Attorney General , for the State of
Idaho and I I m representing the Commission Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:As part of the
Commission I S deliberation on the application of Idaho
Power Company, we have extensive technical hearings in
Boise, but we also come out and do public hearings so we
can hear directly from the customers of Idaho Power and
their concerns regarding the Company and this rate filing
and that I s what we I re here to do today.
I III call the names of those who have
signed up to testify.You can come forward to the podium
here in front of me.Commissioner Kj ellander will ask
you to raise your right hand and will then swear you in
and then you will be free to give your statement.
Ms. Nordstrom will ask you your name to get you properly
identified on the record.
That's important because the decisions of
the Commission can be appealed directly to the Idaho
Supreme Court, so everything we decide must be based on
the evidence and testimony that's presented to us during
our hearing process so with that , we'll call Gerald
Schroder.Mr. Schroder , you were previously sworn in
this matter , so you do not need to be resworn.
MR. SCHRODER:Thank you.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
337 COLLOQUY83676
GERALD SCHRODER,
appearing as a public witness, having been previously
duly sworn , resumed the stand and was further examined
and testified as follows:
THE WITNESS:Gerald Schroder, 15361
Griffin Lane , Caldwell , S-Members of the
Commission , having appeared before you last evening in
McCall , my expert testimony has not changed.In order to
prevent repetition, if appropriate, may I submit that
copy and have your permission to elaborate briefly to
further substantiate our AARP position?
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Please do.
THE WITNESS:Two speakers from last
evening when asked whether they were satisfied with Idaho
Power s service readily indicated that they were
satisfied , but added that they definitely desired to have
that utility regulated and then they offered reasons and
suggestions.AARP's prime concern being for citizens 50
and older , and especially those on the upper end of the
age scale, we share the general sentiment referenced by
those speakers last evening.
In closing, I refer to recent legislative
action regarding the QWEST deregulation , House Bill 502.
We of AARP actively opposed that measure in the beginning
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
338 SCHRODER
Public83676
and throughout the process.A main point of our
opposition was we felt the need to maintain the
regulation of a most necessity utility, that regulation
as is provided by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission.
Thank you again.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you , sir.
Let I S see if there are any questions.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
MS. MOEN:No questions.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very much.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Nancy Jordan.
NANCY JORDAN
appearing as a public witness, having been duly sworn
was examined and testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good afternoon.
Hi.
Please state your name and spell your last
name for the record.
Nancy Jordan, J -o-r-a-n.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
339 JORDAN
Public83676
What is your mailing address?
Post Office Box 815 , Payette , Idaho
83661.
Are you here today representing yourself
or an organization?
m representing myself.
Thank you.Please proceed with your
testimony.
Some time ago I had written this and I was
going to send it to the PUC, but I never did get it
mailed, and I just put down here , phew , it stinks.Who
pays them off?The water that generates most of the
electrici ty in Idaho belongs to the people , not Idaho
Powe r .Idaho Power claims it all.How can they pay such
enormous wages and bonuses to a bunch of execs who are
way overpaid to begin with.
We the people should be able to put a
ceiling on both wages and bonuses.You should be ashamed
to break and put a hardship on so many people, and I'
talking at that part about the farmers and those people
that have to have water in order to have a crop.Many
are out of work, single and on fixed incomes , yet you can
waste electricity, buy new vehicles, which in every place
that the Idaho Power is at , there I s hundreds of vehicles
sitting there from pickups to vans to trucks , all -- a
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
340 JORDAN
Public83676
lot of them not needed.
At the very best to sit in fancy offices
and charge for an extra - - and charge extra for a meter
reader, just another way to fleece the people , yet
di vidends seldom rise and get this , they cut dividends on
common stock from $1.86 to $1.20.This was right here in
this notice that I got from IDACORP that says on
September 18th, 2003, the Companyl s board of directors
reduced the annual dividend paid on IDACORP common stocks
from $1.86 to $1., yet they want more, more money.
The change will take effect with the
dividend for the quarter ending October 31st, 2003, which
has declared a $.30 per share - - was declared a $.30 per
share.The dividend is payable December 1st, 2003 , to
common stockholders of record on November 5th of 2003
and here I have a notice that they even want to charge
you to send out your dividend, hello.You know , the
S. Bank Corp., Piper Jaffray, at U.S. Bank Corp., Piper
Jaffray, there are costs that we incur in the handling
and administration of your accounts , Effective January
2003 , we will begin charging annual account fees for all
of our accounts , including prime , standard and IRA
accounts.Standard and IRA accounts will be charged an
annual account fee of $50.00.Prime accounts will be
charged an annual account fee of 125.These fees may be
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
341 JORDAN
Public83676
waived depending upon the level of assets you hold at our
firm.
That I s just part of the letter , but I feel
like you want raises, raises so your people can get more
and more and more money and we don't get any more money.
How do we get that money?Wages?People aren't working,
how do we get that money?I feel like there's a time to
call a halt, there's a time to call a halt to all of
them , the waste that goes on in the offices , out in the
field for pickups and trucks and stuff that they could
get by another year with without raising them and when
they start charging you to be their customer and it says
customer fee , I feel like where else can we go?Who else
can we get to do the electricity?Should we have
somebody else come in and take it over?I don't know the
answer , but I just feel like you have to call a halt to
overcharging and to stop charging all that extra money.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you.Let I S see
if there are any questions for you.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
MS. MOEN:No questions.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:And we'd like to
welcome Commissioner Hansen.
COMMISSIONER HANSEN:Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Actually, that's the
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
342 JORDAN
Public83676
end of the list of people who have signed up to testify.
If there is anyone in the audience who wishes to make a
statement, we I d be happy to have you come forward at this
time.People are not rushing the podium , in which case
the Commission will note that that will conclude this
hearing.
Our hearings will take up at 9:30 , Monday,
the 29th of March in the Commission Hearing Room for the
technical part of the hearings and we will be adj ourned
until that time.Thank you.Thank you for your
attendance.
(The Hearing recessed at 2: 45 p. m.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
343 COLLOQUY83676
This is to certify that the foregoing
proceedings held in the matter of the application of
Idaho Power Company for authority to increase its interim
and base rates and charges for electric service,
commencing at 2: 30 p. m., on Thursday, March 18, 2004 , at
the Payette High School Auditorium, 1500 6th Avenue
South , Payette , Idaho , is a true and correct transcript
of said proceedings and the original thereof for the file
of the Commission.
S. BUCY
Shorthand Reporter #1
\\\\111111111,
.e.T AA.':""
...' ~~ .,,
\o.~ I
...
' 0 "
"""""" "" "~ (j -'"
4S"""
:: -~ ~"'", -~ ~-.,,
10% c ;,
::: =- -= ~ ~ \
Go.
~ ~"\
-v)"(9L
IC
... ~""",\""" ,". ,.
IDA'"
\ \
IIIIIIIIII \ \
\ \
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
344 AUTHENTICATION83676