HomeMy WebLinkAbout20040415Vol. XII Public Hearing in Boise.pdfORIGINAL
BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF
IDAHO POWER COMPANY FOR AUTHORITY
TO INCREASE ITS INTERIM AND BASE
RATES AND CHARGES FOR ELECTRIC
SERVICE.
) CASE NO. IPC-E-O3-13
Idaho PublIc Utllltl" Commission
Office of theSeoretary
R EO E I V ED
APR 1 5 2004
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Boise, Idaho
BEFORE
COMMISSIONER MARSHA SMITH (Presiding)
COMMISSIONER PAUL KJELLANDER
COMMISSIONER DENNIS HANSEN
PLACE:Commission Hearing Room
472 West Washington
Boise, Idaho
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DATE:March 31, 2004
VOLUME XII - Pages 1923 - 2039
CSB REpORTING
Constance S. Bucy, CSR No. 187
17688 Allendale Road * Wilder, Idaho 83676
(208) 890-5198 ~ (208) 337-4807
Email csb~spro.net
For the Staf f :Lisa Nordstrom, Esq.
and Weldon Stutzman, Esq.
Deputy Attorney Generals
472 West Washington
Boise , Idaho 83720-0074
Barton L. Kline, Esq.
and Monica B. Moen, Esq.
Idaho Power Company
Post Office Box 70
Boise , Idaho 83707-0070
RICHARDSON & 0' LEARY
by Peter J. Richardson, Esq.
Post Office Box 1849Eagle, Idaho 83616
RACINE, OLSEN , NYE , BUDGE
& BAI LEY
by Randall C. Budge, Esq.
Post Office Box 1391Pocatello, Idaho 83204 -13 91
Lawrence A. Gollomp, Esq.
Assistant General Counsel
U. S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave., SW
Washington , DC 20585
McDEVITT & MILLER
by Dean J. Miller, Esq.
Post Office Box 2564Boise, Idaho 83701
William M. Eddie
Advocates for the West
Post Office Box 1612Boise, Idaho 83701
GIVENS PURSLEY LLP
by Conley E. Ward, Esq.
Post Office Box 2720
Boise , Idaho 83701-2720
For Idaho Power
Company:
APPEARANCES
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For Industrial Customers
of Idaho Power:
For Idaho Irrigation
Pumpers Association:
For The United States
Department of Energy:
For United Water Idaho,Inc:
For NW Energy Coalition:
For Micron Technology,
Inc.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho 83676
....-~~-..--....-~..-..__..,
A P P A RAN C E S (Continued)
For Community ActionPartnership Association
0 f I daho and AARP:
Brad M. Purdy, Esq.
Attorney at Law
2019 North 17th Street
Boise , Idaho 83702
For Kroger Company:
(Of Record)
BOEHM, KURSZ & LOWRY
by Kurt J. Boehm, Esq.
36 E. Seventh Street
Suite 2110Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
APPEARANCES83676
WITNESS EXAMINATION PAGE
Terry Ketterling
(Publ ic)
Statement
Ms. Nordstrom (Cross)
Commissioner Kj ellander
Commlssioner Hansen
1925
1930
1931
1932
Raymond Arp
(Public)Statement
Ms. Nordstrom (Cross)
Commissloner Hansen
Commissioner Kj ellander
Commissioner Smith
1933
1938
1939
1941
1942
Diane Rosti
(Public)Statement
Commlssioner Hansen
1943
1946
Darrel Rosti
(Public)Statement
Commlssioner Kj ellander 1948
1950
Ret ta Green(Public)Statement
Commlssioner Hansen
Commissloner Smith
1952
1955
1956
Ellen Sedlar
(Publ ic)
Statement 1956
Norman Anderson
(Public)Statement
Commissloner Hansen
Commlssioner Smith
1959
1964
1965
April Steele
(publ ic)
Statement 1966
Philip W. Gridley
(publ ic)
Norman Anderson
(Public)
Karen McWilliams
(Public)
Emily Jones
(Publ ic)
Statement
Ms. Nordstrom (Cross)
1969
1976
Statement
Ms. Moen (Cross)
Commissioner Kj ellander
1978
1979
1980
Statement 1981
Statement 1983
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho 83676 INDEX
(Continued)
WITNESS EXAMINATION BY PAGE
Connie Chandnoit Statement 1985(Public)Commissloner Hansen 1988CommlssionerKj ellander 1989CommlssionerSmi th 1990
Robert Brock Statement 1991(Publ ic)
Diane Anderson Statement 1993(Publ ic)
Richard DeLeonard Statement 1998(Public)
Debra Thrall Statement 2000(Public)
Mark Duffin Statement 2005(Public)
Stephen White Statement 2008(Public)
Carolyn Wagnild Statement 2012(Public)
Joe Gallegos Statement 2015
(publ ic)Commissloner Hansen 2018
Richard Vick Statement 2019(Public)Commissloner Smith 2022
Mike Bravo Statement 2023(Public)
Michelle Kay Statement 2032(Public)
Martin Johncox Statement 2035
(Publ ic)
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho INDEX83676
Identified
Identified
PAGE
2009
2009
NUMBER DESCRIPTION
FOR THE PUBLIC:
997. Table 59, Summary Statistics for
Natural Gas - Idaho, 1994-1998
998. Table 59, Summary Statistics for
Natural Gas - Idaho, 1994 -1998
Continued)
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho 83676
EXHIBITS
BOISE, IDAHO, WEDNESDAY , MARCH 31 , 2004 , 6:30 P. M.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Good evening, ladies
and gentlemen.This is the time and place set for a
public hearing in Idaho Public Utilities Commission Case
IPC-03-, 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-person body that regulates investor-owned
utilities.Idaho Power is one of them.You have the
Commission before you tonight.On my left is
Commissioner Paul Kj ellander who is also president of the
Commission.On my right is Commissioner Dennis Hansen.
My name is Marsha Smith and I I m Chairman of tonight I s
hearing.
While we I ve been engaged this whole week
as you can tell by the binders around the room, in the
technical part of the hearing, tonight was set aside to
hear comments from the public in this area and we welcome
your public testimony.It is part of our deliberation
process.We have a court reporter who is here to take
down what you say.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1923 COLLOQUY83676
The decisions of the Commission must be
based upon the evidence that we take and that's why we
make a record of it.Our decisions can be appealed to
the Idaho Supreme Court if people are unhappy with what
we do and that I s why it I S important that we have a
complete and accurate record of the information we relied
on.
For that purpose when I call your name,
if you've signed up to testify, Ms. Nordstrom , an
attorney for the Commission Staff in this case , will ask
you your name and your mailing address so you'll be
properly identified in the record.Commissioner
Kjellander will ask you to raise your right hand and
promises that you I re going to tell the truth and then
you'll be able to sit in the little witness box with your
microphone so that everyone can hear you.
wi th that , we'll go right to the list.
you wish to testify, you need to sign up.If you signed
up and you find that other people who have testified
before you have already made your point, you can just
decline to come forward and tell us that you agree with
what was said previously so with that , we I 11 start with
Terry Ketterling.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1924 COLLOQUY83676
TERRY KETTERING,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening.Please state your name and
spell your last name for the record.
My name is Terry Ketterling.It'
t -t -e-r-l- i -n-
And what is your mailing address?
475 East 16th North, Mountain Home,
Idaho.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
I I m representing myself and other
organizations, which I will state.Does that suffice?
That will do.Please proceed with your
testimony.
I appreciate the time and the opportunity
to be here to testify on behalf of myself , thousands of
members of Amalgamated Sugar and that's about 1,200.
also am a farmer and am also a dairyman.m involved
in one canal company and several individual pumping
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Wilder , Idaho
1925 KETTERLING
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plants.I raise mainly sugar beets and as I stated, I
also dairy.
I brought with me just as a visual, this
is one year I s bills of Idaho Power I s bills, and I show
you this only to let you know that it I S very important to
me and it I S also very important to the people that are
around me.The dairy is relativelyAs I said , I dairy.
It's been operating about six months.new.We employ
about 45 plus people that are full time and it's in
Mountain Home.
I also farm.I farm about 7 600 acres.
There are about 10 full-time employees.We also employ
seasonal people to move irrigation lines , which is about
35 people, and at times through the year we employ
upwards of 100 people to clean and weed beets throughout
the summer months.
The impact of a rate increase to my
operation is huge.I I m a member of South Elmore
Irrigation Company which is a 9,200 acre project.I also
am partners in one farm that is 4 000 acres and as I
stated before, I have a dairy.I also lease some other
ground in the neighborhood in Mountain Home, if that's a
neighborhood.
My total bill last year for all operations
paid to Idaho Power was 1,142 000.This stack of bills
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1926 KETTERLING
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that I showed you earlier is about 1.8 million worth of
bills.Of that , I pay 1 142 000.
The responsibilities I have to my
employees is to maintain operations and by doing that, I
am very much interested in not having undue increases
where I can because their livelihood also depends on it.
The people that I do employ all live in Mountain Home , in
town, some out on the farm.All of those people's jobs
depend on how well the farm and the dairy does.
m also , as I stated, a farmer.I am
Chairman of Amalgamated Sugar and Snake River Sugar
Company.I represent the 1,200 growers that have
purchased the plants and are in control of operations of
that facility and three of the plants are in Idaho, also,
a high electrical power user and employs upwards of more
than 2 000 people.
The economic impact of the farmers not
doing well and the cost of power being so much that we
can't raise the beets is very important , not only to the
farmers and the employees on the farm , but also
Amalgamated Sugar which operates in southern Idaho.
just moved our office from Ogden to Boise.We I re new to
the area.We plan on being in business , but with extreme
costs for raising the crop, one of them being power , it
jeopardizes sometimes what possibly could be the
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1927 KETTERLING
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potential of that plant , of all three plants.
The farmers produce the beets, the beets
go to the factories, they make sugar and the sugar is
sold all over the U. That is a large economic impact
to southern Idaho.Without the farmers in southern
Idaho , it would almost be impossible for the economics of
some of the small towns along the Snake River Basin to
exist and I think it I S very important that the Commission
takes a hard look at a rate increase that could drive
what the whole economy of southern Idaho is , the
trickle-down effect from farmers not farming, and I might
point out , also , at this time these bills that I have
here representing my farm are not
- -
is not all what the
bill could be.
The economics of farming right now have
deteriorated in some of the crops that it's not
economical for me to pump water and so the bills I showed
you are not all of the land that I farm.We are leaving
some of the land idle now and it's because of the economy
of the crops.
I think it isn't a farmer issue , it's a
southern Idaho issue and I am very much in favor of
businesses doing well and businesses operating as a
business, but at no time in the businesses I've been in
am I guaranteed a return as is Idaho Power.m very
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1928 KETTERLING
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sensi ti ve to the fact that I have no one to pass on my
costs to.I would love to be able to pay my share of
things, but if the cost gets too high , I have no choice.
m not here to plead poverty or to whine
about my situation.I am here to only point out that I'
not sure that Idaho Power is ready to do a rate increase
that puts the farmers out of business, that threatens the
towns and the fall-down of the Snake River Basin'
economy.I think a hard look ought to be taken at what
the rate increases for agriculture will do.I 1 m here
speaking from the heart of not just myself , but also the
200 growers which I represent of Snake River sugar
company.
It's critical, the timing is important.
know that we have had price cost adj ustments anyway, our
rates have been high or raised and I plead to the
Commission that they please take a hard look and not
further our problems.
In fact, maybe history could be said and
you might want to be an economic driver for the state and
even think about reducing the rates.I thank you.
there a question?
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you,
Mr. Ketterling.Yes, if you'll stay seated, that I s one
part of the process I didn I t mention up front.There are
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1929 KETTERLING
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a few of the parties in the room and they do have the
right to ask you quest ions.
Mr. Budge, you I re standing back there , I
assume that means you don I t intend to ask questions?
MR. BUDGE:No.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:For Idaho Power we
have Monica Moen , do you have any questions, Ms. Moen?
MS. MOEN:No questions.Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:From Staff.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
just have one question.
Yes.
Given your affiliation with Amalgamated
Sugar, have you worked with the irrigation pumpers that
have formally intervened in this case?
Myself personally, no.
Well , for Amalgamated Sugar.
No.I I m not sure that some of the people
at Amalgamated at the office have not worked with them
but yes.
MS. NORDSTROM:Okay, thank you.
THE WITNESS:So what was that answer?
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1930 KETTERLING (X)
Public
MS. NORDSTROM:Well , I took it for what
it was intended to be.Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you f or your
testimony.Oh, I'm sorry, Commissioner Kjellander.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:
Just a question about the $1 142,000 that
you ve been paying for electricity over an annualized
basis, I'm wondering how many metered sites that
represents?
m involved in 67 pumps and I can I t give
you an answer on metered sites because some of the pumps
are multiple pumps on one meter.The pumping station
sizes , the pump motor sizes range from 30 horsepower to
000 and for your information , the dairy approximately
uses around $ 7 , 000 worth of power a month and you can
residences, places for employees to live, shops,
miscellaneous metering was 263,000 of that million , one.
The rest , for the most part, minus the 44,000 for the
dairy I S operation of approximately fi ve-and-a-half , six
months, the rest of that is all power for irrigation.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you.That
helps me get a better understanding of the cascading.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1931 KETTERLING (Com)Public83676
appreciate it.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:I thank you very
much., Commissioner Hansen.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER HANSEN:
Just one question I'd like to ask you.
Would you be in favor of reduced rates by shutting off
power at some peak times , like , say, during the summer
months in the early afternoon , probably when it I s
extremely hot and there I s a high demand for power?
you see your company or your pumping operations being
able to maybe shut down and have a reduced rate where the
Company didn I t have to go out and purchase high cost
power at that time?
Yes.As a matter of fact, I was called by
someone from Idaho Power that asked if we would be
interested and a lot of the situations I have can
accommodate that program.I don I t know if it's in force
yet, but that it proposed for a four-hour shutdown.Some
of my situations, though , won I t allow for logistically
being able to do that because of turning the pumps off
and then it takes too long to fill things back up, so any
time I get an opportunity to become more efficient that
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1932 KETTERLING (Com)
Publ ic83676
way, I I m very much in favor of any kind of program like
that.
COMMISSIONER HANSEN:Thank you.Tha ti
all I have.
COMMI S S IONER SMI TH :Thank you very much.
Thank you for coming tonight.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Raymond Arp.
RAYMOND ARP
appearing as a public witness , having been first duly
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening.
Hi.
Please state your name and spell your last
for the record.
Raymond Arp, A-r-
What is your mailing address?
2614 San Marco Way, Nampa.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
1933 ARPPublic83676
I I m here representing myself and
Amalgamated Sugar who is my employee.
Thank you.Please proceed.
m an electrical engineer employed by
Amalgamated Sugar , the industrial arm of the growers that
was mentioned.I appreciate this opportunity to address
this Commission.I have a few points that I I d like to
ask and I recognize I can I t ask, but I want to provide
some possible alternate solutions.
For Idaho Power to justify a rate
increase , they need to have to justify the costs of doing
business , and I recognize a lot has been said about the
Danskin power plant in Mountain Home , but I understand
that Idaho Power was trying to do their best during the
energy crisis of late 2000 and early 2001.We all did,
we all strived to do what we could to conserve energy,
but was it really prudent to build and operate so quickly
two 45 megawatt peaking units that never really operated
the number of hours that was promised to this Commission
that it would operate?
Also, the way I tracked this thing, that
facility went in after the energy crisis piece had
subsided.Idaho Power should have recognized and
reeval uated the economic impact, but it now appears that
Idaho Power wants the customers , its customers , to pay
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1934 ARPPublic83676
for this white elephant; therefore , the Commission should
not let Idaho Power recoup these unreasonable costs via a
rate increase.This I grant will be an expense for the
Idaho Power shareholders, but not as devastating to the
bottom line of Idaho Power I s customers and therefore, the
state economy.
The overall energy consumption over the
past 10 years throughout Idaho Power I s service territory
has stayed relatively constant.How could this be with
the growth of residential and commercial customers?
Idaho Power losing a very large customer , namely FMC in
Pocatello, offset this growth.They were an
uninterruptible or an interruptible load.Thi s has
shifted the load profile within Idaho Power customer
classes.The remaining Industrial Customers, and
especially the irrigation class , energy consumption has
been relatively constant.
My next point is I recognize that the
conservation funding or rate Schedule 91 is not part of
this rate case, but what are we receiving from this body
of funding?What does this collection of money really
fund and does the PUC really feel that we as ratepayers
are getting our money I s worth?Is this funding
- -
this funding is necessary and beneficial, then let each
industrial customer determine the best usage of their
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1935 ARP
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conservation funding and apply these requested funds
under strict guidelines to a conservation proj ect that
best fits their needs.
Addi tionally, Idaho Power has asked that
the power factor adjustment go from 85 to 90 percent.
The delivery or distribution systems are not at their
limits, or are they?Has Idaho Power adequately shown
that the delivery system is constrained, thus , making
this increase necessary?How about offering a credit for
a power factor above 90 percent and maintain a penalty
for a power factor below 85 percent?This is a voluntary
solution with incentives.
The bottom line is the increased costs of
doing business for Idaho Power is from their increased
residential customer class.Has time of use for
residential class been considered?Ric Gale of Idaho
Power tells me that I'm the only Idaho Power residential
customer that liked the tiered rate schedule.With that
being said, why not have a voluntary turn-off of air
conditioner units for, say, an hour per day with an
incenti ve to a customer's energy costs?A timer could be
added to the air conditioner s disconnect.This would
reduce the summer peak loads and conserve power and
associated costs.
This leads to the next point of voluntary
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1936 ARP
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curtailment and mandatory time of use.The Industrial
Customers have not caused Idaho Power I s incurred costs
associated with summer peak demand's increase.I address
this issue because the Industrial Customers are being
asked to bear the burden of a mandatory time of use rate
schedule.Why not have a voluntary time of use schedule
like that being proposed with Schedule 23 for the
irrigation class, give the Industrial Customers the same
kind of rate incentives if and only if a curtailment
works for them?Again , as mentioned above for the
residential class, make it voluntary with credit.
The PUC has heard testimony of growers
making a profit as low as one to two percent.The banks
may give as high as three percent.Even Amalgamated
Sugar who is owned by those growers is well below the
requested rate of return.Why should Idaho Power in this
economic climate get 11 percent at the expense of its
customers?Idaho Power is a good company and has
provided adequate service , but they are the only kid on
the block; however , if the rates go up, then does the
quality of service go up by that same percentage?
Idaho Power loses growers which could lead to the loss of
industrial customers, then I ask where would Idaho Power
be?
The outside regulatory climate or the
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1937 ARP
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uncertain economic costs of doing business for a small
class of individuals should not be further impacted by
high utility costs and thus, making it hard to maintain
survivability.The power bill should not drive the
livelihood of doing business.Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you , Mr. Arp.
Let I S see if there are any questions.
Ms. Moen.
MS. MOEN:No questions from Idaho Power.
Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Ms. Nordstrom.
MS. NORDSTROM:Yes.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Were you aware that the Commission has
approved a pilot program for Idaho Power to curtail the
use of air conditioners for
- -
it I S a pilot program for
people who volunteer to allow essentially a switch to be
put on their air conditioner units that I s currently being
tested, have you heard of that?
I have not, but I think that would be very
effective.
Were you aware that the Commission has
also approved installing advanced meters in the
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1938 ARP (X)
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Emmett/McCall areas so that time of use rates for
residential customers can be tested to see if it would
work on a larger scale?
I think that that is a very good program
to do rate shave peaking and that should be implemented
at a quicker pace throughout all of Idaho Power I
customers throughout the whole state.
MS. NORDSTROM:Thank you.No further
questions.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Do we have questions
from the Commissioners?Commissioner Hansen.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER HANSEN:
I believe I heard you correctly say that
you preferred that the Industrial Customers would be
allowed to choose and spend their money on conservation
programs as they see fit?
That I S a true statement.
Do you think there would have to be some
guidelines set up and some verification that where these
proj ects were picked and they were completed that they
were justified in doing that?
Yes, I do.Idaho Power had Partnership in
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1939 ARP (Com)
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Industrial Efficiency and that worked very good and those
were strict guidelines that we could apply for , but we
pay out more into those programs now than we would ever
be able to recoup back.All I'm saying is the same
guidelines would be standard for all Industrial
Customers, just say that amount of money we put in , which
is quite a bit by the way, we put that fee in and then
we'd have to be able to show how we I re able to use that,
but that fee would come back at us at those conservation
measures as opposed to going to some nebulous
organization , yes.
And just one follow-up, do you have a plan
or an idea of who would police that or verify that it
was?
That would be Idaho Power.I mean, you
have to be able to show to Idaho power that you I re able
to conserve X number of kilowatts.
COMMISSIONER HANSEN:Thank you very
much.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Commissioner
Kj ellander.
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1940 ARP (Com)
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EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:
A follow-up along the same line.Let'
say that we get to a self-directed program with
industrial users and let I s say that after five, six
seven years a company has maxxed out on what it can
effectively do at its facility, whereby anything it would
do then really wouldn't be cost effective under anybody I
standards.What would be the direction that should be
taken then for a company that may have reached the wall
with regards to the energy efficiency and demand side
management efforts that it could install in its own
facil i ty?
To answer that question, would it be
possible that over the years you could - - because some of
these to get really energy efficient is going to cost you
more dollars that you I re going to recoup, could you put
it into a bank and store that money for a couple of years
until you I re able to - - you I re talking about the low
hanging fruit on the tree and to get to that high hanging
frui t, it might take a couple of years of incurring those
costs.
Let's take a new business that hopefully,
as they construct the new facilities as they move to this
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1941 ARP ( Com)
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state because of the super low electric rates that we
have, they come to this state and they build a facility
that on day one is energy efficient by all standards and
all building codes, how do they fit into a program like
that that is self-directed and self-guided assuming that
in fact they build a facility that meets those standards
on day one?How do they fit in or where should their
money go?
I can't answer for that.I just know most
industrial facilities could use quite a bit of money to
make them more energy efficient.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER SMITH:
Mr. Arp, do you know if you re a Schedule
Do you know what schedule you take from, 9?19?
19.
And do you have quality of service
issues?
No.
And I'll just let you know that I also
thought residential tiered rates were a great thing.
We thank you for your testimony.
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Wilder , Idaho
1942 ARP (Com)Public83676
THE WITNESS:Okay, thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Duane Rosti.
DUANE ROSTI
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening.
Good evening.
Please state your name and spell your last
name.
It's Duane Rosti , R-o-s-t-
And what is your mailing address?
5248 Sky Ranch Road , Nampa, Idaho, 83686.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
Myself and my neighboring farmers.
Thank you.Please proceed.
Well,I 'owned
- -
guess should state
that I I m a third generation family farmer.We started
my grandfather started in Meridian during the Depression.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1943 ROSTIPublic83676
My father farmed in Meridian until I graduated in 1978
and we moved to Dry Lake , which we I 11 call the desert , I
guess, and we were trying to get away from the growth
the housing back even then and we found a beautiful farm
that was out in this area with just two headgates,
watered 500 acres and everything was great.
Well , the power bill in 178 was about 60
bucks an acre and in 1983 we paid 19 272 for net power
costs; 1984 we paid 20 578; 1985 we paid 28,626.
19 - - my father passed away 10 years ago and my brother
and I continued to farm the farm for five more years.
had some pretty good years and then ABT came in and we
took out some bankruptcy on some hay seed and stuff and
so decided at that time that we better go into other jobs
that was related to agriculture and save the family farm
because my mother still owned half of it.
Well, we did it and I I m currently managing
400 acres that I s neighboring to me and plus my own
family farm.I have rented out
- -
last year I sold 50
acres to save the farm and to keep it going to another
neighbor.I sold 100 acres to the Bureau of Reclamation
for the water Snake River deal, Water Resource Board
excuse me , because I can I
- -
I don't have a rotation
crop.I can I t grow wheat and beans and stuff like and
put this high powered water on my ground any longer and
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1944 ROSTIPublic83676
do rotate a sugar beet crop in about every third year.
Last year subtracting the 100 acres we
didn't farm and the ground that we sold, our power paid
was $52 251.I thinkNow, that to me is an increase.
that we've been paying our fair share and I don'
understand how they can say
- -
how they can pick on one
industry that has been so true blue to a state.
In 1965 they begged us to open up this
ground and farm it and now as a third generation family
farmer , I can't make a living anymore.m trying to
sell my damn ground and everything else to make it
survive when all these people are moving in here from
California telling me I can't spray, I can't grow my
sugar beets, I I ve got too much pollution at the sugar
company, what are we supposed to do?Just give up and go
to work for M-K or for Micron or HP?
Some of us still love ag.Some of us
missed college educations because we were working on the
farm.Why don I t you people go back and look at what
we've gotten paid the last five, ten, fifteen years?
It I S a hell of a lot less than 1978 when I was coming out
of high school.Now where are we going to go, people?
think it's time some people start waking up and realizing
what family farms have done for America.We have all
these subsidies , we have everything that is going
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Wilder , Idaho
1945 ROSTI
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overseas and I guess I've said too much?
COMMISSIONER SMITH:No, Mr. Rosti , I just
wish the Commission had the power to fix all your
problems, but if you I d just direct your comments to your
electrici ty concerns, maybe we can help with those.
THE WITNESS:Well , that's what I I m saying
and I guess you don I t want to hear any more so I I m not
going to say any more.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:I I d be happy to hear
anything you have to say about your concerns for your
electrici ty rates, your electricity service.
THE WITNESS:Okay, I stated it.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Let I S see if there
are any questions.
Ms. Moen.
MS. MOEN:No quest ions.Thank you.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:How about from the
Commission?Commissioner Hansen.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER HANSEN:
I believe I heard you say that someone
begged you in 1965 to open up thi s --
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1946 ROSTI (Com)
Public83676
They didn't beg me personally, but they
were out trying to get farmers to open up ground so they
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
could sell power because they had lots of power at that
Are you referring when you say "they " to
Yes.
Can you recall what they told you at the
It wasn I t me personally.I t was the guy I
time.
bought the farm off of and his name is Elmer Tiggs and
he's since deceased.
So you don I t recall what he said they told
No, I don I
COMMISSIONER HANSEN:Thank you.
Idaho Power?
time?
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Any questions?
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:No, thank you.
him?
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very much.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Darrel Rosti.
1947 ROSTI (Com)
Public83676
DARREL ROSTI
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
last.
Good evening.
Good evening.
Please state your name and spell your
Darrel Rosti , R-o-s-
What is your mailing address?
12799 West Stagecoach Road, Nampa.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
Myself and Hap Butte Mutual Canal
Thank you.Please proceed.
Company.
I just would like to give some thoughts on
what this might do.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
These high lift projects help do a
lot for the State of Idaho.They helped build this
Ii t tIe deal out here east of Boise, Micron Technology.
That was ag dollars that helped get that started.They
provide a lot of income into these small communities
1948 ROSTIPublic83676
ike Terry said.
A lot of things are not clear-cut.These
farmers have went and back in August of last year, they
went forward with not just long-term investment money,
but short-term operating costs to operate the next year.
I don't think it I S real fair to them to throw something
on them in the middle of the year.It could have drastic
effects.
The dairy industry, which is big industry
in Idaho, relies on water for their nutrient management
systems.If we lose two or three farms , let I s say we
lose two farmers out of Hap Butte Canal Company, which is
composed of about 14 farms , the canal company, the rest
of the shareholders can I t stand alone.They'd have to
work as a group.The dairies have to have the farms
there to help bear the burden of the canal company costs.
No one entity can do it on its own , so if we lose two or
three farms, more than likely that will have hard effects
on the rest of the shareholders in the system.
I think that I s just what I'd like to
impress most is that it's not a real clear-cut deal.
It's going to have a huge trickle-down effect.Thank
you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you.Let's see
if there are any questions.
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Wilder, Idaho
1949 ROSTI
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Ms. Moen.
MS. MOEN:No questions.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Commissioner
Kj ellander.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:
Something you said when you opened about
the ag dollars that got Micron started , could I get you
to just elaborate on that a little bit more?
Well, the story goes, and you can take it
for what it I S worth , but they were building an irrigation
system out south of Nampa in Dry Lake and they had a
pretty complex arm that would reach out and grab the next
riser and let go of the riser behind so this thing could
continually move without dragging a hose or anything and
they needed somebody for programming.
At that time you couldn I t buy the program
or design them yourself and they said there's a couple of
boys in Boise that are really sharp at this and I think
maybe they can help you and they brought them out and
they said if we could get some money together , I think we
could make this work and this is the story I hear is that
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Wilder , Idaho
1950 ROSTI (Com)Public83676
that was ag dollars that was first put into Micron and we
all know that Simplot owned a big part of it and that
those are definitely ag dollars.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very much
for your testimony.
THE WITNESS:Okay.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Cleo Miller.
MR. MILLER:(Inaudible response.
THE REPORTER:I can't hear him , I'
sorry.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:He said that you
wouldn I t be able to hear him because he has a bad case of
laryngitis.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:He I 11 be sending his
comments in writing.
Retta Green.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1951 ROSTI (Com)
Public83676
RETTA GREEN
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
last.
Good evening.
Good evening.
Please state your name and spell your
Retta Green , G-e-e-
What is your mailing address?
O. Box 572 , Caldwell, Idaho , 83606.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
I 1 m here representing myself and about
000 low income, under-incomed people in poverty with
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
social security, SSI disabilities.
Thank you.Please proceed.
I myself can I t believe that Idaho Power
had the nerve to ask for a 20 percent increase in their
power rates.Idaho families are struggling now to pay
their rates and pay their bills and now Idaho Power wants
us to pay for their perks, their executive perks.
1952 GREEN
Public83676
barely pay our bills as it is.Idaho Power cut off power
because we couldn't keep the bills paid and now they want
to ask us for more money when they don't need it.It'
absolutely outrageous.
When they first applied for this, they
were claiming poverty.Idaho Power's CEO and president,
Jan Packwood has a very good income.I would like to be
receiving $800,000 a year as income.They must be having
problems paying their bills, too.We're lucky here in
Idaho that we have the PUC and their committed Staff to
keep these utilities in line.Idaho Power asked for 85
million more in revenue every year.The PUC Staff went
through all their paperwork and found $70 million worth
of fat to cut out of their request.Now , we need the PUC
to tell Idaho Power that that kind of greed just don'
cut it, not in our Idaho.
Idaho Power wants to raise monthly charges
from 2.50 to $10.00.That's a 400 percent increase.
Maybe rich Idaho Power executives wouldn't notice an
extra $7.50 in their power bill every month , but for me
and my family it means a meal or it means choosing
whether I take and go to the doctor or not or whether
pick up a prescription that has to be paid with cash
money that isn I t covered through Medicaid and Medicare.
As I told you , I'd like to live on
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1953 GREEN
Public83676
$800,000 a month or a year.I live on $596 a month on my
social security disability, and my monthly bills are
incl uded and I will name them for you:My rent is $225,
my power is 124, my city water is $28.00 a month, my
telephone , at the very cheapest I can get it where
live, is $46.00.Because of the water and the pollutants
that are in the water of lime and calcium and other
things, I have to buy bottled water, it costs me $30.00 a
month.The total cost of my immediate bills are $553 a
month.I have a $46.00 balance to live on and I get
$60.00 in food stamps.
Now, Idaho Power don I t think that this
increase would hurt families, but I'm telling you it
hurts a lot of us.There are 4 500 people on social
security disability, SSI , on this limited income that
live daily and every month , month to month from hand to
mouth and I I m here to represent those people.I I m asking
the Commission don I t give them their increase.Let them
live on $596 a month and feed themselves.Let I S get the
fat off the cow and give it to the poor.Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you, Ms. Green.
Let I S see if there are questions.
MS. MOEN:No questions, Madam Chair.
Thank you.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1954 GREEN
Public83676
COMMI S S IONER SMI TH :Commissioner
Hansen.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER HANSEN:
Ms. Green , I I d just like to ask you, how
do you heat your home?Do you heat your home with
electrici ty?
It I s totally electric and I have baseboard
heaters.I had to have a new baseboard heater put in my
house in February.I went through the energy assistance
and they came out and I have 10 inches of insulation in
the ceiling in my house and they said the house was very
efficiently weatherized.
So the $124 that you said was your monthly
bill,that an average?
That just this last month I The month
be fore was 138 and the month before was $208.90.
Do you recall what you set your thermostat
at?
My house temperature is at 68 degrees.
COMMISSIONER HANSEN:Thank you very much.
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Wilder , Idaho
1955 GREEN (Com)
Public83676
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER SMITH:
I guess I was curious, have you ever
investigated going on level pay?
It would cost me more on level pay than
what my bill costs.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Well, they level it
out and then they true it up, so I guess we'll have to
think about that.Thank you very much for your
testimony.
THE WITNESS:Thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Ellen Sedlar.
ELLEN SEDLAR
appearing as a public witness , having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening.Please state your name and
spell your last.
Ellen , Sedlar, S-e-a-r.
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Wilder , Idaho
1956 SEDLAR
Public83676
And what is your mailing address?
O. Box 9054 , Nampa, 83652.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
Myself and also many, like Retta, the many
seniors and disabled people that are living on fixed
incomes.
Thank you.Please proceed.
We only get on fixed income, we get a one
percent a year raise which doesn I t add too much.Now , I
am a lucky one because I at one time did have a little
bi t of money.I want to put this up to everybody that
you say save all your money and live and have a good time
when you grow old and travel and have a good time, no,
you go to the hospital and they take all of it in one
whack and that I s what happened to me to the tune of
$250,000, so now I 1 m living on a fixed income.My social
security is only 460.I do have a trust that brings it
up to 825 a month.
Because of some of the possessions that
still own
- -
I did have Idaho Power , by the way, but I
had to sell it to live on and my medications cost me over
$400 month,my income $825 a month.course,have
all the expenses.Now own my home it's paid for,but
my taxes come to,what,about 000 year,and what
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Wilder , Idaho
1957 SEDLAR
Public83676
want you to know is every one of you is going to be on a
fixed income someday and there I s no way, I don I t care how
much or how hard I want to do it to pay these bills that
are increasing on me, I can I t go out and work and make
, Il ve got it , that's it and that makes it so hard for
the people of my age and older and all of your parents
and grandparents, we're all having these same problems.
We don't need to have more money charged
and to the percentage of what they're charging,
especially.Our increase is one percent each year.This
increase , no way is our wages going to keep up with it, I
mean , our fixed income.I think that I s just about all
that I wanted to say, except to let you know that anybody
can be in the fix that I am because I've been there,
know.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you.Let I S see
if there are questions.
MS. MOEN:No questions.Thank you.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very much.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Norman Anderson.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1958 SEDLARPublic83676
NORMAN ANDERSON,
appearing as a public witness , having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening.
Good evening.
Please state your name and spell your
last?
It's Norman E. Anderson , A-e-r-
What is your mailing address?
It's 1253 Cow Horse Drive, Kuna , 83634.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
Just myself.
Thank you.Please proceed.
Okay.have several points I'd like
make in this Idaho Power rate case.First of all , as has
already been indicated and I won I t dwell on it , I think
these rate increase requests are absurd and totally
unreasonable.Idaho Power in a lot of their paperwork
indicates - - they separate the rate increases by customer
classes and I wanted to make the point that many of the
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Wilder , Idaho
1959 ANDERSON
Public83676
customers overlap from one class to another.For
instance, I I m a residential customer , I I m a member of an
irrigation corporation and also work for a large
industrial customer of Idaho Power , and so these rate
increases are not just one for me , there are several and,
of course, as has been indicated by other people, rate
increases for the commercial and other industrial people
will result in higher prices that again will affect all
of us.
With respect to the residential base rate
increase, I wanted to comment on the fact that the Idaho
Power proposal includes a base rate increase, plus then a
25 percent higher rate for the summer months of June
through August and I don't see the justification for
this, because Idaho Power goes around promoting its level
pay plan and I I m sure that they have enough smart bean
counters over there that can figure out a level charge
rate that we can count on throughout the year and they
can adj ust , take into consideration the variability and
the cost of producing that power.
We have to do that in industrial
operations.We can only quote certain hourly rates.
don I t adj ust them because it I S June or December or
whatever , and this summer rate request particularly
bothers me because residential ratepayers in the
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1960 ANDERSON
Public83676
Commission's Order 29196 issued in February 21st of 2003
denied us the access to residential time of use rates,
and I feel that if we cannot be given the opportunity to
prudently control the costs of our electrical use , then
Idaho Power shouldn I t be able to just put in these
variable rates that we have to live with.
The next point I I d like to make is that
early in this rate case process we were bombarded with TV
commercials from Idaho Power trying to make the case that
they were suffering financially due to the fact that they
had to add 100 000 new customers and I find this very
amusing because any other business , their motivation is
to increase their customer base and increase market share
and gain more customers.Idaho Power didn I t get these
customers for free.
When I built a new home about nine years
ago, I paid Idaho Power $385 for them to come out and
connect the electricity to my house and just some simple
math , let I s say the average was $300 per family, these
100 000 new customers would have paid Idaho Power $30
million, so other companies don't get to charge to
increase their customers , but Idaho Power does, so
don I t see that they should be hurting for having picked
up so many new customers; and finally, this case seems to
me to be one of Idaho Power helping IDACORP deliver
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1961 ANDERSON
Public83676
earnings per shares to Wall Street rather than delivering
affordable electricity to the customers.
Back in the 2000-2001 time period when
IDACORP was heavily engaged in energy trading and paying
out huge bonuses in excess of $2 million in some cases,
we didn't hear Idaho Power claiming that it needed base
rate increases; however , as soon as the energy price fell
from over $3 000 a megawatt to less than 100, IDACORP
started the process in motion to get out of energy
trading and Jan Packwood made the statement that they
would have to concentrate on Idaho Power and a rate
increase to deliver results to the Street.
In an article in the Idaho Statesman dated
November 9th , 2002, LaMont Keen told Wall Street analysts
that Idaho Power would likely ask for a general rate
increase from customers in the fall of 2003.In that
same article, Jan Packwood stated that IDACORP would
reduce its focus on risky and unregulated acti vi ties,
like electricity trading, and spend more effort
rebuilding Idaho Power I s balance sheet and that a big
part of that effort would be a general rate increase.
In contrast to that , what they I re telling
Wall Street, on December 8th , 2002 , in the Idaho
Statesman , Mr. Packwood said , and I quote, "We I re trying
to encourage customers that their rates will go down
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1962 ANDERSON
Public83676
dramatically before and if they ever go up," so we I
telling two different stories and , of course , we know
that ten months later , Idaho Power filed its application
with the PUC in this case for their average 17.7 percent
increase.I find all of these very distasteful.
Another thing I'd like to point out is
that I know the PUC Staff , there was an article of them
finding a lot of fat , allegedly, in the Idaho Power
application and what I find interesting, it's very
difficult to tell the difference between Idaho Power and
IDACORP .I brought , for an example, I have 13 shares,
approximately, of Idaho Power I s stock that I had acquired
through their dividend reinvestment plan years ago.
sold off most of my stock , but kept a limited number of
shares just to stay on their mailing list.
I received in this letter which came in an
Idaho Power envelope, it's a letter from Jan Packwood
wi th a stock statement and a prospectus for dividend
reinvestment and included with it is a business reply
mail envelope with postage to be paid by the addressee
who is Idaho Power Company.Now , Idaho Power doesn I t
have publicly-traded stock , they have IDACORP , so I
question who I s keeping the books straight over there.
This is a small thing, stationery and envelopes, but if
they do this, what else is amiss over there, and that I s
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Wilder , Idaho
1963 ANDERSON
Public83676
the extent of my testimony.Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Do we have any
questions?
MS. MOEN:No questions.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Commissioner
Hansen.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER HANSEN:
I I m just kind of interested, did the TV
ads bother you because of the cost of running them or was
there some other reason that they bothered you?
Both.I found it -- I find it offensive
every time I see an Idaho Power ad because there I s no
point in them advertising, there's no competitors that we
have a choice that we would pick them over somebody else,
but I also found the commercials misleading and offensive
in what they were trying to convey to us.
COMMISSIONER HANSEN:Thank you.Tha tI
all I have.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Do you have
questions?
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:No.
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1964 ANDERSON (Com)
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EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER SMITH:
I guess , Mr. Anderson, sometimes the
Commission gets on the Company because we feel they don I
communicate with their customers and there are things
customers should be told.If advertising offends you,
what I s the right way, then, you feel that the Company
should give messages to its customers?How should they
go about it?
Well , I guess I I m at a loss to explain
that because everything I see that comes out of Idaho
Power is, to me, propaganda and trying to convince us
that they I re looking out for us and I don I t see that in
their actions.
Of course , I I m not talking about corporate
image advertising or anything of that, which we routinely
disallow as a ratemaking expense, but sometimes there are
issues that we think the Company should communicate with
its customers about.
Well, I get the flyers in my monthly bill
and to me, that I s fine.That I s got to be the cheapest
way to get messages to me and I read those, usually.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you for your
testimony.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1965 ANDERSON (Com)
Public83676
THE WITNESS:Okay, thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:April Steele.
APRIL STEELE
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
Good evening.
Good evening.
Please state your name and spell your
My name is April Steele, S-e-e-
What is your mailing address?
2401 South Owyhee Street , Space No. 60,
Boise , Idaho, 83705.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
I am here representing myself and
everybody out there and every single fighting mother that
Thank you.Please proceed.
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
last.
there is.
1966 STEELEPublic83676
I have a small family.I am a single mom
and I provide for my two children.One of my children is
disabled.My power bill is
- -
I make $7.15 an hour.
the wintertime, it's outrageous.Level pay, I've tried
to set up on level pay before.I got inj ured on the job
and due to the fact that I could not make that deadline
to make sure that they got their $80.00, I got cut off of
level pay and I was told I had to wait another six months
to a year before I could be put back on level pay again
and I', like , okay, that I s fine with me; so in the
meantime , I get a power bill of $215 is what it is right
now.I get paid once a month through my job and it's not
much.I make it spread.
I have my disabled son.Thank God his
bills are paid through Medicaid , plus my own insurance
that I carry through my company that I work for.
youngest son also has some medical issues , but he I s not
covered through Medicaid.He is not on social security.
I don't get benefits for him.My oldest son's dad, yes,
he pays child support.No, my youngest son I s dad
doesn', but still , when you guys are talking about
raising the prices on my power bills and I'm getting
stuck paying these, then that's fine.I have no other
choice.I can boycott Qwest , but I can't boycott Idaho
Power because my house is 100 percent Idaho Power.
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Wilder, Idaho
1967 STEELE
Public83676
I don't have gas and I don I t even have a
phone 1 ine in my house because I boycotted Qwest.That'
fine.I can't yank my power and tell my children that
they're got to freeze in the winter , $215 a month.
got a three-bedroom house.I ti s not even a house , it's a
mobile home.m proud to haveIt's tiny, it's mine.
it.m proud ofm proud to be a single mother.
everybody that I s out there that is a single mother that
are trying to do what I do , and more power to you if you
guys are going to increase my power.m going to say
it's going to continue being late , if not even later.
you want to shut it off , go ahead.I will find another
way.That's all I have to say.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Let's see if there
are any questions.
MS. MOEN:No questions.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you for your
testimony.
THE WITNESS:Thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Philip Gridley.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1968 STEELE
Public83676
PHILIP W. GRIDLEY,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening, sir.
name.
Good evening.
Please state your name and spell your last
Philip W. Gridley, G-r-
What is your mailing address?
720 East 9th North , Mountain Home,
Are you here tonight representing yourself
Idaho.
or an organization?
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
Well , I've got testimony that I've given
them already, the Utilities Commission , but it also
states what I I m here about.
Thank you.Please proceed.
I m a former mayor of Mountain Home , real
estate developer and Elmore County service officer and
the reason I made that comment to start off with is so
can talk about things.My comments and I do thank the
1969 GRIDLEY
Public83676
Utilities Commission for allowing me to be here this
evening to testify on behalf of not only veterans and
widows , but also myself as a former developer and
likewise, know a little bit about politics, so anyway, I
want to read my little comments here.
It says , The State of Idaho has great
watersheds, Alaska has oil and Alaska's citizens receive
grants or dividends.The point is that under the Idaho
Public Utilities Staff proposal , rates for residents are
paying 46 percent of the total projected needs.
Projected power consumed of 34.236 percent
differential shows $60,880 603 , a whopping subsidization
of other users , and I am firmly against any rate
increases and I request a 5.4 percent reduction , and I 1
going to explain that later on as far as how this works
because there I s a 2.51 percent increase provided for the
utility Staff and they did a good job.
A report attached on Portland General
Electric shows the same problems we are having.
compliment the Idaho Public Utilities Commission and
Staff for changing the direction of IDACORP, and enclosed
are the highlighted reports of Commission Staff members
Exhibit No. 127 , 128, D. Schunke, and Exhibit No. 119,
K. Hessing, and Philip W. Gridley, power bill report
2/02/04 , account No. 2039103249.I verify most all the
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1970 GRIDLEYPublic83676
things I do.
One of my questions is, but it I S my
understanding I I m not supposed to ask questions , so I
guess I better keep my mouth shut, but you have a copy of
that there, haven't you , of the jurisdiction and so forth
what I was talking about , the Valmy plant and so forth
so I'll just let that lie right there, okay, but anyway,
the new rate proposal on 127-, we have a $3.00 figure
that they re increasing as far as the rate structure for
what you pay up-front which is $3.00.I used a 2.93 so
it's not too hard to figure , so for 1,000 kilowatts of
power , that would be $2., but of the - - we have
141 393,426 kilowatt-hours of power that we use in the
rate system for the residential users.That I s 34.236.
m only doing this for showing you what happened.
The 499 257 000 is the overall rate
request that is being requested by the utility Staff
based on what they have in information.Tha ti s at 34, so
it I S 1 7 0 mi 11 ion.That I s where I come up with that $60
million.m going to base my own rate here and I 1
going to make a comment, it's just going to be a slight
one here, I used mine because my wife is deceased as of
July 28th last year so, therefore, I'm a single person in
a home, but you can see where my rates that I have there
the 447 kilowatts, well , I base it on that rate of the
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1971 GRIDLEY
Public83676
51 and it comes down to $1.19.
The whole thing I'm saying here is that I
believe with the things that I propose to you this
evening here that the $3.00 rate that's proposed by the
utility Staff possibly could be wiped out entirely and
we've had all the conditions being stated here for the
senior citizens, the people that do not have funds
available to take care of their bills and we're talking
about the 40 - - well, the Staff reduced it back down to
where it would be $3.00 which would be seven , so
basically what I'm saying is let's just cut it out
entirely and I'll show you how it works.
Now , first of all, I would like to make a
statement here and going to make just a comment about
it.There have been discussions going on here this
evening having to do with conditions of Portland General
Electric in Portland, Oregon and it has to do with Enron.
I 1 m just going to make a statement here."Earlier
city-led efforts to negotiate a government purchase of
the utility hit resistance from Enron management and the
bankrupt corporation I s creditors.
This was two weeks ago on the publication
of the Portland Oregonian, and down below here, I have
this highlighted, too, it says, "Consumer groups have
fought PGE' s recent efforts to raise rates to cover extra
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1972 GRIDLEY
Public83676
power costs, arguing that customers should not bear the
costs of faulty power purchase decisions.Many customers
are still smarting from the huge rate increases PGE
imposed two-and-a-half years ago - 30 percent for
households and as much as 70 percent for some
businesses. "
Doesn I t that sound sort of familiar with
what happened in 2001 and '02 when we had rate increases
here?And, you know, basically, this is Mr. Hessing'
report which is the overview of all the money that comes
in for the Idaho Power jurisdiction and it states
481,824 492 as the overall cash flow in that
jurisdiction of Idaho PUC and we base this on the amount
of money that we're getting proj ecting out to get the
money I was talking about of 113,359,574 and it gives us
a deficiency of 10 232 973.
Well , I have all these different things
that I I ve proved here which goes to the Utility Tax
Commission - - not Tax Commission, but the Utility
Commission and likewise , with the Staff.This has to do
with Idaho Power's request for $85 million and how
they've reversed it from their request, the Idaho Power'
request, back down to a lower amount , the 14 million , but
I say that I s even wrong and I'll give you a reason why.
m going to go to the general rates.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1973 GRIDLEY
Public83676
Now, this is a decrease from the rate that was 53.04 and
this was by the Staff and this is good , but it I S based on
141,393,426 and that brings that back down from the 219
to 209,264 610.Now , I've already made a request for
getting rid of the $3.00 rate entirely.This is an
additional amount of $10 million decrease, also.So now
we come up with the
- -
in other words, this is another
i tern of decrease from their rates and this would have
been the number 7 and that's 16,798,000, again that will
come out to 16 335,667 , and then I come to the next one
which stays the same, it's 97,225,000, it has to do with
36.45.
m just going to name these off and get
out here so we don't have spend all night with me,
and the the same it I s 33.and comes out
11,692,140, and then 15 is 880,704.19 is 30.04 which is
an increase.This is theThis is an increase of 59 000.
overall total.This 30.04 is not a total increase.It'
an increase that is being proposed by myself , 59,443,880
and then the decline is the irrigation and it I S being
dropped down that 24 is 40.34 and that comes to
65,388 354.Whether they can farm under that, I have no
idea , but I know it I S a problem , and this is the same, 40
is 50.61 and it brings 812,545, and 41 , 93., it brings
in 1 666 118 , and on 42 30., that's 284 000 for a
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1974 GRIDLEY
Public83676
total of 462 994 077.
Now , I've al so got the big rate users in
here.They were on a decrease as far as the utility
Staff is concerned.This is not me taking issue with the
Staff.The Staff itself has done a good job on the
overall proj ections and so forth and I complimented them
when I started out there, but anyway, No.2 6 which would
be the -- let's see , well , it's 26 , it's $16,181,115 , and
then 29, that's Simplot's, 4 954,500, and 30 is DOE and
600,000.Anyway, it's 25,806,845 and of the total
, you come up with 488,800,562.
Now , this is still a rate increase, but
it I S not anywhere near where that $85 million that the
Idaho Power is after.Anyway, the rate increase versus a
three -- I'll just go back to it for a second here.The
rate increase was 14 796 880.Well , that was based on
483 961 369 and that would be 3.06.Well , I got
488 800 000 , so it's 2.05 percent.That's the decrease
down to there.It's still giving them a rate increase,
but it's so minimal you can't even find it, so basically,
is there any questions you want to ask of me?
COMMISSIONER SMITH:We're just in awe,
Mr. Gridley.
Are there questions from the parties?
MS. MOEN:No, thank you.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1975 GRIDLEY
Public83676
MS. NORDSTROM:Actually, Madam
Commissioner --
COMMISSIONER SMITH:, don't go there.
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
I just wanted to confirm , you filed
written comments in this case , didn't you?
Well , yes, they have it in their charge,
but I I d like to say one more thing about the Utility
Commission.Remember, I've been looking at 2002 , okay, I
moved over and the Utility Commission , I want the people
of this group to know this here , the Utility Commission
and the Staff have been wonderful; in other words, all
the documents I I ve received on the year that we I re
talking about here had to do with the rate and I was
after them persistently from January all the way through
now , but I had 2002.I had that volume , too, so I also
know that there was -- we've got a debt profile just
about the same as Portland, you know , counting all the
bonds and stuff that we have and so basically this is
Idaho Power; in other words , they've been doing their job
as far as going in and refinancing, bringing the rate
back down as far as the interest is concerned.This is
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1976 GRIDLEY (X)
Public83676
part of the profile and all of this money that we I re
talking about here says to them that really, they should
not have requested a power rate increase.
MS. NORDSTROM:Thank you.
THE WITNESS:They should have backed off
when they first started making their request , so all I 1
saying is if you had $900 million authorized by the
Utilities Commission and they said that was the tops and
then they go around and borrow $350 million more, but I
do know what it was for , it was to refinance some things
so you can I t give the Commission heck for doing that.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Well, we appreciate
your efforts and time.
THE WITNESS:So anyway, I thank you again
for allowing me to be here.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:And we thank you very
much.
THE WITNESS:Okay, all right.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:I now notice that we
have another Norman Anderson on Owyhee Street in Boise.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1977 GRIDLEY (X)
Public83676
NORMAN ANDERSON
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening.
last.
Good evening.
Please state your name and spell your
Norman Anderson, A-n-e-r-s-o-n.
What is your mailing address?
2401 South Owyhee, No. 78.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an --
Yes, ma I am.
Thank you.Please proceed.
I got 12 operations on my knee and I can
just afford so much.Why should
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
I don I t get 20 percent.
they get 20 percent?You are here to understand our
pI ight and we do have a pI ight 24 percent increase to
the dairymen is going to raise our milk cost.The
farmers need some help.We need some help.We don I t
need for them to run over us like this gentleman just got
1978 ANDERSON
Public83676
through saying.There is no need for their increase and
that is all I have to say.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Let's see if there
are questions.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
BY MS. MOEN:
CROSS - EXAMINATION
Mr. Anderson, are you living in
manufactured housing or a mobile home?
Yes.
So are you heating exclusively by
Total electric, yes , ma I am.
MS. MOEN:Thank you.
THE WITNESS:Idaho Power came and did a
survey on our trailer.They told us how we could take
and do what we I re doing and we pretty well got it fixed
up.Now , our bill is not like most everybody that is out
here.The audit they did was really, really nice and it
was thorough and the people were really good.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Commissioner
electrici ty?
Kj ellander.
1979 ANDERSON (X)
Public83676
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:
Do you know on average or a dollar amount
how much based on the audit and the improvements that you
made the discrepancy or reduction in your bill comparing
a month in the year previously to the year later once you
completed the improvements?
Over a year, it was roughly about $185
over a year.
So annualized for an entire year, you
saved about $185?
Yes, but they re fixing to wipe it away
and everything I've done will be gone.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you.
THE WITNESS:The little service charge
that they have in there is two dollars and some odd cents
and now they're going to go up to $10.00.There was a
tree that was growing out in front of our meter, okay?
called them and told them , I said , hey, pretty quick it'
going to break the meter if the wind blows and it did.
Well , it was up to me to take and cut the
tree down.I don't see where their service charge is
doing me good at all.It's going from 2 to $10.00 and I
still got to pay the man $35.00 to come cut the tree
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1980 ANDERSON (Com)
Public83676
down , so that didn I t help me at all.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:We thank you for your
testimony, Mr. Anderson.
THE WITNESS:Thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Darlene McMaster.
MS. McMASTER:Actually, you had said
before that if we agreed with some former testimony and
that I S true and particularly, Ms. Green and the other
lady, will my testimony still be counted?
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Sure.
MS. McMASTER:Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:All right, thank you,
Ms. McMaster.
Karen McWilliams.
KAREN McWILLIAMS,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening.
Good evening.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1981 McWILLIAMS
Public83676
Please state your name and spell your
last.
Karen McWilliams , M-l- i-a-m-s.
What is your mailing address?
1425 North Liberty, No. 13, Boise, Idaho
83704.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
Both.I 1 m with the ICAN
- -
Thank you.
- -
and myself and my sister.
Please proceed.
My sister and live on my disability
which is $585 a month.She has no income right now and
has many medical bills that I have to try to pay for her.
Our monthly power bill was close to $200, but I did get
on the level pay which it took it down $30.00 to $171.
Now , Idaho Power wants to raise the rate 20 percent.
my fixed income going to go up 20 percent to keep up with
the pace.
I wished I could just announce that I need
a 20 percent increase in my disability and get it,but
doesn'work that way for me and it shouldn'work that
way for Idaho Power.We're asking the PUC to tell Idaho
Power no, not to raise the rates.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1982 McWILLIAMS
Public83676
questions?
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Are there any
MS. MOEN:No questions.Thank you.
coming tonight.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Nor I.Thank you for
We appreciate it.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Emily Jones.
EMILY JONES,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening.Please state your name and
spell your last for the record.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
My name is Emily Manning Jones,
What is your mailing address?
309 East 47th , Garden City or Boise, it'
listed as Boise, Idaho , but it's actually Garden City.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
o-n-e-s.
or an organization?
I I m representing myself and ICAN.
1983 JONES
Public83676
Thank you.Please proceed.
What I'm here to say is the mobile home
that I live in in Garden City is on private property.
Well , I have to pay for the power pole.I have to pay
for the meter.I have to pay for the power I use and
even though I had it insulated , I cannot get a low power
bill.My power bills run anywhere from $300 to the
cheapest one I've ever got so far was this month and
was $127.79 and that's with not having any heat.It's a
total electric mobile home and I only get, like, $552 a
month and out of that, I have to pay 268 of it in rent
and , of course , then I have a phone bill and I have other
expenses , like my medications and my food and my whatever
and I only get $10.00 a month in food stamps for
groceries, so I have maj or heart problems and I mean
very maj or ones.
I have emergency equipment hooked up at my
home and so if something would happen to where I would
have my power shut off , I would die and if this increase
goes through, it may just come to that and that I s about
all I have to say.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you f or your
testimony.Are there any questions?
MS. MOEN:No questions from Idaho Power.
Thank you.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1984 JONES
Public83676
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very much
for coming in tonight.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
THE WITNESS:Thank you for your time.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Connie Chandnoit.
CONNIE CHANDNOIT,
appearing as a public witness , having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
Good evening.
Good evening.
Please state your name and spell your
My name is Connie Chandnoit.My last name
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
is spelled C-a-n-d-n-
What is your mailing address?
215 East 44th Street , Boise, Idaho
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
last.
83714.
1985 CHANDNOIT
Public83676
Myself and ICAN members.
Thank you.Please proceed.
One of the reasons that here today is
because , yes, at one time I was a successful person
making, earning a good living.Economic situations
happen and the floor fell out from beneath me and now I 1
below poverty level.I had a child two-and-a-half years
Actually, he's a twin.That child now has severeago.
heart conditions.
Approximately a year after that my husband
who was our sole provider because I I m taking care of my
child with a disability fell 30 feet onto a marble floor
working on the new section of the airport near Boise.
broke up his hip, lacerated his liver , his spleen and
fractured his neck.
I am living on quite a limited income with
two different disabilities in my family.There are
nights that when I I m tucking my children into their beds
m also unscrewing the light bulbs, giving them the
incentive not to turn them on immediately because of my
power bills.That is sad as a parent to have to do , to
gi ve your child a visual reminder not to turn on the
electrici ty.
In November when I was explaining to my
children why there weren I t very many Christmas presents
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1986 CHANDNO I T
Public83676
under the tree , the No.1 problem was the utility bills.
That is something no parent needs to tell their child.
We try to protect them from it.My daughter is turning
14 and she's not stupid.Yes , do I want level pay?
Yeah , but you have to have a current bill to get on level
pay for some time.I have just finally gotten my bills
caught up.
For a year I have had nothing but pink
slips and threats of being shut off.During the summer
or in the spring and in the fall , my average bill and no,
I do not have complete electric, I do have gas heat, but
it does take electric to run the fan and for the
ignition , okay, during the spring and the fall , my bills
average between 75 and $80.00 a month because I 1
constantly shutting everything off.
In the winter and in the middle of the
summer, my bills will run me anywhere from 180 to $250 a
month.If my power is shut off , the heart condition that
my son has, if he's not maintained and heal thy and kept
the way that he needs to be, he would go into heart
failure.His heart has reached beats of 300 beats per
minute.That I S instant death to you and I and for him,
it's instant death as he grows every year older.We'
been lucky to keep him this long.
I want to make sure that my power isn I
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1987 CHANDNO I T
Public83676
shut off, that I m not put in a situation that's an
unhealthy situation for him that lands us back into the
hospital.The money that it's going to take to pay that
small increase that they're talking about I don't have
and so Il m just here basically to push to have this , you
know, we don't want this increase, we can't afford this
increase and that's why I I m here.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Let's see if there
are any questions.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Commissioner
Hansen.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER HANSEN:
I know probably none of us ever like any
kind of an increase and sometimes we can I t prevent it,
but I'm kind of curious, how do you feel like if it was a
three or four percent increase rather than , like you
said , 20 percent increase, is that something in your mind
that's liveable with , you could live with?
You know , I understand your question , but
I need you to understand me when I say I'm pinching
pennies.I don't know what I'm going to do with any type
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1988 CHANDNOIT (Com)
Public83676
of increase.I count out my bills and I count out my
money every month and there I s some months robbing
Peter to pay Paul to put it bluntly.I don't know what
increase is liveable at this point.
COMMISSIONER HANSEN:That's all I have.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Commissioner
Kj ellander.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:
Ma I am , I think I heard you mention that
you've received disconnect notices.Were you able to
have a discussion with the utility and use the winter
moratorium in order to keep the electricity on?
Actually, yes, I have had discussions with
them.The problem with the winter moratorium is that if
you don I t have that money saved up by the time that it I s
over with , you re shut off anyway, plain and simple.
When my bills are coming due and I'm getting a disconnect
notice , to be quite honest with you, the operators that I
have been dealing with are not very pleasant, okay.
It's very embarrassing and many of them
are very rude to speak with as far as why I cannot pay my
bill.I feel even more embarrassed than I already am and
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1989 CHANDNOIT (Com)
Public83676
it gets to a point where gee , I I m sorry, ma I am , but you
either pay your bill now in five days or we I re going to
shut you off , and then I am scraping and scratching and
doing everything that I can to come up with every penny
need to pay that bill so that my children don
mistakenly mention at school that they don I t have any
electrici ty and I don I t have social workers at my door
ready to take my children away.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER SMITH:
I guess is your high bill in the summer
due to air conditioning?
Yes and no.I allow my air conditioner to
run once in awhile.I mainly use fans.I put cold
towels on the back of the fans to let the cold air come
through.Some of these things you don I t 1 ike to talk
about because they are embarrassing.
Well , I was just thinking, I grew up here
and when I was a kid, nobody had air conditioning, it
just wasn I t heard of and it I S a pretty new phenomenon.
The only time that I've ever really used
the air conditioner is when my child with the heart
condition has a hard time with it.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1990 CHANDNOIT (Com)
Public83676
And that I s what I was asking, does your
child I S condition necessitate that you
Yes, it does necessitate it.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you.We thank
you for your attendance tonight.
THE WITNESS:Thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:That brings us to the
end of page 1 and before we begin on page 2 , we're going
to take a 10-minute break.
(Recess. )
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Robert Kunesh.
there a Robert Kunesh on Star Valley?
How about a Robert Brock on Sunnybrook in
Nampa?
ROBERT BROCK
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening.Please state your name and
spell your last.
Robert Brock, B-r-o-c-
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
1991 BROCK
Public83676
What is your mailing address?
2312 Sunnybrook , 102, Nampa, Idaho,
83686.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
Primarily myself , but also the future of
my kids and grandchildren who live in the State of Idaho
who is get t ing waxed.
Please proceed.
Okay, Idaho Power keeps saying well, we I re
one of the lowest in the nation , but hold on, why is
that?They I re using public water , they use public land
to put their right of way on , on the right of way they
put the power poles.Hey, we're giving them all kinds of
stuff already.
You know , I started kind of wondering,
found out that they I re not telling all.For instance,
they I re running a research of how to put Internet on the
power lines.They have a cord going in the north end and
one on the bench right now testing it.It I s following
the Swedish system in which they can put cable and phone
and also reading of the meters which would mean they
could lay off more employees.
Actually, I would rather big brother watch
me than Idaho Power.I had to dig real deep to find out
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1992 BROCKPublic83676
about this and at first, well, this isn I t Idaho Power.
This is another corporation.A little deeper I find this
corporation is Velocitus, V-e-o-c-u-s.It I s
located at 1501 Federal Way and who owns it, a
corporation by the name of IDACORP in other words,
they I re doing hidden information at our expense to
capitalize more from us.Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you.Let I S see
if there are questions.
MS. MOEN:No, no questions.Thank you.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
THE WITNESS:May I make one further
comment?It I S amazing that Idaho Power don't want to ask
me any further questions.Thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Dianne Anderson.
DIANNE ANDERSON
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening.
Good evening.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
1993 ANDERSON
Public83676
Please state your name and spell your last
for the record.
My name is Dianne Anderson,
d-e-s-o-n, 1253 Cow Horse Drive, Kuna, 83634.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
Myself.
Thank you.Please go ahead.
Why should the ratepayers of Idaho Power
be made to pay for the greed of IDACORP?The president
of IDACORP, Jan Packwood , cares nothing about the lives
of the people in Idaho.He only cares about his
Company I S rating on Wall Street.Stock analysts are
watching to see the outcome of this rate case.
husband and I began to see Idaho Power's greed when in
2001, eight diesel generators were placed near our home
to run 24/7 to produce power to be sold to California for
3 to 400 percent profits.The public was told on TV and
in the newspapers that the generators were for shortage
of power in Idaho which was a lie.
The emissions and noise from these
generators caused many health problems in our subdivision
which the DEQ documented.I having had tuberculosis had
to stay in the house in front of an air cleaner just to
breathe.The carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide
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hydrocarbons, nitrous oxide and particulate matter are so
polluting to the atmosphere that diesel locomotives
powered by these same generators traveling down a track
not putting - - not in one place constantly have to have
emission controls.
These generators were put close to the
population instead of out in the desert because they had
to be refueled at least three times a day.That was the
same year Idaho Power paid farmers not to irrigate and
paid the phosphorus plant in eastern Idaho hundreds of
thousands of dollars to shut down so that the power they
normally use could be sold on the open market.Idaho
Power had TV ads telling consumers not to use their
appliances during peak hours to conserve power.Thi s was
so Idaho Power could have the power to sell and they
never mentioned to the public that without time use
meters they would not save money.
There never was a power shortage in
California.When the new administration took office, it
was payback time to the energy companies for their
campaign contributions.As California's electric
utilities were deregulated, the cost to them went from
$90 a megawatt-hour to over $3,000 a megawatt-hour.
There wasn't a shortage of power , just a shortage of
money to pay for the power.IDACORP also sold this
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expensi ve power to Idaho Power and we the ratepayers were
made to pay for it by the PUC.
That year the head of Ida-West Energy, a
subsidiary of IDACORP, made a bonus of over $2 million
along with Jan Packwood's millions in bonuses.Now
sadly, they are shutting down Ida-West Energy.Why?
Because in 2001 , when Senator Jeffers of Vermont changed
parties and Republicans lost control of the Senate , the
wholesale price of electricity fell from over $3,000 a
megawatt-hour to less than $100 a megawatt-hour.
The Middleton power plant got scrapped
because it was being built to sell electricity out of
state and couldn I t get needed financing because selling
power was no longer profitable.Idaho Power had TV ads
saying that they had reduced power rates which was a lie.
The rates went down last May because the ratepayers no
longer had to pay their debts.The PUC did not let Idaho
Power float bonds to drag their debt out so that
ratepayers would have to pay the interest.Thi s happened
because citizens told the PUC that they did not want to
pay interest on Idaho Power bonds.
How many people in this room know how the
PUC is funded?Well , they assess the utilities that they
regulate and that pays all the salaries and expenses of
the PUC, so Idaho Power , Qwest and the railroads,
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et cetera pay the PUC.How can this be considered a fair
way to fund an agency that should be protecting the
consumer from monopolies?
Wind generation is now cheaper than
gas-powered power plants and there is no air pollution
so why is Idaho Power building gas-fired power plants
instead of using wind generators?Because as the price
of gas goes up, so does the price of electricity.John
Prescott, the vice president in charge of generation for
Idaho Power , should be installing windmills when Idaho
Power has the perfect system with hydropower backup.
We should not have to pay IDACORP I s Iegal
fees when their power selling practices were questioned
by the FERC.Why should ratepayers have to pay for all
the risks that IDACORP , an unregulated company, chooses
to take?They made a profit in the fourth quarter of
2003, so their stock is up and we do not have to bail
them out.
That I s aIl.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you.Let's see
if there are any questions.
MS. MOEN:No questions.Thank you.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very much
Mrs. Anderson.
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(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Richard DeLeonard.
RICHARD DeLEONARD
appearing as a public witness , having been first duly
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening.
last.
Good evening.
Please state your name and spell your
Richard DeLeonard, D-o-n-
What is your mailing address?
10863 South Cloverdale, Kuna, Idaho.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
Mysel f .
Please go ahead with your testimony.
I'll try to make this quick.I know we'
had seniors up before, senior citizens, and being on a
fixed income , I agree with these folks that are much
worse off than myself.ve at least got a social
security and a PERSI pension and I can see what these
1998 DeLEONARD
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folks are up against.At 75, I'm not able to go out and
find work to subsidize these rate increases that are
coming.
Irrigation , I I m fortunate I have an
irrigation system that's going to cost me 25 percent
besides my home that they I re asking for.PERS I and
social security both give us real big increases every
year , as you know , maybe one, maybe one-and-a-half
percent.I I d sure like to swap Idaho Power's request for
my one to one-and-half percent increases that I 1
getting and I want to make - - now , that monthly service
charge, that's ridiculous, $10.00 a month.That
shouldn't have even been brought up with what these
people are asking for and then ask for a service charge
on top of it.m totally against it , and that I s all I
have to say.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you , sir.
Let's see if there are questions.
MS. MOEN:No questions.Thank you.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very much.
THE WITNESS:Thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Michelle Kay?
Michelle Kay?Debra Thrall.
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DEBRA THRALL
appearing as a public witness, having been duly sworn
was examined and testified as follows:
THE WITNESS:My name is Debra Thrall,
My address is 508 North 5th , Parma , Idaho,
83660.
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Please proceed.
Thank you.ve lived in Parma now for
about three years.Before that, I lived up in Idaho City
and while I was living up in Idaho City, you all
mentioned about terminating power for a while , try Idaho
City, it works wonders.You get your power turned off
about , oh , every month from anywhere from a week to two
weeks come rain, spring, summer or fall.Winter is
especially good because then you get to freeze because
you have no heat.90 percent of it up there is power and
when you have no power , you have nothing.
Well, shortly after I moved out, Idaho
Power put generators up there after all the yelling
everybody did about freezing to death , so they kind of
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fixed that little problem.Now I live down in Parma, but
we still have outages, but we don I t have any generators
to fix them when they go out.The outages go out about
every other month.You have a hard time getting ahold of
a person on the phone to notify them that you have a
power outage.You have to tell it to a machine and they
don't give you an estimate of time of when it will come
back on or if it will come back on.
Our power bills out there average
- -
daughter is paying $135 a month to $210 a month during
the winter.She has an all-electric home, it I S
three-bedroom , electric heat.She I S on level pay now.
They got her at $78.00 a month.They just currently sent
her a bill because the moratorium is over with for $450
saying that she I s in the hole.She called and she said
how can in the hole m on level pay.
They said you don'pay enough because
your average bill month about $150 a month,so you
need to increase your level pay.She says, well , I work
36 hours a week at a full-time job.She says I work six
days a week , she says how would you propose I do this?
She says I work at 3: 30 in the morning until about 5: 00
in the afternoon.The woman told her to get a second
job , which she explained to her that wasn I t feasible.
She needed time to sleep.
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She got a little upset , so then she asked
her where did she come from from her job , how did she get
her job.She said she was previously unemployed and now
she has a job.That was nice , they employed her, but it
still didn't fix the problem and it still hasn I She'
still $450 in the hole , so now she's got to figure out
how to pay that money and come up with it.
They want her to pay extra on top of what
she's paying on level pay to pay down that amount with
two small children in the home.This is not feasible.
You ask for an increase.I was going over what they were
asking it for and I quote them , they I re asking for money
for limo services, liquor and for entertainment costs and
they're asking for an incentive program for their CEO.
Well, his incentive program is that he has
a job, he gets paid.That's his incentive , people.
That's what any incentive is anymore.You have a job,
you get paid, you get to pay your bills.He doesn I t need
an incentive program , he I s got one.If he's not doing
his job, give him the boot , get some cheaper guy in
there.He will do the job for less.I'll take his job.
I'll take it for half of what he I s getting paid and do
his job.
I know how to do entertainment , that's not
a biggie.I used to be a cab driver for years, so I know
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how that works.You take them, you get them 1 iquored up,
get them a few girls and they I re happy.That I s just the
way it happens.That's what their proposal is and as far
as their legal fees are concerned , they should absorb
them.K doesn't passIt's part of being who they are.
theirs along, Micron doesn I t pass theirs along,
Albertston I S doesn't pass theirs along.I don't know why
you guys have such a problem with this , it's beyond me.
Some of this stuff that you ask for is outrageous, it'
ridiculous and you don't even explain it to the fullest
extent.
What is your interest in American Falls?
Do we own it or don I t we?And if we don't own it, how
come and why are we paying money on something we don't
own or why did you help build this and refinance it at a
cheaper rate?I mean , there are cheaper rates out there
is what they I re telling everybody, refinance your home,
get four-and-half percent interest.If they I re not
shopping around for this, then there I s something wrong.
Their accountants need to be informed that
this is all called entertainment and everything that
they I re asking for is on your things that you send in to
Uncle Sam saying this is what I do for expenses , this is
what it's costing me to run my business and they
shouldn I t pass it on to us.We don't pass it on to them.
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I don't hand them a bill saying it costs
me 50 bucks to go to the movies and out to eat.I can'
afford to.There's no room forI live on $570 a month.
entertainment there.There's no room to go out to eat.
There's just barely room to pay my rent and pay my bills
and that's it and that's what I survive on every month.
And I was told, also , in here that you
want money to join a country club.The racquet clubs are
great, they I re cheaper and they give you the best
entertainment that you need.If you want to go out there
and shoot nine holes , fine, but don't join the thing.
mean, it's not like you're going to live there and move
in.Go there on occasion and playThey charge too much.
or got out to someplace where you just play nine holes or
go to a little golf tee place and have fun , but you don I
have to go into the extravagance of all this.For what
they re asking for , I could take care of a lot of people
who are in low income housing and unemployed and
everything else.Please don't give them the rate
increase.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Does that conclude
your statement?
THE WITNESS:Yes , mal , it does.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you.Are there
any questions?
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MS. MOEN:No questions.Thank you.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very
much.
THE WITNESS:Thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMI S S IONER SMI TH :Mark Duffin.
MARK DUFFIN,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Good evening.Please state your name and
spell your last.
Mark Duffin D-u-i-n.
What your mailing address?
2893 South Swallowtail Lane,Boise,
Idaho.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
An organization.I represent the Idaho
Sugar Beet Growers Association.
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Thank you.Please proceed with your
testimony.
Okay, thank you.Well , first to start
off, I won I t repeat a lot of the testimony that has been
gi ven.Mr. Ketterling represents a lot of same growers
that I do and he gave very adequate testimony about the
concerns that they have both as farmers and as members of
the Snake River Sugar Company Growers Cooperative that
owns the Amalgamated Sugar Company, but just a couple of
other points that I would personally like to make.
I picked up Idaho Power's release just to
find their requested rate increase when came and
just looking that,looked like most the
justification they I re glving for the rate increase would
be because of the increased numbers that they I re serving,
100 000 increase, and I'd just like to make the point
that most of that is not from the irrigation area.
There I S actually for the maj ori ty of this period, there'
been a moratorium on new wells , so we have hadn I t a lot
of increase there.
I know a lot of the farmers have done a
lot of things to actually decrease their demand for
power.In the Magic Valley, a lot of them have gone over
to the low pressure irrigation center pivot system so
they could decrease their demand for power because
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they re doing everything they can to try to cut costs.
think we had one of the growers talk about operating on a
one to two percent margin and I'd just make the
observation that that's the ones that are surviving.
They re on a very tight margin.
Over the last several years as executive
director of the Growers Association , I've seen a lot of
our good growers that we've lost that have actually gone
out of business because the commodity prices are so tough
and the prices are increasing, not only in power, but in
their other expenses as well and they're operating on
very, very tight margins, and when we looked at Idaho
Power requesting a 25 percent rate increase for the
irrigators, first of all , that just seems unfair in the
overall picture.
That's where the largest rate increase
would be requested and even with the Staff recommendation
of 15 percent, there I s just not those kinds of margins in
agricul ture right now.There hasn't been for a long
time , so just on behalf of the growers, we'd just like to
say we wish that we were making that kind of profit so
that we could share that and Idaho Power is an important
partner in our operations.
We need the power to pump our water and to
irrigate our crops, but we're not making that kind of
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profits and they re just not there right for -- you know
this would really put a lot of growers out of business
and I'll just kind of conclude with that unless there are
any questions.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you,
Mr. Duffin.
Do we have any questions?
MS. MOEN:No questions.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very much
for coming tonight.
THE WITNESS:Thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Stephen Whi te .
STEPHEN WHITE,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
EXAMINATION
Good evening.
Good evening.
Please state your name and spell your
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last.
Stephen White, as in the color
i-t-e.
What is your mailing address?
5446 Collister Drive in Boise.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
Myself.
Thank you.Please proceed.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Mr. White, before you
begin , I got two of the same pages, is that wrong?
(Pause in proceedings.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Mr. White has two
exhibits.We I re going to number them No. 997 and 998.
(Public Exhibit Nos. 997 & 998 were marked
for identification.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Please proceed
Mr. White.
THE WITNESS:Thank you.I would like to
thank the members of the Commission for allowing us this
opportunity in a public forum and I I d also like to thank
the farmers who have spoken eloquently and passionately.
I witnessed a family auction.ve seen a farm go and
that I S a life style that I cherish that I no longer have,
so I definitely felt a lot of emotion during that
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testimony.
I watched our family farm sell because of
federal and Oklahoma tax policy.Inflation is a killer
to our way of life.It robs our elderly, our children,
our farmers, our veterans , our widows, our businesses and
as Mr. Ketterling demonstrated here tonight, the impact
is huge.That dutyOur government in Idaho has a duty.
is to prevent inflation.This Commission as a body is a
public servant and that duty is to prevent inflation in a
deflated economy.
If I were to look at what I made 20 years
ago versus what I make here, it is very sad.I don I t
have actual statistics, but I know that with inflation
it is quite less.Idaho Power is a natural monopoly.
should not be allowed to commit larceny against our
families, our businesses and our future.
Hewlett-Packard , Micron pay less than a family
residential customer and our conservative users, our low
rate users , will be asked by Idaho Power to pay more
through the minimum rate than placing the burden because
of their efficiency and I find that incredibly punitive.
Idaho Power , the monopoly, would have you
believe that the CEO can't make it on a salary of 580 000
a year.The Commission can say no to that.It can say
no to the good old boy network of inflation and as Ralph
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Nader has alluded to a corporate welfare system.The
Commission can say no to inflated executive salaries and
today I spoke with a regulative affairs staff of Oklahoma
Gas & Electric, Mr. Roger Walkingstick.Mr. Walkingstick
indicated that 70 percent of coal power in Oklahoma is
from Wyoming coal.He told me the efficiency of those
plants takes out the volatility that is mentioned in some
of the documents proposed by Idaho Power.
Idaho needs a better energy policy.
our neighbors in Montana , Wyoming, Colorado and Utah can
produce natural gas, why can I t we here in Idaho?Natural
gas burns clean and it is the duty of this Commission to
stop the current waste and to stop the inequity.Idaho
Power owns only one peak plant that burns natural gas.
If you give me the aggregate inflated
salaries of the CEO and other executives of Idaho Power
I can assure you that I can take their bonuses and salary
equivalents and over the years I can and will funnel
those funds to explore, develop and produce natural gas
so that the zeros you see in the documents I presented as
far as Idaho's natural gas production can be enhanced.
Idaho is abundant in natural resources,
yet mismanagement has allowed Idaho to be a net energy
consumer.If we develop natural gas and other resources
Idaho can become a net producer and I I d like to end my
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comments.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very much.
Let I S see if there are questions.
Thank you.
MS. MOEN:No questions from Idaho Power.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you, Mr. White.
THE WITNESS:Thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Carolyn Wagnild.
CAROLYN WAGNILD,
appearing as a public witness , having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Please state your name and spell your last
name for the record.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder, Idaho
Carolyn Wagnild, W-a-g-n-
What is your mailing address?
625 Cow Horse Drive , Kuna Idaho, 83634.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
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Representing myself.
Thank you.Please proceed with your
testimony.
I am a single mom and substitute
schoolteacher and the sole owner and bill payer at our
home in a Kuna subdivision which does not have gas as an
alternative source of energy.I and my f ami 1 y depend
entirely on electricity provided by Idaho Power; that is
we are captive to its rates.We have a well pumped by
electric power which provides our drinking water and
other household uses and water at our barn.
The well also provides the water to
irrigate our lawn , trees and garden.I belong to an
irrigation corporation and presently have to pay $650 per
irrigation season for that water.If the proposed 25
percent increase goes through , it will cost $812., a
jump of $162.50.This water is used for our horse
pasture and hay ground.I am not in business in regard
to this land and do not make money on it.
With a monthly power bill this past year
of an average of about $200 per month for an
average-sized home , plus $650 per irrigation season to
irrigate about two-and-a-half acres of horse pasture, I 1
already paying $1,850 per year for power and irrigation
water.My budget is stretched already.If the 19.
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percent and 25 percent increases go through , it will be
nothing but much worse.
I understand that Idaho Power in order to
be a regulated agency must make an 11 percent profit.
These are tough times.I don't see where Idaho Power is
tightening up when the rest of us have to.I bel ieve
that, instead, it continues to maximize its profits as
much as it can.I object to both the 19.9 percent and
the 25 percent increases, not only because they will make
it harder for me to pay my bills, but because I think
Idaho Power has not made a convincing case that its
proposed increases are not related to its focus on making
higher and higher profits regardless of the consumer.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Let's see if there
are any questions for you.
MS. MOEN:No questions.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very much
for coming tonight.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Joe Gallegos.
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JOE GALLEGOS,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
Please state your name and spell your
last.
My name is Joe Gallegos, G-l-e-g-o-s.
What is your mailing address?
38 East Gentry Way, Suite 100, Meridian.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
An organization.
And what is that organization?
AARP Idaho.
Thank you.Please proceed.
Good evening, Commissioners.My name is
Joe Gallegos and I am an associate state director for
AARP Idaho.AARP Idaho represents the interests of more
than 153 000 Idaho residents age 50 and over.I want to
thank and commend you today for giving the public this
opportunity to comment on Idaho Power I s application to
increase rates by $86 million.AARP I S membership has a
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vested interest in ensuring that energy services are
readily available for consumption and at prices that are
just , reasonable and affordable.For this reason , public
participation in this proceeding is extremely important
considering the overwhelming impact rising utility rates
are having on our daily lives.
As you well know, older Americans are
particularly susceptible to extremes in temperature.
rely on the ability to heat and cool our homes for both
our comfort and we 11- be ing .Any degradation in utility
services can pose serious health concerns.Likewise,
increases in energy rates can be especially devastating
for those of us living on fixed and low incomes.
Al though older Americans consume
approximately the same amount of energy as do younger
people, we devote a higher percentage of total spending
to residential energy.This may be due to the fact that
older Americans spend a greater proportion of income on
home heating costs.Low income older families, in fact
spend an average of 14 percent of their income on
residential energy.Too often , these families are forced
to choose between risking their health and comfort by
cutting back on energy expenditures and reducing spending
for other basic necessities such as health care or
property taxes.AARP does not consider that a viable
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option.
For this reason , we urge the Public
Utilities Commission to be guided by specific principles
that ensure that residential consumers pay only their
fair share of energy costs.Two principles that AARP
deems most critical for residential consumers are
reliable, uninterrupted service and affordable rates , so
we urge you to take a hard look at the Company's filing.
AARP also urges the Commission to ensure
that adequate funding is available for bill payment
assistance programs for low income homeowners in Idaho.
Similarly, the Commission must ensure that consumers are
aware of the availability of assistance programs in order
to maximize public participation.The need for
well- funded assistance programs is paramount.Without
adequate funding and awareness, many residents who
qualify for assistance will not receive the help they
desperately need.
Once again , thank you for allowing me to
appear before you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you.Let I S see
if there are any questions.
MS. MOEN:No, thank you.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Commissioner Hansen.
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COMMISSIONER HANSEN:Just a quick
question.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER HANSEN:
Does the AARP work wi th - - have you been
working with the legislature to try to secure funding for
the low income people?
Not specifically, Commissioner , but we
have worked with the legislature in other areas.
Do you have any plans in the future to go
before the legislature with these kinds of concerns?
We do.As a matter of fact , we'll look at
that and in all likelihood begin some sort of initiative
to get into those kinds of discussions, yes.
COMMISSIONER HANSEN:Thank you very much.
That's all I have.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very much
for coming this evening.
THE WITNESS:Thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Richard Vick from the
Cloverdale Ridge Water Corporation?
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RI CHARD VI CK
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
last.
Good evening.
Good evening.
Please state your name and spell your
Richard Vick , V-
What is your mailing address?
11457 South Cloverdale Road in Kuna.
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
m here representing the Cloverdale Ridge
Water Corporation and myself.
CSB REPORTING
Wilder , Idaho
Thank you.Please proceed.
Thank you.The Cloverdale Ridge Water
Corporation is a fairly lofty name for a very small group
of homeowners who have an irrigation corporation in the
Cloverdale Ridge area which is just south of Deer Flat.
We have 55 members who are currently irrigating 400 acres
out there, from a small pond with two pumps that handle
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our whole system.We have had
- -
when we first moved out
there , and I was just listening to Ms. Wagnild say the
same thing, when we first moved out there, our bill was
$528 a year.As the power bills have gone up, we have
seen a rise to nearly $700 for our little five-acre
place.
Now, I want to make a point here.None of
us in this area are commercial farmers.We are just a
bunch of folks who like to have a couple of horses around
and we grow a little hay to take care of our own and this
is not a weal thy community.This is a pretty middle
class community out there.Our power bill for the 2002
year was $22 000.This year it's projected to be $26,000
even without the power increase.Now , that I s going to
translate into a different - - for all the shareholders an
increase anyway and there will probably be - - well , of
course , a much bigger increase, as Carolyn said, possibly
as much as $850 and this is getting to the point where we
have no access to the Manhattan canal or any of the canal
systems around here.They ve got a six-year waiting list
for anybody to get on that system in the first place and
those people are paying far , far less than what we pay.
As I say, we're not weal thy people.
can I t really afford this increase.If it comes down to
it where only the executives from Idaho Power Company can
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afford to live out there and irrigate their land, I guess
'll all have to move back to town , and this is in a
year and I'm a small businessman.m a barber and I
have seen in the last two years a drop of 40 percent in
my business.I I ve known severalThis is not untypical.
people who have gone out of business in this last two
years.
We all know the economy is bad in the
Uni ted States.I say in Boise that it's not only bad,
but it's going to take a long time to recover and I don't
understand why the Idaho Power Company would ask for an
increase when we've got businesses all over the area that
are losing money at an incredible rate.We're all just
hanging on by our toenails trying to stay in business and
we can t ask you for that.
II d love to be able to come to you guys
and say hey, would you give me 25 percent for my barber
shop, please.You can't do that, that I s not what you do,
but they can and I believe in the circumstances that we
have right now that it's absolutely ludicrous for them to
ask for this increase.That's all I have to say.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Are there any
questions?
MS. MOEN:No questions.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
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EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER SMITH:
I want to be sure I understood your
testimony.You said, I thought I heard you say that you
calculated a $26,000 power bill even before the
increase?
Even before an increase, proposed
increase,yes.
How did you do that calculation?Was
based on last summer'bills?
Exactly.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:All right, I get it.
Thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Mike Bravo.Mike
Bravo?
MR. BRAVO:Yeah, right here.
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MIKE BRAVO,
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn, testified as follows.
THE WITNESS:Thank you very much for
having me here, and
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Wilder , Idaho
EXAMINATION
Good evening.
Good evening to you, too.
Please state your name and spell your last
My name?
Yes.
Am I talking to you?
Yes, you are.
My name is Mike Bravo, B-r-a-v-o.
What is your mailing address?
8140 Kingsbury Drive, Middleton, Idaho,
Thank you.Please proceed with your
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
m sorry?
for the record.
83644.
testimony.
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Please proceed with your testimony.
Okay.Really, there I s not much more I can
add to what many of the people here have spoke about and
I agree wholeheartedly with everything they I ve had to
The only thing that I wonder is why Idaho Powersay.
representatives have not asked questions of the people
who testified.You know, so silence, I guess , you know,
next to silence is a matter of intelligence, I guess, but
anyway, I don I t know , I know this gentleman there saw me
in here some time ago.
I appeared here about two years ago and
sort of marched up and down in front of your building
here and I guess a lot of people thought I was kind of a
gook and I do recall, I had this thing here up and down
the front of the building here trying to expose what was
going to happen here before Enron was exposed , if you
recall that.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:We'll take your word
for it.
THE WITNESS:Anyway, the point I m saying
is this is nothing new what I s going on today about the
what we I re faced with, this rate increase and what have
you, and so I I d like to say a few things about why we I re
exposed to this.I wrote a letter to the Statesman here,
if I may be allowed to read it, in regard to what's going
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on here and I have many exhibits here to talk about.
This is the letter that I wrote to the
Commission here some time ago and I got a response from
you people here and what I had to say in this letter , if
I may read it , this was some time ago
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Well , Mr. Bravo, if
we've already received it, then we've read it.
THE WITNESS:I know , but the rest of the
people here have not read it.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:That's true , but they
don't get to vote.
THE WITNESS:Well , okay.I don I t know, I
guess maybe I should display other things if you re not
going to allow me to - - what I want to talk about, I'll
just make a display here of stuff and write or talk about
how Idaho Power - - because the letter that I had written
to the Statesman kind of explains what I'm trying to talk
about, but No., okay, Idaho Power is asking for this
huge 20 percent, 19 percent rate increase, right, and
stuff and people have already talked about that, but not
only that , but the fact is that Idaho Power sends a
voltage to your meter which could be reduced by
percent.
They feed your meter 120 and 125 volts or
220, 250 volts to your meter which means about 10 percent
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more voltage than you need , which adds to the amount of
Idaho Power getting about $36 million per year from this
unwarranted high voltage and yet , when I asked your
engineer at Caldwell where you had that town hall meeting
about this, do you know what he replied to me?He said
well , we can't have a voltage regulator between each
home, and going, where is this guy coming from.
And then later on when I checked his
credentials, background , he's a public works engineer
s not an electrical engineer.That I knew when
asked him the questions.He said well, we can't put a
voltage regulator between each home.I said, my God,
you ve got voltage regulators out there now regulating
the voltage to this high voltage.So it's a quest of the
regulators being adjusted to regulate the voltage between
150 and 220 volts, but there again, in all due respect
for him , he's not an electrical engineer, so anyway,
these are some of the things that I show you here.
It says the twilight reliability, okay,
and it goes on and on and the proj ect , now we're told
that we need all this electrical power plants and stuff
and Idaho Power had the Hermiston proj ect plant.You
know , we were led to believe that back in the ' 90s this
was all needed and stuff , so what happened to this?They
sold it to Calpine.Okay, what happened?We need it,
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but it's solid.
Now we got the Hermiston plant - - not the
Hermiston, but the Middleton plant where I live and stuff
and now that's down the tube.You know , what's going to
happen to that plant?It's all paid for and already done
and all this stuff is going.They're going to sell it
off to somebody out of state because, all of a sudden , we
don't need it, but believe me, it's going to go the way
of the Hermiston plant , but here we're led to believe by
Idaho Power that all this stuff is needed and stuff , all
these power plants and stuff and, all of a sudden , they
put up a gas-fired plant in Mountain homes to provide the
needs for that April and May, whatever , whatever the need
is for that time, so it's just a fraction of what we need
and yet, if we built that plant in Middleton, we were
going to pay $0.15 per kilowatt.
Instead, what happened, you people,
responsible , say hey, go to Montana , buy that same power
for $0.5 a kilowatt , not 15, which was going to be what
we were going to pay from the Middleton plant, and so
anyway, I asked to meet with the regulatory person from
Idaho Power and we were going to meet at the Sunrise
Restaurant in Middleton and, you know , to lay out what my
concerns were of what I s going on here and we were
supposed to meet and then , all of a sudden , I got a phone
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call and they said oh
- -
maybe right, maybe not
- -
his
mother is in the hospital and we III have to postpone this
meeting for a later date and I'll call you and I'll meet
with you , the regulatory Commissioners, you people, and
said he 'd be there , so I waited and waited , and this
guy's name is John Ric Gale, here's a letter and we were
supposed to meet and stuff , my concerns and stuff of what
affects everybody here.
You know , he never showed, never called
, he didn I Here's the letter and so my point is
this, that I 1 m just saying that the Power Company is, you
know - - I'm sorry you won't let me read this letter that
I wrote , but it kind of exposes this, I don't know how to
put it, this legalized extortion is what it amounts to,
that's what it is.
They took us for almost a half a billion
dollars two years ago, a half a billion.I said billion,
not million , billion by the PAC, that's what they nailed
us for , and why?It all had to do in reality with the
Enron scheme to fleece the people.People have testified
here already that there was never any power shortage,
never , but yet they really shoved it to us for almost a
half a billion dollars, and you know what, there's a bill
pending in the Senate right now that's a Cheney bill and
group that if this bill goes to the Senate, you people
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are going to be looking for some other board to be
commissioners of , because if this bill goes through, next
year you're not going to have a job.
They're going to do away with the PUC of
all the states.ThisThat's what they're working on.
has been going on now for over 10 years.It's a deal
that they're doing.They've been doing it for over 10
years to do away with the PUC, the only protection we
have, and if this goes through, believe me, within a
year, they'll bar the door.
That I S all I've got to say.m sorry if
I got a little frustrated here , but this is a very -- I
feel deeply about this.m not somebody coming out of
nowhere because I've been in this line of work for over
32 years.I started when I was six or seven years old
chipping crystal off of the lumps of coal in the basement
where we lived in Council Bluffs, Iowa.Since I was able
to read, I started building crystal stuff , radios and
stuff and my whole life has always been in electronics
and my job with the Department of Water & Power in the
City of Los Angeles, you know, but I see what's going on.
You can't fool all the people here, they know what I s
going on.You people knew what was going on , yet it goes
on and on.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Well , Mr. Bravo, we
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thank you very much for coming tonight.
THE WITNESS:Okay, thank you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:I want to assure you
that the Commissioners have seen and read your materials
that you sent to us and we I re aware of that and we
appreciate you taking the time to come tonight.
THE WITNESS:Well, I appreciate you
having me.Thank you.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:That brings us to the
end of people who have signed up to testify.
MS. MOEN:Commissioner Smith?
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Yes., Ms. Moen.
MS. MOEN:I would just like to clarify
the record wi th Mr. Bravo.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Now she has a
question.
MS. MOEN:Mr. Bravo, I I m wi th Idaho Power
Company and Mr. Gale is here.Mr. Gale received probably
numerous , in the 20 to 30 some, personal requests to meet
wi th him, which he all honored.Mr. Gale was unable to
meet with you at that time because of the passing of his
mother and alternatives were given for
THE WITNESS:I didn I t hear a word you
said.
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MS. MOEN:m sorry, I wanted you to be
aware that Mr. Gale either met or spoke personally with
20 to 30 some Idaho Power customers who requested
information specifically from him.At the time you
received that letter , Mr. Gale's mother was sick.She
subsequently passed away and efforts to attempt to meet
wi th you again weren't successful, so I just wanted to
explain to you the reason.
THE WITNESS:Well, I sympathize with his
mother's passing, I understand that, but then he called
me and said he was going to meet with me, so Il m sitting
here waiting and waiting and so if he didn't, he didn'
In all due respect to his sorrow and stuff , work still
goes on and stuff.
MS. MOEN:I appreciate that and the
opportunity still is there and I just wanted to make sure
that you knew that we would be very pleased and happy to
meet with you and efforts were made to do so.
THE WITNESS:Well, what effort?I never
got any more responses.All I got was this stuff here.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:You two can get
together after the hearing and work out a time frame.
THE WITNESS:I don't need to talk to him
after that.I said my peace and that's it.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you very much.
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2031 BRAVOPublic83676
THE WITNESS:Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Michelle Kay.
MICHELLE KAY
appearing as a public witness , having been first duly
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Wilder , Idaho
sworn, testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
Good evening.Please state your name and
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
spell your last for the record.
My name is Michelle Kay.K-a-y is the
What is your mailing address?
6140 South Rockrose Way, Boise , Idaho,
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
The Southeast Neighborhood Association.
Thank you.Please proceed.
last name.
83716.
Sorry about that folks , I have a nursing
baby at home and had some other things I had to take care
COMMISSIONER SMITH:That's fine.
of.
2032 KAYPublic83676
THE WITNESS:Obviously, I missed my name
being read.ve lived in Boise for a little over three
years now.In those three years I have seen increases
in rates for general utilities and general expenses
wi thout increases in pay to keep up with those expenses.
m doing my best to stay at home with the
four young children that I have, but with each increase
that does become much more difficult.You may think one
little dollar doesn't mean a lot, but when you are
pinching pennies, it does mean lot.
When we looked into moving to Boise from
Austin , Texas, we were led to believe that the power
rates would be cheaper here than in Texas.That has not
been the case.We found that it's much more expensive to
live here than it was to live there.My husband wanted
to point out the average person I s salary does not include
the payment of a club membership and why should I pay for
Idaho Power's executive memberships when they should be
able to pay their own out of their own paychecks.That
was his comment.
In the area that we live in in the
southeast, there I s about 30,000 homes and I know there is
a variety of incomes.There's a variety of people that
are on fixed incomes.I 1 m not on a fixed income, but I
have four young children.Wi th two of them being
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medically fragile, I cannot take the hours off for the
air conditioner.I I ve done everything that I can and I 1
volunteering my time to these associations and to come to
these meetings because a lot of people think somebody
else is going to do this job for me, somebody else is
going to realize what I I m saying.You know what I mean.
I I m here to say we really don I t want to
see this increase, any increase at all in these rates , so
please listen to the homeowners and don I t increase our
rates.Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you, Ms. Kay.
Are there any questions?
MS. MOEN:No questions.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:I think we I re wearing
out.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Martin Johncox.
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MARTIN JOHNCOX
appearing as a public witness, having been first duly
sworn , testified as follows:
EXAMINATION
BY MS. NORDSTROM:
last.
Good evening.
Hello.
Please state your name and spell your
My name is Martin Johncox.The last name
is spelled J-
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Wilder , Idaho
What is your mailing address?
83709.
6904 Randolph Drive in Boise.The zip is
Are you here tonight representing yourself
or an organization?
Myself.
Thank you.Please go ahead.
I I d like to say that my understanding is
that most of this rate increase will go to help pay off
the cost of financing new power plant construction , other
things to help keep up with growth.As such , thi s
request from Idaho Power seems to represent a serious
2035 JOHNCOX
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failure of being able to plan for the cost of growth.
I understand many kinds of utilities, such
as cities that provide sewer and water service, require
new homes to pay a hookup fee and this goes exclusively
to fund growth-related things, such as new treatment
plants and so forth.The City of Boise I I m aware has
spent $64 million in the past few years providing
increased treatment plant expansion.They have not had
to raise anybody I s sewer bill to do this.Thi s has been
funded and is being funded completely with hookup fees,
and I am aware that Idaho Power does assess some sort of
hookup fee, but apparently, it I S not what it needs to be
and/ or it's not going where it needs to be if they I
having to come to me , the existing customer, to help pay
for growth.I think growthI don I t think that I s fair.
needs to pay for itself.
I am aware of the 1996 Idaho Supreme Court
ruling saying in the case of the then Boise Water
Corporation that they cannot place the cost of
growth-related expansion solely on new customers and
would tend to agree with that.We all benefit from
growth.I think growth is good.All I I m saying is that
growth should do something to pay its own way.Right now
the cost of growth , it would appear to me , is being based
solely on the existing customers and I don I t think that I s
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fair.I think growth should pay something toward itself
for Idaho Power and the current proposal is simply not
fair because it asks existing customers to pay for
growth.
I would ask the Commission that whatever
you do in this case, whether you grant all of what Idaho
Power is asking or none of it or something in between , I
would respectfully suggest that you append some sort of
notice to Idaho Power that it really does need to find
some way to fund growth and it should do this perhaps
working with other stakeholders.That would include the
building industry, which I I m aware does not want to see
any more fees on new construction, but let's face it,
mean , someone is going to have to pay for this and it
should be the people who are creating the demand , so I
would just suggest that the Commission urge Idaho Power
to come up with some fair and effective way that places
the cost of growth to some extent on growth.I think
it I s possible, it's done with other util i ties.It really
does need to be done here.That's all I have to say.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Let's see if there
are questions.
MS. NORDSTROM:None from Staff.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:And I guess I don I
really have a question , just a comment.You I re aware in
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that 1 96 case it was the Southwest Idaho Home Builders
who sued the Commission in the Supreme Court and got
that.
THE WITNESS:Yes, I am aware that
actually you the Commission did affirm that.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:I mean, it was the
Home Builders who went to the court and prevented the
Commission from increasing the fees to cover the cost of
growth.
THE WITNESS:Yes.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you.
THE WITNESS:Thank you very much.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you for coming.
(The witness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:We want to thank you
all for your attention.That brings us to the end of the
folks who signed up to testify.I think we I ve had some
very good comments made here tonight and since we've had
a long day before we ever got to this hearing, I think
you fairly exhausted the Commissioners, so we want to
thank you all for your attention.
The hearing is adjourned until 9: 00
0' clock in the morning when we will again take up with
the technical hearing in this room.
Thank you all.Good night.
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(The Hearing recessed at 9:25 p.
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COLLOQUY