20110926min.doc

IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

MINUTES OF DECISION MEETING

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011 – 1:30 P.M.

In attendance were Commissioners Paul Kjellander, Mack Redford and Marsha Smith.

Commissioner Kjellander called the meeting to order. The first order of business was APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING on Monday, September 19th, 2011. The Commission voted unanimously to approve the minutes as written.

The second order of business was approval of the CONSENT AGENDA:
2. Carolee Hall's September 19, 2011 Decision Memorandum re: Application of Qwest Corporation (Qwest) with National Comtel Network Inc. (National) for an Interconnection Agreement Between the Companies, Case No. QWE-T-11-09.3. Carolee Hall's September 19, 2011 Decision Memorandum re: Cancellation of Certificate No. 460 for Cordia Communications Corp., Case No. CRD-T-06-01.4. Doug Cox's August 31, 2011 Decision Memorandum re: Idaho Power Tariff Advice No. 11-01 Implementing a 1.25% Franchise Fee Agreement with the City of Boise, Idaho.
There was no discussion and the Commission voted unanimously to approve Staff’s recommendations for items 2 – 4 on the Consent Agenda.
The next order of business was MATTERS IN PROGRESS:
5. Motion for Extension of Time for Interconnect Solar and Idaho Power Company to Resubmit a Firm Energy Sales Agreement, Case No. IPC-E-11-10. [Kristine Sasser, Attorney]
Ms. Sasser reviewed the progress of the case to date and the Motion for the Extension of Time. She noted Ronald Williams, the attorney for Interconnect Solar, was present at the meeting.
Commissioner Kjellander stated that he thought time was of the essence in this case, and he asked Mr. Williams what had changed. Mr. Williams replied that time was still of the essence with this project but the realities of getting recalculated rates and a contract signed by Idaho Power and submitted to Interconnect Solar for execution will take longer, and they only asked for a 48-hour extension but have since learned that they will need more time than that. He said they just received the rates that morning, and they have to turn that into a contract and the contract will have to go back through the approval process with Idaho Power, so it will take about two weeks to accomplish that process. He said Idaho Power has also agreed to give Interconnect Solar an extension on its scheduled operation date.
Commissioner Smith stated that perhaps the most appropriate approach procedurally for the Commission would be for Interconnect Solar to withdraw its original contract and file a new contract when it is ready. Mr. Williams stated that option would work, and they had also suggested in the Motion extending to a date certain of October 13th to resubmit a contract.
Commissioner Smith made a motion to allow the parties until October 13th, 2011, to resubmit a contract.
Commissioner Kjellander asked if we are looking at a new contract, then aren’t we looking at a new opportunity for others to weigh in, comment and be parties?
Mr. Walker, attorney for Idaho Power, responded that they aren’t redoing the entire contract, and they are operating under the assumptions that all the methodologies that were employed in the contract remain the same. He said they have corrected the escalation calculation error that was made in the pricing, but found a different error in the Aurora inputs that calculate the price based on daylight savings time. He said over the weekend, Idaho Power ran an additional price calculation that both corrects the escalation error and accounts for the resubmitted power curve from the project that has a correction for daylight savings time in it. He said the additional time is needed to recalculate both of those corrections, and assuming the results are something the project still wishes to move forward with, then they will need to reexecute the contract and go through the different accounting procedures. He said that process will not happen within a couple of days, and hence the request to move it out at least a couple of weeks. He said they are not anticipating redoing the entire contract, but they had discussed the necessity of updating the scheduled operation dates to sync up with the additional time the case has been in front of the Commission, which was not anticipated at the time the contract was signed. He added that he doesn’t really consider this to be redoing the contract.
Commissioner Smith stated it would be wise if Idaho Power shared the recalculations with the Commission Staff as soon as they have them, and even before they are filed, in order to avoid more delay. She renewed her motion that the parties refile on or before the 13th of October.
Commissioner Redford asked Mr. Walker if they are leaving themselves enough time to make the various calculations.
Mr. Walker said he is fairly confident they will have enough time because they have already done the re-runs of the Aurora model, which takes the bulk of the time required to do repricing. He said beyond that, it will be up to the project to decide if it wants to move forward with the new prices.
Commissioner Redford stated that it seems like it keeps growing in scope.
Mr. Walker stated they will have the recalculations done and will resubmit them to the Commission, but whether the project executes a new contract containing those new prices or not is up to the project developer.
Ms. Sasser stated that due to the late filing of the Motion by Interconnect Solar, Staff did not have an opportunity to file an Answer to the Motion, but it doesn’t have any opposition to their request for an extension of time, and consistent with what both Commissioner Smith and Commissioner Redford have said, Staff wants to make sure it has an opportunity to review the numbers to make sure they are correct.
Mr. Walker stated that he understands Staff has not had an opportunity to review the calculations for the daylight savings time change and Idaho Power does intend to submit those to Staff today.
There was no further discussion. A vote was taken on the Motion and it carried unanimously.
The final order of business was FULLY SUBMITTED MATTERS:
6. Deliberation re: Avista's 2011 Annual PGA Filing, Case No. AVU-G-11-04. [Karl Klein, Attorney]7. Deliberation re: Avista's Annual PCA Filing, Case No. AVU-E-11-03. [Karl Klein, Attorney]8. Deliberation re: Idaho Power's Application for Approval of OER Energy Efficiency Incentive Agreement, Case No. IPC-E-11-16. [Karl Klein, Attorney]9. Deliberation re: Intermountain Gas Company's 2011 Annual PGA Filing, Case No. INT-G-11-01. [Karl Klein, Attorney]10. Deliberation re: Application of Avista Corporation for Decrease in Its Energy Efficiency Rider, Case No. AVU-G-11-03. [Weldon Stutzman, Attorney]
Commissioner Kjellander stated that items 6 - 10 would be deliberated privately.
There was no further business before the Commission and Commissioner Kjellander adjourned the meeting.

___________________________________ ______________________________ COMMISSION SECRETARY DATE OF APPROVAL

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