960126.docx

WELDON B. STUTZMAN
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL
IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
472 WEST WASHINGTON STREET
PO BOX 83720
BOISE,  IDAHO  83720-0074
[phone]
Street Address for Express Mail:
472 W. WASHINGTON
BOISE, IDAHO  83702-5983
Attorney for the Commission Staff
BEFORE  THE  IDAHO  PUBLIC  UTILITIES  COMMISSION

IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF IDAHO POWER COMPANY FOR APPROVAL OF NEW TARIFF PROVISIONS RELATING TO NEW SERVICE ATTACHMENTS AND DISTRIBUTION LINE INSTALLMENTS OR ALTERATIONS.
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CASE NO. IPC-E-95-18
SECOND PRODUCTION
REQUEST OF THE
COMMISSION STAFF
TO IDAHO POWER
COMPANY

The Staff of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, by and through its attorney of record, Weldon B. Stutzman, Deputy Attorney General, requests that Idaho Power Company provide the following documents and information on or before WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1996.
This Production Request is to be considered as continuing, and Idaho Power Company is requested to provide, by way of supplementary responses, additional documents that it or any person acting on its behalf may later obtain that will augment the documents produced.
For each item, please indicate the name of the person(s) preparing the answers, along with the job title of such person(s) and the witness who can sponsor the answer at hearing.
32.Please explain why the provisions for Terms of Payment (Section 4L of the current Rule H) and Interest on Payment (Section 4M) were eliminated from the proposed Rule H?
33.If Idaho Power’s proposal is adopted, does the Company intend to continue using its Uniform Distribution Extension Agreement (Sheet H-11)?  If not, will another standardized agreement be used?  If another document will be used, what provisions would that agreement contain?
34.Please describe how the Company will develop non-binding cost quotes.  Will the quotes be based on average costs?  Some other cost basis?  Will the quotes be provided orally or in writing?  How accurate does the Company anticipate these quotes will be?  Will the quotes take into account unusual conditions?  How will customers be informed that such quotes are non-binding and possibly not reflective of actual costs?
35.The Company has indicated that it expects to be able to provide firm engineering estimates to customers much more quickly than in the past.  What is the expected turn-around time from date of application to submission to customer of written estimate?  Will this turn-around time vary by season?  Will the engineering be done on a centralized basis?  If not, how will it be handled?
36.The Company is proposing to charge all customers for engineering.  Will customers who only require a service attachment be charged an engineering fee?  Does the Company anticipate charging a fixed or variable fee?  What is the basis for this fee?  Actual hours to perform engineering?  Average hours?  Something else?  Will the fee vary by class of service or complexity of job?
37.In Section II.D of Rule H, the Company has replaced the word “Customer” with “Applicant”.  Please explain the reason for this change.
38.Please explain how the payroll loading factor of 33.19% is calculated and what is included in the payroll loading factor.
39.Please explain how the stores account expense factors are calculated and when they are applied.  Are they applied monthly to the inventory?  Are they applied only once when the unit is taken from stores?
40.Please explain the difference between the work order price, the average cost, and the last invoice price for the transformers as detailed in attachment to Response No. 4, MMS Materials and Usage History by Prime Noun for stock numbers:
015-2015015-6201040-3481
015-2150015-6970041-7377
015-2065016-2615041-7381
015-2301024-6450
015-2555032-7765
41.Please provide detailed sample accounting entries for each of the transactions involving new service attachments, new line extensions, refundable contributions, non-refundable contributions, engineering estimates, and construction costs, including the entries relating to income tax and how the income tax consequences of the new line extension and the service attachments are recorded.  Also include detailed sample accounting entries for transactions involving dispersal of refunds and the taxable consequences of this event.
42.What guidelines, rules of thumb, or other assumptions does the Company make in sizing transformers for residential customers?  For example, how many residential customers could be served by 15, 25, 50, 75 or 100 kva transformers?
43.The Company’s Response No. 8 to Staff’s First Production Request, a graph was provided showing line extension costs for 1994 and 1995 for the residential customer class.  Please provide a similar graph for the irrigation and commercial customer classes using the data provided in Response No. 8.
44.For the Idaho jurisdiction, for the years 1970 through 1995 inclusive, please provide the total general ledger values for Distributions Plant account codes:
361Structures and improvements
362Station Equipment
363Poles, Towers, & Fixtures
365OH Conductor & Devices
366UG Conduit
367UF Conductor & Devices
368Line Transformers
369Services
370Meters
371Installation on Customer Premises
373Street Lighting
45.For the Idaho jurisdiction, for the years 1970 through 1995 inclusive, please provide:
The total number of customers
The total number of Residential customers (Schedule 1)
The total number of Small General Service customers (Schedule 7)
The total number of Large General Service customers  (Schedule 9)
The total number of Large Power customers  (Schedule 19)
The total number of Irrigation customers  (Schedule 24)
The total number of Public Water customers  (Schedule 33)
DATED  at Boise, Idaho, this            day of January 1996.
______________________________________
Weldon B. Stutzman
Deputy Attorney General
umisc\prdreq\ipce9518.sw2