20110104Vol XII Rexburg pp 2266-2322.pdf

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BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION
OF PACIFICORP DBA ROCKY MOUNTAIN
POWER FOR APPROVAL OF CHANGES TO
ITS ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULES
Case No. PAC-E-10-07
c:;,"'", wCOMMISSIONER MARSHA H. SMITH (Presii;ingqx
COMMISSIONER JIM KEMPTON
COMMISSIONER MACK REDFORD
HEARING BEFORE:
Co:i .Z
iW
~....
:i3
Place:Mountain View Conference Center
450 West Fourth South
Rexburg, Idaho
Date:December 14, 2010
Time:7:00 p.m.
VOLUME XII -- Pages 2266 - 2322
(REPORTER'S COUNT Pages 1 - 56)
T&T REPORTING
CJERTIFKEn SHORTHAND RJEPORfERS
ORIGINAL
REpORTED By
Crystal Hereford,
CSR, RPR
POST OFFICE Box 51020
IDAHO FALLS, IDAHO 83405
208.529.5491 · FAX [phone].529.5491
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PUBLIC HEARG - 12114/2010
ROCKY MOUNTAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG, IDAHO= SHEET i PAGE i = PAGE 3
BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION E X H I BIT S
_ PAGE 4
1 PROCEEDINGS
2 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Good evening,
3 ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to a hearing before the
4 Idaho Public Utilties Commission in case number
5 PAC.E.1D-07, further identified as In the Matter of
6 the Application of PacifiCorp doing business as Rocky
7 Mountain Power for Approval of Changes to its Electric
8 Service Schedules.
9 My name is Marsha Smith. I'm chairman
10 oftonights hearing. To my left is Commissioner Jim
11 Kempton, who's also president of the commission, and
12 to my right is Mack Redford, who is a commissioner.
13 The three of us make up your state utilities
14 commission, and we're here tonight to hear your
15 comments regarding this application by Rocky Mountain
16 Power.
17 For the record, I would note we have two
18 of the parties in attendance. Mr. Solander, would you
19 like to introduce yourself?
20 MR. SOLANDER: Yes. Thank you. Daniel
21 Solander, senior council for Rocky Mountain Power.
22 And I have with me at the table Ted Weston, the Idaho
23 regulatory affairs manager.
24 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you. And
Page 2 25 Mr. Price.
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION
OF PACIFICORP DBA ROCKY MOUNTAIN
POWER FOR APPROVAL OF CHAGES TO
ITS ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULES
)
)
) Case No. PAC-E-10-07
)
)
HEARING BEFORE:
COMMISSIONER MASHA H. SMITH (Presiding)
COMMISSIONER JIM KEMPTON
COMMI~SIONER MACK REDFORD
Place: Mountain View Conference Center
450 West 4th South
Rexburg, Idaho
Date: December 14,,2010
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Crystal Hereford,
CSR, RPR
_ PAGE 2
A PP EAR A N C E S
For the Company:
DANIEL E. SOLANDER, ESQ.
201 South Main Street
Suite 2300
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
For Commission Staff:
NEIL PRICE, ESQ.
Deputy Attorney General
472 West Washington Street
Boise, Idaho 83729
Also Present:
Ted Weston
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No. DESCRIPTION
902 BYU-Idaho Position Statement - Wayne Clark and
Eric Conrad
903 Rexburg Area Chamer of Commerce Statement -
Donna L. Benfield
Page 3
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PUBLIC HEARG - 1211412010
ROCKY MOUNTAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG, IDAHO
= PAGE 7
1 increases place on customers. This is a significant
2 case, and we are taking it very seriously.
3 Our procedure for tonight is that if you
4 wish to testify, we wil call you in the order in
5 which you signed up on the sign.up sheet that's on the
6 table outside the door. i wil call your name, and
7 you can come forward. Commissioner Redford wil give
8 you an oath that just basically says you're tellng
9 the truth, and Mr. Price wil ask you your name and
10 your mailng address to get you started on the
11 record. After that, you are free to make your
12 statement.
13 When you're finished, there may be
14 questions from either of the parties or from the
15 commissioners.
16 If you don't wish to make a public
17 statement tonight orally, you may always use the form
18 in the back of the room to submit a written comment,
19 or you may do so online if that's more convenient. If
20 you choose to do written comments, we ask that you
21 please have them to the commission no later than
22 Monday, December 20, which is the date of our final
23 hearing in this case, and that is the date when the
24 record wil close.
25 So with that, we'll start with our first
_ SHEET 2 PAGE 5
1 MR. PRICE: Neil Price. I'm deputy
2 attorney general. I represent the commission staff.
3 COMMISSIONER SMITH: And I would have
4 the record reflect that no other parties to the case
5 are in appearance tonight.
6 I just want to take a moment to describe
7 our hearing process. A commission hearing is like a
8 district court proceeding. Our commission decisions
9 have to be based on evidence that is presented, so we
10 have a court reporter here tonight, and she wil take
11 down everything that is said so that we may have it in
12 our record and be able to refer to it as part of our
13 decision process.
14 Therefore, it's very important that only
15 one person speak at a time. Also, it is not
16 appropriate to speak out ofturn, call out from the
17 audience, clap, or in any other way disrupt our18 hearing. .
19 We are here to listen to your
20 statements, and, unfortunately, our process doesn't
21 allow us to answer questions or respond to your
22 comments.
23 The commission is required by state law
24 to consider a rate increase request when it comes to
25 us and to balance the interest of you, the public,
= PAGE 6
1 with those of the utilty. So we don't have the
2 option or the luxury of just saying no. We are
3 required by law to allow utilities to recover
4 prudently incurred expenses and to have the
5 opportunity to earn a reasonable return on their
6 investment.
7 The commission may deny recovery to a
8 utility if it fails to provide evidence that
9 adequately supports what it's asking for.
10 Information about the numerous and very
11 complex issues of this case can be found on our
12 website at ww.puc.idaho.gov. There may also be
13 summaries or other informational material on the table
14 outside the door.
15 After the record has closed in this
16 case, the commission wil deliberate the merits of the
17 issues and issue a written order that wil describe
18 our decision and the information' and evidence we
19 relied upon when we made it. Commission orders can be
20 appealed directly to our state supreme court.
21 So we are very pleased to be here
22 tonight, and we're glad to see that all of you are
23 here. i know I speak for all of us on the commission
24 when i say that we are very much aware of the current
25 state of the economy and the burden additional rate
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= PAGE 8
1 person, who is Howard RandalL.
2 MR. BAXTER: Madam Chairwoman, would it
3 be appropriate to ask the elected offcials to
4 introduce themselves?
5 COMMISSIONER SMITH: You know, thank you
6 for reminding me of that, Mr. Baxter. I did want to
7 recognize Senator Hil, who is here, and congratulate
8 him on his election pro tempore by the Senate.
9 SENATOR HILL: Thanks, Commissioner.
10 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you.
11 Mr. RandalL.
12 HOWARD RANDALL WAS FIRST DULY SWORN
13 MR. PRICE: Can you go ahead and state
14 your name and spell it for the record?
15 MR. RANDALL: Howard Randall,
16 H.O.W.A.R.D, R.A.N.D.A.L.L.
17 MR. PRICE: And what is your mailng
18 address?
19 MR. RANDALL: 240 Mohawk, Rexburg, Idaho
20 8344.
21 MR. PRICE: Thank you. Go ahead.
22 MR. RANDALL: I'm not very smart in this
23 little process, but I would like to share some
24 information with you from the Pulitzer Prize winning
25 investigative reporter David Cay Johnston.
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ROCKY MOUNTAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG, IDAHO
= PAGE 11
1 example, paid $92 millon to cover the income taxes.
2 Portland GE, like virtually all electric
3 utilities with a corporate parent .. which Rocky
4 Mountain Power has a corporate parent .. did not file
5 its own tax returns. Instead, a company that
6 everybody here recognizes by the name of Enron filed
7 those tax returns. And that added up to some $92
8 millon a year for those six or seven years.
9 News that Portland GE did not pay its
10 taxes caused an uproar in Oregon. The State was so
11 hard pressed for money that some counties could not
12 afford sheriffs patrols. The Oregon legislature
13 passed a law in 2005 to require that any taxes
14 embedded in utility rates be turned over to the
15 government.
16 Not only did Portland GE fight the law,
17 so did warren Buffet, who had just acquired Oregon's
18 other big corporate owned utilty .. surprise,
19 surprise.. PacifiCorp. Both wanted to profit off
20 taxes.
21 He goes on to say.. and i on~ wil
22 take about another minute. He goes on to say that
23 Buffet is a master at delaying payment of taxes. Not
24 for a little while, but for a generation. His
25 MidAmerican Energy Company owns electric and national
_ SHEET 3 PAGE 9
1 From .. according to Mr. Johnston, my
2 understanding is that most state regulators let the
3 utilities sell bonds so they can immediately pocket
4 the cash value of their plants, and then in addition
5 to that, they add interest to have those bonds
6 repaid. In my mind, that's forcing utility customers
7 to pay for the plant twice.
8 And paying twice for the power plants is
9 not the only way that utility customers are forced to
10 double up on their cross. Electric utilty customers
11 pay taxes that are embedded in the rates we pay
12 because utilties are legal monopolies. They must
13 recover all their costs from customers ranging from
14 the price of fuel and the chief executive's expense
15 account, lunches to income taxes on profis.
16 However, these taxes do not always make
17 it to the government. However, when state utilty
18 boards set electric rates, they assume that the
19 utilty wil file its own tax return, but often when
20 the utility has a corporate parent, as is the case
21 with Rocky Mountain Power. The parent files the tax
22 return, and the parent may not pay any taxes. Vlen
23 that happens, the utility and its parent companies
24 have a free lunch at the expense of their customers,
25 namely, me.
= PAGE 10
1 The system allows these corporate
2 parents of utilties to pocket taxes .. the system
3 that allows corporate parents of utilties to pocket
4 taxes has many defenders. Paul Jaskow from MIT said,
5 "For the customer, the result is the same." He meant
6 that if utilities filed their own taxes and paid the
7 taxes, their rates would be the same as when they
8 passed the taxes on to the corporate parents.
9 However, Mike Hatch, Minnesota Attorney
10 General, said that Jaskow's argument was hollow.
11 Essentially, utility ratepayers pay tax twice; once
12 when we pay the utility bil, and again through the
13 lost revenue to the government. That means either
14 higher taxes for them or fewer government services.
15 The law says that utilities are entitled
16 to a just and reasonable return, but when they don't
17 pay taxes, they are earning an unjust and unreasonable
18 rate of return because those taxes add to their
19 profis.
20 The champion of pocketing taxes .. and
21 this is very interesting, and that's why i came
22 tonight. According to Mr. Johnston, the champion of
23 pocketing taxes is Portland General Electric. From
24 the years 1997 to 2004 when it was the only operating
25 business owned by Enron, Oregon residents, for
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= PAGE 12
1. gas utilities with operations from Oregon and Utah
2 through Iowa and east of Britain. It paid just 4
3 percent of its American profits in federal corporate
4 taxes and income .. in federal corporate income taxes
5 in 2006, far less than most Americans paid on their
6 incomes. And I might add, as little money as I make,
7 I paid more than that too. On ~s overseas profits,
8 MidAmerican paid 21 percent tax.
9 MidAmerican wil have to pay the rest of
10 his American taxes, but not for a long time. It
11 deferred $666 millon in taxes just in 2007. In 2035
12 it wil have to payoff just half of those taxes. A
13 tax not paid today but in the distant future is like
14 getting an interest free loan from the government,
15 which is to say that the rest of the taxpayers .. from
16 the rest of the taxpayers.
17 Imagine how rich I would be if I had
18 bought a house 28 years ago on an interest free loan
19 and only now had to pay the price I agreed to pay 28
20 years ago instead of what it's worth now. Like
21 Buffet, I would be rich.
22 Vlen the government finally gets those
23 taxes from Mr. Buffet's company, it wil get about
24 40 cents on the dollar. The taxpayer wil have to
25 make up for those missing 60 cents or so through
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PUBLIC HEARG - 12114/2010
ROCKY MOUNTAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG, IDAHO
PAGE 15
1 is a 14 percent increase in our rates justified based
2 on their current financial statements?
3 Over the next .. today in a meeting in
4 Idaho Falls, I asked Rich Walje, the CEO of Rocky
5 Mountain Power, when they would .. if they get this
6 increase when they would approach the public utilities
7 commission again for future increases. He said that
8 they would approach again next year and over the next
9 ten years at this rate, increasing our power rates to
10 the tune of 80 percent over the next ten years.
11 The question becomes .. one of the
12 things that they stated today in Idaho Falls is
13 they're in the interest of building and developing
14 business. An 80 percent increase discourages business
15 coming to our area.
16 We've been noted in this area for our
17 low power rates, and it has encouraged business to
18 come to Idaho. I think this wil discourage business
19 from coming to Idaho, and we need it here in Rexburg
20 to strengthen the economy, to strengthen the
21 university, and our growth wil be limited by that.
22 So wil the other businesses around the region.
23 We would ask that the public utilties
24 commission consider increases, but to be in line with
25 current inflation and the current economic
_ SHEET 4 PAGE 13
1 higher taxes, fewer service, or interest payments or
2 more government debt. Thank you.
3 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Let's see if there
4 are any questions. Any questions ..
5 MR. SOLANDER: Could you just tell us ..
6 COMMISSIONER SMITH: .. Mr Solander?
7 MR. SOLANDER: I'm sorry. Thank you.
8 Could you tell us the author and the
9 title of that book that you were reading from?
10 MR. RANDALL: I did. The author is the
11 Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Cay Johnston,
12 D.A.V.I.D, C.A.Y, J-O.H.N.S.T.O.N, and the name of the
13 book, appropriately enough, is "Free Lunch."
14 MR. SOLANDER: That's alii have.
15 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: Any questions,
16 Mr. Price?
17 MR. PRICE: I don't have any questions.
18 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Questions from the
19 commission?
20 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: No questions.
21 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: I don't have any
22 questions. ..
23 COMMISSIONER SMITH: All right. Thank
24 you, Mr. Randall. We appreciate you coming.
25 MR. RANDALL: Thank you .
¡= PAGE 14
COMMISSIONER SMITH: Mark Albertson.
2 MR. ALBERTSON: You know, I don't want
3 to say anything yet.
4 COMMISSIONER SMITH: All right.
5 wayne.. excuse me .. wayne Clark.
6 WAYNE CLARK WAS FIRST DULY SWORN
7 MR. PRICE: Go ahead and state ..
8 MR. CLARK: wayne Clark, representing
9 BYU.ldaho.
10 MR. PRICE: Can you spell your name for
11 the record, please?
12 MR. CLARK: W.A.Y.N.E, C.L.A.R.K.
13 MR. PRICE: And could you state your
14 mailing address?
15 MR. CLARK: 525 South Center Street,
16 Rexburg, Idaho.
17 MR. PRICE: Thank you. Go ahead.
18 MR. CLARK: Okay. I come tonight
19 representing Brigham Young University.ldaho. We have
20 a concern being one of the larger power users with
21 Rocky Mountain Power. I'LL ask questions that you can
22 answer later. I'm just presenting these questions.
23 Has the Public Utilities Commission
24 reviewed the financial statements of Rocky Mountain
25 Power/PacifiCorp? And the basis of that question is,
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¡= PAGE 16
1 standards ..or the current economic condition that
2 we're in. And a 14 percent increase is not in line
3 with the conditions of the economy and where we're at
4 today. That's alii have to say. Thank you.
5 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Let's see if there
6 are questions. Any questions?
7 MR. SOLANDER: No, thank you.
8 MR. PRICE: No questions.
9 COMMISSIONER SMITH: From the
10 commission?
11 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: No.
12 MR. CLARK: Thank you.
13 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you for your
14 statement, Mr. Clark.
15 Mr. Albertson, not yet?
16 Rich Ballou.
17 RICH BALLOU WAS FIRST DULY SWORN
18 MR. BALLOU: My name is Rich Ballou, and
19 I live at 536 Maple Drive here in Rexburg. I'm also
20 president elect of the Rexburg Area Chamber of
21 Commerce, which represents many, if not most, ofthe
22 businesses in the Rexburg area.
23 And first of all, I'd like to thank you
24 for coming to Rexburg and letting us have an
25 opportunity to address you about this issue. We
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ROCKY MOUNTAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
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= PAGE 19
1 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Do you just have
2 one copy?
3 MR. CONRAD: Yeah, I have one copy.
4 COMMISSIONER SMITH: The court reporter.
5 MR. PRICE: Okay. Thank you.
6 ERIC CONRAD WAS FIRST DULY SWORN
7 MR. CONRAD: My name is Eric Conrad.
8 I'm also representing BYU.ldaho. wayne Clark is the
9 managing director .. you need an address. 525 South
10 Center Street.
11 MR. PRICE: Thank you. In Rexburg?
12 MR. CONRAD: Rexburg, Idaho. Yeah.
13 Wayne Clark, who spoke earlier, is the
14 managing director, and I'm the director of facilties
15 management responsible for the utilty budget at
16 BYU.ldaho.
17 One of the things that I just wanted to
18 kind of outline for you, we are under continued growth
19 at the university. We currently spend about
20 $3 millon a year in utilities. Of that, about $1.5
21 millon is in electric from Rocky Mountain Power. So
22 if you take a 14 percent plus .. because it's 14 to 18
23 percent is our understanding on the large industrial
24 users.. that's about 220,000 a year.
25 Now, that's just in year one. Right?
_ SHEET 5 PAGE 17
1 appreciate your presence in our great city.
2 Like all businesses, the businèsses in
3 Rexburg or businesses in the area .. like all
4 businesses in the area, the Rexburg businesses have
5 struggled through the economy, and we could, like most
6 businesses, probably claim povert as a reason for not
7 wanting a rate increase.
8 But in a discussion in our chamber board
9 meeting this morning, we have no problem if rate
10 increases are reflective of the economy, of the
11 market, and they're reasonable. But we feel that what
12 we've heard is an increase of 10 to 14 percent
13 definitely is not reasonable, and it's not market
14 driven.
15 And from what we understand, it is, in
16 many respects, funding infrastructure needs of other
17 states and are not reflective of the needs, the load
18 capacity, the infrastructure needs of Idaho and, of
19 course, the Rexburg area.
20 We've also heard that the rates of
21 return on investments in this project are up above 10
22 percent, which definitely, in our opinion, doesn't
23 reflect the current market, and we feel that's
24 unreasonable.
25 we feel it's reasonable to take a look
_ PAGE 18
1 at the numbers and make sure that they're market
2 driven, they're in line with current market
3 conditions, but that standard needs to be strictly
4 followed, especially in light of today's èurrent
5 market and the economy. For many businesses, an
6 increase of this nature could be a tipping point for
7 them.
8 That really.. I think it falls in your
9 laps to make sure that that fact is carefully
10 considered in making any kind of a decision. And
11 that's alii have to say. Thanks.
12 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Are there any
13 questions?
14 MR. SOLANDER: No, thank you.
15 MR. PRICE: No questions.
16 COMMISSIONER SMITH: From the
17 commission?
18 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: No.
19 MR. BALLOU: Thank you so much.
20 COMMISSIONER SMITH: All right. Thank
21 you very much for coming forward.
22 Eric Conrad.
23 MR. CONRAD: Can I submit this to you?
24 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Yes.
25 MR. CONRAD: Okay. VVo do I give it to?
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= PAGE 20
1 Yòu take that over five years and out further, that's
2 a $1.1 millon increase over five years just with this
3 years increase. Obviously we're going to have
4 increases in years one through five and who knows how
5 long.
6 But one of the things that we have at
7 the university .. we have several goals that we're
8 trying to do. And one of the values is actually
9 providing an education for students when value is kind
10 of a piece of cost as well as great learning
11 environments.
12 So we can do what we can with learning
13 environments, but one way that we've been controllng
14 the cost .. and this is one of the things I'd like to
15 bring forward to you .. is that we feel that there are
16 some industries, specifically some colleges and
17 specifically ours, that have spent a lot of money in
18 capital, millons and milions of dollars in capital
19 to be energy effcient.
20 We've done this to help out the
21 community, to help out Rocky Mountain Power, by
22 allowing them to have excess capacity to be able to
23 use that on other developments because we've heard
24 they don't have the capacity. We've invested that
25 money but are being treated just the same as every
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ROCKY MOUNTAI CHANGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG, IDAHO
= PAGE 23
1 that we'd also like to be able to see, which may be
2 somewhere, or it's on your website and we haven't
3 found it, is how that 10 or 14 percent .. there's
4 different rate increases obvious~ for the type of
5 users.. how that's calculated.
6 So in my background at least, the cost
7 of capital was always the starting place to figure out
8 what our profit would be. We have multimillon dollar
9 projects that are done on campus. I don't know if
10 you've been to Rexburg and seen some of the facilties
11 we've built. There are millons upon millons of
12 dollars.
13 Our contractors are under a 2 to 3
14 percent profi margin, so when we hear that Rocky
15 Mountain Power needs to.. you know, they're
16 guaranteed some profit, we get that. But how come in
17 this state of economy we have large contractors
18 dealing with large capital amounts making 2 to 3
19 percent, but yet Rocky Mountain Power needs to make
20 three or four times that or more, depending on the
21 industrial user?
22 There's some other questions around the
23 Gateway transmission line. We understand .. and both
24 wayne and i questioned Rocky Mountain Power today on
25 that. And we understand that our share, Idaho's
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= SHEET 6 PAGE 21
1 other user that hasn't done anything.
2 We've gone through the university. And
3 I would, you know, question if there's any company in
4 Idaho that has no more magnetic ballasts. The old F32
5 lights, you kind of hear about that in the school
6 districts now, that that's cutting edge. We've gone
7 to F28s and T8s and T5s. We've done everything we can
8 on lighting.
9 Over motor controls or VFDs, variable
10 frequency drives. We have high effciency chilers.
11 We've gone through and we built a sustainability plan
12 that encompasses all of our energy. And in the last
13 ten years .. this is just for water consumption ..
14 we've increased no water, and we've done similar
15 measures on the electrical side.
16 But when you give a rate increase across
17 the board, you're not considering any of that.
18 So we propose that there at least be
19 some type of a managed scale that would take that into
20 consideration, especially as other states have put
21 together green mandates .. we realize Idaho doesn't
22 have a green mandate yet, but it could be in the
23 future.. that we do get credit for some of those
24 things that we've done, because many of these things
25 have a long payback.
¡= PAGE 22
1 Lastly, just a few questions. I need to
2 probably give you some of my background. Before I
3 came to BYU.ldaho, I was the managing director for CB
4 Richard Ells. It's the largest commercial real
5 estate company in the world. At that time I managed
6 3,000 banks and an $800 millon budget with 52 millon
7 alone in utilities.
8 i spent about eight years of my career
9 there, back from '99 through 2007, dealing with all
10 the utilty deregulation. And one of the things that
11 I would come up w~h in every state .. and we realize
12 that Idaho has a low rate. But just because you have
13 a low rate doesn't mean that the rate needs to be
14 higher.
15 One thing that I realized is that often
16 times companies did not take into consideration the
17 cost of capitaL. So that's one thing. As we've tried
18 to peruse Rocky Mountain's information, we can't find
19 a place that talks about their cost of capitaL.
20 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Really? Huh.
21 MR. CONRAD: Yeah.
22 So now one of the other things is that
23 when we say we've looked through this, my main job
24 isn't a rate person. My job isn't to go through 50
25 pages of rate filings. i can't do that. So something
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PAGE 24
1 share, is 6 percent, but what's not clear is, is that
2 transmission power just going across state lines and
3 we're responsible for 6 percent?
4 It's our understanding that it's going
5 to connect to a national connection so that they can
6 sell it to others, which they're more than willng to
7 do. But it seems like those that are going to be
8 receiving the power should be paying for it, not just
9 the fact that 6 percent of the revenue is generated
10 from Idaho.
11 And those are based on the information I
12 have. I would be fine to be disputed if I don't
13 understand that correctly.
14 And then finally, I think it should be
15 noted that Rocky Mountain Power has been a good
16 partner to work with. We have received a number of
17 rebates from them. But I think what.. it's been
18 probably close to a hundred thousand dollars in
19 rebates. But what's not seen is that it took .. you
20 know, it takes $10 millon to receive a hundred
21 thousand dollars. That's probably not the greatest
22 deaL. But ~'s out there, and it has been helpful to
23 us.
24 So I'd like to thank you for your time.
25 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Let's see if there
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~ SHEET 7 PAGE 25
1 are any questions. Mr. Solander.
2 MR. SOLANDER: Could you just briefly
3 describe the document that you gave to the court
4 reporter?
5 MR. CONRAD: Yeah, sure. I just broke
6 it out. Background on BYU.ldaho. I talked about the
7 fact that it's 2.7 millon square feet. Currently,
8 we're at 7 megawatts and growing. I just put together
9 a position statement of kind of how BYU.ldaho sees
10 this, and then I broke it out into some questions that
11 we'd like to see answered.
12 COMMISSIONER SMITH: We can see that
13 copies get distributed.
14 MR. SOLANDER: Sure.
15 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Questions,
16 Mr. Price?
17 MR. PRICE: I just have one question.
18 Does the college have access to Recovery
19 Act funds that you're aware of?
20 MR. CONRAD: Typically we don't
21 Because those are, in my understanding, typically used
22 for federal and state.based institutions.
23 MR. PRICE: Okay.
24 MR. CONRAD: And I don't know if I can
25 ask questions to clarify, but that's my understanding.
r= PAGE 26
1 MR. PRICE: If you're not aware of any,
2 that's fine.
3 MR. CONRAD: Yeah.
4 COMMISSIONER SMITH: From the
5 commission?
6 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: No.
7 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: No.
8 MR. CONRAD: Thank you.
9 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Nor i.
10 But I would volunteer, the company would
11 probably be happy to provide you any and all
12 information that you could possib~ want about their
13 request for return on equity.
14 MR. CONRAD: Yeah. In summary format or
15 in 500 pages? Because I don't have time to read 500
16 pages.
17 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Well, you could get
18 what we got, seven 4-inch, 3.ring binders.
19 MR. WESTON: There's some testimony
20 of..
21 MR. CONRAD: And that's just one part.
22 MR. WESTON: .. Mr. Bruce Willams.
23 It's about 25 pages and ..
24 COMMISSIONER SMITH: So anyway, you guys
25 can work that out later.
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MR. CONRAD: Okay.
2 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you very
3 much.
4 Mr. Douglas Hancey.
5 MR. HANCEY: Pass.
6 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Pass? Did I get
7 that correct?
8 MR. HANCEY: That's all right. I'LL
9 pass.
10 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Okay. That brings
11 us back to you, Mr. Albertson.
12 MR. ALBERTSON: Yeah, I've got one
13 question.
14 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Well, we're not
15 here to answer questions, but we'd ..
16 MR. ALBERTSON: Well, I just want you to
17 think about it hypothetically.
18 COMMISSIONER SMITH: ..Iove to hear
19 your statement if you would come up and just state
20 your name and spell it so the court reporter has it
21 correctly.
22 MARK ALBERTSON WAS FIRST DULY SWORN
23 MR. ALBERTSON: Mark Albertson.
24 3362 East 155 North, Rigby, Idaho 83442.
25 And I would just ask the commission to
i= PAGE 28
1 think about this yourself. If you have stacks and
2 stacks of three.ring binders of their information, has
3 that been gone through to where you could make a
4 decision whether or not they warrant this type of a
5 rate increase?
6 COMMISSIONER SMITH: In excruciating
7 detaiL.
8 MR. ALBERTSON: I would hope so.
9 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you.
10 well, that brings us to the end of the
11 people who actually signed up on sheets, but if there
12 are those in the audience who have a statement and
13 they'd like to share it with us, we'd be happy to have
14 you come forward at this time.
15 Yes, sir, please do.
16 STEPHEN ZOLLINGER WAS FIRST DULY SWORN
17 MR. ZOLLINGER: Stephen Zollnger,
18 S.T.E.P.H.E.N, Z.O.L.L.I.N.G.E.R, and I am
19 representing the City of Rexburg. I'm their legal
20 counsel, but I'm not here as their legal counseL.
21 The concern that Rexburg has with this
22 particular request from Rocky Mountain Power is simply
23 a concern as to .. it mirrors what the university has
24 stated, the cost of the transmission lines that are
25 apparently driving the majority.
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= PAGE 31
1 are ready to start construction can't receive power
2 unless they invest a millon dollars, or approximately
3 a millon dollars, of their own capital, private
4 capital, to bring lines to residential users because
5 we're not at the right point in their time of their
6 development.
7 To me and to the City of Rexburg, that
8 seems to beg the question of prudent decision-making
9 if we just dumped bilions into a transmission line
10 and we can't distribute it inside the city .. the
11 state of Idaho. Thank you.
12 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Are there any
13 questions?
14 MR. SOLANDER: No questions.
15 MR. PRICE: No questions.
16 COMMISSIONER SMITH: From the
17 commission?
18 I'd just note .. Commissioner Kempton.
19 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Mine is real
20 quick. What's your position again with the City of
21 Rexburg?
22 MR. ZOLLINGER: I happen to be the
23 city's attorney.
24 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: All right. Thank
25 you.
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_ SHEET 8 PAGE 29
1 I believe the president said 75 percent
2 of their increase was being driven by capital
3 investments. And the City's concern is are we
4 keeping.. A, is an overbuild of the magnitude that
5 has been recently accomplished by Rocky Mountain Power
6 prudent? Which is, I believe, the standard that
7 they're supposed to be held to. Is a ten.fold or a
8 five.fold ..1 don't know the statistics of how much
9 the Gateway project created in overbuild, and if it is
10 a ten.fold overbuild, is it prudent in these economic
11 times to be building ten times the capacity that's
12 necessary?
13 And secondly, a concern on the part of
14 the City as to whether distribution needs are
15 receiving the same fair .. the same equitable
16 consideration by Rocky Mountain Power. We know for a
17 fact that in the City of Rexburg distribution is
18 inadequate in certain areas of the community that are
19 attempting to grow.
20 Brigham Young University.ldaho, as an
21 example, has been .. has reached the capacity of what
22 they're capable of doing on their immediate perimeter
23 unless.. because they come from their own substation,
24 they can continue to expand, as I understand it. But
25 none of the city areas immediately adjacent to the
,. PAGE 30
1 campus.. or a number of the city areas adjacent to
2 the campus are already beyond their capacities.
3 And it's not transmission that we need.
4 They can bring all the power in the world to Rexburg
5 because they just built a very large transmission
6 facility. They can't distribute it to the appropriate
7 locations.
8 And so the concern would be, if we're
9 looking at prudent, and if as a company on a whole
10 they're charged and you as the public utility
11 commission are responsible for ensuring that they
12 exercise prudent decision.making, is building ten.fold
13 the capacity of bringing power, which we already have
14 suffcient, into the state or taking it out of the
15 state, does that remain prudent if they can't
16 distribute it to the customers that you're charged
17 with protecting?
18 The customers .. if the customers can't
19 get the power, it doesn't matter how much power they
20 can bring in.
21 And that's the concern that the City of
22 Rexburg has. We are being told by Utah Power .. or
23 Rocky Mountain .. sorry .. by Rocky Mountain Power
24 that currently they cannot distribute the power to the
25 customers that we want to be served. Customers that
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po PAGE 32
1 COMMISSIONER SMITH: And I thank you for
2 bringing that to our attention, and i think we wil
3 have someone look into the circumstance because one of
4 the statutory obligations of the utility is to provide
5 adequate service, which means that people get service.
6 MR. ZOLLINGER: And we don't want the
7 commission to misunderstand. We, as does BYU.ldaho,
8 considers Utah.. sorry. I'm too old. I've lived my
9 whole life in this area.
10 We consider Rocky Mountain Power to be
11 an excellent service provider to the extent that they
12 provide the service. we have only recently, as a
13 result of the rapid growth in this particular area in
14 Southeast Idaho .. we've surpassed anything that they
15 predicted, and we simply find ourselves in a
16 circumstance where our economic development is now
17 being thwarted by their inabilty to distribute the
18 power that they have now. Thank you.
19 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Let me just ask
20 Mr. Weston to get back to us on that.
21 Is there anyone else who would like to
22 come forward and make a statement?
23 DONNA BENFIELD WAS FIRST DULY SWORN
24 MS. BENFIELD: My name is Donna
25 Benfield i and I'm the executive director of the
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PAGE 35
1 have to worry about my area businesses. I would be
2 honest with you and tell you there are very few tools
3 as an economic director that i can take to businesses
4 to try to get them to locate into Rexburg. And the
5 low cost of doing .. of energy is one of those tools i
6 have, and as those rates go up, it becomes harder and
7 harder for me to compare our low cost.
8 i believe that Congress and our President
9 have heard from the taxpayers over and over that we
10 can't afford higher taxes in these hard economic
11 times. We don't want to think of this as a tax, but a
12 rate increase affects mom.and.pop shops just like
13 higher taxes.
14 I'd like you to think of our main street
15 businesses, not only in Rexburg but also the other
16 small communities around here. We want to pay our
17 fair share. There's no question about that. We're
18 not saying we don't want a rate increase. We just
19 want a fair share rate increase.
20 And as I summed it up in my own mind, I
21 just thought, I hope that you wil take these thoughts
22 into consideration when deciding when is the right
23 time and what is the right amount. Thank you.
24 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Do we have any
25 questions?
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¡- SHEET 9 PAGE 33
1 Rexburg Area Chamber of Commerce.
2 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Could you spell
3 your last name?
4 MS. BENFIELD: Yes. It's
5 B.E.N.F.I.E.L.D.
6 COMMISSIONER SMITH: And a mailing
7 address?
8 MS. BENFIELD: A mailing address.
9 127 East Main Street, Rexburg.
10 Okay. And if I could, I would like to
11 offcially read the statement from the chamber, and
12 then I would like to also add a couple comments
13 myself.
14 Thank you for taking public comment in
15 Rexburg on the proposed rate increase by Rocky
16 Mountain Power. The Rexburg Area Chamber of Commerce
17 represents over 400 local businesses. On behalf of
18 itself and its members, the Rexburg Area Chamber of
19 Commerce opposes the proposed rate increase.
20 The chamber understands that Rocky
21 Mountain Power is entitled to recoupe the costs of
22 doing business in Southeastern Idaho and that
23 occasionally rate increases are necessary. However,
24 the chamber is concerned that this rate wil have a
25 detrimental effect on area businesses that are already
_ PAGE 34
1 struggling with diffcult economies.
2 The Rexburg Chamber of Commerce opposes
3 any rate increase that is created by an unreasonable
4 fate of return and believes that it is reasonable to
5 adjust the rate of return to take into account the
6 general economic situation.
7 The Rexburg Area Chamber of Commerce is
8 also concerned that Rocky Mountain Power may be asking
9 Southeastern Idaho residents to pay for infrastructure
10 improvements that wil primarily benefit other parts
11 of the country, specifical~ transmission lines to the
12 West Coast.
13 We ask that the public utilities
14 commission deny the proposed rate. Thank you.
15 And that is our statement.
16 Now, if I could, I would like to say..
17 and I feel like this is a very hard thing to say
18 because we appreciate Rocky Mountain Power. We
19 appreciate you and what you do. It's not often that I
20 like to come to something like this and oppose
21 something. We're very optimistic about the growth in
22 Rexburg. We appreciate Rocky Mountain Power, and we
23 appreciate how they support our community. They have
24 local neighbors. They're neighborhood friends.
25 But speaking on behalf of the chamber, I
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1 MR.. SOLANDER: No questions.
2 MR. PRICE: I do have a question.
3 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Mr. Price.
4 MR. PRICE: Have you heard from any
5 perspective businesses that have not located to the
6 area because of utilty prices?
7 MS. BENFIELD: I would say not utilit
8 prices, but not having the proper utilities, yes.
9 We've had to turn down major businesses that want to
10 locate here but we don't have the proper utiltties.
11 I think we have faced unprecedented
12 economic growth in the last ten years in Rexburg, and
13 I don't .. it's not just Rocky Mountain Power but the
14 gas company. All of the utilties have not planned
15 for the infrastructure that has been needed in this
16 community, so those businesses that want to come now
17 and want to support the students that go to BYU-Idaho,
18 we can't provide those kind of jobs because we don't
19 have the infrastructure that we need.
20 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Would that be
21 Intermountain Gas?
22 MS. BENFIELD: Yes.
23 MR. PRICE: Could you give us an idea
24 how many businesses or what types of businesses?
25 MS. BENFIELD: Goodness. In the last
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1 Earlier today in Shelley I stated that to
2 the best of my knowledge one share of Berkshire
3 Hathaway stock was $125,00. It closed today at
4 $120,200 for one share. Berkshire Hathaway is
5 obviously the parent company to all of this, and the
6 chief executive officer is Warren Buffet. The 52 week
7 high is $140,710.50. The low is $97,20.
8 I think I said that within the context
9 that if this does .. if they get anywhere near their
10 proposed 13.7 percent rate hike that i was going to
11 buy, and I'm stil considering buying that stock and
12 getting in on it. Because, quite frankly, it isn't
13 justified what they're trying to do. In fact, no
14 increase is justified.
15 As far as the state of the economy, I
16 feel bad about the state of the economy. But as a
17 very brutal capitalist, I have to ask whether it is
18 justified on the merits or not. In other words,
19 everybody needs to be treated the same. I don't
20 believe in subsidies.
21 And I heard something about BYU.ldaho
22 today.. and I'm proud to say my daughter goes to
23 BYU.ldaho for at least another year .. that they have
24 invested in some measures for energy cost reduction.
25 As a homeowner, when we built our summer
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e= SHEET 10 PAGE 37
1. little while .. I know of two or three within the last
2 couple months. Major employers. Employers 200 plus,
3 200, 300, 400 employees. Vlich would be wonderful, a
4 wonderful benefit to Rexburg.
5 Our biggest export are our children. We
6 send them to school and teach them a lot of stuff, but
7 there's not a lot of jobs that they can stay around
8 for. So if we could bring some of those major
9 employers into the area, that would be great. It
10 would be great.
11 And like I said, there's not a lot of
12 tools in the toolbox. There's not a lot of things in
13 Idaho that we can offer people to move here, and low
14 cost of energy is one of the major things for them to
15 consider. It always has been.
16 MR. CONRAD: Can we make a statement on
17 gas? I know this is an electric meeting.
18 MR. PRICE: I didn't mean to open that
19 box.
20 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Probably it's not
21 fruitful to put it on the electric company's
22 transcript. But if you have concerns, get with Neil
23 or.. where did Curtis go? We have a .. he's right in
24 the back. He works in our consumer division at the
25 commission, and he'd be happy to talk you about your
_ PAGE 38
1 concerns with the gas company.
2 Thank you very much for your testimony.
3 We appreciate you coming forward.
4 MS. BENFIELD: Thank you.
5 COMMISSIONER SMITH: All right. Curtis,
6 are there any more sign.ups?
7 MR. THADEN: No, there are not.
8 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Okay. Mr. Baxter.
9 MR. BAXTER: Hi. Do you need me to
10 state my name and address?
11 COMMISSIONER SMITH: No. Actually,
12 you're already on the record because you testified
13 earlier this afternoon.
14 MR. BAXTER: I'm very well aware of
15 that, Madam Chairman.
16 COMMISSIONER SMITH: So do you have
17 anything different or additional?
18 MR. BAXTER: I do. I do.
19 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Okay.
20 MR. BAXTER: I'd like to revise some of
21 the statements that I made before.
22 COMMISSIONER SMITH: All right. Please
23 remember that you're stil under oath.
24 MR. BAXTER: Yes. I do remember that,
25 and even if I wasn't, I would stil tell the truth.
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1 place.. I admitted before that I'm a Nevada
2 resident. I just came back for the hearing .. i spent
3 more money for R33 insulation in the walls and in
4 excess of R50 in the ceilng. I also installed two
5 50.gallon hot water tanks with timers so that they
6 would run at night so that during the day we wouldn't
7 have to run our hot water tanks. And I paid extra for
8 a washing machine. I'm not sure about the dryer. I'd
9 have to ask my wife. I guess I'm a chauvinist. I'd
10 have to ask her. But I paid extra for appliances
11 that.. such as a dishwasher that could run at night
12 to save money.
13 So I think in the area of cost for energy
14 effciency, I'd like to think that we're all in the
15 same boat, and we should all be treated the same.
16 I think earlier today I talked about gas
17 at 2.69 a gallon. I can't remember if I did say that
18 two years ago I recall paying $4.59 cents a gallon for
19 gas. I think I did say something about the commodity
20 prices and identified myself as an energy investor.
21 Commodities are down. It's different
22 than what I said today, and that's one of the reasons
23 that I wanted to revise my comments. The last
24 energy.. or excuse me .. the last rate hike proposal
25 was from September 208. In July of 2008, natural gas
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1 think it was the 14th or maybe the 13th of October
2 that they actually did a counterproposal.
3 I'm stil concerned that we haven't had
4 a workshop to go over it .. oh. It was the 14th of
5 October.
6 And they have recommended to the
7 commissioners, who I understand wil make the
8 decision, 7.3 percent .. or excuse me .. a lower
9 increase of7.3 percent overall from 13.7. Despite
10 what some people might have heard today on Channel 8,
11 it's not 12.3 percent. They want 13.7.
12 I appreciate the fact that they want to
13 remove costs associated with Dunlap 1 Wind Project in
14 Wyoming until local customers are benefiting.
15 And I've done some more research, and
16 I'm even more convinced that there wil not be a
17 mandate coming for renewable energy. That would be
18 such as solar and wind power. . There wil not be a
19 federal mandate coming. It's not even going to be
20 voted on in the United States Senate, and, of course,
21 we don't have one in our state, as has been discussed
22 earlier today.
23 I deem myself somewhat knowledgeable in
24 the area of proposal evaluations and contract
25 negotiations, but I realized that when I did a lot of
r- SHEET 11 PAGE 41
1 was $11.32. I think that the unit of measurement is
2 BTU, but I think it's dollars per millon.
3 COMMISSIONER SMITH: MMBTU.
4 MR. BAXTER: Is that what it is?
5 Yeah. You know, as an investor you'd
6 think I'd know that, and I don" Sometimes I read
7 things that i don't understand, but these numbers that
8 I'm quoting are from the Department of Energy, and
9 they are the latest numbers.
10 In August of 2008, it was $8.34. In
11 September it was $6.72. Today the ending quote was
12 $4.25. Approximately a month and a half ago, it was
13 about $3.23 or somewhere in that neighborhood. And
14 the reason that it goes up is because of the increased
15 usage of natural gas in the winter. Obviously, not as
16 much is used in the summer.
17 But while natural gas is one of the two
18 major commodities that is used for energy..
19 electricity generation by Rocky Mountain Power, the
20 biggest one is coal, and coal hasn't really changed
21 here lately. It's stil $40 a short ton, to the best
22 of my knowledge. And it was at the time of the last
23 approved rate hike of 3.1 percent in September of
24 2008. At that time it was 61, i believe. Anyway,
25 it's way down.
i= PAGE 42
1 So that's the reason I'm asking. Why a
2 rate increase at all? I don't accept what I've heard
3 from a lot of people that there should be a rate
4 increase, and I also don't accept inflation as being a
5 factor, because I'm no longer paying $4.69 per gallon
6 of gas.
7 I believe that we're in a deflationary
8 cycle. My home in Nevada, in fact, at one time four
9 or five years ago, it was probably worth $600,000.
10 Today it's worth about 185,000. And something like
11 that is going on around here. I'm sure that my home
12 in Grant, Idaho, is not worth anywhere what it cost to
13 build.
14 So we're in a deflationary cycle, and
15 that's the reason the Federal Reserve has done some of
16 the things that it's done. And pumping all that money
17 into the economy, we don't have inflation yet. In
18 fact, they'd probab~ like to have a little bit.
19 I want to thank Idaho Public Utilities
20 Commission staff for their .. and this is something I
21 don't think i testified to before for sure .. for
22 their counterproposal. I first saw it on their
23 website under Hot Topics on November 10, 2010.
24 Apparently, it was from some time in October, but I
25 didn't know about ~ because I'm not clairvoyant. I
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1 that, I was a second lieutenant in the United States
2 Army, and it was ..1 want to say 30 years ago. It
3 could have been 40. I was going up against some
4 really.. some of the best in the nation, the best
5 that money could buy.
6 COMMISSIONER SMITH: I think we did hear
7 this before.
8 MR. BAXTER: Oh, did you? Well, then
9 I'LL.. okay. I'LL skip that.
10 They beat me, by the way. Did I admit
11 that they beat me?
12 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Yes.
13 M R. BAXTER: I did admit thatthey beat
14 the crap out of me and United States Army and the
15 taxpayers.
16 There's some gamesmanship going on.
17 We're going up against the very best negotiators in
18 the business. And for some reason .. I don't know
19 why.. it seems like we've been conditioned to accept
20 rate increases when they're not justified based on
21 commodity prices.
22 I also would like to thank the staff for
23 bringing to my attention something that I didn't
24 realize. The largest contributors to the proposed
25 increase in power supply are increasing coal costs and
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1 S.M.I.T.H. I live at 216 Mohawk in Rexburg.
2 And I am one of those small business
3 owners thatthey're talking about in Rexburg. I have
4 a trailer court that is 44 spaces, which doesn't seem
5 like a lot, but they are full of either retired people
6 or BYU couples.
7 The retired people that live there live
8 on fixed incomes, which are Social Security, which my
9 understanding is not going to be raised for a couple
10 of years.
11 i also have BYU students there that are
12 couples that do not have jobs here. So they live on
13 loans because there's not jobs available because ..
14 you've heard that testimony from Donna Benfield. So
15 they live on the loans that they have taken out from
16 the universities or other places.
17 i myself work in the school district. i
18 have received a 4 percent decrease in my pay this year
19 and wil do that again next year.
20 So i question. If Rocky Mountain Power
21 is going to have an increase, are they going to put
22 some of their capital that they gain back into our
23 school system or back into our infrastructure that we
24 can gain from that?
25 I understand that there should be an
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= SHEET 12 PAGE 45
1 replacement of older power supply contracts that had
2 lower prices with newer, higher.priced contracts.
3 Personally, i find that amazing, and I'm reading right
4 from their counterproposal, IPUC staffs
5 counterproposal. That just amazes me, because coal is
6 way down.
7 And by the way, the ratepayers .. to the
8 best of my knowledge, the ratepayers have already paid
9 for the mines, the coal mines, that Rocky Mountain
10 Power owns. And it sure seems to me that .. anyway,
11 that just doesn't make any sense. Just as a retired
12 businessman, I can't fathom how they could be paying
13 more for coal when coal prices are way down, when
14 they're $40 a short ton versus 61. You know, it
15 really makes me wonder if people all along the line
16 just aren't simply wetting their beak.
17 Thank you. I'd be willng to answer
18 questions.
19 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Are there any
20 questions for Mr. Baxter?
21 MR. SOLANDER: I appreciate the
22 compliment regarding our negotiating skils, but I
23 have no questions.
24 MR. BAXTER: You guys are good.
25 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Mr. Price?
¡= PAGE 46
1 MR. PRICE: No questions.
2 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: No questions.
3 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: No questions.
4 COMMISSIONER SMITH: I just would clear
5 up the percentage. The original proposed increase of
6 Rocky Mountain was 13.7 percent.
7 MR. BAXTER: That's what I said.
8 COMMISSIONER SMITH: They revised their
9 request in their rebuttal testimony to 12.3
10 MR. BAXTER: Oh.
11 COMMISSIONER SMITH: So perhaps that's
12 why you heard two different numbers.
13 MR. BAXTER: Thank you, ma'am. And
14 thank you.
15 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you,
16 Mr. Baxter.
17 MR. BAXTER: I stil don't want an
18 increase. It should be a decrease. But thank you,
19 ma'am.
20 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you.
21 Is there anyone else who wishes to make
22 a statement?
23 Yes. Please.
24 DEBRA SMITH WAS FIRST DULY SWORN
25 MS. SMITH: I am Debra, D.E.B.R.A,
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PAGE 48
1 increase, but if they increase, I increase. Then what
2 happens to my little Merlin that has been living on a
3 fixed income now and has a hard time paying his rent
4 and his light bil and his gas bil and his car
5 insurance? Then what do I tell him? And I become the
6 bad guy.
7 So is a rate increase really what is
8 needed? And I agree with Mr. Baxter. I think our
9 whole economy is not in an increase mode, and I think
10 our last record of voting as a nation proves that.
11 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you. Are
12 there any questions?
13 MR. SOLANDER: No questions.
14 MR. PRICE: No questions.
15 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: No questions.
16 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you very much
17 for coming forward.
18 Is there anyone else who would like to
19 make a statement?
20 Yes, sir.
21 RICHARD WOODLAND WAS FIRST DULY SWORN
22 MR. WOODLAND: My name is Richard
23 Woodland. I'm the mayor of Rexburg city, and I live
24 at 145 Crest View Drive, Rexburg, Idaho.
25 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Could you please
T&T REPORTING [phone]
PUBLIC HEARG - 12114/2010
ROCKY MOUNTAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG, IDAHO
= PAGE 51
1 And I respectfully say that. Rocky
2 Mountain Power has been a good neighbor. They are
3 good in the community. They help us whenever they
4 can, and we appreciate that. Thank you.
5 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Okay. Let's see if
6 there are any questions.
7 MR. SOLANDER: No, thank you.
8 MR. PRICE: No questions.
9 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: No.
10 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you, sir, for
11 your testimony. We appreciate your attendance
12 tonight.
13 Is there anyone -
14 MR. RANDALL: Could I just say one more
15 thing that's new and different from me?
16 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Just one second.
17 Were you coming forward, sir?
18 MR. ASHCRAFT: Yeah.
19 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Please.
20 BLAINE ASHCRAFT WAS FIRST DULY SWORN
21 MR. ASHCRAFT: Blaine Ashcraft.
22 3021 North 5000 East, Sugar City, Idaho.
23 MR. PRICE: Could you spell your name,
24 please?
25 MR. ASHCRAFT: B.L.A.I.N.E,
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_ SHEET 13 PAGE 49
1 spell your last name?
2 MR. WOODLAND: W.O.O.D.L.A.N.D.
3 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you.
4 MR. WOODLAND: Thank you. I would echo
5 some of the things that our chamber president has
6 mentioned.. not our chamber president .. but our
7 chamber executive director. We are in a tight in the
8 City of Rexburg.
9 We were able this year to award a
10 3.1 percent cost of living increase to our employees
11 because we were frugal, we managed our money well, and
12 we were able to do that. We're quite proud of that
13 actual~.
14 What I find diffcult to understand is
15 if we were able to do that 3.1 percent, if that was
16 the inflation rate, then what's the inflation rate for
17 Rocky Mountain Power and our gas company?
18 We do face problems with distribution
19 from our gas company and from Rocky Mountain Power.
20 We can't develop ourselves economically with the
21 constraints that we have on us at this time.
22 We lost .. well, we had opportunity to
23 try and attract a business that would have helped our
24 agricultural industry. They would have been making
25 paper products for culinary uses out of wheat straw
~ PAGE 50
1 and barley straw. We didn't have enough gas to do
2 that. Nor, as we find out, we .. also, we would have
3 had to pay a premium to get electricity to them. We
4 had to respectfully decline.
5 Another company that wanted to locate
6 here was a tire manufacturer. It would have given us
7 about 50 jobs. Again, we couldn't do that because we
8 don't have the gas. And I don't know what the
9 constraints on electricity would have been. It would
10 depend upon where they locate, but certainly we have
11 heard costs of a millon and more to bring those
12 businesses here.
13 We really need help. We need help from
14 you as our commission. And i don't want to beg, but
15 we need help. We need to keep these rates within
16 reason.
17 It seems strange to me, and it seems
18 almost offensive as we look at that transmission line
19 going down to Utah knowing that the power is going
20 that way. We have paid for our infrastructure. We
21 have paid for it with rate increases, we've paid for
22 it through the years with user fees, and now we're
23 asked to finance a unit that would take power to our
24 neighbors in the South and in the West. We feel it's
25 offensive.
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_ PAGE 52
1 A.S.H.C.R.A.F.T.
2 MR. PRICE: Thank you.
3 MR. ASHCRAFT: It seems that two year..
4 we accepted a power rate, a few increases, on our
5 farms a few years ago. Since Mr. Buffet has bought
6 Rocky Mountain Power there's, what, 40, 50 percent
7 already? If we take another and with what they're
8 asking for, we're going to be over 120 percent
9 increases in the cost of power.
10 Yes. On our farms, if we bow and turn
11 off the power during the day, they give us a rebate.
12 But at the same time, they're sellng that energy
13 somewhere else for more money while we do that.
14 Even though many of the farms in the
15 area are becoming as efficient with VFD drives and
16 other things to use as little as possible, it's
17 getting to be a larger and larger percentage of the
18 cost of raising our crops, and we're not consistently
19 making 10 percent profits or moreover.
20 And when I watch their employees come
21 out on the line, sit in their trucks for hours, coffee
22 breaks or whatever while they wait for.. they tell me
23 they're waiting for Salt Lake to do a transmission.
24 It seems there's many ineffciencies in the company.
25 They've got some great employees that
T&T REPORTING [phone]
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PUBLIC HEARG - 12/14/2010
ROCKY MOUNAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG, IDAHO
~ PAGE 55
1 Seeing no more witnesses to testify, the
2 hearing wil be adjourned for tonight and wil
3 reconvene tomorrow at 1 :30 in Grace, Idaho. Thank you
4 very much.
5 (Proceedings adjourned at 8:04 p.m.)
6 (Mr. Zollnger submitted his address to
7 the court reporter as 35 North 1 st East, Rexburg,
8 Idaho.)
9
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_ SHEET 14 PAGE 53
1 work hard, but at the same token, we take notice of
2 the time that .. when they remove a line or
3 something.. that they sit in their truck for an hour,
4 take a lunch break for an hour, and by 3 o'clock
5 they're on their way back to town. Where did the
6 eight.hour day go? And I watch that on my own
7 property.
8 And I think that it's beginning to look
9 like we need to repeal the law that we made a few
10 years ago in the State of Idaho and allow competition
11 to come back, that they're taking advantage of the
12 fact that we no longer are able to create competition
13 in this industry. Thank you.
14 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Let's see if there
15 are any questions.
16 MR. SOLANDER: No questions.
17 MR. PRICE: No questions.
18 COMMISSIONER REDFORD: No.
19 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: No.
20 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you very
21 much, sir.
22 Mr. Randall, you had something to add to
23 your statement.
24 MR. RANDALL: I do. I think I
25 understood somebody to say here tonight that
.00000.
_ PAGE 54
1 75 percent of this 12.3 or 12.7 percent increase is
2 due to this line that goes south. And in my simple
3 mind, it's an absolute travesty if the commission
4 allows one red cent of the increase to be paid for on
5 a transmission line that goes out of the state of
6 Idaho. That makes absolutely no sense to me.
7 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Does that cover
8 it?
9 MR. RANDALL: Well, I better stop.
10 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Okay. You are
11 aware that electricity flows both directions on a
12 line, depending upon where the demand is, and that all
13 transmission lines are part of an interconnected
14 system.
15 MR. RANDALL: Yeah.
16 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Okay. Thank you.
17 Is there anyone else in the audience who
18 has a statement they would like to make at this time?
19 I don't think I see anyone else who is
20 interested in that, so that wil bring us to the close
21 of tonight's hearing.
22 We want to thank you all so much for
23 coming tonight. We appreciate your interest and your
24 comments, and like I say, they wil be part of our
25 transcript that the court reporter wil prepare.
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_ PAGE 56
REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
STATE OF IDAHO ss.
COUNTY OF BONNEVILLE
I, Crystal Hereford, CSR and Notary Public, in and
for the State of Idaho, do hereby certify:
That said public hearing was taken down by me in
shorthand at the time and place therein named andthereafter reduced to typewriting under my direction, and
that the foregoing transcript contains a full, true, and
accurate record of said deposition.
I further certify that I have no interest in the
event of the action.
WITNESS my hand and seal this 28th day ofDecember 2010.
Crystal Hereford, RPR
Idaho CSR No. SRT-937
Notary Public in and for
the State of Idaho
My commssion expires: 02-28-2014
[phone]T&TREPORTING
,
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Sheet 1
PUBLIC HEARG - 12114/2010
ROCKY MOUNTAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG IDAHO
ww.TandTReporting.com T&TREPORTING [phone]
$1.1 - buffet's
,
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certainly (1)60:10 18,20,24 19:1,4 22:20 24:continue (1)29:24 date (2)7:22,23 49:18chairman (2)4:938:15 2525:12,1526:4,6,7,9,17,continued (1)19:18 daughter (1)39:22 district (2 5:8 47:17chairwoman (1)8:2 24 27:2,6,10,14,18 28:6,9 contract (1)43:24 david (2)8:25 13:11 districts (1)21:6chamber (14)16:20 17:8 31:12,16,18,19,2432:1,19 contractors (2)23:13,17 day (3)40:662:11 63:6 division (1)37:2433:1,11,16,18,20,2434:2,33:2,635:2436:3,2037:contracts (2) 45:1,2 deal (1)24:22 document (1)26:37,2549:5,6,7 2038:5,8,11,16,19,2241:contributors (1)44:24 dealing (2)22:923:18 doing (4)4:629:2233:22champion (2)10:20,22 3 44:6,1245: 19,2546:2,3,controllng (1)20:13 debra (2)46:24,25 35:5changed (1)41:20 4,8,11,15,20 48:11 ,15,16,controls (1)21:9 debt (1)13:2 dollar (2)12:2423:8
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Sheet 2
PUBLIC HEARG - 12114/2010
ROCKY MOUNTAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG IDAHO
ww.TandTReporting.com T&T REPORTING [phone]
build - dollar
,
dollars (7 20:18 23:12 24:encompasses (1)21:12 fathom (1)45:12 gamesmanship (1)44:hearing (9)4:3,105:7,7,
18,21 31:2,341:2 encouraged (1)15:17 federal (5)12:3,4 25:22 42:16 18 7:23 40:2 54:21 55:2
done (9)20:2021:1,7,14,end (1)28:10 1543:19 gas (16)12:1 36:14,21 37:held (1)29:7
2423:942:15,1643:15 ending (1)41:11 feel (7 17:11,23,2520:15 1738:140:16,19,2541:15,help (6)20:20,2150:13,13,
donna (3)32:23,2447:14 energy (13) 11:2520:19 34:1739:1650:24 1742:648:449:17,1950:1551:3
door (2 6:14 7:6 21:1235:537:1439:2440:fees (1)50:22 1,8 helped (1) 49:23
double (1)9:10 13,20,2441:8,1843:1752:feet (1)25:7 gateway (2) 23:23 29:9 helpful (1) 24:22
douglas (1)27:4 12 few (5)22:1 35:252:4,553:gave (1)25:3 hi (1)38:9
down (7 5:11 36:940:21 enough (2)13:1350:1 9 ge (3)11:2,9,16 high (2)21:1039:7
41:2545:6,1350:19 enron (2)10:2511:6 fewer (2) 10:1413:1 general (4)5:2 10:10,23 higher (5)10:1413:1 22:
drive (2) 16:1948:24 ensuring (1)30:11 fight (1) 11:16 34:6 1435:10,13
driven (3)17:1418:229:2 entitled (2)10:1533:21 figure (1) 23:7 generated (1)24:9 higher-priced (1)45:2
drives (2) 21:1052:15 environments (2)20:11,file (2) 9:1911:4 generation (2 11 :24 41:hike (3)39:1040:2441:23
driving (1)28:25 13 filed (2) 10:6 11:6 19 hil (2)8:7,9
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19:627:2228:1632:2346:especially (2)18:421:20 finally (2)12:22 24:14 17 honest (1)35:2
2448:2151:20 essentially (1)10:11 finance (1)50:23 give (6)7:718:2521:1622:hope (2)28:8 35:21
dumped (1)31:9 estate (1)22:5 financial (2)14:24 15:2 236:2352:11 hot (3)40:5,742:23
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E 14 fine (2)24:1226:2 goals (1)20:7 house (1)12:18
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economic (8)15:25 16:1 excuse (3)14:5 40:2443:flows (1)54:11 greatest (1)24:21 1615:4,12,18,1917:1819:
29:1032:1634:635:3,10 8 followed (1)18:4 green (2)21:21,22 1221:4,21 22:1224:1027:
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eight-hour (1)53:6 128s (1)21:7 frequency (1)21:10 hancey (3)27:4,5,8 inabilty (1)32:17
either (3)7:14 10:1347:5 f32 (1)21:4 friends (1)34:24 happen (1)31:22 inadequate (1)29:18
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elected (1)8:3 faced (1)36:11 fruitful (1)37:21 happy (3)26:11 28:1337:448:3
election (1)8:8 facilties (2)19:1423:10 fuel (1)9:14 25 incomes (2J 12:6 47:8
electric (9)4:79:10,1810:facilty (1)30:6 full (1147:5 hard (5)11:1134:1735:10 increase (35) 5:2415:1,6,
2311:2,2519:21 37:17,21 fact (9)18:9 24:9 25:7 29:funding (1117:16 48:353:1 1416:217:7,1218:620:2,
electrical (1)21:15 1739:1342:8,1843:1253:funds (1) 25:19 harder (2) 35:6,7 321:1628:529:233:15,
electricity (4)41:1950:3,12 further (2)4:520:1 hatch (1)10:9 1934:335:12,18,1939:14
954:11 factor (1)42:5 future (3)12:1315:721:hathaway (2)39:3,4 42:2,4 43:9 44:25 46:5,18
ellis (1) 22:4 fails (1)6:8 23 hear (5)4:1421:523:14 47:2148:1,1,1,7,949:10
embedded (2)9:1111:14 fair (3)29:1535:17,19 G 27:1844:6 54:1,4
employees (4) 37:3 49:10 falls (3115:4,12 18:8 heard (11)17:12,2020:23 increased (2)21:1441:14
52:20,25 far (2)12:539:15 gain (2) 47:22,24 35:9 36:4 39:21 42:243:increases (11)7:1 15:7,24
employers (3)37:2,2,9 farms (3)52:5,10,14 gallon (3)40:17,1842:5 1046:1247:1450:11 17:1020:423:433:2344:
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Sheet 3
PUBLIC HEARG - 12/14/2010
ROCKY MOUNTAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG IDAHO
ww.TandTReporting.com T&T REPORTING [phone]
dollars - increases
,
20 60:21 62:4,9 26:731:18,19,2446:363:long (3)12:1020:521:25 megawatts (1)26:8 name (16)4:9 7:6,9 8:14
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incurred (1)6:4 kind (6)18:1019:1820:9 look (4117:25 32:3 60:18 mentioned (1)49:6 727:2032:2433:338:10
industrial (2) 19:23 23:21 21:526:936:18 63:8 merits (26:1639:18 48:2249:1 61:23
industries (1)20:16 knowing (1)60:19 looked (1)22:23 merlin (1) 48:2 namely (1)9:25
industry (2) 49:2463:13 knowledge (3)39:241:22 looking (1)30:9 midamerican (3)11:25 nation (2)44:448:10
inefficiencies (1)62:24 46:8 lost (2)10:1349:22 12:8,9 national (2)11:2524:5
inflation (5) 16:2542:4,17 knowledgeable (1)43:23 lot (8)20:1737:6,7,11,12 might (2)12:643:10 natural (3)40:2541:15,17
49:16,16 knows (1) 20:4 42:343:2547:5 mike (1) 10:9 nature (1)18:6
information (76:10,188:L love (1)27:18 millon (14)11:1,812:11 near (1)39:9
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informational (1)6:13 ladies (114:3 5,737:1339:7 2026:731:2,341:260:11 23
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20 large (4)19:2323:17,18 lunches (1)9:15 mind (3)9:636:2064:3 15,1563:9
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installed (1)40:4 larger (3)14:20 62:17,17
M mines (2)46:9,9 needs (9)17:16,17,1818:3
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institutions (1)26:22 last (10)21:1233:336:12,ma'am (2)46:13,19 minute (1)11:22 19
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interest (7 6:25 9:5 12:14,lately (1)41:21 made (3)6:1938:21 63:9 mit (1)10:4 neighbor (1)61:2
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investment (1)6:6 legislature (1) 11:12 managed (3)21:1922:5 49:11 62:13 news (1)11:9
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J 23:2331:946:1560:1862:many (8) 10:416:21 17:16 21 11:414:21,2416:519:number (3)4:424:1630:121 63:2 64:2,5,12 18:521:2436:2462:14,24 2120:2123:15,19,2424:numbers (4)18:1 41:7,9
j-o-h-n-s-t-o-n (1)13:12 lines (5)24:228:2431:4 maple (1)16:19 15 28:22 29:5,16 30:23,23 46:12jaskow (1)10:4 34:1164:13 margin (1)23:14 32:1033:16,21 34:8,18,22 numerous (1)6:10
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jobs (5)36:1837:747:12,live (7 16:19 47:1 ,7,7,12,marsha (1)4:9 move (1)37:13 oath (2 7:8 38:23
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1844:20 loans (2)47:13,15 means (2)10:1332:5 multimillon (1)23:8 offensive (2)50:18,25
K local (3) 33:17 34:2443:14 meant (1)10:5 must (1)9:12 offer (1)37:13
locate (4)36:436:1060:5,measurement (1)41:1 myself (4)33:1340:2043:officer (1)39:6keep (1)50:15 10 measures (2)21:1539:24 2347:17 officially (1)33:11keeping (1)29:4 located (1)36:5 meeting (3)16:3 17:937:officials (1)8:3kempton (8)4:11 13:20 locations (1)30:7 17 N often (3)9:1922:1534:19
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I Sheet 4
PUBLIC HEARG - 12/14/2010
ROCKY MOUNTAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG IDAHO
ww.TandTReporting.com T&TREPORTING [phone]
increases - often
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Sheet 5
PUBLIC HEARG - 12114/2010
ROCKY MOUNTAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG IDAHO
ww.TandTReporting.com T&T REPORTING [phone]
okay - replacement
,
okay (13)14:1818:2519:5 pac-e-10-07 (1J4:5 plus (2) 19:22 37:2 property (1)53:7 8
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1944:951:554:10,16 pages (4)22:2526:15,16,pocketing (2)10:20,23 propose (1)21:18 1415:1,9,17 17:2035:6
old (2)21:432:8 23 point (2)18:631:5 proposed (6)33:15,1934:50:15
older (1)45:1 paid (14)10:611:1 12:2,5,portland (4) 10:2311:2,9,1439:1044:2446:5 reached (1)29:21
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I Sheet 6
PUBLIC HEARG - 12114/2010
ROCKY MOUNAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG IDAHO
ww.TandTReporting.com T&T REPORTING [phone]reporter - transmission
,
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Sheet 7
PUBLIC HEARG - 12114/2010
ROCKY MOUNAI CHAGES TO ELECTRIC SERVICE SCHEDULE
REXBURG IDAHO
ww.TandTReporting.com T&TREPORTING [phone]
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REPORTER'S CERTIFICATB
STATE OF IDAHO ss.
COUNTY OF BONNEVILLE
I, Crystal Hereford, CSR and Notary Public, in and
for the State of Idaho, do hereby certify:
That said public hearing was taken down by me in
shorthand at the time and place therein named and
thereafter reduced to typewriting under my direction, and
that the foregoing transcript contains a full, true, and
accura te record of said deposition.
I further certify that I have no interest in theevent of the action.
WITNESS my hand and seal this 28th day of
December 2010.
j\ '. -~,1l11 Lli_¿~ Heref~~~-
Idaho CSR No. SRT-937
Notary Public in and for
the State of Idaho
My commission expires:02-28-2014
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BYU
IDAHO
University Operations
224 Physical Plant. Rexburg, ID . 83460-8205 . Phone: [phone]
Public Utilities Commission Hearing :icembe~, 2010- ..r' --10 i;
r'ri:¿;': %(n(:~ ,
c,.,
DATE:
TOPIC:
PRESENTED BY:
12-14-2010
BYU-I Position Statement on RMP 2011 Rate Increase
Wayne Clark University Operations Managing Director
c1arkwlêbyui.edu
208-496-2510
Eric Conrad Facilities Management Director
conradelêbyui.edu
208-496-2512
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BACKGROUND on BYU-Idaho:
. Located in Rexburg Idaho, Madison County
. "'21,000 students served annually with "'1,000 students a year increase over the next 5 to 10
years.
· Largest employer in Rexburg and Madison County
. "'2.7 millon sq. feet and growing
. "'7 megawatts
POSITION STATEMENT:
BYU-Idaho's mission statement outlines several imperatives that we are striving to work on. One of
these includes providing a great value to students. This includes great education at the lowest cost
possible. We currently spend over $3 millon a year on utilities with $1.62 million or "'50% of our utility
expense with Rocky Mountain Power on electricity. If the 14+% increase is allowed we wil be spending
$226,800 a year more in year one and over $1.1 milion+ cumulative over the next 5 years if there are no
additional rate increases.
Rocky Mountain Power's rate increase has not taken into consideration the following items:
. Many large users have spent millons of dollars to upgrade our facilities to higher energy
efficient standards with long pay backs. We do save money incrementally, but this has freed up
capacity on transmission lines considerably that RMP has then resold to residential users for
higher fees.
. BYU-I's sustainability plan addresses how we use natural resources responsibly, namely by using
less. Our electrical reduction plans have incorporated everything from day light harvesting
techniques to VFD's and High Efficiency Chilers All lights are T-8, F28, or better, night set backs
are used in all facilities and a number of other innovative initiatives.
. BYU-I substation
. We have helped balance peak loads on RMP's system. This helps the peak rates we pay, but
mainly allows additional capacity on Rocky Mountain Power's system.
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Page 2
QUESTIONS:
. On campus we build multi-millon dollar projects that our contractors earn 2 to 3% profit on,
why is Rocky Mountain Power allowed to have 3 to 5 times this return?
. What is Rocky Mountain Power's cost of capital and how is that figured into their profit
modeling?
. We understand that Idaho is only being charged 6% of the Gateway west project, but why
should we be charged any? This transmission line is solely to connect to the National Grid.
. Rocky Mountain Power has invested their profits in their business over the past 4 years and as a
result did not pay dividends to their share holders. This is a solid and proven business model
that allows the company to grow, become more stable and in the end pay acceptable dividends
to the stock holders. This does not indicate cash flow problems, but rather good business
practices in tough economic times.
. Merchant Business vs. Regulatory is not clearly demarcated as Rocky Mountain Power proposes.
There are millions of dollars in soft costs, such as training, administration, benefits, etc. that can
and are spread across regulatory business lines. The inverse is true as well, but only rate
specialists can determine this, why make it so difficult to explain?
. Rocky Mountain Power has paid rebates to BYU-I, which we are greatly appreciative of, but at
what expense to us? Counter that with the benefit Rocky Mountain Power receives.
We appreciate the Public Utility Commission coming to SE Idaho to hear our concerns, both BYU-Idaho's
and those businesses we interact with in the area.
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Rexburg Area
Chamber of Commerce
i 27 East Main Street
Rexburg, Idaho 83440
Phone [phone]
Fax [phone]
Internet: ww.rexcc.com
Email: info&irexcc.com
SponSORS ot 'the Annaal
lòabo Irlten.na'tional
Dance anò Masic Fes'tival
14 December 2010
Dear Public Utilties Commission:
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IDAHO INT.. NATIONAL..........................................,....................
DANCI ¡ _UIIC ,IITIVAL,.c:..
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Thank you for taking public comment in Rexburg on the proposed rate increase by Rocky Mountain
Power. The Rexburg Area Chamber of Commerce represents over 400 local businesses. On behalf of
itself and its members, the Rexburg Area Chamber of Commerce opposes the proposed rate increase.
The Chamber understands that Rocky Mountain Power is entitled to recoup the costs of doing business
in southeastern Idaho and that that occasional rate increases are necessary. However, the Chamber is
concerned that this rate wil have a detrimental effect on area businesses that are already struggling
with the diffcult economy. The Rexburg Chamber of Commerce opposes any rate increase that is
created by an unreasonable "rate of return" and believes that is reasonable to adjust the "rate of
return" to take into account the general economic situation.
The Rexburg Area Chamber of Commerce is also concerned that Rocky Mountain Power may be asking
southeastern Idaho residents to pay for infrastructure improvements that wil primarily benefit other
parts of the country - specifically transmission lines to the west coast.
We ask that the Public Utilities Commission deny the proposed rate
Sincerely,~~~.
Rexburg Area Chamber of corkerce
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IDAHO
PUBLIC UTiliTIES
COMMISSION
PUBLIC HEARIG
PAC-E-I0-07
December 14,2010
IF YOU WISH TO TESTIFY
PUBLIC WITNESS LIST
Case No. PAC.E.10.07
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If you wish to testify during this hearing,
please provide your name and address below:
Address ~¡:~~ .r
.oLfD ff6d.Wt.ll?iht
33 t, E lO\\.A , ~
- '2"5 'S t..~ -c ~~~
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Rexburg, Idaho
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IDAHO
PUBLIC UTiliTIES
COMMISSION
PUBLIC HEARNG
PAC-E-I0-07
December 14,2010
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If you wish to testify during this hearing ~;;:. ~... ~
please provide your name and address below: ~;::,d, 'R
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Rexburg, Idaho