20130712Telephonic Hearing Transcript.pdf

VOLUME -Pages 1 -10
ORIGINAL
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CSB REPORTING
Constance S.Bucy,CSR No.187
23876 Applewood Way *Wilder,Idaho $3676
(20$)890-5198
Email [e-mail]
-;BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION
OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN POWER FOR )CASE NO.PAC-E-13-06
AUTHORITY TO SELL THE ST.ANTHONY
HYDROELECTRIC GENERATION PLANT
LOCATED IN FREMONT COUNTY,IDAHO )
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BEFORE
COMMISSIONER PAUL KJELLANDER (Presiding)
COMMISSIONER MACK A.REDFORD
PLACE:Commission Hearing Room
472 West Washington Street
Boise,Idaho
June 27,2013DATE:
1 APPEARANCES
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3 For the Staff:Donald Howell,Esq.
Deputy Attorney General
4 472 West Washington
Boise,Idaho 83720—0074
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6 For Rocky Mountain Power:Daniel E.Solander,Esq.
(Telephonically)Rocky Mountain Power
7 201 5.Main Street
Suite 2300
8 Salt Lake City,Utah 8411
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CSB REPORTING APPEARANCES
(208)890—5198
1 30155,IDAHO,THURSDAY,JUNE 27,2013,10:30 A.N.
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4 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Well,good
5 morning.This is the time and place for a telephonic
6 hearing in Case No.PAC—E—13-06,also known as in the
7 matter of the application of Rocky Mountain Power for
8 authority to sell the St.Anthony hydroelectric
9 generation plant located in Fremont County,Idaho.
10 My name is Paul Kjellander.I’m the
11 Chairman of today’s proceedings.Also with me is
12 Commissioner Mack Redford,and the purpose of the hearing
13 today is to fulfill the statutory requirements as we look
14 at the sale of the utility resource,and our interest as
15 the Commission is that we must find that the transaction
16 is consistent with public interest,cost of and rates of
17 supplying service will not be increased by reason of such
18 transaction,and the purchaser has the bona fide intent
19 and financial ability to operate and maintain said
20 property in the public service.Also,we need to
21 recognize that it’s the utility that bears the burden of
22 showing that the standards set out above have been
23 satisfied,and that’s a direct quote from Idaho Code
24 section 61—328 (2)
25 As we begin this morning,why don’t we
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1 just identify those who are a part of today’s hearing.
2 Why don’t we begin with the Staff representing the Public
3 Utilities Commission.
4 MR.HOWELL:Thank you,Mr.Chairman.My
5 name is Don Howell,H—o—w-e-1—l,and with me -—and I’m a
6 Deputy Attorney General representing the Commission
7 Staff,and with me are the two Staff technical experts,
8 Sandra Walker and Bryan Lanspery.
9 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:And as I
10 understand it,Mr.Howell,you have some comments from
11 Staff that have been filed in relationship to this
12 case.
13 MR.HOWELL:That is correct,
14 Mr.Chairman.The Staff filed comments,written
15 comments,in this case pursuant to the Commission’s order
16 of modified procedure,and we filed our comments on June
17 the 24th.I would also,I guess,note for the record
18 that the Idaho Department of Water Resources director
19 also filed written comments and his written comments are
20 dated June the 19th of 2013.
21 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Okay,and just
22 while we’re on that point,all those comments that were
23 filed were in support or at least not in opposition of
24 the sale of this particular resource.
25 MR.HOWELL:That is correct.The Staff
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1 supported the transaction.The director of Water
2 Resources,his comments were pursuant to Idaho Code
3 42—1701,which allows the Department to opine on whether
4 the transaction will cause injury to other water right
5 holders and the director says in his written comments
6 that I do not propose to add conditions to the sale of
7 the water right involved in this hydro facility.
8 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you very
9 much,Mr.Howell.We appreciate that clarification.
10 Now,let’s move to the telephone and I believe that we
11 have participants on the line from Rocky Mountain Power.
12 If we could identify you,each of you need to go through
13 and identify yourself and spell your last name so the
14 court reporter can get that correctly entered into the
15 record.
16 MR.SOLANDER:Thank you,Chairman
17 Kjellander.This is Daniel Solander,S—o-l-a-n—d—e-r,
18 senior attorney for Rocky Mountain Power,and I have with
19 me on the line Ted Weston,W—e—s—t—o—n,regulatory
20 affairs manager for the State of Idaho for Rocky Mountain
21 Power,and Mark Stenberg,S-t—e—n—b—e—r-g,senior
22 engineering and operations project manager.
23 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you very
24 much.Is there anyone else on the line with us today?
25 For the record we’ll note,then,Chat the purchaser of
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1 the project who is not required to be on the line is not
2 and so we’ll move forward recognizing that the burden of
3 proof is on the utility,so with that said,why don’t we
4 see if there are any questions from the Commission.
5 COMMISSIONER REDFORD:No.
6 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:None from
7 Commissioner Redford.What I’ll do is just quickly run
8 through the three major points that are in the statutes
9 and toss those out as general questions to Rocky Mountain
10 Power.If we could move through those as quickly as is
11 reasonable,we’ll do so.I realize there are three of
12 you.Just identify who will be responding to the
13 question and we can move on from there,so the first
14 point that we are supposed to find as the Commission is
15 the transaction is consistent with the public interest.
16 As we’ve already heard,we don’t have anyone who opposes
17 ±t.Why don’t we just throw that question generally to
18 Rocky Mountain Power for a quick response.
19 MR.SOLANDER:This is Daniel Solander.
20 guess I can address that.As the Commission is aware,
21 the facility consists of a 1—unit powerhouse.It’s rated
22 at 750 horsepower.It is not currently in operation and
23 the purchaser of the plant will be restoring it to
24 operations and we believe it is in the public interest
25 for this project to begin producing hydroelectric in the
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1 future,and the Company believes that it’s in the best
2 interests of the public and utility customers and
3 ratepayers to transfer this facility.
4 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you for
5 your response.Any follow-up questions from the
6 Commission?
7 COMMISSIONER REDFORD:No.
8 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:The other area
9 that the Commission needs to find is that the cost of and
10 rates for supplying service will not be increased by
11 reason of this transaction.I believe that Staff in
12 their comments has suggested that that standard will be
13 met.Is that something that the utility concurs with?
14 MR.SOLANDER:Yes,it is.
15 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Okay.
16 MR.SOLANDER:This will,if anything,
17 potentially,I think,either be neutral or reduce
18 customers’rates.
19 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Okay,thank you,
20 and the third item that the Commission needs to find is
21 that the purchaser has the bona fide intent and financial
22 ability to operate and maintain said property in the
23 public service.Since the purchaser isn’t here,but I
24 believe its someone that the utility has dealt with
25 previously,if we could get some type of response from
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1 the utility on that point.
2 MR.SOLANDER:Sure and I’ll defer to Mark
3 Stenberg to answer.He’s familiar with this bidder in
4 particular and the other bids from other potential
5 purchasers and why we selected this purchaser to make ——
6 to transfer the facility to.
7 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you.
8 MR.STENBERG:Mark Stenberg here.Ted
9 Sorenson ——
10 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Just a moment,I
11 apologize,Ted,or is this Mark?
12 MR.STENBERG:Mark.
13 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Mark,you need
14 to speak up a little more loudly,so if you are a
15 distance from your phone,please get a little closer.
16 The court reporter is struggling to try to catch you,so
17 if you could perhaps start over,that would be in our
18 best interests.
19 MR.STENBERG:You bet.This is Mark
20 Stenberg,Rocky Mountain Power,and our buyer ——is this
21 better for you?
22 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Not really.
23 Could you perhaps project?
24 MR.STENBERG:I’ll try.I’m a long ways
25 away.Ted Sorenson,operating under St.Anthony Hydro,
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1 LLC,of the six proposers that we received,the folks
2 that were interested in acquiring the facility,Ted
3 definitely had by far the most experience in ownership,
4 current ownership,and operation of small hydros.He
5 also had the most cash available of any buyers and
6 demonstrated to us,clearly,that he had cash on hand,
7 the experience,you know,and the team to take this
8 project on and get it done.
9 There’s no question that he can do that in
10 our minds,and that’s one of the things we submitted to
11 FERC,I believe,two weeks ago and in our EERC request
12 for sale approval was documentation of his financial
13 ability to complete the transaction,too,and to get it
14 back up and running.
15 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Okay.As we
16 move forward as a Commission,are there any timelines we
17 need to be sensitive to in relationship to the sale of
18 this as we move forward and look at issuing an order?
19 MR.STENBERG:This is Mark Stenberg
20 again.The timeline that we’re on,the buyer has to get
21 a certain amount of work done to qualify for an
22 investment tax credit this year,so we’ve requested
23 expedited processing from FERC and we’re hopefully on a
24 90-day FERC timeline and that --I’m just looking back at
25 my calendar ——that went in June,July,August,we should
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1 get that back at the end of August from FERC,hopefully,
2 and then we want to get our closing scheduled thereafter
3 so Mr.Sorenson can get to work on the facility.
4 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Okay,thank you.
5 Are there any more questions from the Commission?
6 COMMISSIONER REDFORD:No.
7 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Is there
8 anything else that the utility would like to add in
9 reference to the case that’s before us now or do you feel
10 you’ve adequately covered the areas of interest to the
11 Commission?
12 MR.SOLANDER:I believe that based on the
13 application and the questions today that we’ve covered
14 everything we need to.
15 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Okay,thank you.
16 Before we close down the hearing,let me just look to
17 Staff and see if Mr.Howell has anything he would like to
18 add in reference to the application before us today.
19 MR.HOWELL:Thank you,Mr.Chairman.The
20 Staff does not have any additional information.We would
21 rely on our comments previously filed.
22 COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Okay;so with
23 that,then,we certainly as a Commission appreciate the
24 participation and effort that the utility and Staff has
25 put into bringing this matter before us today so that we
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1 can process it as expeditiously as possible,and the
2 Commission will consider this now fully on the record so
3 that we can in due time and as quick as possible render a
4 decision in this specific application,so with that,
5 then,today we are adjourned.
6 MR.SOLANDER:Thank you.
7 (The Hearing adjourned at 10:44 a.m.)
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CSB REPORTING 9 COLLOQUY
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1 AUTHENTICATION
2
3
4 This is to certify that the foregoing
5 proceedings held in the matter of the application of
6 Rocky Mountain Power for authority to sell the St.
7 Anthony hydroelectric generation plant located in Fremont
8 County,Idaho,commencing at 10:30 a.m.,on Thursday,
9 June 27,2013,at the Commission Hearing Room 472 West
10 Washington Street,Boise,Idaho,is a true and correct
11 transcript of said proceedings and the original thereof
12 for the file of the Commission.
13
CONSTANCE S.BUCY
16 Certified Shorthand Reporter #87
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CSB REPORTING 10 AUTHENTICATION
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