20040809Vol VIII Sandpoint.pdf

ORIGINAL
~~I!; iLL;'"
, ,
-..0
BEFORE THEZ~~~ ~l~a: ~1ILITIES COMMISSION
iL F- LiC
IN THE MATTER o~I!HlIt~PtpqJ1~k~Qft OF)
AVISTA CORPORATION FOR AUTHORITY
TO INCREASE ITS RATES AND CHARGES
FOR ELECTRI C AND NATURAL GAS
SERVICE TO ELECTRIC AND NATURAL GAS)
CUSTOMERS IN THE STATE OF IDAHO.
) PUBLIC HEARING
CASE NOS.
AVU-04-
AVU-04-
" I HEARING BEFORE
COMMISSIONER PAUL KJELLANDER (Presiding)
PLACE:Edgewater Resort56 Bridge Street
Sandpoint, Idaho
DATE:July 26, 2004
VOLUME VIII - Pages 1400 - 1427
POST OFFICE BOX 578
BOISE, IDAHO 83701
208-336-9208
COURT REPORTING
g~~
tk, ~I M/f(lKlQ(f~ &,ru 1978
For the Staff:
For Avista:
SCOTT WOODBURY, Esq.
Deputy At torney General
472 West WashingtonBoise, Idaho 83702
KELLY NORWOOD
Vice President State and
Federal Regulation
Avista Utilities
Post Office Box 3727
Spokane, Washington 99220-3727
HEDRICK COURT REPORTING
O. BOX 5 7 8, BO I S E , I D
APPEARANCES
83701
WITNESS EXAMINATION BY PAGE
Jeffrey Weimer
(publ ic)
Senator Shawn Keough
(publ ic)
Daniel Steven Linton
(publ ic)
Mr. Woodbury
Statement
Commissioner Kj ellander
Mr. Woodbury
Statement
Mr. Woodbury (Cross)
Commissioner Kj ellander
Mr. Woodbury
Statement
Commissioner Kj ellander
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INDEX
SANDPOINT , IDAHO, MONDAY, JULY 26, 2004, 7:09 P.
COMM IS S lONER KJELLANDER:And we'll go on the
record now as we call this public hearing to order.This is
Case No. AVU-04-1 and AVU-04-, also referred to as in the
matter of the Application of Avista Corporation for authority
to increase its rates and charges for electric and natural gas
service to electric and natural gas customers in the state
Idaho.
m Paul Kj ellander , I'm the chairman of
tonight's proceedings, and this is the public hearing phase of
our hearings.Last week we conducted the technical hearings,
and earlier today we held a public hearing in Kellogg.We have
this one in Sandpoint, and then tomorrow we conclude our public
hearing portion of this case in Lewiston where we will hold the
third and final of the publ ic hearing sessions.
Tonight, the purpose is to take the testimony and
get it officially into the record, and so as I call your name
to get you to come up and testify, we'll swear you in.And
then the attorney representing the Staff and the Idaho Attorney
General's office will just ask you a few very brief questions
to get you officially on the record.And then we'll ask you to
make your statement.There will then, once you ve put your
statement into the record, we will have an opportunity to ask a
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COLLOQUY
83701
few follow-up questions if those are necessary.
And then once we've exhausted the list, if others
should come in, we'll give them an opportunity to testify after
we've exhausted the list that we have before us today.
I also want to recognize Senator Shawn Keough who
lS here this evening, and we appreciate your presence and also
see that you signed up to testify.
And why don't we first take now the appearances
of the parties, and why don't we begin with Avista, the
Applicant.
MR. NORWOOD:Kelly Norwood with AvistaYes.
Utilities.
COMMI S S lONER KJELLANDER:Good evening, Kelly.
And let's look now to Staff.
MR. WOODBURY:Scott Woodbury, Deputy Attorney
General , for Commission Staff; and accompanying me tonight are
Randy Lobb director of the utility department, and
Marilyn Parker , member of the customer assistance division.
COMMI S S lONER KJELLANDER:And just for the
record , I don't believe there is a representative for Coeur
Mining, nor is there a representative for Potlatch for this
evening, or wi th ICAN.Is that the other one, I believe?
MR. WOODBURY:CAP.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:CAP.
And so I think we're ready now for our first
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witness, and that would be Jeff Weimer.
Mr. Weimer, if we could have you come forward up
to this center chair?
Right in the middle here so I can beMR. WEIMER:
totally nervous, huh?
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:No.No.
MR. WEIMER:More nervous?
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:You'll just be talking
me.
Why don't we start you off first just by getting
you sworn in , just have you raise your right hand.
JEFF WEIMER,
appearing as a public witness, being first duly sworn, was
examined and testified as follows:
COMMI S S lONER KJELLANDER:Why don't you just
relax , Mr. Woodbury will just ask you a couple of brief
questions, and then we'll be ready for your statement.
EXAMINATION
BY MR. WOODBURY:
Mr. Weimer, please state your full name and spell
your last name.
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WE IMERPublic
My name is Jeffrey David Weimer, W-E- I -
And are you speaking in any representative
capacity tonight or just --
Yes, of J. D. Lumber , and al so for Tri - Pro Cedar
at Albany Falls.
And could you give your address, please?
o. Box 55, Priest River , 83856.
Thank you.You may give your statement.
Okay.
THE WITNESS:Well, I'm a little nervous here.
thought it was going to be kind of a give and take.But my
statement is going as I read in the paper here a week or so ago
about the Northwest Power and Conservation Council , and they '
showing that they figure there's about ten years of surplus
power even wi thout conservation measures that are taken.
of course , I twist that around and if there is going to be a
surpl us of power , why should the rates go up.In my business
I know if there's a surplus of logs, the price goes down.
The other thing was we've taken such a good job
at our mill and also at Tri-Pro Cedar there to put capacitants
on our motors and to reduce our load, basically, and also to
use frequency drives, and so here we've taken those steps which
cost a lot of money, and it's - - once again , if you're taking
these conservation measures, why turn around and get hit with a
stick and have the price go back up when you're spending the
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WEIMER
Public
money to try to reduce your consumption , which , of course,
you're trying to save dollars, but also puts more electrici
back in the system and you don't need as much generating
capaci ty.
Three , the other thing I'd like to bring up,
is
- -
and I don't know exactly how this ties in, but two years
ago I went to put in a feed to the boiler there and a
transformer and Avista bid it at $68,000 -- or was it 62 000 --
and, anyway, I got a bid from a private company and they were
$48,000 to do it.And I would think wi th the economies of
scale of Avista and wi th their access to transformers and the
such , I would have thought they would have been more
competitive, so I'm a little concerned about that.
They told me two years ago or a year ago that
was here that their house was in order and their costs were in
order , and I don't see how that is just basically on that
example that I've had right there.I think there's room to
move as far as tightening things up and taking a look at it.
Fourth one:Here I'm probably getting in a
little over my head a little bit, but as I understand it, the
rate structure is such that the consumer or customer is liable
for 90 percent of the increase or decrease in the power rate
and the shareholder is 10 percent, and I find that very odd,
because normally in the corporate world - - and I realize that
basically a utility lS a monopoly and they're guaranteed a
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P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
WEIMER
Public
return and all that to make it happen , but, still , there'
nothing like having shareholders there who can impose their
will on management , and being a customer consumer , the only
person that we have to rely on to make sure that Avista
doing it as efficiently as possible or making the right
deal s and hindsight's always 20/20, you know
- -
but is the
PUC.And being we don't have the rights as shareholders to
vote out management or make a change if decisions are
consistently wrong or on the wrong side of it or errors in
judgment - - and it happens in the business world all the
time - - we're just relying on the PUC.
And I don't mean to take this
- -
I don't mean to
get too far ahead here, but I think the shareholders would be a
better judge of how Avista is doing than the PUC because I feel
the shareholders are more involved, they have something at
stake, which is money.And by investing in stock or whatever
it gives them a real grasp of the Company.I mean , they'
involved and they have got to make those tough decisions.The
PUC, al though they are there to represent the consumers, I
don't know if that would be quite as much of a watch dog as if
you had your money on the table,and i t coul d go either way.
mean once again capi tal invested,going to ride a lot
bet ter herd on it than I am if not.
And - - but anyway, I think that
- -
I think
getting back and letting the shareholders have a little more
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WEIMER
Public
control here, and I don't know if that's possible under the
laws, I don't know, but basically my guess is shareholders, in
having money invested, is going to make Avista or Avista
management tow the line more and be more responsive to the
needs of the customers, and I think might work out a little
bet ter
Couple things I wanted to bring up just for
questions later or whatever but is when they put in the
- -
put
in the big cogen plant I think it was, was it Coyote Springs in
Oregon or
- -
and then they did one in Rathdrum or were part
owner in it, I would just like to know that when they got into
that and they made a big capi tal investment, did they lock in
on the long-term gas contract?If they did, you know , great
for them, but when you make an investment that size or
whatever, it's just like keep the
- -
hate to keep coming back
to the mill analogy but that's all I know, but if I was going
to put in a saw mill or whatever, I would certainly want to
know that there was a supply of logs there that would justify
what I'm doing and what the price was.
So if, in fact, they did lock in and had a good
rate on that at the time when the price was down and that was
the same time they were making the large capi tal improvement,
then good for them and great, stay with it.If they didn'
then you ve got to look at it
- -
which I know gets into the
hindsight thing and there's the point there
- -
but if, relative
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WEIMERPublic
to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, if they'
saying there is going to be a surplus of power and it's cheaper
out there, where' s the point where you go ahead and start
buying power again from BPA or extra from the utilities or
anything else maybe , as opposed to running those plants cost
effecti vely?It's just something I'm throwingI don't know.
out.
So, anyway, that's all I've got to say.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you, Mr. Weimer.
If we could just have you sit for a second, see if there are
any questions?
Mr. Woodbury.
MR. WOODBURY:I have no questions.Thank you.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Mr. Norwood.
MR. NORWOOD:No questions.
EXAMINATION
BY COMM IS S lONER KJELLANDER:
Just one question:What schedule are you?
you know what schedule?
It's the largest one wi th the reduced rate.
Twenty-five?
Twenty-five, yes.Yes, sir.
Schedule 25.And just for clarification, the
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WEIMER (Com)Public
48,000 versus 60-some thousand for the improvements you were
talking about, did you go wi th the pri va te sector bid?
Yes, I did.
And out of curiosi ty, how easy was it working
with the Utility once you had that installed to make sure
was up to whatever standards were necessary for integration
into the system?Were they good to work wi th you there?
Yes, they did.They worked with me to get that
involved.
One thing I didn't really like was it was kind of
a - - in our area, we're on a little different type of power and
so it's a little tougher to get a transformer, and I was told
that if I didn't go with Avista that, good luck , even though
they did have an extra transformer
- -
which I have three
others, I believe, at the mill just like it -- but it kind of
got to where, well, if you don't go with this, good luck
getting a transformer.You're on your own, bud.
And so it was kind of a
- -
I thought it was kind
of a little bit of a tweak there.
So I went wi th the private guys.
Okay.Well, thank you for yourAll right.
testimony.
Okay.
And we appreciate you coming out this evening.
Thank you, sir.
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WEIMER (Com)
Public
Thank you.
(The wi tness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:And we'll call Senator
Shawn Keough.We're going to have you raise your right hand.
SENATOR SHAWN KEOUGH,
appearing as a public witness, being first duly sworn , was
examined and testified as follows:
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Mr. Woodbury.
EXAMINATION
BY MR. WOODBURY:
Senator Keough, please state your full name and
spell your last name.
My name is Shawn Keough, K-
83864.
Grea t .Thank you.
And your addre s s ?
It's Post Office Box 101 , Sandpoint, Idaho,
That's fine.You can give your statement.
Thank you, Commissioner Kj ellanderTHE WITNESS:
for being here and travel ing to Sandpoint, and thank you for
bringing the Staff and the accompanYlng people wi th you.
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KEOUGH
Public
are diversifying our economy here and welcome the dollars into
the community that come with you, in addition to enjoying the
wonderful place that we live.
In more seriousness, it is -- I am grateful that
you have taken the time to be here.I recogni ze that there
aren't a lot of constituents from my district that have come to
testify in front of you and with you on this rate case , but
know that it's important that you hear from us, and that this
opportunity has been given our community is appreciated.
As we have visited over the last few years on
lssues surrounding Avista and rate cases and other things that
have come before us, we have been told as a communi ty that some
of the issues that we've brought before the PUC before needed
to come up during a rate hearing for I think it was two years
or so ago that we were looking at natural gas increases and
emergency measures and we, as a communi ty
- -
there were a
number of concerns about management decisions that had been
made within the Company and we were told that a rate case was
the place to bring those up.So I'm asking thi s evening that
those things that we ve put before you in the past in regards
to those management decisions be looked at and taken into
consideration at this point in time.
There has been concerns in the community about
some of those decisions in the different markets, conservation
measures that have been agreed to in their relicensing of the
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P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
KEOUGH
Public
dam , those type of management decisions that would seem to
impact the Company's ability to run and the costs that are
that, from the outside, looking in, appear to be passed on to
the consumer.
The consumer doesn't have much of an opportunity
to take place or take part in this process.It's an
intimidating process.We don't have available to us
accountants and attorneys and the specialists that could help
in determining whether or not the rates that are being
requested are fair, and whether or not costs that are being
passed along to the consumer are fair and balanced.That'
your charge.But we, as the average citizen , as the average
businessperson on Main Street, don't have those resources
readily available to us, and so we are looking to you to do
that balancing act as is required in the law.
We work really hard in this area to retain
businesses and to grow businesses and to bring new businesses
in, and I'm hopeful that the Staff that you have has taken a
look at the latest economic figures for the area , recognizes
that we're still above the statewide average in unemployment,
that our salary levels for this area are lower than they are in
other places of the state, and that we're still very much a
rural -- rural -- set of rural communities within the operating
area of this community.
ve run into a couple of consti tuents over the
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KEOUGH
Public
last week , as a matter of fact, and the issue of rate increases
has come up, and I just wanted to share with you a couple of
comments from them.
I ran into a teacher up in Bonners Ferry this
weekend who said, Well , I saw in the paper that Avista
asking for a rate increase and it looks like it might be seven
or eight percent, and please let the PUC know that I didn't get
a raise last year and I didn't get a raise the last three
years, and we think in this economic times that those things
need to be considered.
I also got a letter here from a 70 -year-old woman
who asks me:I would like to know if you could live on $850 a
month.
And she goes on to outline the different trials
and tribulations that are happening in her life.
And these folks are on a fixed income and while
there are dollars available to help with utility bills, they
don't go far enough.There's not enough to fit the need that
we have in this community.And so I'm asking you to weigh that
in the balance as well.
Again, I appreciate the opportunity to be here
and visit with you about this rate case, and look forward to
the balance that you give and the perspective that you give to
both the Company and the costs that it has, and the management
decisions that it has made, and the consumers who will
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KEOUGH
Public
ul timately have to pay.
Thank you.
COMMI S S lONER KJELLANDER:Let's see if we have
any questions.
Mr. Woodbury.
CROS S - EXAMINA T I ON
BY MR. WOODBURY:
Just one question by way of clarification:
You spoke of the conservation measures that the
Company apparently agreed to as a resul t of negotiation in part
as part of the relicensing of the dam , and you believe that
I guess your question was you think we should look at those
costs closely because some of them may not be appropriate to
pass on to customers.Is that what your
That is a concern.There were - - we recogni
and give credit to the Company that they entered into a
landmark proj ect of relicensing the dam.However, in that
process, it was fel t as though there were things that were
agreed to as mitigation measures, pots of money that were made
available in that relicensing process, that ul timately, as we
understand but again don't have experts on our side that we can
retain, the money to retain those experts, to take a look and
see if those costs are being passed on to the consumer through
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KEOUGH (X)
Public
the rates.There have been press stories over
- -
and this has
been qui te
- -
three or four years now that seem to indicate
that some of those measures within that relicensing agreement
were passed on or will be passed on through to the consumer.
And there lS some resentment amongst some residents in this
area that perhaps those are a bit exorbitant.
All right.Thank you very much.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Mr. Norwood.
MR. NORWOOD:No questions.
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:
Just a couple of questions or at least one:
Of the constituents you spoke to, and I guess
most notably those that are the elderly, you mentioned
specifically one 70-year-old woman on a fixed income of around
$900 a month , do you think generally in some of the
conversations that you've had wi th your consti tuents, most
specifically, the elderly and low income, do you think that
they' r~ aware of the low income weatherization programs that
are available in the region and some of the other financial
assistance programs?Is that something that typically you
think they have some knowledge of?
I believe that they do.And my experience has
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KEOUGH (Com)
Public
been over the years in trying to help consumers wi th these
issues has been - - there's been two elements:One, that there
are - - there have been periods of time when the money has run
out, there has been no more assistance , and efforts to get more
assistance that may have been available from the Federal level
have not been embraced at the State level , and so that money
has not come to Idaho.And so people have gone without that
assistance and have not been able to get it or access it.
And, so, we have had an overload in our counties
particularly, not this past year but the couple of years
before, where churches and the food bank and other resources
locally were sought, active fund-raising was sought, to try to
help those people cover those bills, and those are just for the
folks that have stepped forward.But there has been a need
that has been greater than the resources there to fulfill them.
The second thing that is happening is we'
experiencing some folks that are working but they're just above
the line where they're not able to qualify for some assistance,
and - - but they - - they're working, they're making money, but
they're not quite making enough to pay the bills but they'
making too much to get some assistance.And that's a gray
area, not only in the utility case, but in other cases as well.
That really got to I think the heart of the next
question I wanted to ask, which is in Kellogg earlier today we
were hearing that , yes, the unemployment rate has dropped from
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KEOUGH (Com)
Public
the extraordinarily high levels they have had over the last few
years and it was still very high when you look at the
percentage comparison to the rest of the state, and one of the
points brought up there was that of those new jobs that have
come in to help reduce that, many of them were still what some
people would consider to be not a living wage.And I was going
to ask you what you're seeing wi th regards to the new
employment that might be coming into your area today, and
think, in part, you got to that.
Well and we are
- -
you know we'fortunate
have companies like Lumber and other traditional
industrles that have hung on and survived,and part the i r
ability to survive are costs that they have like this one where
their margins are pretty thin and their ability to keep their
operations open can roll on an issue like this.Those
companies are
- -
we still have a base of those companies and
will continue to have a base because of the area that we live
in and the resources that we have; however, we have a growing
service sector economy and we have retirees moving into the
area, and what we are finding is that it will take two or even
three or four incomes into a household to replace the one in
the traditional industry.
We are seeing some light manufacturing coming
into the area, we're seeing some new growth in the area, but
those are coming in in - - they're bringing businesses into the
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KEOUGH (Com)
Public
area, which is great; however , they may be bringing their
employees with them so the job creation in the community -- the
new job creation may be one or two here, ten at the most there.
The big
- -
bigger employment pieces that we'
seen have been the opening of Wal- Mart in the area and
construction has started just last week on The Home Depot, but
those jobs are not going to be at what could be considered a
livable wage.
Okay.And as you talk toWell, thank you.
constituents over the next week or so, if you would let them
know that we still will have a public comment open and are
welcome to e-mail us through our Web site or just send us mail
directly wi th comments, and just have them reference this case
and we'll still accept some of their public written comments.
All right.Thank you.
Thank you.
(The wi tness left the stand.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:That's -- we have
reached the end of our list, and at this point I think what I'd
like to do is just go off the record for about five minutes.
That way, if anyone else should come in , we've at least got a
five-minute window of opportunity.And then we'll come back
and close this down.That way, we'll still have -- it's a
little bit past 30 minutes in case someone should wander in.
So we'll go off the record for about five
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KEOUGH ( Com)
Public
minutes.
(Recess.
DANIEL STEVEN LINTON
appearing as a public witness, being first duly sworn, was
examined and testified as follows:
COMMI S S lONER KJELLANDER:And we'll go back on
the record, and we have another wi tness We'll call
Steve Linton.
And, Mr. Linton, I understand you're just running
in from your wedding anniversary
THE WITNESS:Yes.
COMM IS S lONER KJELLANDER:-- so we'll get you in
and get you out.
Okay.Thank you.THE WITNESS:
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Why don't we have
Mr. Woodbury, who's representing the Staff of the Public
Utilities Commission from the Attorney General's office, have
him just ask you a couple quick questions to get you into the
record.
All right.Thanks.THE WITNESS:
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Public
EXAMINATION
BY MR. WOODBURY:
Mr. Linton , will you please state your full name
and spell your last name?
Daniel Steven Linton, L- I -N -
And you're
- -
where do you reside, sir?
m - - Priest River , Idaho.
And are you speaking in your individual capaci ty
or a representa t i ve?
, my family owns a company called Tri-Pro Cedar
Products in Oldtown , Idaho.
You can give your statement.
THE WITNESS:I just wanted to go over some facts
with you folks on what I've noticed about the power costs and
how it affects our business.We're one of Avista' s largest
customers in Northern Idaho.Our power costs over the last two
and a half years have already increased about 1 7 percent.
think it was about two years ago we had a six percent increase,
and they had an 11 percent increase that was a temporary fix to
try to get them enough money to get out of their hardship
because of the power fiasco that happened a few years ago.
They made that temporary increase permanent, so that raised our
power 1 7 percent at that time.And now they're asking for
another 22 percent increase is what they tell me.And I
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Publ i c
just -- I'm here to tell you this just affects a business like
ours hugely.
We're a family-owned business, been in business
in one form or the other for 30 years, and it's just a
constant, uphill battle with costs.I mean , I don't have to
tell you, everything goes up.
During the time that our power went up
percent, we enacted about every energy-saving measure we could
come up wi th We took advantage of plans that Avista offered.
We reviewed our lighting, we redid our lighting, we did
capaci tors, we did frequency drives , we did a program where we
did a low end load on our air compressors.Everything they
come up with , we tried to utilize, along with stuff on our own,
trying to start our machines at different times and everything
we could come up wi th to save power , and it worked real well.
We - - our average power bill right now
consumption wise, is down 20 to 25 percent of what it was two
and a hal f years ago.Our average power bill right now runs
between $35- and $40,000 a month.A 22 percent increase would
add another $8,000 on that, or about $100,000 yearly, and
don't know , I mean, a business like ours, we employ 70 people
in the west end of the county, and $100,000 a year to swallow
for added power costs is something we can't recoup.We can't
have - - we can't go to our customers and just say, Well , we'
going to have to raise everything 22 percent to cover our power
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O. BOX 578, BOISE , ID 83701
LINTONPublic
That's impossible.costs.It just gives our competitors a
real unfair advantage over the way we do business right now.
So,mean we'real
- -
we'real
wall here.this all enacted,really don't know what
the resul ts will be.I know that when times get tough in the
lumber business , we do our best to run our plant at a
break-even or even a little less just to keep our crew busy.
Like I said, we've got 70 families depending on us for their
livelihood over there, and if we have to add another $100,000 a
year to our bottom line, it's going to put us to the point
where when them times do get tough like that , we are just going
to have to shut the plant down until the market comes around to
where we can reopen the thing.
Like I said , we've been in business for 30 years,
and we've never laid anybody off that whole time.We've got a
real stable work force, and I think the reason we do is because
the people know that when they come to work , they can buy a
house and they're going to be able to make their monthly house
payment, because we're going to be there and we're going to
keep them employed.Stuff like this really, really strains
that.
I know it's not relative but just an example of
other costs that went up, our insurance costs this year alone
raised 46 percent to cover our employees.That was another,
like, $150,000 a year.You throw a cost like this on there and
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HEDRI CK COURT REPORTING
O. BOX 5 7 8 , BO I S E , I D 83701
LINTON
Public
you're talking about a quarter million dollars a year.I don't
know how most people run their businesses, but we don't have an
extra quarter million dollars a year in profit available to
absorb these kind of costs.
About two and a half years ago we rebuilt our
whole kiln drying system.It was a boiler system , out fuel
fired, old, fairly inefficient.We invested $3 million to
retrofit everything to electric kilns.The reason behind that
was that electricity is a pretty stable cost, something we
could count on , it wasn't real volatile like fossil fuels, and
we really did it looking out for our future, thinking if we had
a stable energy source , we had a lot bet ter chance of being
profi table and keeping going in the long run.And now , since
we've done t ha our ene rgy increase has been 1 7 percent far
and asking for another 22.That'like a 39 percent increase.
If we would have known now what we knew back then (sic)
probably wouldn't have went this route.If we was to do
something over now , you're looking at another huge investment
to try to retrofit it to something else.I don't think we can
absorb that.
I'd just try to relate it in terms that the
average person could understand.If you'd bought a house in
the year 2000 and you had a $500 a month house payment, after
this increase or what they're asking for , the same house, same
payment, would be like $713.And the average person couldn'
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P. O. BOX 578, BOISE , ID 83701
LINTON
Public
afford that, I don't know how they could.And I'm just here to
say I don't know how we're going to , I really don't.We'
looked at it , we've scratched our heads, and there's going to
be times it's not going to affect us that much , but there'
going to be a lot of times where something like this could
potentially put us out of business.
And I
- -
I don't know how familiar you are with
the area.It's a real dependent area on like timber processlng
and stuff , and, frankly, I don't know what them 70 families are
going to do if we shut the place down.
That's really about all I have to say.I don'
know - - I don't know.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you for your
testimony.If you could sit for just a moment, we'll see if
there's some questions.
Mr. Woodbury.
MR. WOODBURY:I don't have any questions, but
think you could maybe talk to the Company after the hearing,
because the increase that's requested is not 22 percent on top
of 1 7 .
THE WITNESS:For the rate structure over what we
had - - and like I said, I haven't seen all the facts and
figures -- but when the Company representative came up and
talked to me, he set me down and he said that the rate class we
were in was going to be split into two different rate classes
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P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
LINTON
Public
and we would fall into the higher raise of the rate class, and
in effect, he said that would end up being a 22 percent
increase.
Okay.MR. WOODBURY:
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Mr. Norwood.
No, just to say that I wouldMR. NORWOOD:
encourage you to speak with us afterwards so that we can talk
through the numbers to make sure we're all on the same page.
THE WITNESS:Great.Grea t .
EXAMINATION
BY COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:
And I just have a couple of quick questions.One
the number shifts that you run now at the facility.
run one shift:Day shift onl y.
Down the road,and it's not a part this case,
but what is a part of this case is that the Company
proposing to give what are called smart meters put in place so
that maybe somewhere down the line we can look at some
additional creative rate schedules.Would it be impossible,
based on what you know about your business today, for you to be
looking at some offpeak hours of operation if we were to move
to some type of time of day scheduling and rate schedules?
Would that be something that down the road might be feasible
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O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
LINTON (Com)
Public
and possible to help reduce some of your electric consumption
during peak?
It could possibly be feasible.A lot of the
people we have working for us, a lot of the reason they work
there is because we work Monday through Friday, days.
Everybody likes to work that shift.I guess if it was a matter
of throwing in the towel or keeping the plant going, I guess
we'd have to look at something like that.
I know that plant that we have, the investment in
the property and the mill alone is millions of dollars, and if
my family had to sit back and look at that and say, okay, it'
a mat ter of making it real inconvenient for us, making it real
hard for us to make that thing work , if you could just get rid
of the investment, recoup the money, put it in the bank , draw
interest on it , I mean , it just gets to a point where it'
economically not even feasible to do it anymore, and it'
unfortunate for all the people that work there.But I'd hate
to have to make that decision.I'd have to be forced to make
that decision.
Well , I thank you for your testimony this
evening.I real i ze you hadAnd, again, thanks for coming out.
other things that were pressing, and we're glad you took time
to come here thi s evening.
All right.
Thank you very much.
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P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
LINTON (Com)Public
You're welcome.
(The wi tness left the stand.
COMM IS S lONER KJELLANDER:Well , I think we're at
the point where we will probably go ahead and close down this
hearing for this evening, wi th the intent that we will
reconvene for more public testimony tomorrow in Lewiston.And,
again , if any of the people who have come this evening to
testify know of others who would like to submit written
comments to us, the written comment period will be open for
least another week , and so we'll take that comment and review
that as we move forward with this case.
So, again , thank you for your participation
tonight, and we are adj ourned until tomorrow in Lewiston.
(The hearing concluded at 7:51 p.
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COLLOQUY83701
AUTHENTICATION
This is to certify that the foregoing is a
true and correct transcript to the best of my ability of the
proceedings held in the matter of the Application of Avista
Corporation for authority to increase its rates and charges for
electric and natural gas service to electric and natural gas
customers in the state of Idaho, Case Nos. AVU-04-1 and
AVU-04-1, commencing on Monday, July 26, 2004 , at the
Edgewater Resort, 56 Bridge Street, Sandpoint, Idaho, and the
original thereof for the file of the Commission.
11 /)/t tt1WENDY J. MUR otary ~Ubl~
in and for the State of Idaho,
residing at Meridian , Idaho.
My Commission expires 2 -5-2008.
Idaho CSR No. 475
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P. O. BOX 578, BOISE , ID
AUTHENT I CAT I ON
83701