20080908Vol III Sandpoint.pdf

ORIGINAL.BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION
OF AVISTA CORPORATION FOR THE
AUTHORITY TO INCREASE ITS RATES
AND CHARGES FOR ELECTRIC AND
NATURAL GAS SERVICE TO ELECTRIC
AND NATURAL GAS CUSTOMERS IN THE
STATE OF IDAHO
BEFORE
)
) CASE
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NOS. AVU-E-08-01
AVU-G-08-01
COMMISSIONER JIM KEMPTON (Presiding)
COMMISSIONER MARSHA SMITH
COMMISSIONER MACK REDFORD.
PLACE:The Edgewater Resort
56 Bridge Street
Sandpoint, Idaho
DATE:August 28, 2008
VOLUME III - Pages 152 - 158
CSB REPORTING
Constance S. Bucy, CSR No. 187
23876 Applewood Way * Wilder, Idaho 83676
[phone] * [phone].
Email csb~heritagewifi.com'.
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1 APPEARANCES
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3 For the Staff:Scott Woodbury, Esq.
Deputy Attorney General
472 West Washington
Boise, Idaho 83720-0074
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For Avista Corporation:David J. Meyer, Esq.
Vice President & Chief Counsel
Avista Corporation
Post Office Box 3727
Spokane, Washington 99220
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CSB REPORTING
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APPEARANCES
.1 I N D E X
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3 WITNESS EXAMINATION BY PAGE
4 John Dibble Statement 153
(Public)
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CSB REPORTING INDEX
(208 )890-5198
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1 SANDPOINT, IDAHO, THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2008, 7:00 P. M.
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4 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: So it's 7: 00
5 0' clock, and it's on August the 28th that we are in the
6 Edgewater Hotel, Sandpoint, Idaho. We're here to conduct
7 a public hearing for approval of a settlement stipulation
8 filed by Avista Utilities, Potlatch Corporation,
9 Community Action Partnership of Idaho, and Commission
10 Staff. It's noticed in Commission Order No. 30622 dated
11 August 12th, 2008; more specifically, the application of
12 Avista Corporation for the authority to increase its
13 rates and charges for electric and natural gas customers
14 in the State of Idaho as filed in Commission rate case
15 AVU-E-08-01 and AVU-G-08-01.
16 On my left is Marsha Smith, Commissioner,
i 7 and on my right is Mack Redford, Commissioner. The three
18 of us constitute the full Idaho PUC Commission and all of
19 the processes before the Commission.
20 Gene, do we have any sign-ups?
21 MR. FADNESS: I'm recruiting one right
22 now.
23 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: I also accept hand
24 waves, and any sudden movements toward the speaker
25 podium, I'll take all of those.
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
152 COLLOQUY
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1 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Sir, Commissioner
2 Smi th will swear you in at the podium there. Do you wish
3 to speak?
4 MR. DIBBLE: Not yet. I wanted to hear
5 what's going on.
6 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: You can come up
7 right now. Is it John Dibble?
8 MR. DIBBLE: Yes.
9 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: All right, sir, if
10 you would go ahead and come on up and stand, then.
11 MR. DIBBLE: Sure.
12
13 JOHN DIBBLE,
14 appearing as a public witness, having been duly sworn,
15 was examined and testified as follows:
16
17 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: This gentleman,
18 Mr. Dibble, will ask your name again.
19 THE WITNESS: Sure;
EXAMINATION
23 BY MR. WOODBURY:
24.25
Q If you could state your full name, spell
your last name for the record.
CSB REPORTING
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153 DIBBLEPublic
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1 A John Dibble, D-i-b-b-l-e.
2 And what is your address, sir?Q
3 A 525 South Florence, Sandpoint, Idaho,
4 83864.
5 Q All right, you may give your comments.
6 A Well, I just wanted to hear what's going
7 on first. I mean, I might have something to say, but at
8 the moment I'm just trying to figure out what's going
9 on.
10 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Mr. Dibble, that
11 presents a little bit of a problem because these are
12 hearings and they're not workshops and so it isn't a give
13 and take environment to go into the issues of the case
14 and what has gone on in workshops that have been here,
15 let's see, the workshops, there was a workshop in Moscow
16 and one in Coeur d' Alene on the issues and so this is an
17 opportuni ty for you to express your point of view
18 concerning the rates that Avista has proposed or any
19 aspect of Avista' s operations that you're concerned with,
20 anything you would like to express concerning Avista in
21 terms of the electrical operations or the gas
22 operations.
23 THE WITNESS: Sure. Okay, I travel quite .
24 a lot with my business, so I'm out of the state that I
25 li ve in quite a lot. I do have some interest in the fact
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
154 DIBBLE
Public
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1 that they i re asking for an increase in the electric
2 utility rates when most utilities around the West seem to
3 be pretty much stable accept for the dual fuel
4 investor-owned utili ties, so I apologize for not having
5 been able to attend any of the workshops prior, but I am
6 in question as to the need for an increase in electricity
7 and I'm questioning if it's a need to increase
8 electrici ty because of the increasing threat for, you
9 know, natural gas prices to increase as far as
10 purchasing, so I'm just curious.
11 I mean, again, I apologize I couldn i t come
12 to the workshops, but that's why I'm here to check to see
13 what reasoning they had for increasing the electric rates
14
i
when we have the hydro dams right near Bonner County.
15 COMMISSIONER REDFORD:Thank you.
16 THE WITNESS: You're welcome.
17 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: But again,
18 Mr. Dibble, it's not the place, and I was examining the
19 meri ts in my own mind of going into more, but this is
20 just not the place where we can go do that.
21 MR. MEYER: Mr. Chairman, we'd be happy to
22 visi t with this gentleman off the record and answer any
23 questions he may have and give him more information.
24 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Would that be
25 satisfactory?
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
155 DIBBLE
Public
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1 THE WITNESS: Oh sure.
2 (The witness left the stand.)
3 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Is there anyone
4 else in the audience who wishes to testify or make
5 comments? There is one other thing, Mr. Dibble, and that
6 is that all of the comments that anybody makes, you still
7 have an opportunity, by the way, if you don't feel that
8 you expressed yourself adequately here after you have the
9 discussion, you could come on the Commission's website
10 and it i s just Idaho PUC and you can do that on the
11 generic web on any search engine and it will take you
12 into the Public Utilities Commission website and you'll
13 find a place on there where you can make comments on
14 cases. We' 11 give you, again, perhaps when you're
15 talking to Avista, the case numbers and you go in and
16 look specifically on those if you want to review any of
17 those and you can make comments on those, so you have a
18 chance between now and the 5th of September to go ahead
19 after you have a discussion here and make a second set of
20 comments on the website.
21 MR. DIBBLE: Certainly.
22 COMMISSIONER KEMPTON: Okay, so, again,
23 the 5th of September is the closing date. After that we
24 will consider all the material on the case fully
25 submitted and then we go into a decision process, so the
CSB REPORTING
[phone]
156 COLLOQUY
.1 time is getting short,so there are no other questions or
2 testimony from anyone in the audience on these two cases
3 and there being none,the meeting,the hearing is
4 adjourned.
5 (The Hearing adj ourned at 7:10 p.m.)
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CSB REPORTING 157 COLLOQUY
(208 )890-5198
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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 Avista Corporation for the authority to increase its
7 rates and charges for electric and natural gas service to
8 electric and natural gas customers in the State of Idaho,
9 commencing at 7:00 p.m., on Thursday, August 28, 2008, at
10 the Edgewater Resort, 56 Bridge Street, Sandpoint, Idaho,
11 is a true and correct transcript of said proceedings and
12 the original thereof for the file of the Commission.
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CONSTANCE S. BUCY
Certified Shorthand Reporte
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CSB REPORTING
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158 AUTHENTICATION