20150812AVU to Staff 45.doc

AVISTA CORPORATION
RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

JURISDICTION: IDAHO DATE PREPARED: 07/31/2015
CASE NO.: AVU-E-15-05/AVU-G-15-01 WITNESS: Bryan Cox
REQUESTER: IPUC RESPONDER: Tracy Rolstad
TYPE: Production Request DEPARTMENT: System Planning
REQUEST NO.: Staff - 045 TELEPHONE: [phone]

REQUEST:

Please describe WECC’s services to the Company (See Cox DI, pg. 10, line 3). Does the Company utilize additional services from WECC, including the TEPPC common base case development, WREGIS, or others? Please describe the Company’s input to the current WECC Section 4.9 review. Please compare the pre-bifunction costs/services to the post-bifunction costs/services.

RESPONSE:

Avista uses the annual WECC Technical Studies Subcommittee (TSS) Power Flow and Transient Stability base cases (approximately 12 per year). The assumptions provided by TEPPC have been reviewed in the past for the development of our database to model market prices. Several people in the company have been involved in the WECC 4.9 review. These individuals have been monitoring the process as it has unfolded, and have provided various inputs to the process. Because WECC is now an independent organization with an independent Board of Directors and a new corporate structure, the Company is often not able to provide input that will necessarily be incorporated into the goals and cost structure of the organization.

The bifurcation of WECC has produced two completely independent organizations who's new functions may somewhat overlap. The Company is not able to restrict any of the functions that the two new organizations choose to pursue.

The roles and services provided by Peak Reliability Inc. (the new bifurcated company) have expanded, and thus the costs have likewise expanded.

The roles, services, and costs provided by WECC have also expanded.

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