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Home My WebLink About20091210UWI to Staff 149-153.pdfMcDevitt & Miller LLP Lawyers EL; (208) 343-7500 (208) 336-6912 (Fax) pr:I"C.,.. \,) i.. 420 W. Bannock Street P.O. Box 2564-832lJ £lEG \ 0 Boise, Idaho 83702 ill1-"'.. IrnLrfDecember 10, 200t) PM 2: 46 Chas. F. McDevitt Dean J. (Joe) Miler Via Hand Delivery Jean Jewell, Secretar Idaho Public Utities Commssion 472 W. Waslugton St. Boise, Idaho 83720 Re: Case No. UW-W-09-01 General Rate Case Filing Dear Ms. Jewell: Enclosed for fig, please fid thee (3) copies of United Water Idaho's Thd Response to Commssion Staffs Sixth Production Request Nos. 149, 150, 151, 152, and 153. Kidly retu a fie staped copy to me. Very Truy Yours, McDevitt & Mier U. ~~ DJM/hh Encl. :QRIGINAl Dean J. Miller (lSB No. 1968) McDEVITT & MILLER LLP 420 West Banock Streèt P.O. Box 2564-83701 Boise, Idaho 83702 Tel: 208-343-7500 Fax: 208-336-6912 joeCimcdevitt -miler. com REeE 2009 nEG' 0 PH 2: 46 r~ Attorneys for United Water Idaho Inc. BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF ) UNITED WATER IDAHO INC., FOR ) AUTHORITY TO INCREASE ITS RATES AND ~ CHARGES FOR WATER SERVICE IN THE )STATE OF IDAHO ) ) CASE NO. UWI-W-09-01 UNITED WATER IDAHO INC'S THIRD RESPONSE TO COMMISSION STAFF'S SIXTH PRODUCTION REQUESTS United Water Idaho Inc, ("United Water") by and through its undersigned attorneys, hereby submits its Third Response to the Commission Staffs Sixth Production Request Nos. 149, 150, 151, 152, and 153. DATED this ~ day of December, 2009. UNITED WATER IDAHO INC. BY~VR ean J. Miller McDevitt & Miler LLP 420 West Banock Boise, Idaho 83702 P: 208.343.7500 F: 208.336.6912 Attorney for United Water UNITED WATER IDAHO INC'S THIR RESPONSE TO COMMISSION STAFF'S SIXTH PRODUCTION REQUESTS- 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on the ~y of December, 2009, I caused to be sered, via the method(s) indicated below, tre and correct copies of the foregoing document, upon: Jean Jewell, Secretar Idaho Public Utilities Commission 472 West Washington Street P.O. Box 83720 Boise,ID 83720-0074 j j ewell(ipuc.state.id. us Hand Delivered U.S. Mail Fax Fed. Express Email Brad M. Purdy Attorney at Law 2019 N. 17th Street Boise, ID 83702 bmpurdyCihotmail.com Hand Delivered U.S. Mail Fax Fed. Express Email K~'- ~'- ~'- ~'- ~'-~u ~'-u By:~+bilt, McDEVlIT MILLER LLP UNITED WATER IDAHO INC'S THIR RESPONSE TO COMMISSION STAFF'S SIXTH PRODUCTION REQUESTS- 2 UNITED WATER IDAHO INC. CASE UWI-W-09..01 SIXTH PRODUCTION REQlJESTOF THE COMMISSION STAFF Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Scott Rhead REQUEST NO. 149: Please provide a summar report that lists projects closed to plant in service since the last general rate case. Please include on this report the project nuíber, project description, costs by cost category (payroll, materials and supplies, contract/equipment, overheads, etc.), total project costs and total transferred to plant in service. RESPONSE NO. 149: The Company's Asset Miaagement.system is unable to produce a report that summarzes all the requested projects and including cost category breakdowns. However~ the system can produce a summar oftle requested projects with all the data requested excluding the category breakdowns. Enclosed please find the Excel fie titled "Prod Req # I 49 CapEx Projects Since Last Case.xlsx". l' UNITED WATER IDAHO INC. CASE UWI- W..09-01 SIXTH PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Scott Rhead REQUEST NO. 150: Please provide a list of any and all capital expenditure/asset management reports that list by project its actual costs, budgetar costs, and varançe (over/under budgeted amount). Please include within your response how each report is used and by whom it is used (for example-- report ìs usedto monitor project costs and reallocate capital expenditue budget as considered necessar and is used by the engineering group (insert employee name and location here J). RESPONSE NO. 150: The .Capital Expenditure Monthly Forecast Rèport is the primar mechanism/report by which each constrction project/capital expenditure is monitored through its cycle from inception to completion. Capital Forecast Reports are prepared each month by local business unit engineering staff and are compiled into a consolidated monthly report by Unìted Water Corporate Engineerng. The reports provide budget information; actual expenditure data for the preceding month, and year-end capital expenditure forecast data. Budgetar estimates for individual projects are generally developed 9-12 months before the Capital Expenditure Authorizations (CEAs) are prepared. Project costs often change as detailed plans are developed, bids are received or the project scopes change durng the course of construction. Adjustments are made to the Capital Forecast Report as these adjustments are realized. Significant varances may lead to changes in other projects in order to keep the capital expenditues wìthin the established budget for the year. This can be seen in the Capital Forecast Reports included under Response No. i 5 i. The Januar report reflects, for the most par, year- ,.. end fotecasts equal to the budget amounts. The amounts are refined monthly as the year progresses and actual expenditure levels are known. The Monthly Forecast Report is prepared by Scott Rhead, Director of Engineering with help and input from deparent heads. The report is transmitted around the 10th of each month to Greg Wyatt, General Manager and Car Gaw, Corp. Director of Capital Planing. UNITED WATER IDAHO INC. CASEUWI-W-09-01 SIXTH PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Scott Rhead REQUEST NO. 151: Please provide an electronic copy in Excel.fonnat with fonnulas intact of the preceding reports for 2007,2008 and 2009 to date. Please update this response monthly. Ifthe reports are not available in Excel fonnat with fonnulas intact, please provide a paper copy ofeach report. RESPONSE NO. 1St: Enclosed with this response are Excel fies of the Januar 2007 through October 2009 Monthly Forecast Reports referenced in Response No. 150. UNITED WATER IDAHO INC. CASE. UWI- W-09-01 SIXTH PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF Preparer/Spönsoring Witness: Scott Rhead REQUEST NO. 152: Please provide a detailed description of all capital expenditures that were deferrd, delayed, reduced or otherwise managed to minimize costs in order to reduce costs. Please explain actions taken by the Compay to minimize the impact on customers in the current depressed employnent and economic climate. RESPONSE NO. 152: The Company manages its capital expendittiesprogra, tominimIzeimpact on cuStomer regardless of economic conditions. . Projects ar intemallyreviewed throughout the bUdgeting process aid only completed if justified becal1se of priorityreqlUrementssuchas environmental compliance, service deficiency or improvement, needed replacement, safety, additional required capacity, etc- Thectit ecönomic decline began to more signficantlyeyidence itself in thelattet.par of 2008, after the 2009 capital budgeting and review cycle had already beencompleted. Inearly 2009, after the extent of the economic decline waS better understood, thtfCompaiy re~evaluated its 200~lcapital expenditure budget to detennineifcertain projectscouldbe delayed or modified without comptomising regulatory requirements or customer service. The 2009 capital expenditure budget wasinitiaUy established at $7,168,000 andisnowestiinated to closethryear at about $6,543,000. Ths represents an approximate 8. 7% reduction of approximately $625,000 in capital .expenditues in 2009. The projects that make up this reduction are summarzed beloW: . Isolated New Services · Dry Creek Well & Water Right · Small GIP Main Replacement Project . Misc. Under-Runs Total $118,100 $256,200 $238,600 $ 12,100 $625,000 reduced demand defered deferred reduced UNITED WATER IDAHO INC. CASE UWI- W-09-01 SIXTH PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF Preparer: Patrcia Foss Sponsoring Witness: Gregory P. Wyatt REQUEST NO. 153: In the Company's response to Production Request 54, the Company states that aU callsto the customer service number are handled by customer service representatives. In response to Production Request 58, the Company quantified those calls on a monthly basis for 2006- 2009. In respons~ to Production Request 62, the Company identified the number of calls categorized under Water Quality, High Bils and Disconnection. According to Staff calculations, these three categories represent no more than 7.7 %. of calls received inaiy single month for the time frame for which the Company provided data. Please provide fuher breakdown on the remainig incoming calls handled by customer service:representatives on a monthly basis for 2006 - 2009 to date. Please provide the data in an electronically executable format. REstONSE NO. 153: Copies of aiiCompany call log sumares that are responsive to this Request were provided to Mr. Chrs Hecht durng his on-site audit visit of November 30,2009.