20100303Vol I Boise.pdf

ORIGINAL
e 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 IN THE STATE OF IDAHO.
CASE NO.
UWI-W-09-01
PUBLIC HEARING
HEARING BEFORE
:.n1orn
..'"
J,s:
COMMISSIONER MARSHA H. SMITH (Presiding)
COMMISSIONER JIM D. KEMPTON
COMMISSIONER MACK A. REDFORD
e
PLACE:Commission Hearing Room
472 West Washington Street
Boise, Idaho
DATE:February 22, 2010
VOLUME I - Pages 1 - 7
'-i.
-11~-t-¡t
POST OFFICE BOX 578
BOISE. IDAHO 83701
208-336-9208
e HEDRICK
COURT REPORTING
s'ef~ th ¥ N)lfl1lt¡ .siíra 198
e
10
11
12
e
e
1 APPEARANCES
2 For the Staff:KRISTINE A. SASSER, Esq.
and WELDON B. STUTZMAN, Esq.
Deputy Attorneys General
472 West Washington
Boise, Idaho 83702
3
4
5
For United Water:McDEVITT & MILLER, LLP
by CHARLES F. McDEVITT, Esq.
420 West Bannock Street
Boise, Idaho 83702
6
7
8 BRAD M. PURDY, Esq.
Attorney at Law
2019 North Seventeenth Street
Boise, Idaho 83702
For CAPAI:
9
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
HEDRICK COURT REPORTING
P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
APPEARANCES
HEDRICK COURT REPORTING
P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
INDEX
EXHIBITS
e
e
e
1 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2010, 7:00 P.M., BOISE, IDAHO
2
3
4 COMMISSIONER SMITH: All right. Welcome, ladies
5 and gentlemen, to a public hearing before the Idaho Public
6 Utilities Commission in Case No. UWI-W-09-01, further
7 identified as In the matter of the Application of United Water
8 Idaho, Inc., for Authority to Increase Its Rates and Charges in
9 the State of Idaho.
10 My name is Marsha Smith, I i m one of the three
11 Commissioners, and I i II be chairing tonight i shearing. On my
12 left is Commissioner Kempton, who is also president of the
13 Commission, and on my right is Commissioner Mack Redford. The
14 three of us are the people who will be considering the evidence
15 in this case and making a final Decision.
16 We i II begin tonight with appearances of the
17 parties, beginning with the Company. Mr. McDevitt.
18 MR. McDEVITT: Chas McDevitt, Madam Chair,
19 representing United Water Idaho.
20 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Welcome to the Commission,
21 Mr. McDevitt.
22 MR. McDEVITT: Thank you very much.
23 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Mr. Purdy.
24 MR. PURDY: Brad Purdy, representing the
25 Community Action Partnership Association of Idaho.
1
HEDRICK COURT REPORTING
P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
COLLOQUY
e
e
e
1 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Thank you. And for the
2 Staff.
3 MS. SASSER: Kristine Sasser, representing Staff.
4 MR. STUTZMAN: Weldon Stutzman on behalf of Staff
5 as well.
6 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Okay. Thank you.
7 The purpose of tonight i s hearing is to take
8 public testimony on the Settlement that i s been proposed in this
9 case, which is roughly a reduction of about one-third of the
10 Company i s original Request. When I call your name off of the
11 list, you i re welcome to come forward. Commissioner Kempton
12 will swear you in, and if you i II have a seat at our chair and
13 Staff attorney will ask you some questions to have you
14 identified on the record, and then you will be able to make
15 your statement.
16 So, with that, weI II start with John Taylor.
17
18 JOHN TAYLOR,
19 appearing as a public witness, being first duly sworn, was
20 examined and testified as follows:
21
22 EXAMINATION
23
24 BY MS. SASSER:
25 Sir, if you could state your name and spell yourQ.
2
HEDRICK COURT REPORTING
P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
TAYLOR
Public
e
e
e
1 last name for the record?
2 A.John Taylor, T-A-Y-L-O-R.
3 Q.And your residence address?
4 A.9570 West Telfair -- T-E-L-F-A-I-R -- Drive,
5 Boise.
6 Q.And are you -- I i m sorry. Are you a customer of
7 Uni ted Water?
8 A.Yes.
9 Q.Please proceed with your testimony.
10 THE WITNESS: Commission, I would just like to
11 note, because there is no competition to United Water, that the
12 only other water company that I i m aware of is Capitol Water.
13 As I looked at their numbers, they show that they can deliver
14 water for 45 percent less than what United Water is delivering
15 it today. That seems like an awful difference in scale,
16 especially with the economy of scale that United Water has.
17 The monthly charges for our customer service fee
18 is the highest of any utility. They only read the meter every
19 other month and should be lower than the other utilities rather
20 than higher. I realize that their meters are a little bit
21 difficult to access being under the ground three or four feet,
22 but at the same time, it seems, to me, like we i re getting an
23 awful high customer charge.
24 My customer charge -- because of my customer
25 charge, we were charged $4.11 for 100 cubic feet of water in
3
HEDRICK COURT REPORTING
P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
TAYLOR
Public
e
e
24-25
1 the winter last year, which seems a little bit ridiculous.
2 If -- and, again, if I were a Capitol Water customer, I would
3 have paid 246.50 last year, compared to 450.91 that we were
4 charged.
5 The other concern that we have is the economy at
6 this time. A lot of people didn't get any raise at all, a lot
7 of people got a decreased raise, and there i s a lot of people
8 out of work. And I feel because of the look of the economy,
9 the difference between what one company can deliver water for
10 and the other company can deliver water for, the customer fee
11 for the times in which we don i t get a lot of water, I think at
12 this time, with the economy, I think it would be a good time to
13 deny this rate increase.
14 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Does that conclude your
15 statement?
16 THE WITNESS: Yes.
17 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Let i s see if there are any
18 questions for you.
19 Any questions from the parties? Mr. Purdy?
20
21 CROSS-EXAMINATION
22
23 BY MR. PURDY:
Q.Well, I would just ask one quick question about a
point you made regarding the customer charge. Did you tell the
4
HEDRICK COURT REPORTING
P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
TAYLOR (X)
Public
e
e
1 Commission that you had looked at other utilities and compared
2 their customer charges to United Water, and if so, did you
3 pretty much go throughout the state or what was the scope of
4 your analysis
5 A.Idaho Power charges $4 per month, Intermountain
6 Gas charges $6.50 per month, United Water charges $8.11 per
7 month, which is a little more than twice what Idaho Power can
8 charge.
9 Q.Okay.
10 A.So that's where I came up with those numbers.
11 Q.Thank you, sir.
12 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Any questions, Mr. McDevitt?
13 MR. McDEVITT: No questions, Madam Chairman.
14 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Do we have questions from
15 the Commissioners?
16 MR. REDFORD: No.
17 MR. KEMPTON: No.
18 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Nor I. Thank you,
19 Mr. Taylor, for your testimony.
20 (The witness left the stand.)
21 COMMISSIONER SMITH: It appears that Mr. Taylor
22 is the only person who appeared and signed up to testify
23 tonight; and I would say that if there was anybody else who
24 wanted to testify, come forward, but I see you are all parties-25 so you already all filed your testimony. So, I guess I i II just
5
HEDRICK COURT REPORTING
P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
COLLOQUY
e
e
e
1 be forced to say there being nothing further to come before the
2 Commission this night, the hearing will be adj ourned.
3 I believe this is also the deadline for filing of
4 written comments, and, therefore, after tonight, the Commission
5 will consider the case fully submitted, deliberate on it as
6 quickly as we can, recognizing the parties had a specific date
7 in the Settlement but not promising that we will meet it.
8 Ms. Sasser.
9 MS. SASSER: Chairman Smith, if I may request
10 that we vacate the technical hearing that i s currently scheduled
11 for March 4th based on the information that you just stated?
12 COMMISSIONER SMITH: I will confer with my fellow
13 Commissioners, but I think it i s likely, since we've had no
14 comments or testimony requesting a live hearing, that the
15 hearing date could be vacated.
16 MS. SASSER: Thank you.
17 COMMISSIONER SMITH: And we will issue a Notice
18 accordingly.
19 MS. SASSER: Thank you.
20 COMMISSIONER SMITH: Is there anything else to
21 come before the Commission?
22 MR. McDEVITT: I have nothing.
23 COMMISSIONER SMITH: If not, thank you all for
24 your participation and your presence, and we are adjourned.
25 (The hearing concluded at 7:09 p.m.)
6
HEDRICK COURT REPORTING
P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
COLLOQUY
e
It
18
19
20
21
22
23
24-25
1 AUTHENTICATION
2
3
4 This is to certify that the foregoing is a
5 true and correct transcript to the best of my ability of the
6 proceedings held in the matter of the Application of United
7 Water Idaho, Inc., for authority to increase its rates and
8 charges in the state of Idaho, Case No. UWI-W-09-01, commencing
9 on Monday, February 22, 2010, at the Commission Hearing Room,
10 472 West Washington, Boise, Idaho, and the original thereof for
11 the file of the Commission.
12
13
14
15
WENDY J. MUR Public
in and for the S ate of Idaho,
residing at Meridian, Idaho.
My Commission expires 2-8-2014.
Idaho CSR No. 475
16
17
~","."."lll##
!l~~'~~f) Y J. At #####~.~~.t.A ##~ ~ ...t: .,~.ll. "'- ~:: tl07'A." ~.,: il -~¡. ~ ~~ ., -.- j ::.. \ Ll .~..~. .. lIilLlC~ tf j
...16 i!, ..~. )-~...... '" ~~O .::....~
~/;.. OF I'D !':~~ """,'I
....'i ~t l l ti ift J;":'!)'t
7
HEDRICK COURT REPORTING
P. O. BOX 578, BOISE, ID 83701
AUTHENTICATION