20170801Ehrbar Direct.pdf

DAV]D J. MEYER
VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF COUNSEL EOR
REGULATORY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
AV]STA CORPORAT]ON
L4TL E, MISSION AVENUE
P. O. BOX 3121
SPOKANE, WASHTNGTON 99220
PHONE: [phone]I6, FAX: [phone]
BEFORE THE IDAIIO PI'BLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE POWER COST
ADJUSTMENT (PCA) ANNUAL RATE
ADJUSTMENT FILTNG OE AV]STA
CORPORATION
CASE NO. AVU-E-I1_ 4,7
DIRECT TESTIMONY OF
PATRICK D. EHRBAR
FOR AV]STA CORPORATION
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A. Please state your name, business address and
present position with Avista Corporation?
A. My name is Patrick D. Ehrbar and my business
address is 7471- East Mission Avenue,
am presently assigned to the
Department as Senior Manager of
A. Would you briefJ.y
Spokane, Washi-ngton. I
and Federal Regulation
and Tariffs.
State
Rates
describe your educational.
background and professional extrrerience?
A. Yes. I am a 1995 graduate of Gonzaga University
with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration. In 7991
I graduated from Gonzaga University with a Masters degree in
Business Administration. f started with Avista in April 1,991
as a Resource Management Analyst in the Company's Demand
Side Management (DSM) department. Later, I became a Program
Manager,
for the
responsi-ble for energy effici-ency program offerings
Company's educational- and governmental customers. In
2000, I was selected to be one of the Company's key Account
Executives. In this role I was responsible for, among other
things, being the primary point of contact for numerous
commercial and industrj-al customers, including delivery of
the Company's site specifi-c energy efficiency programs.
I joined the State and Federal Regulation Department as
a Senior Regulatory Analyst in 2007. Responsibilities in
that role incl-uded being the dlscovery coordinator for the
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I Company's rate cases, Iine extension poli-cy tariffs, as well
2 as mj-scell-aneous regulatory issues. fn November 2009, I was
3 promoted to Manager of Rates and Tariffs, and later promoted
4 to be Senior Manager of Rates and Tarj-ffs.
electric and
My primary areas
natural gas rate5
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of responsibility incl-ude
design, decoupling, power
adjustments, customer usage
administration.
cost and natural gas rate
and revenue analysi-s, and tariff
15 october L, 20L'7,
A. Wtrat is the scope of your testimony in this
l0 proceeding?
ll A. My testimony provides a summary of the accounting
12 entries and account balances related to the Power Cost
13 Adjustment (PCA) for the 12-months ended June 30,2071. My
effective14 testimony also addresses the proposed rebate to be
A. Are you
which wiII replace the existing rebate.
sponsoring an Exhibit?
A. Yes. I am sponsoring Exhibit No. PDE-1. Page L
consists of a sheet showing the cal-culation of the proposed
uniform cents per kilowatt-hour PCA rebate of 0.240+, as
well as the impact of the proposed PCA rebate rate by rate
schedufe. Page 2 ts the proposed PCA tariff, Schedule 66.
A. Would you please provide an overview of the most
recent history of Avista's PCA methodology that has been
approved by the Idaho PubJ.ic UtiJ.ities Comnission ("IPUC") ?
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A. Yes. On June 29, 2001 the Commission issued Order
No. 30351 in Case No. AVU-E-07-01. That case dealt with the
review of the PCA methodology and method of recovery. The
Commission approved a change in the PCA methodology from a
trigger and cap mechanj-sm to a single annual- PCA rate
adjustment filing requirement.
The Commission also approved method of
the PCA deferral rate adjustment
a change in the
from a uniform
basis to a uniform cents per kilowatt-hour basis,
a Load Change Adjustment Rate based on
portion of embedded production revenue
April L, 20LL.
The Commission approved the
schedule for administering the annual
percentage
effective
the energy-classified
requirement effective
following procedural
PCA fllings:
prior July June
by Staff and other
effective date of
l0 with the October 7, 2007 rate change. By Order No. 32206 in
l1 Case No. GNR-E-10-03 dated March 15, 20L1, the Commission
12 modified the retail revenue credi-t methodology and approved
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August 1
September 1
October I
Company filing for
deferral period
Review and comments
interested parties
Commission Order and
PCA rate adjustment
9. Itould you please sr:marize the fiJ-ing and Order
assoeiated with the existing PCA rate?
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A. Yes. On JuLy 29, 2016, Avista
rate adjustment for the period JuIy L,
2076 and requested a PCA rebate rate of
filed its annual PCA
2015 through June 30,
0.017C per kilowatt-
Commission approved
by Order No. 33605,
2076. Thehour effective October 1
that request in Case No.
dated September 29, 2016.
A. Does the present
AVU-E-16-05,
fiJ.ing conform to the requirements
of the prior Conmrission Orders regarding the PCA?
A. Yes. Conslstent with prior years, the proposed PCA
rate adjustment is based on the following:
a Deferral-s for the period JuIy I, 2016 through June
30, 2071, i-ncluding interest,
Unamortized bal-ance remaining from the period
October L, 20L6 through June 30, 20L1, including
interest, and
Forecast amortization and interest from JuIy I,
20L1 through September 30 , 201-'7 .
A. I{trat were t}re amounts of deferrals and interest for
the period JuIy 1, 20L6 through June 30, 2OL7?
A. The table below summarizes the charges for this
period:
Company witness Mr. Johnson discusses the components
that make up the $7,180,332 deferra] bal-ance shown above, as
well as the $36,474 credit to Idaho customers related to
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a
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Renewable Energy Credit Retirement Benefit
Tnterest
Deferral Balance at Jr:ne 30, 2071
$June 2017)
$
JuI 6207Deferralsv
(71 241)
(1,233 993
(7,780,332)
(36,41,4)
Unamortized Balance from Previ-ous
(prior to July 1, 2016\
Amortization July 20L6- June 2017
Interest
Amortization and fnterest .Tu1y 1, 207'7
September 30, 201"7
$
$
I nterest
$
$
(L46,942)
106 049
201'7 214 BB67
Remaining Amortization Bala
oo? \1 233
414\ner Credit
Deferral Balance
nce at June 30, 201'7 $
tember 30
Renewable E
4 4L3
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(1 ,18A ,332)
Deferrals
June 2017)
Reti-rement Benefi-t
Rebate Balance as of S
at June 30, 20L7 $
Deferrals (July 20L6 -
(110,341]t
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I renewabl-e energy credits retired to meet Vflashington's
standards . The $1,7 ,247 interest amount
for the twelve-month period July 1-, 201,6
2 renewable portfolio
represents interest
through June 30, 20L1. Interest for the 12-month period was
calculated using the Customer Deposit Rate of 12, per prior
Commission order.
A. Wtrat rebate rate is the Cornpany proposing to be
effective October 1, 2OL7?
A. The Company is proposing a uniform cents per
kilowatt-hour PCA rebate rate of 0.240C to be effective
October L, 20L1. Page 1 of Exhibit No. PDE-1 shows the
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12 calculation of the proposed rebate. Page 2 of Exhibit No.
13 PDE-1 is a copy of the proposed tarj-ff, Schedul-e 66, which
14 contains the proposed PCA rebate rate. The proposed rebate
15 is designed to rebate the following:
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After applying the conversion factor related to
2 commi-ssion fees and uncollectible customer accounts, the
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resulting rebate of $1,324,1,33 is divided by forecasted
kilowatt-hours to derive the proposed rebate rate of 0.2400C
per kilowatt-hour.
A. Iilhat is the impact of the proposed PCA rate
increase by rate schedule?
A. Page 1 of Exhibit No. PDE-I shows the effect of the
proposed PCA rate increase by rate schedule. The proposed
rebate rate is 0.240C per kil-owatt-hour, which is 0.223C per
kilowatt-hour more than the existing rebate rate decrease of
0.017e per kil-owatt-hour. Column (q) shows the percentage
decrease by rate schedule. The overall- decrease is 2.1%, or
$ 6, Bo1, 0oo .
A. What wiJ.J. be the impact of the proposed rebate on
an averagre residential customer?
A. Under the Company's proposal, the PCA rebate rate
for aIl- customers, including residential customers, wiII go
from a 0.017+ per kilowatt-hour rebate to a 0.2404 per
kilowatt-hour rebate, drr increased rebate of 0.2234 per
kilowatt-hour. Residential customers using an average of
910 kil-owatt-hours per month would see their monthly bill-s
decrease from $86.39 to $84.35, a decrease of $2.03 per
month, or 2.4%.
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A. Is the Company continuing' with its customer biJ'J.
paying assistance programs?
A. Yes. The Company has several programs available to
assist customers with paying their bills. Avista's Comfort
Level BiIIing (CLB) plan is based on historical charges or
an estimate of future charges and wiII approximate a monthly
average of the customer's estimated annual bilIings.
The concept of this plan is to help the customer budget
for their utility bills throughout the year by leveling out
seasonal- highs and lows in their monthly utility bills. The
Customer Assistance Referral and Evaluation Services (CARES)
program provides assistance to special-needs customers
through access to specificalJ-y trained CARES representatives
contribute donations that are distributed through local-
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14 who provide referrals to area agencies and churches for help
utilities and medicall5with, among other
assistance.
The Low Income
things, housing,
Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
assi-st Iow income customers18 is a Federal program aimed to
19 pay their efectric and natural gas biIls. These funds are
20 distributed through Iocal
contribution
agencies. Pro j ect Share j-s a
2l voluntary option allowing customers to
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community action agencies to customers in need.
1 Idaho customers who have children, elderly or infirmed
2 persons Iiving in the househol-d may qualify for the Winter
3 Moratorium plan. Erom December 1 through Eebruary 28,
4 customers are not required to pay their bills in fuII and
5 can defer payment or make partial payments. In addition,
6 tfre Winter Payment PIan provides f or l-ower winter bill
7 payments by allowing customers to make monthly payments
8 equal to one-hal-f of the level-ized bill amounts, with the
9 bal-ance in full or a new payment arrangement due by April
10 1"t. The Company also works out payment arrangements with
ll customers having dlfficulty paying their bi11s.
12 fn addition, the Company has convenient options that
13 help those who need flexibility, but are generally able to
14 pay. APS, or automatic payment service (money is deducted
15 from a customer's checking account automat j-caI1y each
services include debit and16 month) , is one example. Other
17 credit card service, check-by-phone or over the web,
l8 preferred due date (the customer picks a more convenient
19 date to pay than the one the Company states on the bill),
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that concJ.ude your pre-fiJ.ed direct testimony?
it does.
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and e-bi11ing.
A. Does
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