20190108Washington Notice of Denial of Petition.pdf

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STATE OF WASHINGTON
UT!LITIES AND TRANSPORTAT!ON COMMISSION
1300 S. Evergreen Park Dr. 5.W., P.O. Box 47250 o Olympia, Washington 98504-7250
[phone] o Tw [phone]
January 8,2019
NOTICE OF DENIAL OF PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION
BY OPERATION OF LAW
AI\tD
DENIAL OF PETITION FOR REHEARING AS MOOT
RE In the Matter of the Joint Application of Hydro One Limited and Avista Corporationfor
an Order Authorizing Proposed Transaction, Docket U-I70970
On September 14,2017, Avista Corporation (Avista), a Washington corporation and a
jurisdictional public service company, and Hydro One Limited (Hydro One), a Province of
Ontario corporation, acting through Olympus Equity LLC, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary
of Hydro One, filed their Joint Application for an Order Authorizing Proposed Transaction.l If
approved, Olympus Equity LLC would have acquired all of the outstanding common stock of
Avista, which would have become a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Olympus Equity LLC.
Avista, thus, would have been an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Hydro One. The
Commission, however, entered and served Order 07, its "Order Denying Joint Application for
Transfer of Property" on December 5, 2018. Order 07 is a "final order" under WAC 480-07-820
The Commission accepted for filing on December 17,2018, the "Petition of Hydro One and
Avista for Reconsideration and for Rehearing." Under the Administative Procedure Act, RCW
34.05.470, and the Commission's Procedural Rules, WAC 480-07-850, the Commission must
resolve the petition for reconsideration in one of three ways. The Commission may elect to take
no action on the petition within 20 days after it is filed, in which case the petition is deemed
denied by operation of law. Alternatively, the Commission may give written notice specifying
the date by which it will act on the petition. Finally, the Commission may enter an order
resolving the petition.2
I We refer to Avista and Hydro One collectively in this Notice as "Joint Applicants" or "Companies."
2 RCW 34.05.470 provides in relevant part that: "The agency is deemed to have denied the petition for
reconsideration if, within twenty days from the date the petition is filed, the agency does not either: (a) Dispose of
the petition; or (b) serve the parties with a written notice specifuing the date by which it will act on the petition."
WAC 480-07-850(2) provides: Disposition. A petition for reconsideration is deemed denied twenty days after the
date the petition is filed, unless the commission either: (a) Enters an order resolving the petition; or (b) Serves the
parties with a written notice specifoing the date by which the commission will act on the petition.
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Respect. Professionalism. I nteg rity. Accountability.
ln this case, the Commission has elected not to dispose of the petition "in the form of a written
order denying the petition, granting the petition and dissolving or modifying the final order, or
granting the petition and setting the matter for further hearing."3 Monday, January 7,2019,
marked the passage of 20 days since the filing of the petition on Decemb er 17 , 201 8. The
Commission determines, therefore, that it should give notice that the petition for reconsideration
is deemed denied by operation of law.
Joint Applicants seek by their petition for rehearing "to present additional evidence after the
Commission has entered a final order" as allowed under WAC 480-07-830(2) and WAC 480-07-
870. Because, however, the Joint Applicants' petition for reconsideration is deemed denied by
operation of law, "the commission will take no further action in the matter with respect to the
final order."a It follows that the Companies' petition for rehearing is moot, there being no
effective relief available to the Joint Applicants. Although it is not necessary for the Commission
to address the merits of the petition for rehearing, we find it fails to establish sufficient grounds
as required by WAC 480-07-870(l).
THE COMMISSION GMS NOTICE THAT the Petition of Hydro One and Avista for
Reconsideration and Rehearing, to the extent it seeks reconsideration of Order 07 in this
docket, is DENIED BY OPERATION OF LAW.
THE COMMISSION GMS FURTHER NOTICE THAT the Petition of Hydro One and
Avista for Reconsideration and Rehearing, to the extent it seeks rehearing of Order 07 in
this docket, is MOOT and, therefore, is DENIED.
MARK L. JOHNSON
Executive Director and Secretary
cc: All Parties
3 RCw 34.0s.470(4).
4 wAC 480-07-850(3).