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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20230731Application_Cover Letter.pdf July 31, 2023 State of Idaho Idaho Public Utilities Commission 11331 W. Chinden Blvd Bldg 8 Suite 201-A Boise, ID 83714 Re: Case No. AVU-E-23-__ Residential Exchange Annual Rate Adjustment Filing of Avista Corporation Dear Commission Secretary: The Company has attached for electronic filing with the Commission the following revised tariff sheet: Twenty Third Revision Sheet 59 canceling Twenty Second Revision Sheet 59 Enclosed for filing with the Commission is Avista Corporation’s dba Avista Utilities (“Avista or the Company”) Application requesting approval of changes to the Company’s Residential and Small Farm Tariff Schedule 59. Electronic versions of the Company’s filing were emailed to the Commission, and the Service List, on July 31, 2023. Please direct any questions regarding this filing to Tia Benjamin at (509) 495-2225. Sincerely, /s/ Patrick Ehrbar Patrick Ehrbar Director of Regulatory Affairs Enclosures Avista Corp. 1411 East Mission P.O. Box 3727 Spokane. Washington 99220-3727 Telephone 509-489-0500 Toll Free 800-727-9170 CASE NO. AVU-E-23-11 RECEIVED Monday, July 31, 2023 12:57:33 PM IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION AVISTA’S ELECTRIC RESIDENTIAL AND SMALL FARM ANNUAL RATE ADJUSTMENT FILING PAGE 1 DAVID J. MEYER 1 VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF COUNSEL FOR 2 REGULATORY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 3 AVISTA CORPORATION 4 1411 E. MISSION AVENUE 5 P. O. BOX 3727 6 SPOKANE, WASHINGTON 99220 7 PHONE: (509) 495-4316, FAX: (509) 495-8851 8 BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION 9 10 IN THE MATTER OF THE RESIDENTIAL ) 11 AND SMALL FARM ANNUAL RATE ) CASE NO. AVU-E-23-__ 12 ADJUSTMENT FILING OF ) APPLICATION OF AVISTA 13 AVISTA CORPORATION ) CORPORATION 14 15 16 17 I. INTRODUCTION 18 In accordance with Idaho Code §61-502 and RP 052, Avista Corporation, doing 19 business as Avista Utilities (hereinafter “Avista” or “Company”), at 1411 East Mission 20 Avenue, Spokane, Washington, respectfully makes application to the Idaho Public Utilities 21 Commission (“Commission”) for an order authorizing Avista to implement Residential and 22 Small Farm Energy rates for electric service from October 1, 2023 through September 30, 23 2024. The proposed Residential and Small Farm Energy Rate Adjustment credit rate for 24 rate schedules 1, 12, 22, 32, and 48 is 0.366¢ per kilowatt-hour. The credit rate represents 25 a $0.2 million increase to qualifying customers. The Company has requested an October 26 1, 2023 effective date. 27 The Company requests that this filing be processed under the Commission’s 28 Modified Procedure Rules (RP 201-204). Communications in reference to this Application 29 AVISTA’S ELECTRIC RESIDENTIAL AND SMALL FARM ANNUAL RATE ADJUSTMENT FILING PAGE 2 should be addressed to: 1 David J. Meyer, Esq. 2 Vice President and Chief Counsel for 3 Regulatory & Governmental Affairs 4 Avista Corporation 5 P.O. Box 3727 6 MSC-10 7 1411 E. Mission Ave 8 Spokane, WA 99220-3727 9 Phone: (509) 495-4316 10 David.Meyer@avistacorp.com 11 12 Patrick Ehrbar 13 Director of Regulatory Affairs 14 Avista Utilities 15 P.O. Box 3727 16 MSC-27 17 1411 E. Mission Ave 18 Spokane, WA 99220-3727 19 Phone: (509) 495-8620 20 Patrick.Ehrbar@avistacorp.com 21 22 II. BACKGROUND 23 The electric Residential and Farm Energy Rate Adjustment results from an 24 Agreement between the Company and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The 25 Residential Exchange Program provides a share of the benefits of the federal Columbia 26 River power system to the residential and small-farm customers of the six investor-owned 27 utilities of the Pacific Northwest, including Avista. 28 29 III. DRIVERS OF THE RESIDENTIAL AND SMALL FARM ENERGY RATE 30 ADJUSTMENT CREDIT 31 32 Under the current Residential Exchange rate adjustment, approximately $4.93 33 million annually is being passed through to applicable Idaho customers through a uniform 34 AVISTA’S ELECTRIC RESIDENTIAL AND SMALL FARM ANNUAL RATE ADJUSTMENT FILING PAGE 3 0.380¢ per kilowatt-hour rate credit. This rate was approved by the Idaho Public Utilities 1 Commission effective October 1, 2022 in Order No. 35542. 2 The proposed rate credit of 0.366¢ per kilowatt-hour is designed to pass through 3 approximately $4.9 million which represents the Idaho portion of the annual level of BPA 4 benefits, offset by the over-refunded balance from the prior year, starting in October 2023. 5 The level of BPA benefits is slightly higher than what is currently being passed back to 6 customers in rates today. That amount, however, is offset by an over-refunded balance 7 from the prior year of approximately $0.5 million, which is due to actual usage being higher 8 than what was projected in the Company’s 2022 filing. In addition, associated with 9 reflecting a higher level of kWh usage as compared to the Company’s prior year filing, 10 provides an additional $0.15 million to the overall variance. The tables below detail the 11 differences between the benefit included in current rates and the proposed benefit included 12 in this filing. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 The Company is therefore proposing an overall increase of $0.2 million or 0.1% 21 AVISTA’S ELECTRIC RESIDENTIAL AND SMALL FARM ANNUAL RATE ADJUSTMENT FILING PAGE 4 for qualifying customers. The change in rate credit has no effect on Avista’s net income. 1 2 IV. PROPOSED RATES TO BE EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2023 3 The Company is proposing a per kilowatt-hour Residential and Small Farm Energy 4 Rate Adjustment credit rate of 0.366¢ for rate schedules 1, 12, 22, 32, and 48 to become 5 effective October 1, 2023. Attachment A to this Application provides the Residential and 6 Small Farm Energy Rate Calculation. Attached as Exhibit “A” is a copy of the proposed 7 tariff, Schedule 59, which contains the proposed Residential and Small Farm Energy rates 8 discussed earlier in this Application. Exhibit “A” also includes the proposed changes to 9 Schedule 59 in strike-out/underline format. Residential customers using an average of 927 10 kilowatt-hours per month would see their monthly bills increase from $85.40 to $85.53, an 11 increase of $0.13 per month, or 0.2%. 12 13 V. COMMUNICATIONS AND SERVICE OF APPLICATION 14 In conformance with RP 125, this Application will be brought to the attention of 15 the Company’s customers. Included in this filing is the form of Press Release which will 16 be issued on July 31, 2023, as well as the form of Customer Notice which will be included 17 in customer’s bills beginning in early August 2023 and run for a full billing cycle. 18 19 VI. REQUEST FOR RELIEF 20 The Company requests that the Commission issue an order approving a per 21 kilowatt-hour Residential and Small Farm Energy credit rate of 0.366¢ for rate schedules 22 1, 12, 22, 32, and 48 to become effective October 1, 2023. The Residential and Small Farm 23 AVISTA’S ELECTRIC RESIDENTIAL AND SMALL FARM ANNUAL RATE ADJUSTMENT FILING PAGE 5 Energy credit represents a $0.2 million, or 0.1%, increase to qualifying customers. The 1 Company requests that the matter be processed under the Commission’s Modified 2 Procedure rules through the use of written comments. 3 Dated at Spokane, Washington this 31st day of July 2023. 4 AVISTA CORPORATION 5 6 BY /s/ David J. Meyer 7 David J. Meyer 8 Vice President and Chief Counsel for 9 Regulatory and Governmental Affairs 10 Avista Corporation 11