20070108Comments.pdf

DONOY AN E. WALKER
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL
IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
PO BOX 83720
BOISE, IDAHO 83720-0074
[phone]
IDAHO BAR NO. 5921
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Street Address for Express Mail:
472 W. WASHINGTON
BOISE, ID 83702-5983
Attorney for the Commission Staff
BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION OF
IDAHO POWER COMPANY FOR A
PERMANENT EXEMPTION FROM UTILITY
CUSOMTER RELATIONS RULE 201.03 AS
APPLIED TO TIME-VARIANT PRICING
SERVICE.
COMMENTS OF THE
COMMISSION STAFF
CASE NO. IPC-06-
On December 1 , 2006, Idaho Power Company filed a Petition requesting a permanent
exemption from Utility Customer Relations Rule (UCRR) 201.03, IDAPA 31.21.01.201.03, as it
applies to all current and future time-variant pricing services using meter data obtained through
an Advanced Meter Reading (AMR) system. UCRR 201.03 requires that the beginning and
ending meter readings appear on customer billings.
Idaho Power was previously granted a waiver of the requirements ofUCRR 201.03 as it
applies to the inclusion of the beginning and ending meter readings for time-variant pricing
service on customers' bills under Schedules 4 , 5 , and 19. Order No. 29834. That waiver was
scheduled to expire on December 31 , 2006. Id. However, the Commission extended the
previously granted temporary waiver while it considered the Company s request for a permanent
exemption.
STAFF COMMENTS JANUARY 8, 2007
The Company requests a permanent exemption from the requirement of displaying the
monthly beginning and ending meter readings in order to cost-effectively accommodate the
technological advances in meter reading and billing made possible by AMR. It states that such
an exemption will allow the Company to make additional time-variant pricing services available
in the future without requesting additional limited waivers. Staff recommends that the
Commission approve Idaho Power s request.
In Case No. IPC-05-, the Commission Staff recommended that the Company be
granted a temporary exemption in order to allow the company to evaluate its experience with
time-variant pricing programs. Staff noted that the voluntary residential pilot programs
associated with AMR (Schedules 4 and 5) were available only until April 6, 2006; these pilot
programs have since been extended until April 1 , 2007.
More customers will be affected by this rule exemption in the future as more time-variant
pricing services become available to customers, but the current impact is limited to relatively few
customers. At the present time, only large commercial customers served under Schedule 19 and
a total of 150 residential customers served under Schedule 4 and 5 are affected. As of January 5
2007, no comments had been filed with the Commission regarding this case. Since the
exemption has been in effect, the Commission s Consumer Assistance Staff has received no
inquiries or complaints about the lack of beginning and ending meter readings on affected
customers' bills. Although meter readings are not printed on customers ' bills, Staff notes that
meter reading data is available. The Company has committed to provide this information to
customers upon request.
Respectfully submitted this 51"'- day ofJanuary 2007.
bLc(Donovan E. Walker
Deputy Attorney General
Technical Staff:Beverly Barker
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STAFF COMMENTS JANUARY 8, 2007
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
HEREBY CERTIFY THAT I HAVE THIS 8TH DAY OF JANUARY 2007
SERVED THE FOREGOING COMMENTS OF THE COMMISSION STAFF, IN CASE
NO. IPC-06-, BY MAILING A COpy THEREOF, POSTAGE PREPAID, TO THE
FOLLOWING:
LISA D NORDSTROM
BARTON L KLINE
IDAHO POWER COMPANY
PO BOX 70
BOISE ID 83707-0070
MAIL: lnordstrom(?p,idahopower.com
bkline~idahopower.com
MAGGIE BRILZ
PRICING DIRECTOR
IDAHO POWER COMPANY
PO BOX 70
BOISE ID 83707-0070
MAIL: mbri1z~idahopower.com
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE