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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20071210Lobb direct.pdfBEFORE THE ""-7 t:,. ZOOl DEC 10 Prl 3: 37 IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION ) OF IDAHO POWER COMPANY FOR ) CASE NO. IPC-E-07-8 AUTHORITY TO INCREASE ITS RATES ) AND CHARGES FOR ELECTRIC SERVICE ) IN THE STATE OF IDAHO. ) ) ) ) ) DIRECT TESTIMONY CF RANDY LOBB IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION DECEMBER 10, 2007 1 Q.Please state your name and business address for 2 the record. 3 A.My name is Randy Lobb and my business address is 4 472 West Washington Street, Boise, Idaho. 5 Q.By whom are you employed? 6 A.I am employed by the Idaho Public Utilities 7 Commission as Utilities Division Administrator. 8 Q.What is your educational and professional 9 background? 10 A.I received a Bachelor of Science Degree in 11 Agricultural Engineering from the University of Idaho in 12 1980 and worked for the Idaho Department of Water Resources 13 from June of 1980 to November of 1987. I received my Idaho 14 license as a registered professional Civil Engineer in 1985 15 and began work at the Idaho Public Utilities Commission in 16 December of 1987. My duties at the Commission currently 17 include case management and oversight of all technical 18 Staff assigned to Commission filings. I have conducted 19 analysis of utility rate applications, rate design, tariff 20 analysis and customer petitions. I have testified in 21 numerous proceedings before the Commission including cases 22 dealing with rate structure, cost of service, power supply, 23 line extensions, regulatory policy and facility 24 acquisi tions. 25 Q.What is the purpose of your testimony in this CASE NO. IPC-E-07-812/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) STAFF 1 1 case? 2 A.The purpose of my testimony is to introduce Staff 3 witnesses, identify issues addressed by each and discuss 4 the various policy issues associated with this case. 5 Q.Could you please describe Staff's filing in this 6 case? 7 A.Yes. Senior Staff Auditor Donn English presents 8 the Staff test year of July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007 9 based on Staff's audit of 12 historical months of actual 10 cost data. He then adjusts the historic test year data for 11 known and measurable changes and develops the Staff revenue 12 requirement based on his proposed expense adj ustments, rate 13 base recommendations of Staff witness Stockton, 14 miscellaneous expense adjustments of Staff witness Vaughn, 15 and power supply expense adjustments of Staff witness 16 Sterling. The cost of capital recommendations are 17 discussed by Staff witnesses Carlock and English. Mr. 18 English recommends a revenue requirement increase of $17.45 19 million or an overall increase of 2.82%. Mr. English 20 specifically addresses proforma adjustments to actual test 21 year O&M expenses, payroll annualization, capitalized 22 pension expenses and legal fees. 23 Senior Staff Auditor Kathy Stockton addresses the 24 development of rate base proposed by Staff in this case. 25 Ms. Stockton uses an average of 13 monthly average rate CASE NO. IPC-E-07-812/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) STAFF 2 1 base totals for the Staff proposed test year of July 1, 2 2006 through June 30, 2007 to develop a total rate base of 3 approximately $1.954 billion. 4 Ms. Stockton proposes reductions in rate base of 5 approximately $15 million. She then utilizes Staff 6 proposed plant investment criteria to increase test year 7 net rate base by $55 million to reflect annualized major S plant additions within the test year and annualized and 9 proformed maj or plant additions beyond the test year. 10 Staff Auditor Cecily Vaughn addresses several 11 revenue and expense issues including park rents, 12 annualization of insurance to reflect known and measurable 13 changes and amortization adj ustments to more appropriately 14 recover intervenor funding and remaining Prairie Power 15 acquisition costs. Ms. Vaughn also addresses the Company's 16 use of P-cards for the purchase of miscellaneous items and 17 recommends an associated expense adjustment. The net 1S effect of Ms. Vaughn's proposed test year adjustments is an 19 increase in Staff's proposed revenue of $16,729 and an 20 increase in base expenses of approximately $2 million. 21 Senior Staff Engineer Rick Sterling is 22 responsible for review of the Company's Aurora power supply 23 model used to calculate annual net power supply costs. Mr. 24 Sterling proposes an adjustment in the natural gas price 25 forecast used by the Company in its modeling. The results CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) STAFF 3 1 of the forecast modification are a decrease in fuel 2 expenses, system opportunity sales and purchase power costs 3 for an overall decrease in annual net power supply expenses 4 of $6 million. 5 Senior Staff Engineer Keith Hessing addresses 6 jurisdictional cost allocation, class cost of service 7 (COS), rate design and the PCA load growth adjustment. S Mr. Hessing accepts the Company's jurisdictional allocation 9 methodology as reasonable but recommends use of the Base 10 Case cost of service study rather than the 3cp/12cp 11 methodology proposed by the Company. Mr. Hessing has 12 modified the jurisdictional allocation study to reflect 13 adjustments proposed by Staff. He then recommends a rate 14 spread based upon the cost of service study results. 15 Mr. Hessing proposes class revenue requirement changes 16 ranging from no change for some classes where COS suggests 17 declines are warranted to a 10% cap on the increase for the 1S irrigation class. Other classes are moved to 75% of the 19 increase suggested by the COS. Mr. Hessing recommends an 20 increase of 1.37% for the residential class to generate the 21 overall revenue requirement increase of 2.82% percent. 22 Mr. Hessing proposes to increase the energy 23 component in each class to generate the additional revenue 24 except for the Irrigation class, which would receive a 25 uniform increase in all rate components. CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) 4 STAFF 1 Finally, Mr. Hessing addresses the issue of the 2 Expense Adjustment Rate for Growth (EARG) also known as the 3 load growth adjustment within the Power Cost Adjustment 4 mechanism (PCA). Mr. Hessing concludes that the 5 methodology described in testimony by Company witness Said 6 does not comply with Commission Order No. 30215. Rather 7 than a $29. 16/Mwh variable power supply cost adjustment for 8 customer growth as proposed by Mr. Said, the load growth 9 adjustment shòuld be $62. 79/MWh to reflect the entire 10 marginal cost of growth as described in the Commission 11 Order. 12 As previously mentioned, the cost of capital and 13 return on equity is discussed by Staff witness Terri 14 Carlock. Ms. Carlock recommends a return on equity in the 15 range of 9.25% to 10.75%. Staff's recommended capital 16 structure consists of approximately 51% debt and 49% equity 17 with a recommended return on equity point of 10.25% and an 18 overall recommended rate of return of 7.864%. 19 Finally, Staff witness Chris Hecht, a Utility 20 Compliance Investigator, will address consumer issues 21 including customer complaints received by the Commission, 22 Company response to customer service requests, and Company 23 compliance with rate case notification rules. Mr. Hecht 24 concludes that customer complaints for the Company are on 25 the decline and the Company does a good job of processing CASE NO. IPC-E-07-812/10/07 LOBa, R. (Di) STAFF 5 1 customer service inquiries. 2 Q.What has been your role in this case? 3 A.My role as Staff Administrator has been to 4 oversee the preparation of the Staff case with respect to 5 identification of issues, coordination of positions on 6 those issues and development of Staff policy. 7 Q.What are the important policy issues in this S case? 9 A.In my opinion, the most important policy issues 10 include establishing the rate case test year, identifying 11 revenue requirement adjustments, assigning cost of service 12 responsibili ty and applying appropriate rate design. 13 Q.How does the rate case test year filed in this 14 case differ from test years filed in prior cases? 15 A.In the past two general rate cases, Idaho Power 16 Company provided 6 months of actual booked data and 6 17 months of forecasted data for use as its test year. The 6 lS months of forecast/budgeted data was then trued up to 19 actual booked data before the end of the case. For 20 example, the Company filed its case in October of 2003 with 21 actual data through June 2003 and forecasted data through 22 December 2003. By the time rates were put in place on 23 June 1, 2004, and in fact before Staff filed testimony in 24 March 2004, the Company had provided and Staff had audited 25 actual booked data for the remaining 6 months of the test CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) STAFF 6 1 year that had been forecasted. Rates were fully based on 2 actual expenditures. 3 In this case, the Company has provided 12 months 4 of forecasted data based on budgets for use as its rate 5 case test year. Its filing was made on June S, 2007 with 6 forecasted monthly expenses and investments for a 2007 test 7 year. While 6 to S months of actual 2007 data may be S available for review, neither Staff nor the Commission will 9 have actual information for the entire test year before new 10 rates are scheduled to become effective in 200S. 11 Q.Has the Company always filed a test year with 6 12 months actual costs and 6 months forecasted costs? 13 A.No. Past rate case filings have been based on 12 14 historical months of actual costs. Idaho Power's test year 15 filings in general rate cases have transitioned from a 16 fully historical 12 months of actual costs to 6 months of 17 actual and 6 months of forecasted costs. The Company lS proposes in this case to use 12 months of fully forecasted 19 costs. 20 Q.What is the Commission's approach to ratemaking? 21 A.wi th few exceptions, the Commission has only 22 approved recovery through rates of costs that have actually 23 been incurred or are known and measurable. The Commission 24 has routinely utilized the principles of "used and useful" , 25 "known and measurable" and "expense reducing or revenue CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S 12/1Q/07 LOBB, R. (Di) STAFF 7 1 producing" in approving an historic 13 -month average rate 2 base that includes annualized and proformed adjustments for 3 specific large plant investments. In Order No. 29838, Case 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 No. UWI-W-04-4, the Commission stated, To make clear the Commission's preference for future cases, we direct United Water to file future rate cases utilizing a 13 -month average rate base methodology. To facilitate an adequate review, Company data should be provided in time to incorporate the information in the prefiled testimony of Staff and other parties. The Commission went on to say, Using recent, actual data for the hearing will reduce if not eliminate the need to argue over forecasts. To this end, the Commission suggest rate cases be filed with no more than six months of forecast data. Not only will data be known and measurable by the time other parties prefile testimony and for the hearing, it will be more convenient and administratively easier for allparties. In Order No. 29505 in Case No IPC-E-03-13 the Commission said, Generally speaking, the Commission expects all utilities to attempt to identify expense savings and revenue producing effects when proposing rate base adjustments for maj or plant additions. It is unfair to ratepayers to assume that the investment in these plants will not increase Company revenues or decrease Company expenses in the future. Finally in Order No. 30342, Case No. SWS-W-06-1, the Commission said, The Commission has consistently determined that the annual revenue requirement and rates should be the basis of an historic test year. CASE NO. IPC-E-07-8 12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) STAFF 8 1 Q.Why has the Company moved from a fully historical 2 test year to a fully forecasted test year? 3 A.According to Company witness Gale, the use of an 4 historic test year in combination with increasing marginal 5 costs and a growing customer base causes "regulatory lag". 6 Q.What is "regulatory lag"? 7 A.Mr. Gale does not specifically define the term. S However, my understanding of "regulatory lag" based on Mr. 9 Gale's testimony is the delay between when the Company 10 actually incurs costs and when the Commission approves 11 rates to recover those costs. 12 Q.Has anything been done to minimize this delay or 13 its effect? 14 A.Yes. The Commission allows the actual test year 15 cost information to be adjusted to reflect known and 16 measurable changes in costs that will occur in the future 17 and also allows annualization of known and measurable cost 1S increases to reflect the higher costs for the entire year. 19 In addition, the Commission has allowed the Company to late 20 file actual cost data within the processing of a rate case 21 to further reduce the delay between when costs are incurred 22 and when rates are put in place. 23 Moreover, the Commission has allowed proforma 24 test year adjustments to include costs associated with 25 significant plant additions that the Company expects to CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) STAFF 9 1 incur beyond the test year. These post-test year additions 2 have been included in the test year as if they have been in 3 service for the entire period. Finally, the delay between 4 when costs are incurred and when rates are put in place to 5 recover those costs has always been a business risk of a 6 regulated utility. I believe that over time the Commission 7 has established returns on equity that reflects overall S risk of the Company including that associated with 9 "regulatory lag". 10 Q.Why are rates normally based on costs that are 11 known and measurable? 12 A.Rates are based on known and measurable costs to 13 assure ratepayers that expenditures were actually made 14 prior to approving rates designed to recover them, that the 15 expenditures were properly incurred, and that expenditures 16 were properly booked in the appropriate accounts. Absent a 17 demonstration that costs are known and measurable, the 1S Commission is simply left to trust that the Company will 19 actually make expenditures in the amounts assumed, actual 20 expenditures will ultimately be reasonable for the projects 21 proposed and expenditures will be made in the time frames 22 anticipated. A fully forecasted test year based on 23 internally generated Company budgets as the Company has 24 proposed in this case cannot be audited or adjusted because 25 CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) 10 STAFF 1 the costs are only anticipated and not yet actually 2 incurred. 3 Q.How does the Commission review the Company's 4 forecast to determine if it is appropriate? 5 A.It is very difficult if not impossible to 6 determine if the forecast is appropriate. Because the 7 Company did not provide actual expenditures on which to 8 base rates, comparisons must be made to other historical 9 information to evaluatè whether the forecasted expenses are 10 appropriate. A comparison of the forecast to historical 11 data is immediately frustrated because the forecast is 12 based on internal Company budgets that are allocated 13 uniformly to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) 14 accounts. 15 For example, while 2006 FERC accounts show actual 16 expenditures, 2007 forecastedFERC accounts show what the 17 Company has allocated to those accounts based on a uniform 1S allocation methodology, not what would actually be booked 19 in 2007. The Commission will be unable to determine if 20 increases in these accounts from year to year are 21 reasonable because 2007 account totals will not reflect 22 actual expenditures. 23 A comparison of actual booked account totals for 24 the first half of 2007 is also frustrated because it too 25 compares actual account totals to allocated totals and only CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) 11 STAFF 1 reflects a portion of the Company forecasted test year. 2 The Company can easily justify any difference between 3 actual booked 2007 account totals and 2007 forecasted 4 totals in numerous ways such as change in 5 investment/ expense requirements or an expectation that 6 account differences will be eliminated by year end. 7 Q.Why is it important to audit actual Company S expendi t ure s ? 9 A.The Commission has a responsibility and an 10 obligation to insure that costs included for recovery in 11 rates were actually incurred, were prudently incurred and 12 were incurred in a reasonable time frame. Only an audit of 13 actual expenditures can provide that assurance. Forecasts 14 based on internal Company budgets that simply allocate 15 costs uniformly among FERC accounts do not allow the 16 Commission to ever really determine whether costs are 17 appropriately incurred. Absent an audit of actual costs, 1S the Commission will be unable to apply the well-established 19 principles of "used and useful", "known and measurable" and 20 "expense reducing or revenue producing" to determine what 21 costs should reasonably be included for recovery through 22 rates. Budget estimates, proj ections and forecasts do not 23 easily lend themselves to evaluation based on these 24 principles. 25 Q.What are the reasons the Company asserts it CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) 12 STAFF 1 should be permitted to file a rate case with a forecasted 2 test year? 3 A.The Company maintains that it will not have a 4 reasonable opportunity to earn its authorized rate of 5 return, the investment community will loose confidence in 6 the Company's ability to make necessary investment and earn 7 a reasonable return and borrowing costs included in S customer rates will increase. 9 Q.Do you agree? 10 A.I agree that reduced returns could increase 11 borrowing costs included in customer rates. However , given 12 that customer rates will increase more quickly with 13 forecasted costs and could also increase as the ability of 14 regulatory Staff to audit actual expenditures is reduced or 15 eliminated, Staff is concerned the unaudited test year 16 approach is likely to have a greater impact on customer 17 rates. 18 Q.What does Staff suggest? 19 A.At this time, Staff proposes to continue using 20 and expand on a test year methodology previously approved 21 by the Commission to address the Company's desire to 22 reduce "regulatory lag" by including in rates, major plant 23 investment on a more timely basis. We do this without 24 accepting proj ected increases in Company cost accounts 25 across the board based on internal Company budgets as CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S 12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) 13 STAFF 1 proposed by the Company or eliminating the Staff's ability 2 to audit actual Company expenditures. 3 Q.Would you please explain the Staff's proposal? 4 A.Yes. Staff proposes to utilize the most recent 5 audited historic test year of July 1, 2006 through June 30, 6 2007 adjusted to: 1) annualize major plant additions within 7 the test year, that are classified as distribution, S transmission or generation investment and exceed a 9 $2 million threshold, 2) annualize or proform for inclusion 10 in the test year plant additions that exceed $2 million 11 during the period July 1, 2007 through December 31, 2007. 12 This approach in this case increases plant in service by 13 approximately $60 million over what was allowed in prior 14 rate cases. Staff witnesses Stockton and Carlock provide 15 additional detail regarding specific rate base annualizing 16 and proforma adjustments. 17 Q.Do you believe Staff's approach is reasonable? 1S A.Yes, I believe it is a reasonable alternative to 19 a test year established using an unaudited budget based 20 cost forecast as proposed by the Company. The Staff 21 proposal allows the Commission to pursue its responsibility 22 and maintain its long-standing policy to audit and verify 23 actual known and measurable Company expenditures before 24 they are recovered in rates. At the same time we address 25 the Company's desire to incorporate more recent costs in CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) 14 STAFF 1 revenue requirement by focusing on improved cost recovery 2 associated with large plant investment and critical 3 infrastructure. 4 Q.What adjustments has Staff made to test year 5 results of operations? 6 A.As indicated previously, Staff has selected the 7 historic test year of July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007. S Besides the proforma and annualizing adjustments to 9 payroll, insurance and other expenses included in test year 10 revenue requirement, Staff has identified known and 11 measurable transmission distribution and generation 12 investment within the test year for special annualization 13 to include the plant in rate base as if it were in service 14 for an entire year. 15 Staff has also selected additional investment 16 during the last 6 months of 2007 for special annualization 17 or proforma treatment within the test year. Staff believes 1S that special treatment of these plant additions recognizes 19 the significance of the individual investment in terms of 20 impact on Company earnings and the critical nature of the 21 investment to serve new and existing customers. Staff also 22 recognizes that a revenue producing effect of the 23 annualization has been included in the test year and the 24 special treatment of the investment is consistent with 25 plant used in the determination of annual power supply CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) 15 STAFF 1 costs. 2 Staff has also included in its test year 3 determination of annual revenue requirement the Company's 4 calculated power supply expense and revenues at forecasted 5 customer levels. Staff chose to use the Company number due 6 to the forecasted nature of the Company's filing and the 7 fact that customer numbers and associated power supply S costs corresponding to Staff's historic test year were very 9 difficult if not impossible to independently develop. 10 Moreover, by utilizing the Company numbers, the Staff was 11 able to adj ust test year rate base for some investment made 12 beyond the historic test period. While Staff recognizes 13 that some customer growth is reflected at the end of 14 Staff's proposed histOLic test year, we also recognize that 15 including variable power supply costs in revenue 16 requirement more than offsets new customer revenue so the 17 net effect on annual revenue requirement is negligible. 1S Q.What other policy positions has the Staff taken 19 in this case? 20 A.The remaining policy positions deal primarily 21 with Staff positions regarding power supply modeling, 22 jurisdictional and class cost of service allocation 23 methodology and rate design. Staff positions on these 24 issues were developed in conjunction with the technical 25 Staff who address those issues in testimony filed in this, CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) 16 STAFF 1 case and are discussed by those witnesses. Generally, it 2 is the Staff's policy to maintain consistency between rate 3 cases with regard to power supply, jurisdictional 4 allocations and class cost of service methodologies. Staff 5 believes its methodologies in this case for these functions 6 adhere to that policy. 7 With respect to revenue spread it is Staff's S policy to generally move classes closer to accepted cost of 9 service in generating the Staff recommended revenue 10 requirement. Given the limited overall revenue increase 11 proposed, Staff recommends a revenue spread that changes 12 class requirements within a relatively narrow range. 13 Likewise, Staff's recommendation to modify rate components 14 depends upon the magnitude of the revenue increase wi thin 15 the class. Staff generally recognizes the limited nature 16 of the overall increase by only increasing the energy rate 17 component for most customer classes. lS Q.Are there other issues you wish to address? 19 A.Yes. Staff's adjustment to remove capitalized 20 pension expense and utilize the correct calculation of the 21 EARG, the load growth adjustment in the PCA, are justified 22 based on decisions made in prior Commission Orders. Staff 23 witnesses sponsoring those issues discuss the relevant 24 Commission Orders and present the rationale' for Staff's 25 position in testimony filed in this case. Generally, the CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) 17 STAFF 1 position taken by Staff in this case on these two issues 2 simply applies the principals and positions established by 3 the Commission in prior cases. With regard to the EARG, 4 Staff believes that the incremental approach proposed by 5 the Company fails to properly include the impact of load 6 growth on surplus sales volume and resulting affect on 7 power supply costs. S Does this conclude your direct testimony in thisQ. 9 proceeding? Yes, it does.10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 lS 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. CASE NO. IPC-E-07-S12/10/07 LOBB, R. (Di) 1S STAFF CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT I HAVE THIS 10TH DAY OF DECEMBER 2007, SERVED THE FOREGOING DIRECT TESTIMONY OF RANDY LODD, IN CASE NO. IPC-E-07-8, BY MAILING A COPY THEREOF, POSTAGE PREPAID, TO THE FOLLOWING: BARTON L KLINE LISA D NORDSTROM IDAHO POWER COMPANY PO BOX 70 BOISE ID 83707-0070 EMAIL: bkline(fidahopower.com Inordstrom(fidahopower .com PETER J RICHARDSON RICHARDSON & O'LEARY PO BOX 7218 BOISE ID 83702 EMAIL: peter(frichardsonandolear.com ERIC L OLSEN RACINE OLSON NYE BUDGE & BAILEY PO BOX 1391 POCATELLO ID 83204 EMAIL: elo(fracInelaw.net MICHAEL L KURTZ ESQ KURT J BOEHM ESQ BOEHM KURTZ & LOWRY 36 E 7TH ST SUITE 1510 CINCINATI OH 45202 EMAIL: mkurtz(fBKLlawfirm.com kboehm(fBKLlawfirm.com DENNIS E PESEAU PH.D. UTILITY RESOURCES INC 1500 LIBERTY ST SUITE 250 SALEM OR 97302 EMAIL: dpeseau(fexcite.com JOHNRGALE VP - REGULATORY AFFAIRS IDAHO POWER COMPANY PO BOX 70 BOISE ID 83707-0070 EMAIL: rgale(ßidahopower.com DR DON READING 6070 HILL ROAD BOISE ID83 703 EMAIL: dreading(fmindspring.com ANTHONY Y ANKEL 29814 LAKE ROAD BAY VILLAGE OH 44140 EMAIL: tony(fyankel.net CONLEY E WARD MICHAEL C CREAMER GIVENS PURSLEY LLP PO BOX 2720 BOISE ID 83701-2720 EMAIL: cew(ßgivenspursley.com LOTH COOKE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 1000 INDEPENDENCE AVE SW WASHINGTON DC 20585 EMAIL: lot.cooke(fhq.doe.gov CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE DALE SWAN EXETER ASSOCIATES INC 5565 STERRTT PL SUITE 310 COLUMBIA MD 21044 EMAIL: dswanßYexeterassociates.com (ELECTRONIC COPIES ONLY) Dennis Goins . E-Mail: dgoinspmgßYcox.net Arthur Perr Bruder E-Mail: arhur.bruder(ihq.doe.gov ~~lrck SECRETARY CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE