20230601Direct Hanchey.pdf

BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

OF IDAHO POWER COMPANY FOR
AUTHORITY TO INCREASE ITS RATES AND CHARGES FOR ELECTRIC SERVICE IN THE STATE OF IDAHO AND FOR
ASSOCIATED REGULATORY ACCOUNTING TREATMENT.
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CASE NO. IPC-E-23-11

IDAHO POWER COMPANY
DIRECT TESTIMONY
OF
JAMES “BO” HANCHEY
HANCHEY, DI 1
Idaho Power Company
Q. Please state your name, business address, and 1
present position with Idaho Power Company (“Idaho Power” or 2
“Company”). 3
A. My name is James “Bo” Hanchey. My business 4
address is 1221 West Idaho Street, Boise, Idaho 83702. I am 5
employed by Idaho Power as Vice President of Customer 6
Operations and Chief Safety Officer. 7
Q. Please describe your educational background 8
and what educational opportunities you have had while at 9
Idaho Power. 10
A. I received an Associate Degree in Applied 11
Science in electric power technology from Bismarck State 12
College in 2019 and a Bachelor of Science degree in 13
business management from the same school in 2023. 14
Additionally, in 2021 I completed the University of Idaho’s 15
Energy Executive Course. 16
Q. Please describe your work experience with 17
Idaho Power. 18
A. I began working with the Company in 1997 at 19
the Twin Falls Operations Center as a materials handler and 20
have held various field operations and customer service-21
related positions of increasing responsibility since. 22
Specifically, in 1999 I became an apprentice lineman and in 23
2003 obtained my Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training 24
certificate from the United States Department of Labor. By 25
HANCHEY, DI 2
Idaho Power Company
2014 I had advanced through different leadership and 1
management roles to become a Regional Manager. In 2018, I 2
assumed the role of Customer Service Senior Manager, and in 3
2019 I was promoted to my current position as Vice 4
President of Customer Operations and Chief Safety Officer. 5
Q. What are your duties as Vice President of 6
Customer Operations and Chief Safety Officer? 7
A. I am responsible for the planning, directing, 8
and strategic oversight of all activities within Idaho 9
Power’s Safety and Customer Operations organizations. 10
Q. Please describe Idaho Power’s Safety and 11
Customer Operations organizations. 12
A. The Safety organization within Idaho Power is 13
comprised of 11 employees, excluding myself, all of whom 14
are focused on ensuring the safety of employees and 15
contractors doing business on behalf of Idaho Power, as 16
well as providing service safely to customers and within 17
the communities we serve. These employees are tasked with 18
continuously evaluating and identifying process and 19
behavior improvements to enhance all aspects of Idaho 20
Power’s Safety First culture. 21
The Customer Operations organization within Idaho 22
Power is comprised of over 600 employees that are engaged 23
in activities that provide direct service to the Company’s 24
retail customers and in the communities it serves. 25
HANCHEY, DI 3
Idaho Power Company
Specifically, the organization includes Customer Service, 1
Customer Relations and Energy Efficiency, Regional 2
Operations, and Regional Operations Support. Generally, 3
activities that directly serve the customer are conducted 4
within this organization, which allows the employees in the 5
organization to achieve synergies and work together in a 6
seamless manner. The Customer Operations organization 7
exists to provide excellent service to customers in the 8
most cost-effective way possible. 9
Q. What is the purpose of your testimony in this 10
matter? 11
A. First, I will briefly describe the Company’s 12
Safety First culture and how Idaho Power promotes a culture 13
of safety with its customers and in the communities it 14
serves, as well as with the organizations the Company 15
frequently works and partners with. 16
I will then provide a high-level overview of various 17
initiatives that the Company has and continues to undertake 18
to provide an exceptional customer experience and enhance 19
customer choices and services. I will also discuss how the 20
Company promotes demand-side management (“DSM”) 21
opportunities, provides superior customer service, and 22
pursues efficiencies in its operations. 23
HANCHEY, DI 4
Idaho Power Company
I. SAFETY 1
Q. Please briefly explain Idaho Power’s 2
philosophy regarding safety. 3
A. Safety is a core value at Idaho Power and 4
accordingly, Idaho Power embraces a Safety First culture. 5
The Safety First culture recognizes that Idaho Power’s 6
family of employees is the Company’s greatest asset and 7
emphasizes that each employee’s most important 8
responsibility in their daily work is safety and that no 9
work is so critical that safety should be disregarded. The 10
Company is committed to the safety of its employees, 11
customers, and the public. 12
Q. How does the Company promote its Safety First 13
culture with employees? 14
A. The Company routinely conducts regular safety 15
and job-specific trainings for all employees in relation to 16
their respective area of coverage. While these safety 17
trainings vary in cadence based on role and responsibility, 18
the Company’s approximately 400 field operations employees, 19
who are largely tasked with constructing and maintaining 20
the Company’s system, attend safety meetings on at least a 21
monthly basis to ensure continual safety and best practice 22
updates. Additionally, since 2017, the Company has provided 23
training to employees emphasizing how certain behaviors and 24
mental statuses, such as rushing, complacency, multi-25
HANCHEY, DI 5
Idaho Power Company
tasking and fatigue, may impact one’s ability to make safe 1
decisions. By training employees to be consciously aware 2
of these factors, it allows them to continually assess 3
their environment and try to mitigate risk. Another example 4
of a program implemented by the Company to enhance its 5
Safety First culture is the development of the Company’s 6
safety accountability framework in 2018. This framework was 7
created and trained to all employees in 2018 to promote the 8
Company’s Safety First culture as being one of trust, 9
openness, learning and accountability. 10
Q. How does the Company promote its Safety First 11
culture with its customers? 12
A. The Company routinely sponsors print, digital 13
or radio ads related to overhead line safety, downed power 14
lines, wildfire, and water safety, among other topics. In 15
2022, the Company also authored 33 safety-related social 16
media posts. Additionally, for customers that the Company 17
has an email on file for, the Company frequently emails 18
targeted safety-related tips and reminders. For example, in 19
Spring and Fall of 2022, the Company emailed irrigation 20
safety tips to customers who receive irrigation service. 21
Similarly, in December 2022, the Company emailed 22
residential customers various tips to promote safe 23
decorating practices during the winter and holiday season. 24
HANCHEY, DI 6
Idaho Power Company
Aside from the above stated outreach channels, the 1
Company frequently publishes news briefs that discuss 2
differing safety topics, six of which were picked up by 3
local media in 2022, as well as including safety-focused 4
inserts within customers’ bills, an example of which is 5
included as Exhibit No. 6. 6
Q. How does the Company promote its Safety First 7
culture within the communities it serves? 8
A. The Company frequently provides training to 9
fire, police, and other first responders to inform them how 10
to remain safe around power lines. Fundamental to that 11
training, Idaho Power employees educate first responders on 12
Idaho Power’s process for de-energizing electrical 13
equipment as part of their response to house fires and 14
other emergencies. Similarly, the Company has also 15
published an online first responder training aid called 16
“Responding to Utility emergencies.” This short online 17
course is available at no-cost to participants and teaches 18
emergency response personnel how to recognize potential 19
hazards involving electricity. 20
Idaho Power’s education and outreach energy advisors 21
also work with schools and community groups to conduct 22
educational presentations. These presentations vary in 23
content based on the audience but typically aim to promote 24
HANCHEY, DI 7
Idaho Power Company
general safety awareness and certain vital behaviors to 1
help minimize the occurrence of electrical accidents. 2
The Company also conducts safety presentations at 3
numerous contractor, customer, or partner agency events 4
throughout the year. For example, in 2022, Idaho Power’s 5
Safety Director presented information regarding the 6
Company’s safety programs to approximately 200 Idaho 7
Transportation Department leaders and executives from 8
across the state. The Company also held two Contractor 9
Safety Summits in 2022 whereby the Company shared best 10
practices and information related to the Company’s safety 11
culture and programs with contractors doing business on 12
behalf of Idaho Power. 13
Q. Has the Company been recognized for its 14
employee safety efforts and commitment to safety? 15
A. Yes. I am proud to share that after achieving 16
one of the Company’s safest years on record in 2021, the 17
Company was presented with Edison Electric Institute’s 18
(“EEI”) Thomas F. Farrell, II Safety Leadership and 19
Innovation Award in the Member Company Project category. 20
EEI selected Idaho Power for this award due to the 21
Company’s approach of combining psychological safety and 22
behavioral safety with practical application of human 23
performance principles. While the Company is incredibly 24
proud of EEI’s recognition and the corresponding award, it 25
HANCHEY, DI 8
Idaho Power Company
remains cognizant that the pursuit of safety excellence is 1
a never-ending journey. 2
II. CUSTOMER RELATIONS 3
Q. What is the Company’s overall approach to 4
customer relations? 5
A. Idaho Power strives to be regarded as an 6
exceptional utility by the customers it serves. To 7
accomplish this, the Company must provide superior and 8
satisfying customer service and experiences that meet or 9
exceed its customers’ needs and expectations. 10
Q. How does the Company determine the focus for 11
improving customer relations? 12
A. The Company continually focuses on ways to 13
cost-effectively improve its relationships with customers 14
by assessing customer perception of the Company, 15
identifying performance and experience gaps based on 16
customer feedback, and reviewing industry best practices 17
and trends. 18
Q. What is presently being done to address areas 19
with opportunity for improvement? 20
A. The Company’s strategy for addressing areas of 21
improvement involves integrating customer input into its 22
processes, systems, and culture while also leveraging cost-23
effective technologies to improve service. For instance, 24
activities supporting this strategy include focusing on 25
HANCHEY, DI 9
Idaho Power Company
improving system reliability, offering new digital 1
experiences, and enhanced automated customer service 2
options. 3
Q. Please describe Idaho Power’s continuing 4
practice of surveying its customers regarding their levels 5
of satisfaction with the Company. 6
A. Idaho Power has contracted with Burke, Inc. to 7
conduct quarterly customer relationship surveys since 1995. 8
Burke is a full-service customer market research and 9
decision support company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, 10
with regional offices throughout the United States. These 11
surveys represent Idaho Power’s primary customer 12
satisfaction research and determine the Company’s customer 13
relationship index (“CRI”), which is a key metric used to 14
evaluate the Company’s overall customer satisfaction rate. 15
Burke offers an extensive survey for the following four 16
customer segments: Residential, Small Business, Irrigation, 17
and Large Commercial and Industrial. 18
In addition to the customer satisfaction surveys 19
performed by Burke, Idaho Power acquires the results of the 20
annual J.D. Power Electric Utility Residential Customer 21
Satisfaction Study (“J.D. Power Study”). The J.D. Power 22
Study is comprised of over 100,000 customer responses 23
nationwide, including Idaho Power’s customers, and is used 24
by the Company primarily as a benchmark to other electric 25
HANCHEY, DI 10
Idaho Power Company
utilities and, as its name implies, is for residential 1
customers only. 2
In addition to Burke surveys and the annual J.D. 3
Power Study, Idaho Power also utilizes customer focus 4
groups and ad hoc surveys, such as within its online 5
Empowered Community group, for project-specific qualitative 6
research, when the situation is appropriate. Further, the 7
Company also conducts post-construction surveys to help 8
ensure that working with Idaho Power on new construction 9
projects remains a satisfying and streamlined experience. 10
Q. Please describe the Company’s customer 11
satisfaction performance results in recent years. 12
A. I am proud to say that based on recent years’ 13
customer satisfaction surveys performed by Burke, Idaho 14
Power customers’ satisfaction remains at a consistently 15
high level. In addition, the Company has recently 16
experienced levels of customer satisfaction that were 17
significantly higher than compared to the Company’s 18
customer satisfaction results presented as part of Idaho 19
Power’s last general rate case (“GRC”) in Case No. IPC-E-20
11-08. While 2022’s customer satisfaction survey performed 21
by Burke did indicate the Company’s level of customer 22
satisfaction decreased to 83.95 percent, which is a slight 23
decline compared to the five years immediately prior, which 24
had an average customer satisfaction score of approximately 25
HANCHEY, DI 11
Idaho Power Company
85.5 percent, the Company understands the decrease to be a 1
trend within the industry and likely to be partially 2
attributable to factors outside of the Company’s control, 3
such as inflationary pressures affecting the price of all 4
goods and services. Despite this decrease, Burke still 5
attributes the Company’s 2022 customer satisfaction results 6
as signifying that overall, customers have very strong 7
positive attitudes toward Idaho Power and the level and 8
quality of service it provides. 9
The results of the 2022 J.D. Power Study indicate 10
the Company achieved very compelling residential customer 11
satisfaction results compared to many of its peers. 12
Specifically, the 2022 J.D. Power Study indicated that 13
Idaho Power ranked 3rd out of 17 within the West Midsize 14
electric utility segment for overall residential customer 15
satisfaction, and the Company ranked 6th out of 92 investor-16
owned utilities in overall residential customer 17
satisfaction. 18
Q. Please summarize the Burke methodology and the 19
resulting information made available to the Company. 20
A. On a quarterly basis, Idaho Power receives 21
results from Burke based on customer interviews. Quarterly 22
results include an overall index score, thereby determining 23
the Company’s quarterly CRI, as well as more detailed 24
information in the form of average response data collected 25
HANCHEY, DI 12
Idaho Power Company
for questions in five general categories:(1) Overall 1
Satisfaction, (2) Excellent Overall Quality, (3) Excellent 2
Overall Value, (4) Likelihood to Recommend, and (5) Idaho 3
Power Cares. 4
Q. What is Idaho Power’s primary way of measuring 5
its success in providing customer satisfaction? 6
A. Idaho Power’s primary measure for customer 7
satisfaction is the CRI derived by Burke from quarterly 8
customer surveys. The CRI is based on research that is 9
conducted at various points in time throughout the year. 10
This reduces the potential for any one event or 11
circumstance to have a significant influence, either good 12
or bad, on the overall customer satisfaction levels. It is 13
a statistically reliable measurement of customers’ 14
opinions, and it provides a historical trend that allows 15
the Company to track its performance over time. 16
The CRI is the best single satisfaction measure 17
available to Idaho Power because it depicts customers’ 18
overall attitudes toward the Company in five distinct 19
criteria. The CRI is comprised of five key questions where 20
a rating ranging from zero (very dissatisfied) to four 21
(very satisfied) is given for a maximum of 20 points 22
possible among all five questions. The following are the 23
five criteria questions that are asked in the quarterly 24
customer surveys: 25
HANCHEY, DI 13
Idaho Power Company
(1) What is your overall level of 1
satisfaction with Idaho Power? 2
(2) How much do you agree or disagree that 3
the overall quality of the electricity and customer service 4
and support you get from Idaho Power is excellent? 5
(3) Thinking about the price you pay, how 6
much do you agree or disagree that the overall value of the 7
electricity and customer service and support you get from 8
Idaho Power is excellent? 9
(4) If asked (by a neighbor new to your 10
area, by a company that just moved into the area, or by an 11
irrigator new to your area) how likely would you be to tell 12
them that Idaho Power is a good company to work with? 13
(5) How much do you agree or disagree that 14
Idaho Power cares about you as a customer and has done 15
everything possible to earn your loyalty? 16
Responses for each customer are totaled and divided 17
by the maximum possible points to establish a percentage 18
CRI score that is weighted by customer segment revenue. The 19
CRI can range from a minimum of 0 percent to a maximum of 20
100 percent. 21
III. CUSTOMER DRIVEN ENHANCEMENTS 22
Q. Based on the various surveys and focus groups 23
that the Company subscribes to or conducts, what recent 24
HANCHEY, DI 14
Idaho Power Company
initiatives has Idaho Power undertaken to enhance customer 1
satisfaction? 2
A. Recently, the Company has focused on pursuing 3
the enhancement of its digital offerings and solutions to 4
better align with industry trends and evolving customer 5
preferences and expectations. Specifically, the Company’s 6
investment in modernizing its My Account platform stemmed 7
from customers’ desire to digitally self-serve and manage 8
their accounts. Not only does the newest iteration of the 9
Company’s My Account provide increased security measures to 10
better protect enrolled customers’ personal information, it 11
also allows for flexible payment options for a variety of 12
circumstances and streamlines enrollment in other optional, 13
account-related offerings such as Paperless Billing, Auto 14
Pay, Budget Pay, and Green Power, as well as contributing 15
to Project Share. 16
Q. What other notable enhancements are part of 17
the Company’s updated My Account Platform? 18
A. As part of the Company’s updated My Account 19
platform, enrolled customers can efficiently self-manage 20
and update their contact information and notification 21
preferences, as well as easily complete a home energy 22
profile, which provides customers with continuous insights 23
on how to save energy and thereby reduce their monthly 24
bills. 25
HANCHEY, DI 15
Idaho Power Company
Additionally, the Company’s updated My Account 1
platform allows for one-stop enrollment in outage and 2
account-related alerts, which are provided via each 3
customer’s preferred communication channel(s). 4
Q. Has the Company implemented any other digital 5
offerings based on customer feedback or changed 6
preferences? 7
A. Yes. In early 2022, the Company released a 8
Mobile Application (“App”) on the Apple and Google Play 9
stores due to the increasing shift in customers’ 10
preferences toward accessing their account and service-11
related information on the go. While the App provides 12
customers with nearly all the same previously stated My 13
Account enhancements from the palm of their hand, in 14
addition to increased security and login functionality 15
using face or touch identification, it also allows for 16
optional push notification functionality, thereby providing 17
enrolled customers with real-time alerts regarding 18
important billing information or an outage affecting one of 19
their registered addresses. 20
Q. Why is the emphasis of improved outage 21
communications as part of the Company’s enhanced My Account 22
and App so important? 23
A. Unsurprisingly, reliability of service is a 24
key driver of customer satisfaction. Though the Company 25
HANCHEY, DI 16
Idaho Power Company
keeps customers’ lights on more than 99.9 percent of the 1
time, if a customer does experience an outage, they expect 2
timely and relevant information to be provided via their 3
preferred communication channel, which has increasingly 4
shifted to digital means. The Company has routinely seen 5
and heard this growing customer preference when evaluating 6
the various surveys and focus groups’ results. 7
Q. Are customers required to install the App or 8
register for My Account to receive outage communications? 9
A. No. Although the App and My Account are 10
required for users to receive address specific, real-time 11
outage alerts, all customers have the option to view 12
outage-related information and elect to receive outage-13
specific text messages via the Company’s outage webpage. 14
Customers opting to receive outage-specific communications 15
in this manner are not required to register for My Account. 16
Instead, only a mobile phone number is required so that 17
outage-specific text message updates can be provided. 18
Q. What sort of outage updates are provided to 19
enrolled customers? 20
A. While the content and frequency of outage 21
communications is constantly evolving to better align with 22
customers’ changing preferences, the Company has made 23
continual improvements to its outage communications over 24
HANCHEY, DI 17
Idaho Power Company
the years, all of which have currently culminated in 1
customers receiving updates related to the below topics: 2
• Outage location 3
• Probable cause of the outage 4
• Status of the outage, such as a crew being 5
enroute or onsite 6
• Estimated time of restoration 7
• Power restoration 8
Q. For planned and unplanned outages, has the 9
Company made any other improvements to enhance customer 10
communications and the delivery thereof? 11
A. Yes. As part of the Customer Operations 12
Support group, an Enterprise Communication Coordinator has 13
been established to oversee all aspects surrounding the 14
Company’s preparation, planning and communication of 15
planned and unplanned outages. Additionally, the Enterprise 16
Communication Coordinator is also responsible for 17
identifying and implementing process and technological 18
improvements for all outages that may impact customers, 19
such as the Emergency Outage Notification System 20
implemented in 2022 which allows the Company to promptly 21
and, when practicable, proactively notify customers of 22
pertinent information regarding outage or load shed events 23
through text and voice messaging. By channeling all these 24
functions and responsibilities through the Enterprise 25
HANCHEY, DI 18
Idaho Power Company
Communication Coordinator, customer experience and 1
potential impact can remain forefront. 2
Q. Does the Company conduct mock events to 3
simulate situations that may require an emergency load shed 4
or public safety power shutoff? 5
A. Yes. The Company routinely conducts mock 6
events ahead of wildfire season for these types of 7
situations so that it can try to identify process 8
improvements prior to actually needing to enact any such 9
processes. 10
Q. Are there any other customer-driven 11
enhancements that the Company has recently implemented? 12
A. Since Idaho Power’s last GRC, the Company has 13
implemented various web portals or webpages to improve 14
different customer groups’ experiences. In particular, the 15
Company has implemented the following: 16
• Energy Assistance Portal: a portal that 17
streamlines the process for energy assistance 18
providers to pledge and commit funds to 19
eligible customers’ accounts. 20
• Large Business Portal: a portal that allows 21
Large Commercial and Industrial customers the 22
ability to view their interval usage data, down 23
to 15-minute intervals, for the most recent 18 24
months. 25
HANCHEY, DI 19
Idaho Power Company
• Construction Portal: a portal that allows 1
customers to electronically submit new service 2
and meter installation requests, as well as 3
receive notifications and project updates. 4
• Landlord Webpage: a webpage that allows 5
landlords to more easily manage service at 6
their various properties. 7
IV. DEMAND-SIDE MANAGEMENT 8
Q. What is the Company’s goal or philosophy 9
toward energy efficiency and demand response programs? 10
A. The Company is committed to pursuing all cost-11
effective energy efficiency on behalf of its customers. 12
Idaho Power also pursues cost-effective demand response 13
programs based on system needs identified in the Company’s 14
Integrated Resource Plan (“IRP”). 15
Q. How does the Company view energy efficiency 16
and demand response? 17
A. Cost-effective energy efficiency and demand 18
response programs are the Company's resource of choice - 19
both from a cost standpoint and from an environmental 20
perspective. The cleanest, most efficient resource in the 21
Company's portfolio is the one it does not have to build or 22
acquire. To that end, the Company believes that cost-23
effective energy efficiency should be pursued aggressively. 24
Idaho Power also believes demand response is a resource 25
HANCHEY, DI 20
Idaho Power Company
that should be pursued based on system needs to meet the 1
highest risk hours during the summer season. Because the 2
Company is able to dispatch demand response and potentially 3
reduce the necessary amount of load, building or acquiring 4
an additional resource to meet load for a relatively few 5
number of hours a year might be avoided, which ultimately 6
benefits all customers by avoiding these costs and keeping 7
prices lower. 8
Q. Please describe the progress made by the Company 9
in providing energy efficiency programs. 10
A. The Company’s Demand-Side Management 2022 11
Annual Report was filed with the Commission on March 15, 12
2023. As noted in the Annual Report, Idaho Power offers a 13
combined total of 17 energy efficiency and outreach 14
programs for all customer segments. Energy savings from 15
energy efficiency activities increased on a system-wide 16
basis by 19 percent, as compared to 2021, and overall 17
energy efficiency activities in 2022 resulted in 169,889 18
megawatt-hours in energy savings. As shown in Chart 1 19
below, the Company has spent over $513 million on energy 20
efficiency and demand response since 2011 for an average of 21
about $43 million per year. These expenses have 22
cumulatively resulted in over 2,000 gigawatt-hours of 23
energy savings for the Company’s service area. Because 24
these are cumulative incremental annual savings, the 25
HANCHEY, DI 21
Idaho Power Company
Company believes this is the lower boundary of the total 1
energy efficiency savings realized by customers since 2011. 2
Chart 1. 3 Cumulative Energy Savings & Expenses Since 2011 4
5
Q. Are Idaho Power’s energy efficiency programs 6
proving to be successful? 7
A. Yes. The Company believes that the 8
quantifiable benefits since its last GRC, as outlined 9
above, have been substantial and only serve as a starting 10
point for all the non-quantifiable benefits the energy 11
efficiency programs have provided. Each program offered has 12
directly benefited customers and the Company. Programs 13
either provide monetary incentives to customers for 14
participation, target educational efforts and long-term 15
energy saving opportunities, or encourage energy efficient 16
behavioral changes by customers. Increased participation in 17
the Company’s programs benefits all customers by using 18
resources wisely while avoiding or delaying the development 19
HANCHEY, DI 22
Idaho Power Company
of supply-side resources. 1
Q. Please describe the progress made by the Company 2
in providing demand response programs. 3
A. As described in the Company’s Demand-Side 4
Management 2022 Annual Report, Idaho Power offers three 5
demand response programs with program options for 6
Residential, Commercial & Industrial, and Irrigation 7
customers respectively. In 2022, the demand response 8
programs had a maximum non-coincident load reduction of 200 9
megawatts (“MW”) from 312 MW of capacity, and the Company 10
has had an average of 272 MW of demand response capacity 11
for the Company’s service area since its last GRC. Chart 2 12
shows the total demand response portfolio capacity, the 13
actual maximum load reduction, and the annual expenses 14
since 2011. In 2022, about 60 percent of expenses were in 15
the form of program incentives paid to customers. 16
// 17
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19
20
21
22
23 24 25 26 27
HANCHEY, DI 23
Idaho Power Company
Chart 2. 1
Demand Response Capacity, Load Reduction, and Expenses 2
Q. Are Idaho Power’s demand response programs 3
proving to be successful? 4
A. Yes. The Company’s demand response programs 5
are designed to minimize or delay the need to build or 6
acquire new supply-side resources. The demand response 7
programs are also intended to address the highest need 8
electricity demand hours, thus minimizing the need for 9
selecting supply-side alternatives that would only be 10
needed for a few hours. These potential hours typically 11
occur during low hydro generation and high load events, and 12
the programs are designed to be available to meet potential 13
system capacity deficits during these hours. The deficits 14
are expected to be relatively large in magnitude but short 15
in duration. Therefore, Idaho Power has determined it can 16
be cost-effective for its customers to utilize demand 17
response programs rather than building or acquiring a 18
supply-side resource that would only be required to operate 19
HANCHEY, DI 24
Idaho Power Company
for a small number of hours. Overall, the Company’s demand 1
response programs have been cost-effective every year since 2
the last GRC and have been successful in accomplishing the 3
goals stated above. 4
Q. Are there any other benefits outside energy 5
saving and demand reduction that you consider to be a good 6
outcome of Idaho Power’s energy efficiency and demand 7
response programs? 8
A. Yes. These programs, along with the Company’s 9
education outreach and customer energy usage information, 10
provide more opportunities for customer engagement in their 11
energy management decisions. For example, through the 12
Company’s outreach programs, the customer has opportunities 13
to learn about their energy consumption and how to use 14
energy more efficiently. By using My Account, customers can 15
see how their hourly energy usage is affected by their 16
energy management decisions and the products they use in 17
their homes and businesses. 18
Q. What are the sources of funding for the 19
Company’s energy efficiency and demand response activities? 20
A. The majority of the funding for energy 21
efficiency activities in Idaho comes from the Energy 22
Efficiency Rider (“Rider”) with a lesser amount funded 23
through base rates. The Company’s demand response 24
incentives are funded through base rates and tracked 25
HANCHEY, DI 25
Idaho Power Company
through the Company’s Power Cost Adjustment (“PCA”) with 1
the remaining demand response program expenses, such as 2
overheads, funded through the Rider. 3
Q. What energy efficiency programs are funded 4
through base rates? 5
A. Idaho Power funds its low-income 6
weatherization program, called Weatherization Assistance 7
for Qualified Customers(“WAQC”), through base rates in 8
compliance with Commission Order No. 29505. 9
Q. Do Idaho Power’s energy efficiency activities 10
affect customer satisfaction? 11
A. Yes. Results of independent surveys show Idaho 12
Power’s efforts to educate and inform customers are 13
successful: the Company remains one of the top-ranked 14
utilities for energy efficiency awareness and, as indicated 15
within the 2022 J.D. Power Study, ranked 3rd in the West 16
Midsize Segment for the same. 17
According to the 2022 customer satisfaction survey 18
performed by Burke, customers were very satisfied with 19
Idaho Power regarding offering programs to help customers 20
save energy and providing customers with information on how 21
to save energy and money. These results in regard to energy 22
efficiency undoubtedly play a part in overall customer 23
satisfaction. 24
Q. Does Idaho Power offer energy efficiency 25
HANCHEY, DI 26
Idaho Power Company
programs to its income-qualified customers? 1
A. Yes. Idaho Power has two programs designed to 2
assist income-qualified customers with energy efficiency at 3
no cost: WAQC and Weatherization Solutions for Eligible 4
Customers (“Solutions”). The WAQC and Solutions programs 5
provide financial assistance to regional Community Action 6
Partnership agencies in Idaho Power’s service area. This 7
assistance helps fund weatherization costs of electrically 8
heated homes occupied by qualified customers who have 9
limited incomes. Weatherization improvements enable 10
residents to maintain a more comfortable, safe, and energy-11
efficient home while reducing their monthly electricity 12
consumption and are available at no cost to qualified 13
customers who own or rent their homes. 14
V. CUSTOMER SERVICE 15
Q. Please briefly describe Idaho Power’s customer 16
service organization. 17
A. Idaho Power operates a centralized Customer 18
Service Center (“CSC”) that provides customers with full-19
service access to Customer Service Representatives (“CSR”) 20
weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. MST, and outage and 21
emergency access to Outage Specialists 24 hours a day, 22
seven days a week. Idaho Power also employs bilingual CSRs 23
that provide service to the Company’s Spanish-speaking 24
customers. Additionally, the Company utilizes a third-party 25
HANCHEY, DI 27
Idaho Power Company
language service to help it communicate with other non-1
English speaking customers. Over the last five years, an 2
average of approximately 1.2 million inbound customer calls 3
were received by the CSC each year. 4
Q. How does the Company try to ensure that 5
customers calling the CSC have a positive experience? 6
A. “First Call Resolution” is a priority of the 7
Company’s. If a CSR can resolve a customer’s concerns on 8
the first call, the customer is likely to have a more 9
positive experience. As such, a strong emphasis is placed 10
on ensuring customers’ concerns are addressed as 11
efficiently and effectively as possible. 12
Q. Please describe how CSRs assist customers who 13
express having difficulty paying their electric bill. 14
A. The Company’s CSRs are committed to helping 15
all customers expressing difficulty paying their electric 16
bill and work to identify and offer reasonable payment 17
arrangement options that may be best suited to assist with 18
each customer’s individual circumstances. Additionally, 19
when a customer declares their inability to make a payment, 20
CSRs will provide the customer with the contact information 21
of their local energy assistance agency so that the 22
customer may call and request receipt of Low-Income Home 23
Energy Assistance Program funds or any other bill 24
assistance that may be available. 25
HANCHEY, DI 28
Idaho Power Company
Q. Does Idaho Power support any energy assistance 1
programs for customers who are having difficulty paying 2
their electricity bill? 3
A. Yes. Project Share is a year-round energy 4
assistance program, which was started by Idaho Power in 5
1982. It is administered by the Salvation Army and funded 6
by customer donations and Idaho Power shareholder funds. 7
For Idaho Power’s customers, grants from this program can 8
be used for the payment of electricity bills. During the 9
last program year, more than 1,300 households in Idaho 10
Power’s communities benefited from Project Share to keep 11
their homes warm during cold winter months and cool during 12
hot summer days. In the last five program years ending 13
September 30, 2022, Idaho Power customers and shareholders 14
have combined to contribute more than $1 million to the 15
program. 16
In recognition of the cost pressures that customers 17
in need may be experiencing, the contribution amount from 18
Idaho Power’s shareholders to Project Share will be 19
increased from $25,000 to $125,000 during 2023. This 20
increased contribution amount to Project Share is in 21
addition to shareholders continuing to cover the entirety 22
of the program’s administrative costs, which ensures 100 23
percent of customer donations go toward helping those in 24
need. 25
HANCHEY, DI 29
Idaho Power Company
Q. Do customers calling the CSC need to speak 1
with a CSR to retrieve account information, conduct account 2
transactions, or inquire about an outage affecting their 3
service address? 4
No. Idaho Power customers have access to account and 5
outage information 24 hours a day, seven days a week 6
through an Interactive Voice Response (“IVR”) unit, which 7
has undergone numerous enhancements over the years to 8
enable additional customer self-serve functionality. As a 9
result of these updates, the IVR unit was able to contain 10
and resolve, within the last five years, approximately 48 11
percent of customer calls. 12
Through the IVR, customers can make payment 13
arrangements; retrieve billing, payment, and meter reading 14
information; sign up for Budget Pay; access energy 15
efficiency and usage information; and receive personalized, 16
address-specific outage information. Notably, Idaho Power’s 17
IVR system and its enhanced self-serve functionality has 18
been nationally recognized in recent years by the IVR 19
Doctors, a leading human factors and usability-consulting 20
firm in evaluating and improving customer experience and 21
system performance in automated phone systems. 22
Q. Has the CSC experienced an impact from the 23
various self-serve features implemented through the 24
Company’s IVR, App and My Account enhancements? 25
HANCHEY, DI 30
Idaho Power Company
A. Yes. The CSC has experienced decreases in 1
annual call volumes, which is likely a result of the 2
various self-serve enhancements implemented by the Company. 3
However, the types of calls fielded by CSRs are now 4
typically related to more complex situations, for which a 5
self-serve option does not currently exist, or to help 6
troubleshoot questions that customers may have related to 7
the App or My Account. 8
Q. As a result of the reduced call volume, has 9
the Company made any reorganizations to its CSC? 10
A. Yes. As the Company continues to intently 11
focus on continuously improving customers’ overall 12
experience, several positions within the CSC were 13
recalibrated to focus on operational efficiencies and 14
identify ways to enhance customers’ satisfaction when 15
interacting with Idaho Power. As an example, Idaho Power’s 16
call routing system was improved after the Company 17
identified that customers were too often being placed in 18
the wrong call queue, thereby necessitating transfers 19
between CSRs. As a result of the improved call routing 20
system, customers are now more frequently placed in the 21
correct call queue and able to have their questions 22
answered in a more timely and effective manner. 23
Q. How have call handle times been affected? 24
HANCHEY, DI 31
Idaho Power Company
A. As part of the Company’s effort to ensure 1
customers are placed in the right call queue, customers 2
likelier to be facing a more complex situation are routed 3
to CSRs best equipped to handle such questions, which may 4
result in slightly longer hold and handle times, whereas 5
calls more routine in nature are typically placed in a 6
separate queue with lower hold and handle times. The result 7
of this approach is that customers’ hold times are 8
minimized for relatively simple requests because CSRs can 9
handle them in quicker fashion. Conversely, situations 10
necessitating additional handle time and care are afforded 11
the same. 12
Q. Have there been other types of positions added 13
within the CSC to enhance customer experience? 14
A. Within the last few years, the Company shifted 15
several CSRs to a Customer Solution Advisor ("CSA”) role. 16
CSAs are an extension of the Company’s field 17
representatives and assist with customer engagement when a 18
field visit is not possible or practicable. While CSAs 19
typically engage with new commercial and irrigation 20
customers to explain their bills or discuss energy 21
efficiency options, they are also responsible for answering 22
customers’ questions related to on-site generation. Often 23
the types of calls CSAs handle require thorough knowledge 24
HANCHEY, DI 32
Idaho Power Company
of the Company’s field practices and tariff schedules, 1
thereby necessitating a more specialized role. 2
Q. Are there any other recently implemented 3
customer experience initiatives that you believe have 4
resulted in positive customer experiences? 5
A. In 2017, Idaho Power implemented its Idaho 6
Power Cares Greeting Card program. The program enables CSRs 7
and other customer-facing employees to send a greeting card 8
produced by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to a customer when they 9
feel it is warranted. Such examples of these cards’ topics 10
include, but are not limited to, thank you, care and 11
concern, sympathy, new home, baby, and birthday. In 2022, 12
the Idaho Power Cares program sent an average of 14 cards 13
each day. 14
Q. Does the Company believe its Idaho Power Cares 15
program has a positive impact on customers? 16
A. Yes. Idaho Power often receives thank you 17
cards, emails, phone calls or social media posts from 18
customers thanking the Company for sending them a 19
personalized card. In doing so, the Company reaffirms to 20
customers its commitment to them and to try and provide an 21
exceptional customer service experience. 22
Q. Aside from the CSC, are there other positions 23
within your organization that routinely engage with 24
customers? 25
HANCHEY, DI 33
Idaho Power Company
A. Yes. The Company has several Energy Advisors 1
who are responsible for engaging with their respective 2
customer segment, typically in the field, and conducting 3
education and outreach efforts. Like CSAs, Energy Advisors 4
assist customers with understanding their bills and promote 5
Idaho Power’s energy efficiency programs; however, they 6
also act as energy consultants during customers’ projects 7
and help resolve any concerns that customers may have. 8
Q. Do you believe the initiatives and various 9
enhancements within the Customer Operations organization 10
have met the Company’s commitment to provide superior 11
service to its customers? 12
A. Yes. believe the organizational changes and 13
technological improvements made over the last several years 14
demonstrate Idaho Power’s commitment to its customers to 15
provide superior and satisfying service. 16
Q. In your opinion, should the Company’s 17
requested rate increase be viewed as reasonable based upon 18
the Company’s customer service and customer satisfaction 19
performance? 20
A. Yes. By providing the Company with fair and 21
timely recovery of its revenue requirement, the Commission 22
will be recognizing that the Company has adequately 23
addressed customer needs and that the Company’s investments 24
that support customer service and satisfaction have been 25
HANCHEY, DI 34
Idaho Power Company
appropriately incurred on behalf of customers. 1
Q. Does this conclude your direct testimony in 2
this case? 3
A. Yes, it does. 4
// 5
// 6
HANCHEY, DI 35
Idaho Power Company
DECLARATION OF BO HANCHEY 1
I, Bo Hanchey, declare under penalty of perjury 2
under the laws of the state of Idaho: 3
1. My name is Bo Hanchey. I am employed by 4
Idaho Power Company as Vice President of Customer 5
Operations and Chief Safety Officer. 6
2. On behalf of Idaho Power, I present this 7
pre-filed direct testimony and Exhibit No. 6 in this 8
matter. 9
3. To the best of my knowledge, my pre-filed 10
direct testimony and exhibit are true and accurate. 11
I hereby declare that the above statement is true to 12
the best of my knowledge and belief, and that I understand 13
it is made for use as evidence before the Idaho Public 14
Utilities Commission and is subject to penalty for perjury. 15
SIGNED this 1st day of June 2023, at Boise, Idaho. 16
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Signed: ___________________ 18 Bo Hanchey 19
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