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HomeMy WebLinkAbout19900831Comments.pdf../¿¿..+ OWEN H. ORNDORFF ORNDORFF & PETERSON 1087 West River Street suite 230 Boise, Idaho 83702 Telephone: 208-343-8880 Fax: 208-345-0314 E\ed:- t) qi',c:c yc~ u.i\i.II r:f) 0; ;,_t.- RUG 31 Pf\ 3 59 eL\C~r' \ (\l\ " (' ' l 1; \ ì c, -) i '-' ¡,I ,. ("i ,f f11 i'i ....¡t.;:ivv n~ BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION ) OF IDAHO POWER COMPANY FOR A ) CERTIFICATE OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCE ) AND NECESSITY FOR THE RATE BASING )OF THE MILNER HYDROELECTRIC ) PROJECT, OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE, A ) DETERMINATION OF EXEMPT STATUS FOR ) THE MILNER HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT. ) ) CASE NO. IPC-E-90-8 COMMENTS OF AFTON ENERGY, INC. COMES NOW, Afton Energy, Inc. ("Afton") through its attorneys Orndorff & Peterson, and offers the following statements of position with respect to the above case. 1. Afton has excess capacity and energy available to sell Idaho Power Company ( "Idaho Power") from an existing plant at avoided costs yet to be determined based on a twenty year contract which will provide ratepayers significant security guaranteeing performance. 2 . Idaho Power proposes that the costs of building the Milner project should be paid by ratepayers by including the Milner proj ect in the ratebase. Afton assumes that Idaho Power i s charges will be front end loaded with depreciation charges and return on 1 .. equi ty in addition to the normal cost of capital and operating expenses. 3. The Public utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 ("PURPA") and Idaho's implementation of PURPA specifically grant to PURPA qualified facilities an avoided cost based on Idaho Power i s avoided, incremental plant. Given a qualified facility receives a level payment over its contract life verses Idaho Power's front end loaded costs, qualified facilities offer the least cost al ternati ve for new generation. 4. Given the foregoing, Afton En~rgy's position is that it wants a level playing field on which it has the same ability to provide Idaho Power's ratepayers capacity and energy measured against a twenty year contract, cash escrow guaranteeing performance, and other provisions applying to qualified facilities. To the extent that Idaho Power asserts that the Milner proj ect has unique project values that justify higher prices than available from qualified facilities and such unique attributes benefit Idaho Power's shareholders, Idaho Power's shareholders should pay for such unique benefits and not ratepayers through higher energy costs. Idaho Power's shareholders will own the Milner proj ect and the costs in excess of competitive generation alternatives should be fully allocated to Idaho Power's shareholders. 5. Idaho Power's ratepayers should pay for least cost electrical generation and not generation resources which have an inflated price with significant front end costs. Any other public policy of acquiring generation resources other than a least cost 2 .. methodology can only result in unnecessary increases in ratepayer costs and damage to the Idaho economy. 6. wi th respect to Idaho Power's Request for "Exempt status," Afton is unaware of any state statute which allows an "Electrical Corporation" to voluntarily opt out from regulation. Idaho Power may want to explore the possibility of the Milner project becoming a qualified facility under PURPA as a means to avoid state regulatiön. DATED this %Jsr day of August, 1990 ~ n H. Orndorff Attorneys for Afton CERTIFICATE OF MAILING I hereby certify that on this 29th day of August, 1990, I have served a true and correct copy of the wi thin and foregoing COMMENTS OF AFTON ENERGY, INC., postage prepaid and addressed as follows: Larry Ripley Evans, Keane, Koontz, Boyd, Simko & Ripley c/o Idaho Power Company 1220 West Idaho Street P.O. Box 70 Boise, ID 83707 Steven L. Herndon Idaho Power Company 1220 West Idaho Street P.O. Box 70 Boise, Idaho 83707 Michael S. Gilmore Brad M. Purdy Idaho Public utilities Commission 3 "' ,J .... statehouse Mail Boise, Idaho 83720-0001 Grant E. Tanner Davis Wright Tremaine 1300 SW Fifth Avenue suite 2300 Portland, OR 97201 Peter J. Richardson Davis Wright Tremaine Jefferson Place, suite 400 350 N. Ninth Boise, Idaho 83702-5471 Harold C. Miles Idaho Consumer Affairs, Inc. 316 15th Avenue South Nampa, Idaho 83651-4319 R. Scott Pasley Assistant General Counsel J. R. Simplot Company P.O. Box 27 Boise, Idaho 83707-0027 David H. Hawk Director, Energy NaturalResources J. R. Simplot Company P.O. Box 27 Boise, Idaho 83707-0027 James N. Roethe Pillsbury, Madison, & Sutro P.O. Box 7880 San Francisco, CA 94120 R. Michael Southcombe Ci emons , Cosho & Humphres, P . A. 815 West Washington Boise, Idaho 83702-5590 DATED this ~day of August 4