20230926Decision Memo.pdf

DECISION MEMORANDUM 1
DECISION MEMORANDUM

TO: COMMISSIONER ANDERSON
COMMISSIONER HAMMOND
COMMISSIONER LODGE
COMMISSION SECRETARY
COMMISSION STAFF
LEGAL

FROM: ADAM TRIPLETT
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL

DATE: SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

SUBJECT: IN THE MATTER OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN POWER’S APPLICATION
FOR A DEFERRED ACCOUNTING ORDER REGARDING WILDFIRE
CLAIMS; CASE NO. PAC-E-23-16.

On June 21, 2023, Rocky Mountain Power, a division of PacifiCorp (“Company”), applied
for authority to defer incremental costs from third-party claims related to wildfires in Oregon in
September 2020 (“Application”). The Company requested that the Commission “delay
consideration” of the Application until the impact of the third-party claims on the Company is
clearer.
On August 1, 2023, the Commission issued a Notice of Application and Notice of
Intervention Deadline, setting an intervention deadline of August 22, 2023. Order No. 35868. No
parties petitioned to intervene before the deadline.
On September 6, 2023, PacifiCorp Idaho Industrial Customers (“PIIC”), a group composed
of the Company’s large-load industrial customers operating in Idaho, petitioned to intervene.
RULES GOVERNING LATE PETITIONS TO INTERVENE
Parties seeking to intervene in a case must hold a direct and substantial interest in the
proceeding, and their intervention must not unduly broaden the issues. See IDAPA 31.01.01.072
(requiring petitions to intervene to state the potential intervenor’s interest and that intervention will
not unduly broaden the issues). An untimely petition to intervene must state a substantial reason
for the delayed filing. See IDAPA 31.01.01.073. The Commission may deny or conditionally grant
an untimely petition that fails to state good cause for untimely filing to prevent disruption,
prejudice to existing parties, undue broadening of the issues, or for other reasons. Id. Petitioners
DECISION MEMORANDUM 2
allowed to intervene via an untimely petition are bound by prior notices and orders issued in the
proceeding. Id.
PIIC’S PETITION TO INTERVENE
In its petition, PIIC asserts that permitting its intervention is necessary so that it can
participate in the determination of issues affecting electric service rates for its members. In that
vein, PIIC emphasizes that Idaho customers should not be subject to future rate increases resulting
from PacifiCorp’s simple or gross negligence. According to PIIC, an accounting order preserving
the Company’s ability to recover such costs is “inappropriate” and such costs “prima facia, are not
fairly, justly, and reasonably incurred.” Petition at 2.
PIIC acknowledges that its petition to intervene is about two weeks late. Id. To explain the
tardy filing, PIIC submits that notice of the intervention deadline may have been sent to an old
email address that its counsel, Ron Williams, apparently neither monitors nor has ensured was
updated in the Commission’s database. Id. Regardless, PIIC concludes, without specific support,
that its untimely petition will not cause disruption, prejudice, or undue broadening of the issues.
Id. at 2-3.
No party objected to PIIC’s Petition to Intervene within seven days of the Petition being
filed as required by IDAPA 31.01.01.074.
COMMISSION DECISION
Does the Commission wish to grant PIIC’s Petition to Intervene?

__________________________
Adam Triplett
Deputy Attorney General

I:\Legal\ELECTRIC\PAC-E-23-16_Widlfire\memos\PACE2316_dec2_late Inter_at.docx