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Home My WebLink About20050701Peseau direct support stipulation.pdf, f" ,. r-',pc' I r . \t , .; ,';.. Vi.... 'G:--"j ~ . - j Conley E. Ward (ISB No. 1683) GIVENS PURSLEY LLP 601 W. Bannock Street O. Box 2720 Boise, ID 83701-2720 Telephone No. (208) 388-1200 Fax No. (208) 388-1300 cew(0givenspursley.com '" '1- ?Hnt; ,jIl ' - eu L: ... uuv vL r n Lf iOj\iO PUBLJC UTILITIES COMMISSION Attorneys for Agrium, Inc. S:\CLIENTS\6408\2\Peseau Testimony_DOC BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF P ACIFICORP DBA UTAH POWER & LIGHT COMPANY FOR AUTHORITY TO INCREASE ITS RATES FOR ELECTRIC SERVICE TO ELECTRIC CUSTOMERS IN THE STATE OF IDAHO Case No. PAC-05- DIRECT TESTIMONY DENNIS E. PESEAU ON BEHALF OF AGRIUM, INC. July 1 , 2005 PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME AND BUSINESS ADDRESS. My name is Dennis E. Peseau. My business address is Suite 250, 1500 Liberty Street , Salem, Oregon 97302. BY WHOM AND IN WHAT CAPACITY ARE YOU EMPLOYED? I am the President of Utility Resources, Inc. ("URI" ). URI has consulted on a number of economic, financial and engineering matters for various private and public entities for more than twenty years. HAVE YOU PREVIOUSLY TESTIFIED BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES CO MMIS SI ON? Yes, on many occasions. FOR WHOM ARE YOU APPEARING IN THIS CASE? I am appearing on behalf of Agrium, Inc ("Agrium WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF YOUR DIRECT TESTIMONY? Agrium originally asked me to review PacifiCorp s application and analyze its request for the Commission. IS THAT THE PURPOSE OF THE TESTIMONY YOU ARE PREFILING HERE? Not exactly. I did in fact review PacifiCorp s application as requested. However, before the Intervenors filed their direct testimony, the parties reached a Stipulation and settlement in this matter. Consequently, my purpose in this testimony is to support that settlement agreement. DID AGRIUM P ARTICIP ATE IN THE SETTLEMENT DISCUSSIONS AND NEGOTIA TIONS THAT LED TO THE AGREEMENT? DIRECT TESTIMONY OF DENNIS E. PESEAU - 2 IPUC Case No. PAC-O5- Yes. Agrium participated in all the formal settlement discussions as well as a number of informal meetings between the parties. PLEASE DESCRIBE THE STIPULATION. The Stipulation is on file with the Commission and I am confident both PacifiCorp and the Staff will summarize it in some detail in their testimony, so I will not offer an extensive summary here. From Agrium s point of view the principal feature of the Stipulation is that it limits the increase in base rates to 4.8 percent. IS THIS A JUST AND REASONABLE RESULT FOR ALL OF P ACIFICORP' IDAHO CUSTOMERS? I am convinced it is. If this case had proceeded to a full evidentiary hearing it would have required the resolution of a number of difficult contested issues of fact and policy. In addition, the case presents one important and contentious legal issue that might well have led to an appeal by one or more parties of any decision the Commission might reach. Under these circumstances, litigation would have been very time consuming and expensive for all parties, with an extremely uncertain outcome. This is precisely the type of case where a settlement makes sense. IS THE OVERALL RESULT WITHIN THE RANGE OF REASONABLE OUTCOMES THAT MIGHT BE PRODUCED IF THE CASE WERE FULLY LITIGATED? Absolutely. My understanding is that the parties actual settlement negotiations are confidential, so I won t discuss the individual components of the rate case and the parties ' views on those issues. But I can say that , based on decades of experience in these type of cases, I think litigation of the case would probably have produced an overall percentage increase somewhere between approximately 3 percent at the bottom and DIRECT TESTIMONY OF DENNIS E. PESEAU - 3 IPUC Case No. PAC-O5- something close to the Company s 12.5 percent request at the top, with the most likely result a bit above the middle of that range. In addition, the very long period of time that has elapsed since PacifiCorp s last filed cost of service study likely would result in numerous contentious rate design issues in this case that have, in my opinion, been fairly dealt with in the Stipulation. So I am satisfied the agreed upon rate increase is a reasonable outcome for ratepayers. ARE THERE ANY ASPECTS OF THE STIPULATION WITH WHICH AGRIUM DISAGREES? , but there is one aspect of the Stipulation that Agrium did not positively endorse. PLEASE EXPLAIN? The Stipulation states that , " Staff and the Company agree that all of the Company s Idaho customers should be served under the tariff standard." Agrium has no objection to the Staff and the Company agreeing on this issue, but Agrium takes no position on the merits, or lack thereof, of the Staff and Company s agreed upon position. PLEASE SUMMARIZE YOUR TESTIMONY IN THIS MATTER? Agrium believes the proposed Stipulation is a reasonable result that is in the public interest, and it urges the Commission to approve the Stipulation as filed. DOES THIS CONCLUDE YOUR TESTIMONY? Yes. DIRECT TESTIMONY OF DENNIS E. PESEAU - IPUC Case No. PAC-O5- CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY that on the .1ft day of July, 2005, I caused to be served a true and correct copy of the foregoing DIRECT TESTIMONY OF DENNIS E. PESEAU by the method indicated below and addressed to the following: Secretary Idaho Public Utilities Commission 472 W. Washington Street O. Box 83720 Boise, ID 83720-0074 S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail John Stewart PacifiCorp 201 South Main, Ste. 2300 Salt Lake City, UT 84140-0023 john. stewart2(0pacificorp. com S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail James M. Van Nostrand Stoel Rives LLP 900 SW Fifth Avenue, Ste. 2600 Portland, OR 97204 j mvannostrand(0stoel. com S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail Scott Woodbury Kira Pfisterer Idaho Public Utilities Commission 472 W. Washington Street O. Box 83720 Boise, ID 83720-0074 v' U.S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail Randall C. Budge Racine, Olson, Nye, Budge & Bailey, Chtd. 210 East Center P. O. Box 1391 Pocatello, ID 83204-1391 rcb(0racinelaw.net James R. Smith Monsanto Company P. O. Box 816 Soda Springs, ID 83276 j im.smith(0monsanto.com S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail DIRECT TESTIMONY OF DENNIS E. PESEAU - IPUC Case No. PAC-O5- Eric L. Olsen Racine, Olson, Nye, Budge & Bailey, Chtd. 201 East Center O. Box 1391 Pocatello, ID 83204-1391 elo(0racinelaw.net S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail Anthony Yankel 29814 Lake Road Bay Village, OH 44140 yankel(0attbi.com S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail Timothy J. Shurtz 411 S. Main Firth, ID 83236 tim(0idahosupreme.com S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail R. Scott Pasley J .R. Simplot Company 999 Main Street O. Box 27 Boise, ID 83702 spasley(0simplot.com S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail David Hawk J .R. Simplot Company 999 Main Street O. Box 27 Boise, ID 83702 dhawk(0simplot.com S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail Brad M. Purdy Attorney at Law 2019 N. ih Street Boise, ID 83702 bmpurdy(0hotmail. com S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail S. Mail Hand Delivered Overnight Mail Facsimile Electronic Mail Dennis E. Peseau, Ph. Utility Resources, Inc. 1500 Libert St. SE, Suite 250 Salem, OR 973022 dpeseau(0excite.com ~~U Sharon N. Hawkins on b ~lfofConley E. Ward DIRECT TESTIMONY OF DENNIS E. PESEAU - 6 IPUC Case No. PAC-O5-