20000503.min.doc

Minutes of May 3, 2000 Decision Meeting
1:30 p.m.

In attendance were Commissioners Dennis Hansen, Marsha H. Smith and Paul Kjellander.

Commission President Dennis Hansen called the meeting to order; welcomed everyone in attendance. Introduced Lou Ann Westerfield who has joined the PUC Staff as a Policy Strategist; came to us from the Wyoming Commission.

First to be considered was Item 1 on the Consent Agenda. Commissioner Hansen asked if there was discussion or questions regarding this matter. Hearing none, he made a motion to approve staff recommendation. Vote taken: Motion carried.

MATTERS IN PROGRESS

Cheri Copsey spoke to Items 2 and 3; said No. 2 is a compliance filing in NEEA. Commission approved Idaho Power's application to continue participation in NEEA; further authorized Company to set aside a reserve of $5,462,388 and required that the offset be allocated among customer classes on the basis of customer class revenue and to report the results of that allocation within seven days of the order. Said Commissioners first need to consider No. 3 - IPC-E-00-4. It is a compliance filing in the revenue sharing case. Staff noted an error and recommends a change in revenue sharing. Idaho Power redid the amounts and it is now before the Commission for approval. If the commission approves that, it will result in changes to NEEA costs. Staff recommends in this matter that the amount of $9,693,141 be accepted as the 1999 customer share. Staff also recommends customer class allocation shown in Decision Memo be approved; that the amount established in Order No. 28333 for NEEA be reserved for that purpose based on the customer class allocation shown in the attachment and also recommended that the remaining amount be returned as customer refunds to coincide with the PCA change with the requested effective date of May 15, 2000.

Commissioner Kjellander said he wanted to more fully understand the FMC shared revenue amount. Didn't understand what the Commission was doing with FMC. What was the relationship in those costs?

Terri Carlock responded. Said it was her understanding that it was a billing error and that it has been corrected and those amounts have been paid.

Commissioner Kjellander asked - so we are extracting that amount?

Terri said it is showing the actual numbers that should have been there.

In review, Commissioner Smith said - if she took the rate reductions in cents per kw on Page 5 of 5 on Attachment 1, those will be subtracted from the PCA and there will be one rate change on May 15. She then made a motion to approve 2 and 3, dealing with the revenue sharing and NEEA. There was no further discussion. Motion carried.

Scott Woodbury's May 1, 2000 Decision Memorandum re: Case No. PAC-E-00-1 (Pacificorp) Green Tariff.

Scott Woodbury reviewed the decision memo. Reviewed the comments. All parties noted that the tariff premium exceeds the cost of other regional programs. The commenting parties were critical of the Company collecting money as early as two years in advance of any renewable energy being provided to the grid. The Company in response stresses this is development of new resources.

Scott indicated that there were Company representatives present at the decision meeting if there are any questions.

Commissioner Smith said she would like to express her support for renewable programs. Said she would be an enthusiastic supporter of a tariff that would promote renewable resources. Think this is a good start but has a way to go. Since Idaho is a small part of their operation, could get it going in Oregon, make it more customer-friendly and bring it back to use in Idaho because we know there is a big wind resource in Eastern Idaho.

Commissioner Kjellander said he thought there were some useful parts to this filing but there were also some negatives. Think the amount for marketing is high, regardless of whether or not it is voluntary, from some of the evidence presented in the Pacific case there was a question about the cost shown of what is reasonable. Said he was still reminded of the public hearing where the over-riding sentiment was for lower cost of electricity regardless of the source. Oregon might be better suited as a pilot project as to whether or not a green tariff program has some validity. Perhaps the company could look at a population base reflective of Eastern Idaho and it would be easier to come back to this Commission to build a stronger case. Said he would make a motion that the Commission deny the request for a green tariff at this time.

Commissioner Hansen said he would agree with his colleagues. Said he thought there have been some valid questions made that need to be addressed before Idaho can go ahead and opt to move into this type of tariff; so he too thought it would be in the best interest to give it some time to see how it works in Oregon or other states.

Vote was taken on the motion; carried unanimously.

Scott Woodbury's May 1, 2000 Decision Memorandum re: Case No. UWI-W-00-2 (United Water) Certificate Amendment-Non-Contiguous Areas Danskin Ridge and Saddle Ridge Subdivisions, Ada County.

Scott Woodbury reviewed the matter. Staff filed comments. Only issue to be resolved was the extent of the area to be served. Company would like a legal description. Exact wording would need to be worked out. Would indicate that the Company has represented that the entire area requested could adequately be served by them.

Commissioner Smith said just because she happens to know what used to be on the south eastern corner of Columbia, asked if that had been cleaned up?

Joe Miller, Attorney for United Water replied that it was his understanding that DEQ approves that and that the depth of the acquifer cannot be affected by previous activity on the property.

Commissioner Smith said she would make a motion that the Commission approve the proposal of United Water to serve this area subject to the limitation they and staff have worked out. Vote taken; motion carried.

Fully Submitted Matters

U S West's Application for Deregulation of its Basic Rates in the Burley Exchange, Case No. USW-T-99-15.

Commissioner Hansen announced that the Idaho Public Utilities Commission has denied the application of U S West. Commissioners Dennis Hansen and Paul Kjellander voted to deny it; Commissioner Marsha H. Smith supported the application of U S West. In accordance with the jurisdictional procedures followed by the Commission, the Commission will not hold a press conference but hopefully all the information needed is in the order and copies of the order and opinion are available at the back of the hearing room. Copies of the Commission's Press Release are also available. With that, Commissioner Hansen said that completed the agenda and the decision meeting was then adjourned.

Dated at Boise, Idaho, this 14th day of June, 2000.

Myrna J. Walters,
Commission Secretary