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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20090529English Direct.pdfBEFORE THE '." ..-...."l /'i i:.. t:~;', ',;,-'"" " IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES CONMl$SlP.N"riJ,¡\ .'1 IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION ) OF AVISTA CORPORATION FOR THE ) CASE NO. AVU-E-09-1/ AUTHORITY TO INCREASE ITS RATES) AVU-G-09-1 AND CHARGES FOR ELECTRIC AND ) NATURAL GAS SERVICE TO ELECTRIC ) AND NATURAL GAS CUSTOMERS IN THE )STATE OF IDAHO. ) ) ) DIRECT TESTIMONY OF DONN ENGLISH IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION MAY 29,2009 1 Q.Please state your name and business address for 2 the record. 3 A.My name is Donn English. My business address is 4 472 W. Washington, Boise, Idaho 83702. 5 Q.By whom are you employed and in what capacity? 6 A.I am employed by the Idaho Public Utilities 7 Commission as a senior auditor in the Utilities Division. 8 Q.What is your educational and experience 9 background? 10 A.I graduated from Boise State University in 1998 11 with a BBA degree in Accounting. Following my graduation, 12 I accepted a position as a Trust Accountant with a pension 13 administration, actuarial and consulting firm in Boise. As 14 a Trust Accountant, my primary duties were to audit the 15 day-to-day financial transactions of numerous qualified 16 retirement plans. In 1999, I was promoted to Pension 17 Administrator. As a Pension Administrator, my 18 responsibilities included calculating pension and profit 19 sharing contributions, performing required non- 20 discrimination testing and filing the annual returns (Form 21 5500 and attachments). In May of 2001, I became a 22 designated member of the American Society of Pension 23 Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA). I was the first 24 person in Idaho to receive the Qualified 401 (k) 25 Administrator certification and I am one of approximately CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) STAFF 1 1 ten people in Idaho who have earned the Qualified Pension 2 Administrator certification. In 2001, I was promoted to a 3 Pension Consultant, a position I held until 2003 when I 4 joined the Commission Staff. 5 With the American Society of Pension 6 Professionals and Actuaries, I served on the Education and 7 Examination Committee for two years. On this committee I 8 was responsible for writing and reviewing exam questions 9 and study materials for the PA-1 and PA-2 exams 10 (Introduction to Pension Administration Courses), DC-1, 11 DC-2 and DC-3 exams (Administrative Issues of Defined 12 Contribution Plans - Basic Concepts, Compliance Concepts 13 and Advanced Concepts) and the DB exam (Administrative 14 Issues of Defined Benefit Plans). I have also regularly 15 attended conferences and training seminars throughout the 16 country on numerous pension issues. 17 While with the Commission, I have audited a 18 number of utilities including electric, water and gas 19 companies and provided comments and testimony in several 20 cases that dealt with general rates, accounting issues, 21 pension issues and other regulatory issues. In 2004 I 22 attended the 46th Annual Regulatory Studies Program at the 23 Institute of Public Utilities at Michigan State University 24 sponsored by the National Association of Regulatory Utility 25 Commissioners (NARUC). Since then I have regularly CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) STAFF 2 1 attended NARUC conferences and meetings, primarily the 2 meetings of the Subcommittee of Accounting and Finance. 3 Q.What is the purpose of your testimony in this 4 proceeding? 5 A.The purpose of my testimony in this case is to 6 address system operating costs that are allocated to 7 Idaho's gas and electric jurisdictions. I will also 8 present the Staff recommended revenue increase in base 9 rates for Avista Utilities' Idaho Gas jurisdiction. This 10 increase in base rates will ultimately be offset by a 11 proposed decrease in the weighted average cost of gas 12 (WACOG) in Staff witness Elam's testimony, for no change in 13 the net billing rate for the residential class. First, I 14 will propose adjustments that decrease both gas operating 15 expenses and electric operating expenses included in the 16 Company's filing. Secondly, I will address the Company's 17 proposed gas rate base, and additionally, I will propose 18 adjustments that are related specifically to the Company's 19 proposed Idaho Electric revenue requirement. Finally, I 20 will address the Company's proposed accounting treatment 21 for deferring a carrying charge on the difference between 22 pension expense accrual, as calculated under Statement of 23 Financial Accounting Standards No. 87 (FAS 87), and the 24 actual cash contribution made to the plan by Avista 25 Utilities. CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) STAFF 3 1 Q.What is the Staff's recommended revenue 3 2 requirement for Avista's Idaho Gas jurisdiction? A.Staff recommends an increase in base rates of 4 $1,894,000, or 2.06% on annual revenues of $91,767,000. 5 This revenue increase is calculated with a Return on Equity 6 of 10.5% and an overall rate of return of 8.55% as 7 discussed in further detail in Staff witness Carlock's 8 testimony. Staff's proposed rate base of $90,028,000 is 9 slightly less than the rate base proposed by Avista of 10 $90,491,000. Staff Exhibit No. 109, Schedule 1 compares 11 the results of Staff's recommendations to those proposed by 12 the Company. The adjustments made by Staff to the 13 Company's case will be discussed in greater detail later in 15 14 my testimony. Q.Please discuss the difference in the Conversion 16 Factor proposed by the Company and that recommended by 17 Staf f as shown on Staf f Exhibit No. 109, Schedule 1, 19 18 line 6. A.The conversion factor is an additional adjustment 20 needed to account for the increase in revenue that triggers 21 additional increases in the Company's tax liability, and 22 other revenue contingent items like the Commission 23 regulatory fees and the Company's uncollectible expenses. 24 The calculation of the conversion factor is shown on Staff 25 Exhibit No. 109, Schedule 2. The difference in the CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) STAFF 4 1 conversion factors arises from different IPUC assessment 2 rates used to determine the Commission's regulatory fees. 3 At the time of its filing, the Company used the 2008 4 assessment rate of 0.2507%. However, on May 7, 2009 the 5 Commission issued Order No. 30780 which established an 6 assessment rate of 0.1662% of gross Idaho operating revenue 7 derived from intrastate utility business. Staff updated 8 the new assessment rate on line 4, producing a new 9 conversion factor of 0.639336. Because the conversion 10 factor is the same for both gas and electric operations, 11 this adjustment effects both gas and electric revenue 12 requirements. 13 Q.Are you sponsoring any other exhibits with your 14 testimony? 15 A.Yes, I will also be sponsoring Staff Exhibit Nos. 16 110-115 which will illustrate the adjustments Staff has 17 made to the Company's pro forma case to develop the pro 18 forma net operating income recommended by Staff. Staff 19 Exhibit No. 110 shows ten adjustments that impact both gas 20 and electric operating results. The Idaho Gas Adjustments 21 on Staff Exhibit No. 110 are then displayed in a columnar 22 fashion on Staff Exhibit No. 111. Column B of Staff 23 Exhibit No. 111 is identical to the Pro Forma Total column 24 in Company witness Andrews' Exhibit No. 10, Schedule 2, 25 page 8, which illustrates the Company's request and becomes CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) STAFF 5 1 the starting point for all of Staff's adjustments. 2 System Adjustments Allocated to Idaho Gas and Electric 3 Jurisdictions 4 Non-Executive Labor Expense 5 Q.Pleàse describe the first adjustment on Staff 6 Exhibit No. 110. 7 A.Line 1 reflects Staff's adjustment to non- 8 executive labor expenses. Executive Labor has been removed 9 and is discussed in a separate adjustment reflected on line 10 2. In Andrews' adjustment PF-1, the increases paid to 11 employees in March of 2008 are first annualized, and then 12 an adjustment is made to reflect the increase paid in March 13 of 2009. An additional adjustment is made to reflect an 14 increase in wages to be paid in March of 2010, and the 15 Company proposes to recover 8 months of the increased 2009 16 expense and an additional 4 months of the 2010 increase to 17 reflect what it believes to be the estimated labor expense 18 for the proposed rate year ending June 30, 2010. The 19 Company calculated estimated labor expense increases of 20 3.8% in 2009 and 2010 for its administrative staff, and 21 used the contractually obligated 4% wage increase for its 22 collective-bargaining union employees. Consistent with 23 Staff's treatment of the proposed test year in this case, I 24 have removed all increases associated with 2010 to reflect 25 the annual labor expenses for the year ending December 31, CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) STAFF 6 1 2009. Additionally, at the time of its filing, the Board 2 of Directors had not formally approved a wage increase for 3 2009, so the Company's 3.8% was an estimate of what was 4 believed to be the appropriate increase for 2009. The 5 Board of Directors subsequently approved a wage increase of 6 2.5% for 2009 for administrative staff, while the union 7 employees received their 4 % increase as mandated by 8 contract. 9 In addition to removing the 2010 increases, I 10 have also reduced the 2009 increases to the amount actually 11 paid in March of 2009, and annualized those increases as if 12 they were in effect for the whole year. The effect of this 13 adjustment reduces Non-Executive Labor expense for the 14 Idaho Gas operation by $75,573 and increases Net Operating 15 Income by $49,000 as shown in Column s-l of Staff Exhibit 16 No. 111. The effect on Net Operating Income for Idaho 17 Electric Jurisdiction is shown on Staff witness Vaughn's 18 Exhibit No. 118. 19 Executi ve Labor Expense 20 Q.Will you please describe the adjustment on line 2 21 of Exhibit No. 110 for Executive Compensation? 22 A.Yes. Line 2 represents Staff's adjustment 23 removing all increases for executive compensation proposed 24 by the Company over the test year amounts. Similar to the 25 Company's approach with non-executive labor, the Company CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) STAFF 7 1 included in its request an increase for 2009 and 2010 for 2 its executives. Subsequent to its filing, the executives 3 of Avista decided to forego any increases in base salary 4 for 2009. I have removed all of the proposed salary 5 increases for executive labor to reflect this decision to 6 forego increases in 2009, and to remove the estimated 7 increase for 2010 to be consistent with Staff's use of the 8 year ending December 31, 2009. Additionally, I annualized 9 the current base salaries of all executives as of March 31, 10 2009 to reflect a full 12 months of their current pay. The 11 effect of these cumulative adjustments reduces Idaho Gas 12 expenses by $31,051 and increases Net Operating Income for 13 Avista's Idaho Gas jurisdiction by $21,000 as shown in 14 Column s-2 of Staff Exhibit No. 111. Again, the effect of 15 this adjustment on the Idaho Electric Jurisdiction's Net 16 Operating Income is reflected on Staff witness Vaughn's 17 Exhibit No. 118. 18 Q.Given the number of negative comments from 19 customers regarding executive compensation, is there 20 anything else you would like to add on the topic? 21 A.Because of the current economiccondi tions and 22 the multitude of customers expressing their displeasure 23 with the salaries paid to Avista executives, I will explain 24 Staff's critical approach in analyzing the reasonableness 25 of the executive compensation package, and its impact on CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) STAFF 8 1 residential customer rates. The amount of executive labor 2 requested to be included in Idaho Gas rates by the Company 3 is 0.20% of annual revenues. On the average Idaho 4 residential monthly gas bill, this means that 10.78 cents 5 goes toward executive labor under the Company's proposal. 6 For Idaho electric customers, the amount requested to be 7 included in rates by the Company is 0.34% of annual 8 revenues, or 15. 84 cents per month on the average 9 residential bill. With Staff's proposed adjustments, Idaho 10 customers using both gas and electricity from Avista will 11 be paying less than 27 cents per month toward executive 12 salaries. Removing all executive salaries from customer 13 rates for gas and electric service would save customers 14 approximately $3.00 per year. 15 Furthermore, Staff's proposal for executive labor 16 expense, in this case, is 0.76% increase over the executive 17 labor currently embedded in rates based on 2007 expense. 18 This is a relatively small increase considering that an 19 additional executive position was added during 2008. On 20 average, executive compensation actually decreased by over 21 $22,000 per executive since the last general rate case. 22 Q.Why do you believe customers have a general 23 misunderstanding of the impact executive labor has on their 24 utility rates. 25 A.On March 24, 2009, Avista issued its annual proxy CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) STAFF 9 1 statement. Wi thin this proxy statement, Avista is required 2 to list the compensation components of its top 5 officers. 3 Many news outlets in northern Idaho and eastern Washington 4 have reported the total compensation of these officers 5 without regard to how that compensation is paid. Total 6 compensation in the proxy statement consists of base 7 salary, stock awards, option awards, incentive plans, death 8 and disability plans, and gains on pension and non- 9 qualified deferred compensation earnings, and a multitude 10 of other benefits. For example, it was reported that 11 Avista President and CEO Scott Morris received total 12 compensation of $2,221,905 in 2008. However, as shown on 13 Staff Exhibit No. 112, Idaho customers only paid 14 approximately 8.3% of that total, while other jurisdictions 15 contributed as well. It should also be noted that 16 approximately three-fourths of the total compensation 17 reported for Mr. Morris in the proxy statement was charged 18 to non-utility operations of Avista. 19 Adding to the customers' frustration is the 20 current economic conditions of northern Idaho as described 21 in the testimony of Staff witness Thaden. At a time when 22 many customers are experiencing declining incomes, Avista 23 executives are reporting compensation packages that could 24 make people envious. However, when compared to other 25 utility providers of comparable size, Avista executives are CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 10 STAFF 1 paid below average for the management of a business with 2 $1.5 billion annual revenue. 3 Non-Executive Incentive Expense 4 Q.Will you please describe the adjustment labeled 5 Non-Executive Incentive Expense on line 3 of Exhibit No. 6 110? 7 A.Yes. Line 3 reflects Staff's adjustment to the 8 Company's proposed level of employee bonuses, ultimately 9 reducing employee bonuses for non-executive employees to 10 the level accrued during the historical test period. 11 Q.Please briefly describe the Company's Employee 12 Incentive Plan. 13 A.The Company's main employee incentive plan 14 consists of two steps. The initial step in the issuance of 15 bonuses is determined when Standard Performance 16 Expectations are met. These Standard Performance 17 Expectations are based on customer satisfaction ratings, 18 average restoration time and average outage per customer. 19 Once the Standard Performance Expectations have been 20 achieved, the actual payouts are dictated by O&M cost 21 savings. 22 Q.How did the Company develop its proposed level of 23 incentive payments to be included in rates? 24 A.Actual incentives paid and the associated payroll 25 taxes for years 2003 through 2007 were adjusted by the CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 11 STAFF 1 Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the year the incentives were 2 paid to restate those costs in 2008 dollars. The Company 3 then computes a six-year average of incentive payments and 4 compares that to the incentive expense included in the test 5 year to determine its pro forma adjustment. The Company's 6 proposed adj ustment increases the incentive expense by 7 $1,175,087 for the total system, or $73,238 for the Idaho 8 Gas jurisdiction and $295,137 for the Idaho Electric 9 jurisdiction. 10 Q.Why do you object to the Company's proposal for 11 its employee incentive plan? 12 A.My first obj ection relates to the use of a six- 13 year average to determine the annual level of incentive 14 expense in this case. As you can see on Staff Exhibit No. 15 113, the annual incentive payments have continually trended 16 downward over the past four years, and the test-year level 17 of incentive expense represents the lowest amount of any of 18 the previous six years. The use of the six-year average in 19 this case would effectively require customers who are in 20 the midst of a recession to pay for employee bonuses at a 21 level that was incurred during a time when economic 22 conditions were far superior than we are currently 23 experiencing. Furthermore, the Company has not provided 24 any evidence that incentive payments will be increasing in 25 the near future to justify the 30% increase over test-year CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 12 STAFF 1 accruals. 2 Secondly, because actual payouts are dictated by 3 utility O&M cost savings, bonuses will not be paid unless 4 shareholder earnings are achieved. The Company's Employee 5 Incentive Plan states that this O&M component focuses on 6 the context of cost management. Though not directly stated 7 as such in the Company's Incentive Plan, O&M cost 8 reductions at a time of increasing revenues has a direct 9 positive correlation to shareholder value. Additionally, 10 any incentive payments made due to any type of O&M 11 benchmark should be self-funding to the extent that any O&M 12 savings achieved should be sufficient to fund the incentive 13 payout. 14 Q.How has the Commission typically dealt with these 15 types of incentive plans? 16 A.I believe that both Staff and the Commission 17 acknowledge that incentive payments are an appropriate part 18 of a utility company's overall compensation package, 19 provided that the incentive payouts are not based on 20 increasing shareholder value. In Case No. IPC-E-05-28, the 21 parties agreed to a stipulation that stated "it is 22 reasonable to include an employee pay-at-risk or employee 23 incentive component in test-year revenue requirements so 24 long as such incentive component is based on goals that 25 benefit customers." The Stipulation further stated that CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 13 STAFF 1 "senior management pay-at-risk is appropriately excluded 2 from test-year revenue requirement." 3 Though this stipulation was filed as an agreement 4 between Commission Staff and Idaho Power Company, by 5 accepting the stipulation, the Commission has expressed its 6 intentions with respect to the treatment of employee 7 incentive plans. The Commission also affirmed in Order No. 8 30722 that "incentive pay is properly included in annual 9 revenue requirement if it is related to identifiable 10 customer benefits." The Commission further stated in that 11 Order that the customer benefits of "O&M management that is 12 reflected in rates set in annual rate cases does not create 13 the necessary nexus between incentive pay and customer 14 benefit." 15 Finally, I believe that the Commission is 16 cognizant of the public perception of Avista awarding 17 employee bonuses at a time when it is asking to increase 18 the rates it charges for gas and electricity, and 19 especially when many of its customers are struggling 20 financially. If Avista believes that today's financial 21 environment mandates the need for rate increases, those 22 rate increases should be mitigated by a concerted attempt 23 to lower costs and salary. The incentive plan creates the 24 perfect opportunity for Avista to generate funds internally 25 because the Company will undoubtedly experience salary CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 14 STAFF 1 savings through attrition. As employees retire, or leave 2 the Company, voluntarily or not, their replacements will 3 presumably be paid less. Avista could use these salary 4 savings from attrition to fund a portion of its incentive 5 plan. 6 Q.Given what you just stated about employee 7 incentives, what it your proposal in this case? 8 A.Because Staff has continually recognized the 9 benefit of an incentive plan in an employee's total 10 compensation package, I do not propose to eliminate 100% of 11 the incentive expense proposed by the Company. Also, 12 because the Company's incentive plan does not have a 13 component that directly relates to O&M savings, but rather 14 states that O&M targets must be attained before incentives 15 can be paid, there is not a specific component of the plan 16 that can be reduced. Therefore, my adjustment limits the 17 amount of employee incentive expense to that which was 18 accrued during the test year ending September 30, 2008. 19 This is a reduction of approximately $1.2 million system- 20 wide to the Company's proposal. 21 It should be noted that the remaining $2.8 22 million, with the exception of executive bonuses which I 23 discuss shortly, is comparable to the approximately $3.2 24 million in incentive expense that the Commission awarded to 25 Idaho Power in Case No. IPC-E- 08 - 10. Because Idaho Power CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 15 STAFF 1 has. approximately 2,000 employees compared to Avista' s 2 approximately 1,500 employees, on a per employee basis, the 3 amount I recommend for Avista is actually greater than that 4 approved for Idaho Power. 5 Executive Incentive Expense 6 Q.Does the test year incentive expense for Avista 7 include bonuses for its executives? 8 A.Yes, it does. Line 4 of my Staff Exhibit No. 110 9 illustrates the removal from test year incentive expense 10 the amounts included for Avista executives. This is 11 consistent with the Commission's affirmation that senior 12 management pay-at-risk be excluded from test year revenue 13 requirement, and is also consistent with Staff's treatment 14 of executive incentive expense for all other utilities 15 providing service in Idaho. 16 The Avista Executive Officer Incentive Plan is 17 similar to the incentive plan for all employees with 18 standard performance measures based on customer 19 satisfaction and reliability. However, the executive 20 incentive plan also has a Capital Spending Budget component 21 as well. Once the standard performance triggers are 22 achieved, 70% of the target award is based on earnings per 23 share targets and the other 30% on O&M cost per customer 24 benchmarks. Because the Executive Officer incentive Plan 25 does not payout until shareholder benchmarks are met, this CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 16 STAFF 1 plan should be paid for with shareholder money and not 2 charged to customers. Removing the executive incentive 3 payments from the test year reduces expenses by $311,028 4 for the total system, or by $19,385 for the Idaho Gas 5 jurisdiction and $78,118 for the Idaho Electric 6 jurisdiction. 7 Board of Directors Expense 8 Q.Please explain the adjustment on line 5 of Staff 9 Exhibit No. 110. 10 A.Line 5 represents the proposed adj ustment to 11 remove one-half (50%) of the Board of Directors' retainer 12 fees, travel and meetings expense. The Board of Directors 13 is the highest governing authority wi thin the management 14 structure at any publicly traded company. It is the 15 board's job to select, evaluate, and approve appropriate 16 compensation for the company's chief executive officer 17 (CEO), evaluate the attractiveness of and payment of 18 dividends, recommend stock splits, oversee share repurchase 19 programs, approve the company 1 s financial statements, and 20 recommend or discourage acquisitions and mergers. All of 21 these responsibilities illustrate that the primary 22 responsibility of the Board of Directors is to protect the 23 shareholders 1 assets and ensure shareholders receive a 24 decent return on their investment. 25 Because the board of directors' fiduciary CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 17 STAFF 1 responsibility is to protect shareholder value and the 2 board serves at the behest of shareholders, who have the 3 opportunity to elect or retain board members, it is 4 reasonable for shareholders to pay at least half of the 5 expenses associated with board fees, travel and meetings. 6 Q.Are there other reasons supporting your 7 adjustment to Board of Directors Expense? 8 A.Yes. During the course of Staff's audit, it was 9 noted that some board members fly to board meetings via 10 first class and receive limousine transportation from the 11 airport. Also, board retreats consisted of extravagantly 12 catered lunches and dinners, along with cruises on Lake 13 Coeur d' Alene. The expenses for these types of acti vities 14 were charged to ratepayer accounts and included in the 15 Company's test-year revenue requirement. I believe it is 16 inappropriate to pass these types of expenses onto 17 ratepayers, especially because these expenses do not relate 18 to the generation, transportation or distribution of 19 utili ty services. Staff's removal of one-half of all these 20 expenses acknowledges that as a publicly traded company, 21 Avista is required to have a board of directors and that 22 some level of expense charged to customers may be 23 appropriate. This adjustment reduces expenses by $595,617 24 system-wide or $37,122 for the Idaho Gas jurisdiction and 25 $149,596 for the Idaho Electric jurisdiction. CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 18 STAFF 1 Information Services Support Adjustment 2 Q.Please explain the adjustment listed on line 6 of 3 Exhibit No. 110. 4 A.This adj ustment is a two-part adj ustment to the 5 pro forma level of Information Services Support proposed by 6 the Company in Mr. Kopczynski's testimony. The Company 7 proposes to capture an additional $2.6 million system-wide 8 for labor and non- labor informational services costs 9 planned for 2009 above the test period levels. Mr. 10 Kopczynski states that an additional $1.3 million is needed 11 for an additional nine positions to support software 12 applications that have been utilized by the Company in 13 recent years. Five of those positions have currently been 14 filled by the Company, while the other four have not. Two 15 of those positions are not expected to be filled until 16 January 2010. 17 Many of the software applications the Company is 18 requesting additional labor dollars for were put in place 19 in 2008. Because the Company is currently using these 20 applications, while already providing reliable electric and 21 gas service to customers at its current staffing level, I 22 believe some of these positions may be unnecessary or 23 filling them could at least be delayed. My adjustment 24 removes approximately $560,000 system-wide for the four 25 unfilled positions, or $25,000 for the Idaho Gas CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 19 STAFF 1 jurisdiction and $156,000 for the Idaho Electric 2 jurisdiction. 3 Q.What is the second part of your adjustment? 4 A.The second part of my adjustment to Information 5 Services (IS) Support reflects the historical variance 6 between budgeted amounts and actual expenditures. Though 7 Staff generally believes that Avista's forecasts are an 8 accurate representation of the Company's intentions, during 9 the course of Staff's review a large variance existed 10 between 2008 budgets and 2008 actual expenses. The 11 Company's budget or IS Support for 2008 was $2.66 million 12 system-wide, although actual expenses totaled only $2.11 13 million, for a variance of 20.57%. By applying this 14 variance to the budgeted amounts for 2009, it would be 15 reasonable to reduce 2009 IS support by $550,000 system. 16 Q.Are there any specific examples in which you 17 believe the Company's estimates for Information Services 18 Support may be too high? 19 A.Yes. For example, in late 2008, the Company 20 implemented the ARCOS Rostermonster automated crew callout 21 mechanism for after-hour callouts, eliminating the need for 22 one-on-one callouts while creating operational 23 efficiencies. I have reviewed the Company's agreement with 24 25 CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 20 STAFF 1 ARCOS, Inc. 1 The agreement calls for a fixed monthly 2 service fee, and a variable charge based on line usage. 3 After reviewing the invoices from ARCOS, Inc. for the first 4 three months of 2009, I believe the Company over-estimated 5 the annual variable charge for line usage. By annualizing 6 the March 2009 line usage data, the most recent data 7 available, it would appear that Avista overestimated the 8 amount it would need to pay to ARCOS by approximately 9 $38,000. Rather than proposing separate adjustments for 10 each of the applications and contracts, this adjustment 11 incorporates an expected variance between budget and 12 actuals for 2009. 13 It is also important to note that this adjustment 14 is not only a reflection of the budget variance, but also 15 recognizes the operational efficiencies gained but not 16 accounted for in the Company's case. 17 Q.What are the operational efficiencies that you 18 are referring to? 19 A.One of the difficulties of dealing with pro forma 20 test years is that forecasting expenses can be done with 21 relative accuracy based on historical trends and additional 22 planned projects. However, the benefits obtained by these 23 24 1 Details of the agreements were provided confidentially pursuant to the Protective Agreement between Avista and IPUC Staff dated January 8, 2009. Avista claims this information is exempt from public inspection under the Commission's Procedural Rule 067 and 233, and Idaho Code § 9-340D. ) 25 CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 21 STAFF 1 expenditures are not as easily identifiable, even though 2 they do exist. For example, Avista' s Outage Management 3 System, as described in Exhibit No.7, page 11, is a 4 software application utilizing a Geographical Information 5 System (GIS mapping system) that allows distribution 6 facili ties to be linked to individual customers service 7 points in a computer based model. Customers can report 8 outages quickly by speaking into the Company's Integrated 9 Voice Response (IVR) system. All customer calls are then 10 plotted in the GIS mapping system. The plotting of all 11 commonly affected customers associated with an outage 12 incident enables the Company to more accurately and 13 expeditiously predict the probable cause of the outage, and 14 thus reduce restoration time. In this specific example, 15 both the Company's IVR system and Outage Management System 16 have created efficiencies that are not quantified in the 17 Company's case. 18 When asked about the benefits of the IVR system, 19 the Company responded in an email on April 24, 2009 that 20 the efficiencies will be operational and difficult to 21 quantify. Although Avista also stated that it had no means 22 to quantify the benefits of the Outage Management System, 23 the Company did estimate that it would save approximately 24 two to four hours each day performing restoration of 25 service on normal daily outages. CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 22 STAFF 1 While the Company admits that operational 2 efficiencies will be achieved through nearly all of its is 3 applications, there is no attempt to quantify any of those 4 benefits that customers should receive. My calculation of 5 the variance between budgeted amounts and actual 6 expenditures, and the resulting adjustment serves as a 7 reasonable proxy to quantify those identified customer 8 benefits. 9 Legal Expenses 10 Q.Please explain the adj ustment to legal expenses 11 listed on line 7 of Exhibit No. 110. 12 A.The adjustment on line 7 consists of two separate 13 components: 1) the removal of 10% of legal expenses 14 related to corporate functions such as Securities and 15 Exchange Commission (SEC) compliance, securities litigation 16 and proxy statements and standards ¡and 2) the amortization 17 of legal expenses associated with the Gas Transmission 18 Northwest Corporation (GTN) natural gas rate case filed 19 with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). 20 Q.Please explain the adjustment for SEC compliance- 21 type issues. 22 A.As a publicly traded company, Avista Corporation 23 is required to file reports and comply with the laws and 24 rules set up by the SEC. Because Avista Corporation 25 consists of more than just Avista Utilities, the other CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 23 STAFF 1 subsidiaries that contribute to the Corporation should be 2 required to share in these types of corporate expenses. 3 The pressure for profit creates a risk to customers that 4 corporate management may shift the costs and burdens of 5 corporate operations so that the beneficial aspects flow to 6 the unregulated subsidiary and the burdensome aspects flow 7 to the regulated utility. Without the establishment of a 8 definitive percentage or allocation to be shared by 9 subsidiaries, the customers face the continual risk of 10 shouldering the burden of additional expenses required by 11 publicly traded companies. 12 Q.How did you determine that 10 percent was the 13 appropriate amount to remove from revenue requirement for 14 SEC compliance issues? 15 A.The President and Chief Executive Officer, the 16 Chief Financial Officer, the Vice President of Human 17 Resources and Corporate Secretary, the Controller and the 18 Vice President of Finance and Treasures all allocate 10 19 percent of their time and compensation to non-utility 20 operations. If the corporate executives have deemed that 21 10% of their time and attention should be assigned to non- 22 utility operations, then it is reasonable to also assign 23 10% of the securities related expenses to non-utility 24 operations. This adjustment reduces test year legal 25 expenses by $12,000 for the Idaho Electric jurisdiction and CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 24 STAFF 2 1 $3,000 for the Idaho Gas jurisdictions. Q.Please explain the remaining adjustment to legal 4 3 expenses for the GTN rate case at the FERC. A.During the test year, Avista paid approximately 5 $47,000 to Portland General Electric for its participation 6 in the GTN rate case with FERC. Staff typically removes 7 non-recurring legal expenses from test year revenue 8 requirement to ensure that the Company is not collecting an 9 annual amount each year for an expense that was incurred 10 for a nonrecurring event. Staff does not believe that GTN 11 will be filing annual rate cases with the FERC, and 12 therefore it would not be reasonable for Avista to recover 13 its legal expenses for this nonrecurring event each year. 14 However, because the Company incurred this expense in 15 response to a regulatory action, and because the expense 16 was prudently incurred to protect Avista customers, it 17 would be inappropriate to exclude this amount in its 18 entirety. Therefore, I propose reducing the Company's 19 legal expense related to the GTN rate case by 66.67%, 20 thereby allowing the Company to recover amounts spent over 21 a three-year period. 22 IPUC Regulatory Expense 23 Q.Please explain the adjustment to Regulatory 25 24 Expense on line 8 of Exhibit No. 110. A.The IPUC Regulatory Expense included by the CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 25 STAFF 1 Company in this case was calculated by using the 2008 2 assessment rate multiplied by test year revenues. As 3 mentioned previously in my testimony, on May 7, 2009 the 4 Commission issued Order No. 30780 which established a new 5 assessment rate of 0.1662% for 2009. This adjustment 6 simply updates the Company's calculation. The effect of 7 this adjustment reduces Regulatory Expense by $62,541 for 8 the Idaho Gas jurisdiction and $139,497 for the Idaho 9 Electric jurisdiction. 10 Insurance Expense 11 Q.will you please explain the adjustment to 12 Insurance Expense listed on line 9 of Exhibit No 110? 13 A.When the Company was preparing its case, General 14 Liability Insurance Expense for 2009 was estimated to be 15 $4,668,084. However, after the filing was made, the actual 16 insurance contracts were executed and the actual insurance 17 expense was $138,143 less than the Company's estimate. I 18 have reduced the Insurance Expense for the Idaho Gas 19 jurisdiction by $8,610 and for the Idaho Electric 20 jurisdiction by $34,697 to reflect this known and 21 measurable change. 22 Miscellaneous/Promotional Items 23 Q.Please explain the adjustment listed as 24 Miscellaneous/Promotional Items listed on line 10 of 25 Exhibit No. 110. CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 26 STAFF 1 A.This adjustment is a catch-all for many 2 miscellaneous expenses that do not relate to the 3 production, transmission, or distribution of utility 4 services. The Company intended to remove many items that 5 were improperly booked to utility accounts in the 6 miscellaneous restatement adjustment in its Application. 7 However, during my review of test year expenses, I found 8 numerous expenses that should have also been removed. 9 These inappropriate expenses included things such as 10 chari table contributions and donations, sponsorships for 11 tables and booths and fund raising events, golf scrambles, 12 sympathy flowers for employees, retirement and holiday 13 parties, clothing with the Avista logo emblazed, and many 14 other items that, individually, are small dollar amounts. 15 The detailed listing of all these items has been provided 16 to the Company with Staff's workpapers. This adjustment 17 reduces expenses by $11,183 and $68,781 for the Idaho Gas 18 and Electric jurisdictions, respectively. 19 GAS RATE BASE ADJUSTMNTS 20 Q.Do you propose any adjustment to the Gas rate 21 base? 22 A.Yes. I propose an adjustment to decrease Idaho 23 Gas pro-forma rate base by $462,955. 24 Q.Please describe the basis for this adjustment. 25 A.The Company proposed a pro-forma rate base that CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 27 STAFF 1 included budgeted annual amounts for recurring certain 2 projects, known internally as ER's (Expenditure 3 Requisitions). The 2009 pro-formed amounts for Idaho were 4 based on an allocation of total system forecasts. Idaho 5 was allocated 21.83% of the forecasted amounts based on the 6 Company's direct plant allocation factor. Staff Exhibit 7 No. 114 illustrates the Company's 2009 system budgets and 8 the Idaho allocation. However, because Avista' s non- 9 contiguous Oregon gas distribution system is older and in 10 greater disrepair than the Idaho gas distribution system, 11 the Oregon system actually incurs a greater cost than the 12 allocation factors indicate. Over the four-year period 13 from 2005-2008, approximately 17% of the annual budget for 14 these ER's were incurred by the Idaho system, therefore, I 15 propose to use the historical four-year average for each ER 16 project which, in total, would reduce the Idaho Gas rate 17 base by $462,955 as calculated on Staff Exhibit No. 114. 18 Additionally, the depreciation expense in the amount of 19 $14,000, based on a composite depreciation rate of 3%, 20 associated with this adjustment has been removed. 21 Q.Why did you limit your historical average to four 22 years? 23 A.The Company changed its accounting system. in 24 January 2005. Though it was not impossible to retrieve 25 data prior to 2005, information subsequent to the CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 28 STAFF 1 conversion is obtained rather easily. The actual transfers 2 to plant for the four-year period since 2005 were readily 3 available and, on average, represent a fair and reasonable 4 amount to include in rate base. 5 Debt Interest Restatement 6 Q.Please explain the adjustment to taxes in Column 7 s-12 of Staff Exhibit No 111. 8 A.This adjustment restates debt interest using the 9 Company's pro forma weighted average cost of debt, as 10 outlined in the testimony of Staff witness Carlock. The 11 restated debt interest is then applied to Staff's pro forma 12 level of rate base for Idaho's gas jurisdiction to produce 13 a pro forma level of tax deductible interest expense. The 14 Federal income tax effect of the restated level of interest 15 for the period ending December 31, 2009 increases Idaho Gas 16 net operating income by $5,000. 1 7 SPECIFIC ELECTRIC EXPENSE ADJUSTMNTS 18 Q.Will you please explain Staff Exhibit No. 115? 19 A.Staff Exhibit No. 115 is a list of four 20 adjustments that I am proposing to reduce the pro forma 21 revenue requirement for Idaho's Electric jurisdiction. 22 These amounts have been provided to Staff witness Vaughn to 23 incorporate into her calculation of Staff's proposed 24 electric revenue requirement for Idaho. 25 Q.Looking at the first adjustment shown on Staff CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 29 STAFF 1 Exhibit No. 115, please summarize the Company's proposal 2 for the Asset Management Program. 3 A.As explained in greater detail in Company witness 4 Kinney's direct testimony, the Asset Management Program 5 attempts to manage key assets throughout their life to 6 provide the best value to customers by minimizing life 7 cycle costs and maximizing system reliability. Though the 8 Asset Management Program is relatively new, many of the 9 aspects of the plan consist of activities that the Company 10 has been doing for years, such as vegetation management, 11 transformer management and wood pole management.Avista 12 launched the program in March 2004 which essentially 13 combined many of the Company's asset conservation 14 activities under one umbrella, and thus allowing the 15 Company flexibility to shift funds from one aspect of the 16 plan to another if the Company deems it necessary. 17 Staff reviewed the asset management plan and 18 concluded that prudent management of the plan would provide 19 a stream of annual benefits through avoided costs well into 20 the future, and increase system reliability. In evaluating 21 the program, Staff met with Company representatives, 22 reviewed cost calculations, avoided costs and Internal 23 Rates of Return for each proj ect. 24 Q.Please explain the Internal Rates of Return. 25 A.The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) is a means of CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 30 STAFF 1 making an investment decision by calculating the IRR and 2 comparing it to a market interest rate (i). By definition, 3 the IRR is the discount rate at which the net present value 4 of future benefits will equal the net present value of the 5 cost, and is expressed by the formula: 6 7 Vp = Eo + Ei/(l+r) + E2/(1+r)2 +...+ En/(l+r)n = 0 8 9 Where Vp is the value of the costs in the current period and 10 E represents the future benefits which are then discounted 11 back to present value. If the discount rate (r, IRR) is 12 greater than an available market rate, then one would 13 conclude that the project is cost effective. 14 The Company compared the costs of each proj ect 15 within the Asset Management Program to the potential costs 16 of inactivity, or doing nothing. In each case, it was 17 determined that the program was cost effective. 18 Q.What annual level of O&M Expenses does the 19 Company request for its Asset Management Program? 20 A.Company witness Kinney states that the projected 21 2010 level of O&M expenses for the Asset Management Program 22 are $12,505,000 (system-wide) which is an increase of 23 $4,609,000 over the test year level of $7,896,000 (system- 24 wide.) However, Company witness Andrews' exhibits and 25 workpapers indicate a pro forma adjustment to Idaho's CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 31 STAFF 1 electric jurisdiction of $749,000 which is Idaho's 2 allocated portion of 50% of the 2010 projected expenses. 3 None of the 2009 O&M Expenses for the Program were included 4 in the Company's case. The Company was aware of this, but 5 in an attempt to mitigate the impact of the overall rate 6 increase, decided to omit the 6-rnonths of 2009 from its 7 request. Because Company witness Andrews only included 8 six-months of O&M Expense in her revenue requirement 9 calculation, Staff accepts the Company's pro forma 10 adjustment for the Asset Management Program. 11 Q.Then please explain your adj ustment to the Asset 12 Management Program. 13 A.My adjustment recognizes that the Asset 14 Management Program will provide benefits to customers that 15 have not been quantified or captured in the Company's case. 16 If the Company is going to pro form a higher level of 17 expenses, it must balance those expenses with the customer 18 benefits that they will achieve. During 2008, by my 19 conservative estimates from information provided to Staff 20 during an on-site audit, the Asset Management Program 21 achieved savings of $920,000 or 11.65% of historical test 22 period expenses. By applying the 11.65% as a proxy for 23 projected customer benefits to the pro forma level of O&M 24 Expenses included in the Company's case, the result is an 25 $87,259 reduction to Idaho's electric jurisdiction pro CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 32 STAFF 4 1 forma 2009 expense. 2 Q.Please explain the next adjustment on Staff 3 Exhibi t No. 115, line 2. A.This adjustment reduces the Company's pro forma 5 O&M Expenses for production plant by $2,862,000 (system) or 6 $1,015,000 for the Idaho electric jurisdiction. 7 Q.What is the basis for this adjustment? 8 A.The Company's case included $25,721,790 (system) 9 for O&M expenses for production plant for the period from 10 July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010. Consistent with 11 Staff's use of a pro formed test year ending December 31, 12 2009, the pro forma O&M Expenses for production plant are 13 $22,859,655 (system). This adjustment caps the level of 14 O&M Expenses for production plant at the proj ected level 16 15 for 2009. 17 efficiencies and benefits for customers for Information Q.Similar to the adjustments you propose to capture 18 Systems Services and the Asset Management Program, do you 19 propose an adjustment to O&M Expenses to capture increased 21 20 efficiencies in production plant? A.No. The Company's Production Property Adjustment 22 proposed by Company witness Andrews and described in 23 further detail in Staff witness Vaughn and Hessing's 24 testimonies attempts to capture those benefits, and thus a 25 separate adjustment is not necessary. CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 33 STAFF 1 Q.Please discuss the next adjustment on Staff 2 Exhibit No. 115, line 3. 3 A.This adjustment reduces the pro forma O&M 4 expenses associated with the mercury control proj ect at the 5 Colstrip generation facility as further described in the 6 direct testimony of Company witness Storro. 7 Q.What is the basis for this adjustment? 8 A.At the time of filing, the Company included in 9 its pro forma revenue requirement an estimated amount for 10 the Colstrip emissions control project, to begin in 11 December 2009. The latest estimates, provided to Staff on 12 May 12 by telephone conversation with Liz Andrews, indicate 13 that the annual expense will be $12.8 million. Because 14 Avista is only a 15% owner of Colstrip, its responsibility 15 towards the annual costs is $1.92 million 16 ($12,800,000*0.15). With the project beginning in December 17 of 2009, only 1/12 of this amount, $160,000 should be 18 included in the revenue requirement. This adjustment 19 reduces the O&M expense for the project by $436,659. 20 Q.Please explain the adj ustment listed as Ross 21 Court Building - Abandoned Project on Exhibit No. 115, 22 line 4. 23 A.As the Company outgrows is Corporate Headquarters 24 office building, it had planned to build an additional 25 office building on the north end of its campus. The CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 34 STAFF 1 Company incurred expenses during the test year in the 2 amount of $391,512 for architectural, engineering, and 3 consulting fees along with permits and other expenses. 4 Midway through 2008, the Company decided that the least 5 cost option would be to purchase an existing building off 6 campus, and move its call center to that location. This 7 adjustment recognizes that the project to build the new 8 office building has been abandoned, and that Company should 9 not include these expenses in annual revenue requirement. 10 Idaho's electric jurisdiction expenses have been reduced by 11 $136,649 to reflect that these expenses will not occur on 12 an annual basis. 13 PENSION EXPENSE 14 Q.Please summarize the Company's proposal for 15 pension expense. 16 A.As described in Company witness Thies' direct 17 testimony, the Company intends to contribute a 18 significantly greater amount to the pension plan than the 19 FAS 87 accrual expense included in rates. Though it was 20 originally thought that the Company would make a cash 21 contribution of $67 million to the pension plan in 2009, 22 the actual cash contributions for the year will be $45 23 million. Mr. Thies' concern was with the timing impact of 24 contributing substantially more to the plan than the 25 expense recognized in rates, and therefore requested CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 35 STAFF 1 deferral accounting treatment to recognize the time value 2 of money on the difference between the cash payment and the 3 level of accrued expense. 4 Q.Does Mr. Thies recommend the deferral of the 5 difference between the FAS 87 expense and the cash 6 contribution? 7 A.No. Recognizing that the difference between cash 8 contributions and FAS 87 expense, over time, will trend 9 towards zero, Mr. Thies is only proposing to create a 10 regulatory asset for the carrying costs on the cumulative 11 difference between payments to the plan and expenses 12 recovered in rates. In his direct testimony, he provides 13 an example by taking the difference of the $67 million 14 planned contribution for 2009 and the approximate $12 15 million expense currently included in rates ($55 million) 16 and multiplying it by the 8.8% requested rate of return to 17 arrive at a $4.8 million carrying charge for 2009. 18 However, that example was intended to only provide a scope 19 of the magnitude of dollars, and the detailed accounting 20 treatment is described further in his testimony. 21 Updating Mr. Thies' figures to account for the 22 reduced contribution in 2009, and recognizing that new 23 rates will be in effect for half of 2009, $2.55 million, or 24 approximately half of the $4.8 million, is more reflective 25 of the actual impact on a system basis. CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 36 STAFF 1 Q.How did you calculate the $2.55 million estimated 2 impact? 3 A.Recognizing that the current level of expense 4 included in rates for 2009 is $12.1 million annually for 5 six months, and the proposed level of expense of $18.2 6 million annually for six months, the total expense included 7 in rates for calendar year 2009 would be $15.15 million. 8 The Company intends to fund $45 million to the plan for 9 2009, or $29.85 million greater than collected in rates. 10 Multiplying the difference by Staff's recommended rate of 11 return of 8.55%, the estimated impact of the time value of 12 money would be $2.55 million. 13 Q.What is your position regarding Avista' s proposal 14 in this case to create a regulatory asset for the 15 difference between the contribution and the expense? 16 A.While Staff recognizes Avista's efforts to 17 maintain a solid pension plan, I do not believe that 18 Avista' s proposal is appropriate at this time. Staff would 19 be willing to work with all utilities sponsoring a defined 20 benefit pension plan to discuss the appropriate accounting 21 treatment, or even the necessity, of this type of pension 22 plan. 23 Q.What is your rationale for rej ecting the 24 Company's proposal? 25 A.First, the Company's pension plan assets CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 37 STAFF 1 experienced an investment return of negative 21% during 2 2008. This investment return has led to an additional $6 3 million (system) being requested in rates due to an 4 increased expense. During an economic recession that has 5 an increased impact on northern Idaho, customers are 6 already being asked to cover the Company's increasing 7 pension expense caused primarily by the recession itself. 8 An additional regulatory asset with a carrying charge 9 simply further increases these costs and hits customers 10 with a triple whammy, so to speak. 11 Secondly, I believe it may be time for companies 12 to evaluate whether or not a defined benefit pension plan 13 is the most prudent form of retirement benefit that a 14 utility can provide for its employees. The basic premise 15 of a defined benefit plan is that the future benefit is 16 defined, and therefore the employer bears all of the 17 investment risk. For a regulated utility that collects 18 pension expense in rates, that investment risk is 19 inherently passed on to customers. Current economic 20 condi tions have exacerbated the issue, as witnessed by the 21 Avista Pension Plan's decreasing assets and increasing 22 contributions. The question then becomes whether or not it 23 is prudent for customers to bear the direct burden of the 24 pension assets negative returns during recessionary times, 25 and not receive direct benefits when assets perform well. CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 38 STAFF 1 This asymmetrical relationship creates a natural imbalance 2 that reduces customer assets at a time when they need them 3 most. 4 Though Staff recognizes the important and ,5 necessary benefit of a plan to provide retirement benefits 6 to utility employees, now is the appropriate time to begin 7 evaluating other alternatives. 8 Q.Could you please explain the differences between 9 a pension expense and a pension contribution? 10 A.Certainly. The accrued expense is the Net 11 Periodic Pension Cost as calculated under FAS 87, and is 12 often referred to as FAS 87 expense, or just pension 13 expense. This is the amount accrued on the Company's books 14 and reported on the Company's financial statements. The 15 Financial Accounting Standards Board issued FAS 87 in 16 December of 1985 in an attempt to alleviate investors' 17 concerns regarding accuracy of a company's financial 18 statements and the potential for manipulation of pension 19 costs to affect those statements. The Board's objectives 20 in issuing the statement were: 21 1.To provide a measure of net periodic pension cost that is more representationally faithful than those used in past practice because it reflects the terms of the underlying plan and because it better approximates the recognition of a cost of an employee's pension over that employee's service period. 22 23 24 25 CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 39 STAFF 1 2 3 4 5 6 2.To provide a measure of net periodic pension cost that is more understandable and comparable and is, therefore, more useful than those used in the past. 3.To provide disclosures that will allow users to understand better the extent and effect of an employer's undertaking to provide employee pensions and related financial arrangements. 4.To improve the reporting of financial position. 7 The net cost feature of FAS 87 means that the 8 recognized consequences of events and transactions 9 affecting a pension plan are reported as a Single net 10 amount on the employer i s financial statements. This 11 approach aggregates at least three items that might be 12 reported separately for any other part of an employer 1 s 13 operations: the compensation cost of benefits promised, 14 interest cost resulting from deferred payment of those 15 benefits, and the results of investing what are often 16 significant amounts of assets. 17 Under normal circumstances, companies have some 18 discretion as to how much they contribute to a pension plan 19 for a given year. There is a cost range and companies can 20 contribute any amount between the Required Minimum 21 Contribution and the Maximum Deductible Contribution. 22 Section 412 of the Internal Revenue Code mandates the 23 minimum funding, while section 404 mandates the maximum 24 funding. 25 Q.Could you briefly explain how that cost range is CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 40 STAFF 1 determined? 2 A.The first calculation determines the Normal Cost 3 of the year. The Normal Cost is the annual cost of the 4 pension plan using the plan's actuarial cost method, as 5 established in the plan document. The Normal Cost is a 6 calculation that takes into consideration the present value 7 of future benefits, the actuarial value of the plan's 8 assets, and unfunded liabilities and the present value of 9 the Company's future payroll. With that information, one 10 can then calculate an accrual rate that when multiplied by 11 the Company's current covered payroll will produce the 12 Normal Cost. After the Normal Cost is calculated, any 13 charges or credits are added or subtracted to get the 14 Annual Cost. The Minimum Required Contribution is the 15 lesser of the Annual Cost or the difference between the 16 Full Funding Limitation and any credit balance. The 17 Minimum Required Contribution is the amount that a company 18 must fund in order to avoid a funding deficiency in the 19 Funding Standards Account. 20 Q.You mentioned the term "Full Funding Limitation." 21 Could you please describe this limitation? 22 A.The Full Funding Limitation is a calculation that 23 compares the Actuarial Accrued Liability as calculated 24 under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) 25 of 1974, the Current Liability under the Omnibus Budget CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 41 STAFF 1 Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1987, and the Current 2 Liabili ty under the Retirement Protection Act (RPA) of 4 3 1994. Q.Now that the minimum point in the cost range is 6 5 established, how is the maximum point determined? A.The Maximum Deductible Contribution is an IRS 7 calculation that determines the deductibility under Section 8 404 (a) (1) (A) of the Internal Revenue Code. This 9 calculation is based on a comparison of any unfunded 10 liabilities and the Full Funding Limitation. A company may 11 choose to contribute to a pension plan any amount that is 12 greater than the Minimum Required Contribution but less 13 than the Maximum Deductible Contribution. 14 Q.What are the funding levels for the Avista 16 15 pension plan for 2009? While the FAS 87 expense for 2009 is estimated toA. 17 be approximately $22 million, the Minimum Required 18 Contribution for 2009 is $0.00. However, because Avista 19 significantly contributed additional funds to the plan over 20 the past few years, the funding standard carryover balance 21 as of December 31, 2008 was nearly $30 million. This 22 amount reduces the Minimum Required Contribution. Without 23 this overfunding, I have estimated that the Minimum 24 Required Contribution for 2009 would be in the range of $16 25 million - $20 million, which is comparable to the $18.2 CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 42 STAFF 1 million (system) FAS 87 expense being requested in this 2 case. The Maximum Deductible Contribution that Avista 3 could make to the plan for 2009 is in the range of $225 4 million to $250 million. As mentioned previously, Avista 5 will contribute $45 million to the plan for 2009. 6 Q.How did Avista determine that $45 million was the 7 appropriate level of funding for 2009? 8 A.The requirement that accounting information is on 9 an accrual basis does not necessarily mean that accounting 10 information and funding decisions are completely unrelated. 11 Employers may use accounting information along with other 12 factors in making financial decisions. Some employers may 13 decide to change their pension funding policies based in 14 part on the new accounting information, or new pension 15 regulations, such as the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 16 2006, and the decision to fund a pension plan to a greater 17 or lesser extent is an economic decision. 18 The Pension Protection Act of 2006 adjusts the 19 Minimum Required Contribution set forth under ERISA in an 20 attempt to shore up the nation's ailing pension plans. The 21 effect of the PPA is to increase pension contributions in 22 order to eventually achieve a fully funded plan. For 2009, 23 it is required that pension plan assets be equal to 94% of 24 the proj ected liabilities. If this benchmark is not met, 25 the entire funding deficit must be added to the CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1 OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 43 STAFF 1 contribution and amortized over the next seven years in 2 order to be fully funded after the seven year period. 3 Avista has determined that a contribution of $45 million 4 will allow it to meet the 94% funding level benchmark, and 5 avoid additional mandatory contributions. 6 Q.Given the likelihood of increased pension expense 7 and funding levels in the near future, do you propose any 8 alternatives to a defined benefit pension plan? 9 A.In this case, my intent is not to propose any 10 changes to the Company's retirement benefits, but rather to 11 open the door for discussion of possible alternatives. One 12 example of an alternative would be a Money Purchase Pension 13 Plan. A Money Purchase Pension Plan is a defined 14 contribution plan where the employer contributions are 15 fixed, typically stated as a percentage of an employee's 16 income. Much like a 401 (k) plan, the investment risk would 17 then be shifted away from customers, while company 18 employees would continue to accrue retirement benefits. A 19 Money Purchase Pension Plan with a defined contribution of 20 10% of an employee's income would provide substantial 21 retirement benefits to the employee when coupled with the 22 existing 401 (k) and 401 (m) matching contributions. It 23 would also allow economic certainty because the 24 contributions would not fluctuate wildly from year to year. 25 Given the current levels of funding for the CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 44 STAFF 1 pension plan, customers would actually pay less with the 2 defined contribution Money Purchase Pension Plan. Avista's 3 total covered compensation under IRC 401 (a) (17) for 2008 4 was approximately $132 million. A 10% Money Purchase 5 Pension Plan for 2008 would require a $13.2 million 6 contribution, as opposed to a $45 million contribution, 7 which is greater than one-third of the covered compensation 8 under the plan. Please note that I am not supporting a 10% 9 defined contribution, but rather using it for illustrative 11 10 purposes only. 12 to the current level of retirement benefits in this case? Q.To reiterate, are you proposing any adjustments 13 A.No. However, given the rapidly increasing costs 14 of pension plans, the inherent customer risk associated 15 with them, and annual increases in wages and salaries, 16 Staff will continue to look at other alternatives and may 17 propose adjustments in future rate cases if trends continue 18 in the same direction. 19 Q.Does this conclude your direct testimony in this 21 20 proceeding? 22 23 24 25 A.Yes, it does. CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1/AVU-G-09-1OS/29/09 ENGLISH, D. (Di) 45 STAFF AVISTA UTILIIES AVU-G-09-01 Calculation of General Revenue Requirement Idaho - Gas (OOO's OF DOLLARS) AVISTA STAFF Line No.IDAHO IDAHO 1 Pro Forma Rate Base 90,491 Pro Forma Rate Base 90,028 2 Proposed Rate of Return 8.80%Proposed Rate of Return 8.55% 3 Net Operating Income Requirement 7,963 Net Operating Income Requirement 7,697 4 Pro Forma Net Operating Income 6,213 Pro Forma Net Operating Income 6,486 5 Net Operating Income Deficiency 1,750 Net Operating Income Deficiency 1,211 6 Conversion Factor 0.638787 Conversion Factor 0.639336 7 Revenue Requirement Increase 2,740 1 Revenue Requirement 1,8941 8 Total General Business Revenues 91,767 Total General Business Revenues 91,767 9 Percentage Revenue Increase 2.99%Percentage Revenue Increase 2.06% Exhibit No. 109 Case No. AVU-E-09-1 AVU-G-09-1 D. English, Staff OS/29/09 Schedule 1 Exhibit No. 1Ö9 Case No. A VU-E-09-1 AVU-G-09-1 D. English, Staff OS/29/09 Schedule 2 AVISTA UTILITIES AVU-G-09-01 & AVU-E-09-01 Adjustments Allocated to Both Gas and Electric Jurisdictions Line No.Adjustment Description System Idaho Gas Idaho Electric 1 Non-Executive Labor $75,573 $298,255 2 Executive Labor $31,051 $123,548 3 Non-Executive Incentives $1,175,087 $73,238 $295,137 4 Executive Incentives $311,028 $19,385 $78,118 5 Board of Directors Expenses $595,617 $37,122 $149,596 6 Information Services $118,828 $59,379 $295,135 7 Legal Expenses $140,053 $23,377 $12,060 8 IPUC Regulatory Expense $62,541 $139,497 9 Insurance Expense $138,143 $8,610 $34,697 10 Miscellaneous/Promotional Items $161,075 $11,183 $68,781 EXhibit No. 110 Case No. AVU-E-09-1 AVU-G-09-1 D. English, Staff OS/29/09 00 Vl . ~m ~J g 0_ \0 . . . 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P r o t i o n Un d r g r u n d S t o r a g e lO O p t i n g E x n s e s I i D e p r c i a t i o n 12 T a x s 13 T o t a l U n d e r g r u n S t o r a g e Dis t r b u t i o n 14 O p r a t i n g E x p e n s e s i 5 D e p r e i a t i o n 16 T a x s i 7 T o t a l D i s t r b u t i o n i 8 C u s t o m e r A c c o u n t i n g 19 C u s t o m e r s e r v c e & I n f o n n t i o n 20 S a l e s E x n s e s Ad m s t r t i v e & G e n e r a l Op a t i n g E x p e n s s De p r c i a t i o n T= , 21 22 23 24 25 T o t a l G a s E x p e n s e To t a A d m . & G e r a l 26 O P E R r I N G I N C O M E B E F O R E F I T FE D E R A I N C O M E T A X 27 C u r e n t A c r u l 28 D e f e r r d F I T 29 A m r t I T C 30 N E O P E R T I N G I N C O M E 31 32 33 34 RA T E B A S E : P L A I N S E R V I C E ìg ~ : ~ ~ p ~ ~ ~ g e Ge e r a l P l a t 35 36 To t a P l a n i n S e r v c e AC C U M U L A T E D D E P R E I A T I O N Un d r g r w i d S t o r a g e Dis t r b u t i o n P l a n t 37 G e l P l a t 38 T o t a A c c u m . D e p r i a t i o n 39 D E F E R F I T 40 G A S I N Q R Y 41 G A I O N S A L O F B U I L D I N G 42 T O T A L R A T E B A S E (J t r ~ : X ' ti : : l (1 " " _ I Z c : .. . o - . Z ;: ; : 0 ' ~ ~ : . c: c : - I 1 - Om i I 00 \0 \ 0 i I -- $9 1 , 4 4 7 32 0il 91 , 9 1 4 $9 1 , 4 4 7 $3 2 0 -- 91 , 9 1 4 66 , 2 4 8 38 9 o 66 , 6 3 7 $6 6 , 2 4 8 $3 8 3 (5 )(s (I )(i 66 , 6 3 1 16 7 13 6 ..3% $1 6 7 $1 3 6 !23% 4,0 8 7 2,8 3 01. 8,0 3 4 (2 4 ) $4 , 0 6 3 $2 , 8 1 6 $1 , 1 1 9 7; I (2 3 ) (1 4 ) (1 4 ) 1, 8 6 9 ( 1 9 ) 25 0 ( 2 ) 22 0 ( 2 ) $1 , 8 5 0 $2 4 8 $2 1 8 5, 0 0 2 ( 2 5 ) ( 3 0 ) ( 7 3 ) ( 1 9 ) ( 3 7 ) ( 5 9 ) ( 2 3 ) ( 6 3 ) ( 9 ) ( 1 1 ) 1,1 7 5 41 6, 2 1 8 ( 2 5 ) ( 3 0 ) ( 7 3 ) ( 1 9 ) ( 3 7 ( 5 9 ) ( 2 3 ) ( 6 3 ) ( 9 ) ( I I ) 0 83 , 6 2 4 ( 7 6 ) ( 3 1 ) ( 7 ) ( 1 9 ) ( 3 7 ) ( 5 9 ) ( 2 3 ) ( 6 3 ) ( 9 ) ( I I ) ( 1 4 ) $4 , 6 5 3 $1 , 1 7 5~5,8 6 9 83 , 2 1 1 8,2 9 0 76 32 72 19 37 58 23 63 II 14 $8 , 7 0 3 1, 7 5 9 ( 5 ) $ 1 , 7 5 4 33 7 2 7 I I 2 5 7 1 3 2 0 8 2 2 3 4 5 $ 4 8 2 (1 9 ) $ ( 1 9 ) $6 , 2 1 3 $ 4 9 $ 2 1 $ 4 7 $ 1 2 $ 2 4 $ 3 8 $ 1 5 $ 4 1 $6 $7 $9 $5 $6 , 4 8 6 9,0 8 9 13 0 , 5 5 8 14 , 2 4 2 15 3 , 8 8 9 (4 6 3 ) ($ 4 6 3 ) $9 , 0 8 9 $1 3 0 , 0 9 5 $1 4 , 2 4 2 15 3 , 4 2 6 3,1 7 2 44 , 7 8 0 5,1 3 6 53 , 0 8 8 (1 5 , 0 5 2 ) 4,8 2 4~ $3 , 1 7 2 $4 4 , 7 8 0 $5 , 1 3 6 53 , 0 8 8 $(1 5 , 0 5 2 ) $4 , 8 2 4 $( 8 2 ) $9 0 , 4 9 1 ($ 4 6 3 ) $9 0 , 0 2 8 AVISTA UTILITIES A VU-G-09-01 & A VU-E-09-01 Allocation of President and CEO Compensation Scott Morris Executive Compensation ¡¡Idaho Gas Iildaho Electric ¡¡ Washington Gas fI Washington Electric mOregon Gas fI Non-Utility Operations Idaho Electric, 6.73% Exhibit No. 112 Case No. AVU-E-09-1 AVU-G-09-1 D. English, Staf OS/29/09 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 A VISTA UTILITIES A VU-G-09-01 & A VU-E-09-01 Six Year History of Incentive Payments Employee Incentive Payments 2003-2008 (OOO's) 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Exhibit No. 113 Case No. AVU-E-09-1 AVU-G-09-1 D. English, Staff OS/29/09 2~C co ã5 fi Q)W ~ ¡: .. ~ ..- 0 Q) , 0:i- 0) ,o C:: ' 0 .. t? z "" :: en t; ~ ~ S; .8c: ë Q) E-en:: ~ .....-.... .. i- C' co 0) I" c. co 0 1.z ~~lò~~~~~ ~ ò 1". cr .. cr 'Of cr Ñi- Bt::::~ ~~(/ -- "' "-::..oc: o g :i c:c: iiE )-i~ ci i c: 0I- 0 :E :i fa ii ii c:== 0. 0 0ci LL- ~ I c: :EC/O::~_ ii ii (I==0.0)-ci LL (I NN..C'O)COON-...C'I"o c. I" c. I" Ncôòr-òcôòC' -. C' N c. 1.N 1. 1.0) , 0)i.1.0) 1.0001.000C' 0 N c. C' 1. 1. 1.N C' C' 0) N I" .. 0) cô cô r- .. cô i. cr côO)..COc.O)-.0..N N I...-.. 000000000000000000000000òòòòòòòò1.0001.000 -. o. -. N. -. 1.. 1. 1.... N c. Q).. -C Q)E - co..2 ~ ã5 æZ en CQ)-0_;: .E::co- Q)CI- co c- b:":en~ ..Q)53æ co CO:;ii-(9co cQ)Eco .- 0: Q)(. .. OlCO ;::a i u(loc,:siccoWc:¡ :ic0ã. o .- ~ .! o( .Q Z Q):a o-g-ü cO: ii iV ï:: = CJ 2 .Q Q)wu2Q)Q)o-Q. .. Q) 0: u .. :: .- .Eo.. co o-,g 0-.S: 0 ã. u .: :!Q) Q) - Q) .- en .-o:.?~o:"8o.e en Q.Olen:5enQ)co Q) Q) co co co :; (90: 0: (9 ü(90 iigo~8g:g~woooooooC' C' C' C' C' C' C' EXfl6hNO. .114 Case No. AVU-E-09-1 AVU-G-09-1 D. English, Staff OS/29/09 A VISTA UTILITIES AVU-E-09-01 Electric Specific Adjustments ADJUSTMENT DESCRIPTION IDAHO ELECTRIC JURISDICTION 1. Pro Forma Asset Management Program 2. Pro Forma Operations & Maintenance Expenses 3. Pro Forma Colstrp Mercur Emissions Project 4. Ross Court Building - Abandoned Project $ 87,259 $ 1,015,000 $ 436,659 $ 136,649 Exhibit No. 115 Case No. AVU-E-09-1 AVU-G-09-l D. English, Staff OS/29/09 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT I HAVE THIS 29TH DAY OF MAY 2009, SERVED THE FOREGOING DIRECT TESTIMONY OF DONN ENGLISH, IN CASE NOS. AVU-E-09-1 & AVU-G-09-1, BY ELECTRONIC MAIL TO THE FOLLOWING: DAVIDJ. MEYER VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF COUNSEL A VISTA CORPORATION POBOX 3727 SPOKANE WA 99220 E-MAIL: david.meyertiavistacorp.com DEAN J MILLER McDEVITT & MILLER LLP PO BOX 2564 BOISE ID 83701 E-MAIL: joetimcdevitt-miler.com CONLEY E WARD MICHAEL C CREAMER GIVENS PURSLEY LLP \ PO BOX 2720 BOISE ID 8370l-2720 E-MAIL: cewtigivenspursley.com mcctigivenspursley.com BETSY BRIDGE ID CONSERVATION LEAGUE 710 N SIXTH STREET POBOX 844 BOISE ID 83701 E-MAIL: bbridgetiwildidaho.org CARRE TRACY 1265 S MAIN ST, #305 SEATTLE WA 98144 E-MAIL: carrietinwfco.org KELLY NORWOOD VICE PRESIDENT - STATE & FED. REG. A VISTA UTILITIES PO BOX 3727 SPOKAE WA 99220 E-MAIL: kelly.norwoodtiavistacorp.com SCOTT ATKINSON PRESIDENT IDAHO FOREST GROUP LLC 171 HIGHWAY 95 N GRANGEVILLE ID 83530 E-MAIL: scottatiidahoforestgroup.com DENNIS E PESEAU, Ph.D. UTILITY RESOURCES INC SUITE 250 l500 LIBERTY STREET SE SALEM OR 97302 E-MAIL: dpeseautiexcite.com ROWENA PINEDA ID COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK 3450 HILL RD BOISE ID 83702-47l5 E-MAIL: Rowenatiidahocan.org BRAD M PURDY ATTORNEY AT LAW 2019 N 17TH ST BOISE ID 83702 E-MAIL: bmpurdytihotmail.com Jo'~~SECRETARY 7 .. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE