HomeMy WebLinkAbout20010820.min.docMINUTES OF DECISION MEETING
AUGUST 20, 2001 - 1:30 PM
In attendance were Commissioners Paul Kjellander, Dennis Hansen, and Marsha Smith.
Commissioner Kjellander called the meeting to order. The first order of business was approval of items 1-10 on the CONSENT AGENDA. Commissioner Smith moved for approval of the items on the Consent Agenda. She noted that regarding item 4, if it is being treated as a formal complaint, that is not the same as modified procedure. She moved for approval of item 4 with the understanding the Commission is treating the matter as a formal complaint. There was no further discussion and the Consent Agenda was approved unanimously.
The next order of business was MATTERS IN PROGRESS:
Weldon Stutzman's August 8, 2001 Decision Memorandum re: Petition to Intervene Filed by the Attorney General and Objection. Case No. PAC-E-01-6.
Mr. Hammond reviewed Mr. Stutzman's Decision Memorandum. Commissioner Hansen moved for approval of the Petition to Intervene, noting the Attorney General has the right to intervene and should be given the opportunity. Commissioner Smith said she supported the motion, which was in keeping with the Commission's longstanding practice of liberally granting intervention as long as it does not delay the case or unduly broaden the issues. A vote was taken on the motion and it passed unanimously.
Birdelle Brown's August 15, 2001 Decision Memorandum re: Idaho Universal Service Fund—2001 Annual Report.
Ms. Brown reviewed her Decision Memorandum. Commissioner Smith said it seemed appropriate to give some relief to the business customers on their surcharge, so she looked at it from their point of view and did her own calculations. She said instead of having a rate of $.09 for residential and $.17 for businesses lines, she calculated a rate of $.10 for residential and $.15 for businesses, which would still be a decrease but more recovery would be shifted to the business side. She asked for thoughts or responses to this suggestion. Ms. Brown said it seemed like a reasonable option to her. Commissioner Smith said if her math is correct, the funding for the year using $.10 for residential, $.15 for businesses and $.035 for toll would yield $2,071,708. Commissioner Smith said she thought the companies were supposed to reduce their access rates to the statewide average. Ms. Brown replied that was correct and that reduction was included in Options 2 and 3 in the Decision Memo. Ms. Brown stated that the reason it was harder to recommend the reduction is because four of the companies have been through rate cases, and we won't know until next year at this time what effects the cases will have on the companies. She said two of the companies would fall within the threshold and they would not have to adjust their access rates anyway, and at least two of the other companies are having some reporting problems the Commission still needs to investigate. Ms. Brown stated it was a tenuous position to recommend that the Commission require adjustments without having more information than we do. Commissioner Smith said she would want the reductions to happen in due course after the numbers are known. She said she would assume if it is determined that companies need to reduce their access charges in the coming year to the statewide average there will be funds for them to draw from, and the Commission didn't need to determine it right now, but could do so when we have the figures and know that it's appropriate. She said there is ample funding to cover that if it should occur within the next year, so she would not order it immediately but after investigation if it shows that is what needs to happen.
Commissioner Hansen asked how often in the past the fund has had a $1 million balance. He said it seemed like a lot of money and he thought the fund was always running under a $1 million balance. Alyson Anderson, administrator of the Idaho Universal Service Fund, replied that she has been the administrator for ten years, and when she took it over, the balance was close to $3 million. She said they have slowly reduced that but it has been over $1 million most of the time, and only in the last couple of years have they actually lowered it.
Commissioner Smith asked Ms. Anderson if the Commission reduced the rates to $.10, $.15, and $.0035 if the balance would be brought down to $750,000, and Ms. Anderson replied that would be the case on the local side.
Commissioner Hansen commented that the higher the balance the easier it is to spend, and for that reason he favored Option #3. He said since we have a sufficient balance to carry us, and we can pass reduced rates to the ratepayers, even though it may seem small, then the Commission should do it.
Commissioner Smith made a motion to reduce the universal service fund surcharges to $.10 for residential lines, $.15 for business lines, and $.0035 for toll minutes, with the directive that Staff continue to investigate the reduction of access charges to comply with the statewide average, and that adjustments be made when it's appropriate.
Commissioner Kjellander noted the motion is close to Option #3. Commissioner Smith replied that it was similar to Option #3 except for the reduction in the surcharge for businesses and an additional $.01 added to the surcharge for residential lines, with the toll charges remaining the same.
A vote was taken on the motion and it passed unanimously.
Lisa Nordstrom's August 15, 2001 Decision Memorandum re: In the Matter of the Investigation of Idaho Power Company's Demand-Side Management Programs and Funding. Case No. IPC-E-0-1-13.
Ms. Nordstrom reviewed her Decision Memorandum. Commissioner Kjellander asked if there is an advantage to having parties petition individually. Ms. Nordstrom replied the advantage to having parties petition individually would be to assess which parties are really interested in these particular issues. She said the IPC-E-7/11/16 cases were PCA ratemaking kinds of issues whereas the IPC-E-01-13 case has more of a conservation bent, so parties may be interested in one type of case but not another.
Commissioner Smith made a motion to process the case by means of modified procedure initially and request that those wishing to intervene petition individually for that status.
A vote was taken on the motion and it carried unanimously.
Joe Cusick's August 16, 2001 Decision Memorandum re: Certification of Rural CLECs.
Mr. Cusick reviewed his Decision Memorandum. Commissioner Kjellander made a motion to move in the direction of self-certification, allowing Staff to move forward with the procedures outlined in the Memo. There was no discussion. A vote was taken on the motion and it carried unanimously.
Dan Graves' August 16, 2001 Decision Memorandum re: Formal Complaint of Jerry H. Schluter.
Mr. Graves reviewed his Decision Memorandum. Commissioner Kjellander asked if any of Qwest's property is actually located on Mr. Schluter's property. Mr. Graves said he wasn't sure about the pedestal and would have to check to make sure, although he knew they had moved the pedestal to accommodate the interconnection for the road building project.
Commissioner Smith said the relief requested in the case is beyond what the Commission can give. She said the neighbor installed his phone line without getting an easement, and it didn't matter what he thought beforehand, he can't do that. She said as far as what the Commission can do in terms of easements, we don't have the authority to give easements or take them away, and she didn't see any basis upon which disconnection of the telephone service could be ordered. She said that Mr. Schluter apparently already has a lawyer, and if the matter can't be worked out informally, his choice would be a lawsuit in district or small claims court.
Mr. Kjellander stated that he concurred that the Commission has no jurisdiction. He made a motion that the Commission recognize that the formal complaint is not within the Commission's jurisdiction.
A vote was taken on the motion and it carried unanimously.
John R. Hammond's August 16, 2001 Decision Memorandum re: In the Matter of the Joint Application of Idaho Power Company, the Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Caldwell, Idaho, and the City of Caldwell for Approval of a Special Line Installation Agreement. Case No. IPC-E-01-24.
Mr. Hammond reviewed his Decision Memorandum. There was no discussion. Commissioner Kjellander moved for approval of the Application and the associated Special Line Installation Agreement with the collection of connection charges to match the seven-year term of the Agreement. A vote was taken on the motion and it carried unanimously.
John R. Hammond's August 16, 2001 Decision Memorandum re: In the Matter of the Application of Pacificorp for Approval of Its Revised Emergency Management Plan. Case No. PAC-E-01-10.
Mr. Hammond reviewed his Decision Memorandum. There was no discussion. Commissioner Kjellander moved that the Application be processed under modified procedure with a 28-day comment period. A vote was taken on the motion and it carried unanimously.
John R. Hammond's August 17, 2001 Decision Memorandum re: In the Matter of the Application of Avista Utilities for an Order Approving a Change in Natural Gas Rates and Charges. Case No. AVU-G-01-2.
Mr. Hammond reviewed his Decision Memorandum. He noted that Craig Berkhoff and Bob Gruber from Avista were participating via conference call if there were any questions for them. Commissioner Kjellander stated that he thought the Commission had already dealt with all the 1999 PCA adjustments, so he was wondering why September 1999 was included in the amounts referred to on page 2 of the memo.
Madonna Faunce replied that when the Commission made the last PGA adjustments for 1999, it did not include in the adjustments the deferred costs that had accumulated. She said that because of the magnitude of the adjustments, the Company felt the price would come down and that it had set its WACOG high enough that it wouldn't be accumulating high costs. She stated the Company felt the costs could be recouped later on so it wouldn't be such a burden on the customer. She said that as we know, however, the cost of gas continued upward and the Company was caught in a "Catch 22."
Commissioner Smith stated that she was surprised that the WACOG has to be that high, and she asked if it was high because of the hedging. Ms. Faunce replied that was correct and the Company had hedged early. She said the Company had asked Staff about it at that time, and everything Staff looked at said the cost of gas was going to go up. She said the other problem is that Avista doesn't have the same amount of storage and therefore it can't bring its costs down as easily as Intermountain Gas can.
Commissioner Kjellander moved for approval of Avista Utilities' application. A vote was taken on the motion and it passed unanimously.
Scott Woodbury's August 17, 2001 Decision Memorandum re: Temporary Mobile Generation Request for (1) An Accounting Order or (2) Determination of Exempt Status. Case No. IPC-E-01-14 (Idaho Power).
Commissioner Kjellander stated that since this matter was fully submitted, he would like to move it under FULLY SUBMITTED MATTERS and deliberate privately. There were no objections.
Scott Woodbury's August 17, 2001 Decision Memorandum re: Transfer of Common Stock. Case No. PAC-E-01-08 (Pacificorp).
Mr. Woodbury reviewed his Decision Memorandum. Commissioner Hansen said he still questioned if approving the Application was in the public interest of Idaho customers; however, with the conditions the Staff suggested, he could go ahead and support it. He made a motion to approve the Application with the conditions outlined by Staff. There was no discussion. A vote was taken on the motion and it passed unanimously.
Idaho Power Company's Joint Motion for Bifurcation of Proceeding and Memorandum in Support of Joint Motion. Case No. IPC-E-01-16. (No Decision Memorandum.)
Mr. Kline of Idaho Power stated that at the settlement conference, all of the parties to the case participated in the discussions and at the end of the discussions, the parties unanimously agreed that bifurcation was the best way to proceed and that the kinds of issues that needed to be addressed would be handled in a better way in the workshop process. He said there was just one issue that they wanted to make sure gets resolved at the upcoming hearing and that is the question regarding what the rates will be going forward during the interim time while they're trying to hash out the other issues.
There was no discussion. Commissioner Kjellander moved for approval of the motion for bifurcation of the proceeding in reference to IPC-E-01-16. A vote was taken and the motion carried unanimously.
Joint Motion of Avista and Potlatch for Continuance of Hearing Scheduled for August 21, 2001. Case No. AVU-E-01-5. (No Decision Memorandum.)
Scott Woodbury stated that on March 23, 2001 Potlatch filed a petition with the Commission requesting an order determining the terms and conditions of electric service from Avista to its Lewiston facility. He said the matter was scheduled for hearing to begin August 21, 2001 in Lewiston, but staff was recently apprised by Avista that it had come to terms with Potlatch on an agreement in principle and on the desire to vacate the hearing. He stated they filed a joint motion and he had prepared an order for the Commission's signature granting that motion and vacating the hearing.
Commissioner Smith moved for approval of the request to vacate the hearing. A vote was taken on the motion and it carried unanimously.
Commissioner Kjellander adjourned the meeting, noting that the Commission would deliberate privately on item 19, the only remaining item on the agenda.
Dated this ______ day of October, 2001.
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COMMISSION SECRETARY
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