20020123.min.doc

MINUTES OF DECISION MEETING
JANUARY 23, 2002 – 1:30 P.M.

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 1-4 on the CONSENT AGENDA. Commissioner Kjellander asked if there were any comments or questions on any of the items. Commissioner Smith said that regarding item 4, she had not heard of Frontier Communications, so she was assuming it is not a company in Idaho. Joe Cusick responded that Frontier has been an interexchange carrier for quite some time in Idaho, and it is the old Rochester Telephone re-named Frontier, and then Global Crossing shed it from its holdings. He said when Citizens decided to buy Frontier recently, it took on the name of Frontier. Commissioner Smith then moved for approval of items 1-4 on the Consent Agenda, and the motion carried unanimously.

The next order of business was MATTERS IN PROGRESS:

Scott Woodbury’s January 18, 2002 Decision Memorandum re: Petition for Declaratory Order QF Eligibility for Published Non-Fueled Rates. Case No. IPC-E-01-37.

Mr. Woodbury reviewed his Decision Memorandum. Commissioner Hansen commented that if he recalled correctly, when the Commission issued its order back in 1995, he thought it identified fuel as a fossil fuel, which is a pretty good definition. He said he would like to continue with that definition of fuel. He stated that Simplot brought up a good point and it might be a good time to initiate a new proceeding to deal with the issue of projected size and contract length.

Commissioner Kjellander commented that as the Commission looks at the question, he sees it as whether or not things like anaerobic digesters and wood waste can be classified as non-fuel, and he said he didn’t see any reason why they can’t be. He stated that allowing people to pick or choose between them gets away from why we would even want to have two different categories—one called fueled and one called non-fueled—when those titles would have no meaning in some kind of pick and choose scenario. He said he agrees with Commissioner Hansen that the questions raised by Simplot have been plaguing the Commission and it is time to go ahead and look at them as a separate case.

Commissioner Smith said she concurred with everything that had been said. She stated the Commission should issue a declaratory order saying fueled means fossil fuels and non-fueled means non-fossil fuels, and that ought to clarify the intent of the Commission. She said she agrees that the issues raised in the comments as to the length of the contract and the size of the project need to be aired. She made a motion that the Commission issue a declaratory order stating fueled means fossil fuels and non-fueled means non-fossil fuels, and open a new docket to take comments on the length of the contract and size of the project. She said after we see the mind set of the commenters, then we can decide whether or not we need to have a hearing.

A vote was taken on the motion and it carried unanimously.

Don Howell’s January 18, 2002 Decision Memorandum re: Amended Rate Center Consolidation Plan for Qwest. Case No. USW-T-99-21.

Mr. Howell reviewed his Decision Memorandum. Commissioner Smith stated she was glad the company had returned to the PUC with this important issue. She said she is ready to approve all of the staff-recommended clusters except for Cottonwood and Grangeville. She said she needed more information on those clusters from Citizens regarding what its concerns are—i.e. how much money is at stake and what the effect on rates would be. She stated the options are to approve all of the staff-recommended clusters except for #9 and be done, or to approve them all except for #9 and continue to receive information on #9.

Commissioner Kjellander asked Staff if it was able to get any information regarding #9 and if an analysis had been made. Doug Cooley replied that in both the Emmett and Grangeville situations, Staff asked the company about financial impacts but it hadn’t gotten back to them. He said Staff’s effort had been to do what it can do now, knowing it would be easy to do more later if it wanted to investigate the costs and add them at a future time, once the homework is done. He said staff hadn’t received any detailed plans back from Citizens and therefore recommended pulling out the consolidations in cluster #9 for the time being and moving forward with the rest. He said that by consolidating, EAS is effectively granted, which gets into rates, so staff wanted to proceed slowly.

There were no other questions or comments. Commissioner Smith made a motion to approve the staff-recommended clusters 1-8, but not #9. Commissioner Kjellander stated he would like to include in the motion that Qwest be directed to file an implementation schedule within 21 days of the order. A vote was taken on the motion and it carried unanimously.

Commissioner Kjellander said the wanted to clarify the approach regarding cluster #9, noting Citizens had requested a hearing in its comments. He asked Staff if Citizens would be able to get back with the Commission in a reasonable amount of time so we could look at it to see what kinds of alterations needed to be made, or if it would have to go to a hearing. Don Howell replied that given the amount of time the matter had been before the Commission, he didn’t see what granting a hearing would really do. He said what is of importance to the Commission and Staff is getting the financial impacts from the #9 group and understanding what Citizens’ concerns are, which could be accomplished without resorting to a hearing.

Commissioner Kjellander stated that the only other item on the agenda was under FULLY SUBMITTED MATTERS, and the Commission would deliberate on it privately. With no further business before the Commission, he then adjourned the meeting.

DATED this _______ day of January, 2002.

_______________________________________
COMMISSION SECRETARY