20200930Annual Maintenance Fee Update.pdf

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September 30,2020
Ms. Jan Noriyuki
Commission Secretary
Idaho Public Utilities Commission
P.O. Box 83720
Boise,lD 83720-0074
RE: Case No. INT-G-20-03 Annual Maintenance Fee Update
Dear Ms. Noriyuki:
As outlined in Case No. INT-G-20-03, Order No. 34693, Intermountain proposed an annual update
to the Maintenance Fee that will be collected from non-utility RNG producers. Id. at 2. This letter
provides the annual update to the Maintenance Fee that will be in effect from October 1,2020
through September 30, 2021.
In Case No. INT-G-20-03, the Company proposed a Maintenance Fee of $2,500 per month based on
the actual average monthly maintenance costs billed directly to existing RNG producers. While
preparing this October 1,2020 Maintenance Fee update, lntermountain discovered several costs that
should have been coded to a capital account. Because the RNG producer was billed directly for
these costs, Intermountain was able to simply transfer the costs from the maintenance expense
account to the capital account. The capital account is exactly offset with a CIAC ensuring no impact
to utility customers from this oversight. Removing these costs from the maintenance expense
category significantly reduced the average monthly maintenance expense from what was filed in the
case.
Based on the updated calculation, Intermountain will charge non-utility RNG producers $775 per
month beginning October 1,2020 through September 30,2021. As outlined in the Application,
Intermountain will track actual expenses incurred and compare them to the revenue generated by
the Maintenance Fee. Any difference will be applied to the calculation of next year's Maintenance
Fee. Id at 7.
Intermountain has been in negotiations with the three producers that had existing RNG Access
contracts prior to the effective date of Order No. 34693 in an effort to move those producers to
contracts that conform with the Company's RNG facilitation plan. In all three cases, the producers
were waiting to see what the monthly Maintenance Fee would be on October l,2020.Intermountain
is hopeful it will be able to successfully conclude those negotiations with the release of the updated
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Maintenance Fee. Intermountain will update the Commission once those contracts have been
revised. Any new contracts the Company enters into will conform to the RNG facilitation plan.
To begin to educate its utility customers regarding the Company's RNG Access service,
Intermountain is planning to provide a bill insert to all customers explaining what RNG is and the
Company's involvement in this emerging industry. The insert will be available in both paper and
electronic format depending on the method by which the customer receives bills. A draft copy of
that bill insert is included with this letter.
If you should have any questions regarding this update, please don't hesitate to contact me at (208)
377-6015.
Sincerely
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Lori A. Blattner
Director, Regulatory Affairs
Intermountain Gas Company
Enclosure
cc Mark Chiles
Preston Carter
Renewable atural Gas
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