Idaho Public Utilities Commission
Case
Nos. AVU-E-11-01 and AVU-G-11-01, Order No. 32292
July
22, 2011
Contact:
Gene Fadness (208) 334-0339, 890-2712
Website:
www.puc.idaho.gov
PUC begins investigation of Avista electric, gas rate requests
The
Idaho Public Utilities Commission has initiated a six-month investigation of an
application by Avista Utilities to increase rates of its Idaho electric
customers by an average 3.7 percent and its natural gas customers an average
2.7 percent. Avista serves about 122,500
electric customers and 74,200 natural gas customers in northern Idaho.
Avista
applied for the rate increase on July 5. The commission suspended the requested
effective date of August 5 for up to six months to allow time for the
commission’s staff of auditors, engineers and attorneys to thoroughly review
the company’s application. It also set a
deadline of July 28 for parties who want to intervene in the case to present
evidence, cross-examine witnesses and participate in settlement
discussions. Customer comment deadlines,
workshops and hearings will be announced at a later date. To date, parties that
have intervened in the case include Clearwater Paper, the Idaho Conservation
League and the Community Action Partnership Association of Idaho, which
represents primarily customers on low- and fixed-incomes.
Despite
requests from customers to reject the application, state law prohibits the
commission from arbitrarily refusing to consider utility rate increase requests
without first examining the evidence. State statutes require that rate requests
be considered to determine whether the expenses the utility seeks to recover
through customer rates were needed to serve customers and if they were
prudently incurred. The commission may accept, reject or modify the company’s
request. When it denies expense recovery it must be able to legally demonstrate
why the expenses were not needed to serve customers or were not prudently
incurred. All commission decisions can be appealed to the state Supreme Court
by the utility, intervenors or customers.
Avista
is seeking a $9 million increase to its annual revenue requirement to operate
the electric side of the company and a $1.9 million added revenue requirement
on the gas side.
If
the request were granted in full, the bill of a customer who uses the company’s
average of 956 kilowatt-hours per month would increase from $83.81 per month to
$86.87. That includes a proposed 50-cent increase in the customer charge from
$5 to $5.50 per month. The bill of a natural gas customer who uses the company average
of 62 therms per month would increase from $60.76 to $62.91. That includes a
proposed 50-cent increase in the customer service charge from $4 to $4.50 per
month.
Avista
is asking the commission to approve an overall rate of return of 8.49 percent
and a return on equity of 10.9 percent.
Customers
should be aware that their electric rates will increase by about 3.9 percent
and gas rates by 0.72 percent on Oct. 1 of this year, in what will be the
second-year payment on a settlement to Avista’s 2010 general rate case that
increased electric rates 9.25 percent overall and gas rates 1.9 percent. That increase
was spread over three years to mitigate its impact on customers.
About 90 percent of Avista’s requested
electric increase is due to net plant investment, according to the company’s
application. Capital expenditures of about $482 million are planned for 2011-12
to account for customer growth and investment in generation upgrades and
distribution and transmission facilities. Avista has upgraded or plans to
upgrade four of the five generation units at the Noxon Rapids hydroelectric
facility by May 2012. Capital additions are also planned at the Kettle Falls biomass
plant, the Colstrip coal plant and the Coyote Springs II natural gas plant.
On the gas side, the proposed increase
is not related to changes in natural gas prices, which are accounted for in the
annual Purchased Gas Cost Adjustment (PGA), but to fixed costs of providing
natural gas such as operations and maintenance and plant investment.
Avista CEO Scott Morris said the
utility has a legal obligation to provide safe and reliable service to every customer
who requests electric or natural gas service. “When new customers want service,
we must hook them up, even if the cost to serve those customers results in
increased costs to all other customers,” Morris said in written testimony
provided to the commission.
Morris said the company occasionally
receives comments from customers that Avista “tighten its belt,” like other
businesses. Morris claims that Avista is not like any other business because of
its legal obligation to serve. “Without the obligation to serve, we could
consider refusing to hook-up some new customs ... we could consider no longer
serving some of the more remote, most costly areas to provide service ...,” he
said. “Unregulated businesses have the opportunity to shut down aging
facilities or under-producing retail outlets, eliminate product lines and cut
back on investment and maintenance. We do not.”
Morris’ testimony, along with that
from other company officials, can be accessed on the commission’s Web site. As
the case progresses, testimony from
commission staff and intervenors and customer comments will be added. The Web
site is www.puc.idaho.gov. Click on the
electric icon, then on “Open Electric Cases,” and scroll down to Case No. AVU-E-11-01.
For the gas case, click on the gas icon, then on “Open Gas Cases,” and scroll
down to Case No. AVU-G-11-01.