IN THE MATTER OF
the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473
and
British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority
Amendments to the Electric Tariff and the Open Access Transmission Tariff
BEFORE: L. F. Kelsey, Commissioner
C. A. Brown, Commissioner
H. G. Harowitz, Commissioner
K. A. Keilty, Commissioner March 12, 2015
N. E. MacMurchy, Commissioner
I. F. MacPhail, Commissioner
B. A. Magnan, Commissioner
D. M. Morton, Commissioner
O R D E R
WHEREAS:
A. British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro) filed an application (Application) dated February 27, 2015, with the British Columbia Utilities Commission (Commission) pursuant to sections 58 to 61 of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA) for approval to amend the Electric Tariff and the Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT);
B. The Application proposes to:
• replace references to Mid-Columbia (Mid-C) indices published by Platts, McGraw Hill Financial (Platts) with references to equivalent indices published by Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) in Rate Schedule (RS) 1253, RS 1853 and Tariff Supplement (TS) 54 of the Electric Tariff; and
• replace references to Mid C indices published by Platts with references to indices published by ICE in RS 06, RS 09 and TS 80 of the OATT;
C. BC Hydro notified its OATT customers (by way of a bulletin posted on BC Hydro’s transmission website) and its affected Electric Tariff customers and other interested parties (by way of an email) of the proposed amendments on January 16, 2015 and established a two week comment period. No comments were received;
D. BC Hydro believes that it can implement the required market operations and development system methodologies for OATT application in advance of the expiry of its current subscription to Platts in July 2015. If that is not the case, BC Hydro submits it would renew its subscriptions with Platts that are used for OATT purposes for an additional year and would delay its compliance filing with the Commission until the methodologies are ready for implementation; and
E. The Commission reviewed the Application and considers approval to be warranted.
NOW THEREFORE, pursuant to sections 58 to 61 of the Utilities Commission Act, the British Columbia Utilities Commission orders as follows:
1. The amendments to the Electric Tariff and the Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT), as described in British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority’s (BC Hydro) Application dated February 27, 2015, are approved. The changes include:
• Amending Rate Schedule (RS) 1253, RS 1853 and Tariff Supplement (TS) 54 of the Electric Tariff by replacing references to Mid-Columbia (Mid-C) indices published by Platts, McGraw Hill Financial (Platts) with references to equivalent indices published by Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE); and
• Amending RS 06, RS 09 and TS 80 of the OATT by replacing references to Mid C indices published by Platts with references to equivalent indices published by ICE.
2. BC Hydro must post a bulletin of this Order on its transmission website and must send a copy of this Order and Application to all its affected OATT and Electric Tariff customers and those who received the Application within 30 days.
3. BC Hydro must file the amended pages of the OATT and Electric Tariff with the Commission, in accordance with the terms of this Order within 30 days, or, in the event BC Hydro is unable to implement the required system methodologies in advance of the July 2015 expiry of the Platts subscription, advise the Commission of its proposed compliance filing date. The implementation date must occur no later than July 1, 2016.
DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this 13th day of March 2015.
BY ORDER
Original Signed by:
D. Morton
Commissioner