Orders

ORDER NUMBER

G-171-17

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

and

British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority

F2017 to F2019 Revenue Requirements Application

BEFORE:

D. M. Morton, Commissioner / Panel Chair

D. J. Enns, Commissioner

K. A. Keilty, Commissioner

on November 27, 2017

ORDER

WHEREAS:

A.      On July 28, 2016, the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro) filed its Fiscal 2017 to Fiscal 2019 Revenue Requirements Application with the British Columbia Utilities Commission (Commission) requesting, among other things, final approval to increase rates by an average of 4.0 percent effective April 1, 2016, 3.5 percent effective April 1, 2017 and 3.0 percent effective April 1, 2018 (Application);

B.      By Order G-130-16A dated August 9, 2016 and Order G-144-16 dated September 7, 2016, the Commission established a regulatory timetable for the review of the Application;

C.      By Order G-7-17 dated January 20, 2017, the Commission established a written hearing process and a regulatory timetable setting out an option for BC Hydro to file rebuttal evidence and an option without consideration of rebuttal evidence;

D.      The regulatory timetable was further amended through Orders G-20-17 and G-50-17;

E.       BC Hydro’s Final Argument and Intervener Arguments were submitted on May 23, 2017 and June 13, 2017, respectively, followed by a Reply Argument from BC Hydro on July 4, 2017;

F.       On November 8, 2017, BC Hydro requested certain amendments to its fiscal 2019 rates, in particular, BC Hydro seeks approval to:

1.       change its requested rate increase for fiscal 2019 from 3 percent to 0 percent, and

2.       maintain its 2018 Open Access Transmission Tariff rates for fiscal 2019 (Amended Application);

G.      BC Hydro submits in its Amended Application that the portions of the allowed revenue requirement not recovered in rates in that fiscal year are to be deferred to the Rate Smoothing Regulatory Account (RSRA), consistent with Direction No. 7 to the Commission. The resulting impact is expected to increase the transfer to the RSRA in fiscal 2019 by approximately $140 million;

H.      On November 15, 2017, the Commission issued a letter requesting participants to make submissions on their views of BC Hydro’s Amended Application at a procedural conference to be held on November 23, 2017. Specifically, the Commission sought comments on:

1.       whether the Amended Application from BC Hydro contains substantive regulatory justification to enable the Panel to make a determination.

2.       whether the Amended Application requires additional review processes, such as information requests, or whether  the Panel should proceed to final arguments on the matter.

3.       any other issues parties wish to raise with respect to the Amended Application.

I.        On November 23, 2017, the Procedural Conference was held and attended by BC Hydro, Commercial Energy Consumers’ Association of British Columbia, B.C. Sustainable Energy Association and Sierra Club of British Columbia, B.C. Old Age Pensioners’ Organization et al., Clean Energy Association of BC, FortisBC, Association of Major Power Customers of British Columbia, Zone II Ratepayers Group, Richard McCandless, and Skywind Foundation; and

J.        The Commission has considered the submissions made by the parties at the November 23, 2017 Procedural Conference and finds that a further regulatory timetable should be established.

NOW THEREFORE, the British Columbia Utilities Commission orders the following:

1.       A further regulatory timetable for the review of BC Hydro’s Amended Application is established as set out in Appendix A to this order.

2.       The scope of the questions in the information requests  be limited to matters related to the Amended Application.

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this        27^th         day of November 2017.

BY ORDER

Original signed by:

D. M. Morton

Commissioner

Attachment

British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority

F2017 to F2019 Revenue Requirements Application