Orders

ORDER NUMBER

G-180-22

 

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

 

and

 

FortisBC Energy Inc.

Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the

Advanced Metering Infrastructure Project

 

BEFORE:

R. I. Mason, Panel Chair

C. M. Brewer, Commissioner

E. B. Lockhart, Commissioner

 

on July 4, 2022

 

ORDER

WHEREAS:

 

A.      On May 5, 2021, FortisBC Energy Inc. (FEI) filed an application with the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) pursuant to sections 45 and 46 of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA) for FEI’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Project (Application);

B.       The AMI Project includes the following:

1.       Installation of approximately 1,100,000 residential, commercial, and industrial advanced meters and meter retrofits of communication modules capable of remote gas consumption measurement;

2.       Installation of approximately 1,100 communication modules on the gas network to increase operational awareness of the gas system state; and

3.       Installation of the AMI network and infrastructure to communicate with customer meters and other communication modules on the FEI gas network;

C.       In the Application, FEI also requests approval, pursuant to sections 59 to 61 of the UCA, to create four new asset accounts with associated depreciation and net salvage rates for the proposed meters to be installed as part of the AMI Project, as follows:

1.       478-10 / AMI Meter Hardware, with a depreciation rate set to 5 percent, with no net salvage;

2.       474-00 / AMI Meter Installation, with a depreciation rate set to 5 percent, with 1.58 percent net salvage;

3.       402-06 / AMI Software, with a depreciation rate set to 10 percent; and

4.       488-30 / AMI Communications and Equipment, with a depreciation rate set to 6.67 percent, with no net salvage;

D.      FEI also seeks approval, pursuant to sections 59 to 61 of the UCA, to create four new deferral accounts as follows:

1.       A non rate base AMI Application and Feasibility cost deferral account attracting a weighted average cost of capital return until it is placed into rate base, to capture development and application costs for the AMI Project, to be amortized over 3 years;

2.       A non rate base AMI Foreign Exchange (FX) Mark to Market Valuation deferral account to isolate the impact of any foreign exchange hedging used to reduce foreign exchange risk of the AMI Project;

3.       A rate base Existing Meter Cost Recovery deferral account to capture the remaining costs of the meters to be exchanged as part of the AMI Project with a rolling 5 year amortization period; and

4.       A rate base Previously Retired Meter Cost Recovery deferral account to capture the remaining rate base value of previously retired meters with an amortization period of 10 years;

E.       On July 6, 2021, by Order G-204-21, the BCUC established a public hearing and regulatory timetable;

F.       By Orders G-269-21, G-302-21, G-323-21, G-365-21, and G-389-21, the BCUC amended the regulatory timetable;

G.      By Order G-92-22 with reasons for decision dated March 31, 2022, the BCUC established a further regulatory timetable, including information requests (IRs) on CORE’s intervener evidence. By Order G-95-22 dated
April 6, 2022, the BCUC amended the regulatory timetable;

H.      By letter dated June 30, 2022, FEI filed a request for an extension to the deadline to submit its evidentiary update, and a corresponding extension to the deadlines for IRs and response to IRs on the evidentiary update; and

I.         The BCUC has reviewed the request and determines that an amendment to the regulatory timetable is warranted.

NOW THEREFORE the BCUC orders that an amended regulatory timetable is established, as set out in Appendix A to this order.

 

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this    4^th     day of July 2022.

 

BY ORDER

 

Original signed by:

 

R. I. Mason

Commissioner

 

 

Attachment

 

FortisBC Energy Inc.

Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the

Advanced Metering Infrastructure Project