LIBERTY UTILITIES (GRANITE STATE ELECTRIC) CORP. d/b/a LIBERTY UTILITIES
ORDER No. 25, 971
DE 16-249
New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission
December 19, 2016
Request
for Approval of Energy Supply Solicitation and Resulting
Rates
Order
Approving Request
APPEARANCES:
Michael J. Sheehan, Esq., on behalf of Liberty Utilities
(Granite State Electric) Corp. d/b/a Liberty Utilities;
Office of Consumer Advocate by Donald M. Kreis, Esq., on
behalf of residential ratepayers; and Suzanne G. Amidon,
Esq., on behalf of Commission Staff.
Martin
P. Honigberg Chairman
In this
Order, the Commission approves Liberty's solicitation of
energy supply for its large and small customer groups.
Liberty will recover the costs of this supply through an
energy service rate of 7.630 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh)
for its residential and small commercial customer group. As a
result, a typical residential customer using 650 kWh per
month will experience an overall monthly bill increase of
$4.95, from $96.77 to $101.72, or about 5.12 percent, from
the period ending January 31, 2016.
I.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
On
December 12, 2016, Liberty Utilities (Granite State Electric)
Corp. d/b/a Liberty Utilities ("Liberty") filed a
request for approval of its solicitation and procurement of
default energy service for 100 percent of power supply
requirements for the six-month period February 1, 2017,
through July 31, 2017. The solicitation requested power
supply for Liberty's large and medium commercial and
industrial customers (Large Customer Group), [1] and its small
commercial and residential customers (Small Customer
Group).2 Liberty filed its request pursuant to a
Settlement Agreement approved by the Commission in Order No.
24, 577 (January 13, 2006), as modified by order No. 24, 922
(December 19, 2008), Order No. 25, 601 (November 27, 2013)
and Order No. 25, 806 (September 2, 2015).
Consistent
with Order No. 25, 806, Liberty solicits default service in
two six-month periods that begin February 1 and August 1 of
each year. Both of these six-month periods include one of the
two high-priced winter months. For the energy service period
beginning February 1, 2017, Liberty contracted for two,
consecutive three-month power supply blocks for its Large
Customer Group, and one six-month supply block for its Small
Customer Group. Liberty's filing also requested an
adjustment to the adder that the Company uses to procure
compliance with the New Hampshire Renewable Portfolio
Standard (RPS).
With
its filing, Liberty included the supporting testimony and
related exhibits of John D. Warshaw and Heather Tebbetts. Mr.
Warshaw is employed as Manager, Electric Supply, by Liberty
Utilities Service Corp., the service affiliate of Liberty,
and Ms. Tebbetts is employed as a utility analyst by Liberty
Utilities Service Corp.
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