Removal of Generating Unit from Inventory – Isolated Generating Units and Customer Choice Regulation
ATCO Electric Ltd. (“ATCO”) filed an application with the AUC for approval to dispose of mobile generating unit CUL 307 (“CUL 307”) pursuant to section 13 of the Isolated Generating Units and Customer Choice Regulation (“IGCCR”), and strike CUL 307 from Part C of the Schedule to the IGCCR.
ATCO submitted that CUL 307 was no longer required to provide electricity service to an isolated community or industrial area, as the completion of the Steen River Capacity Upgrade project would render the CUL 307 surplus to ATCO. ATCO proposed that it would not sell CUL 307, but rather decommission and use CUL 307 for spare parts to support other mobile generating units. ATCO submitted that this would provide the most value to its customers.
The AUC noted that ATCO had initially planned to retire CUL 307 in 2012, but that ATCO later revised the retirement date to 2015 for the purpose of contingency response plans. The AUC also noted that CUL 307 would be surplus after the completion of the Steen River Capacity Upgrade project. Accordingly, the AUC determined that CUL 307 was no longer required to provide a reliable supply of electric energy to an isolated community or industrial area. The AUC therefore ordered that CUL 307 be struck from Part C of the Schedule to the IGCCR and that the costs associated with CUL 307 be removed from ATCO’s tariffs effective December 31, 2015.
