Transmission Access Charge Deferral Account True-up
FortisAlberta Inc. (“FAI”) applied to the AUC for approval of its 2014 transmission access charge deferral accounts (“TACDA”) true-up, which it proposed to collect through a base 2016 transmission adjustment rider (“2016 TAR”). Each electric distribution company is charged by the Alberta Electric System Operator (“AESO”) for transmission services in relation to customers in their distribution service areas. FAI’s TACDA collects these charges as a flow-through of the AESO’s tariff charges during its performance based regulation (“PBR”) term.
FAI applied for a net 2014 TACDA refund of $10.917 million, set out as follows:
FAI proposed to refund the 2014 TACDA true-up amount by way of its 2016 TAR, effective January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016.
The AUC accepted FAI’s calculations as reasonable noting that the cost allocation methodologies were also reasonable, or were previously approved by the AUC in prior decisions.
FAI submitted that its 2016 TAR would take the form of a percentage of the base transmission access charges that form part of its distribution tariff. Therefore the TACDA amount for each rate class, according to FAI, would be divided by the forecast base 2016 transmission access charge amount. Accordingly, FAI stated that it did not calculate the 2016 TAR rates, as the base 2016 transmission access charges would be determined as part of FAI’s 2016 annual PBR rate adjustment application.
The AUC approved FAI’s application as filed, to refund $10.917 million to customers effective January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016 through a percentage-based transmission adjustment rider methodology to be determined as part of FAI’s 2016 annual PBR rate adjustment application.
