Electricity – Rates
Since the initiation of the consultation by Bulletin 2022-03 in March of 2022, AUC staff have met with stakeholders from individual organizations, including land developers and home builders, municipalities, electric distribution wire owners, and consumer groups to get insight on the issues associated with design standards that should be applicable for new home and residential electric utility connections and the associated maximum investment levels (“MILs”). An initial stakeholder meeting was held on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, to present the results of the discussions.
Scope of the Consultations
The AUC scheduled two working group meetings to discuss the following:
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Conduit usage requirements and potential MIL treatment; and
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Amperage requirements and potential MIL treatment.
The AUC noted that it might schedule follow-up working group sessions. The purpose and the expected outcome of these consultations will be to review the adequacy of current MILs provided by the electric distribution wire owners for 2023 to new single-family home greenfield developments. Future years’ MILs will not be addressed in this phase of the consultation.
Any changes to MILs will be incorporated into the distribution utilities’ 2023 rates either as part of the distribution utilities’ ongoing cost-of-service rebasing application compliance filings or through an alternative process established by the AUC.
Cost Recovery
The AUC noted that the only stakeholder eligible for cost recovery for participating in the consultation would be the Consumer’s Coalition of Alberta (“CCA”), as the representative of two consumer groups, the Consumers’ Association of Canada (Alberta Division) and the Alberta Council on Aging. The AUC requested that the CCA coordinates with the Utilities Consumer Advocate on common matters to avoid duplication of effort, resources, evidence, and costs. The AUC will assess any cost claims under the relevant principles set out in AUC Rule 022: Rules on Costs in Utility Rate Proceedings and the scale of costs associated with that rule.
The CCA was directed to file a costs claim with the AUC within 30 days of the close of the consultation process and include in its application a proposal for recovery of its costs.
