The new rate is $0.30791 per kWh effective Nov. 17, 2011.
During yesterday’s hearing with Viola Alepuyo as the lone commissioner, CUC and Georgetown presented their LEAC report to CPUC. It was not mentioned if the new LEAC rate would affect current power rates.
On Oct. 31, 2001, CUC filed with the commission a request for a decrease in its electric division’s LEAC rate from $0.34426 per kWh to $0.33030 per kWh for the period Nov. 2011 to April 2012.
CUC said the decrease is related to a lower projected cost of diesel oil and a continued drop in consumer electricity consumption.
Georgetown filed its LEAC rate report with the commission on Nov. 2, recommending a LEAC rate of $0.30370 per kWh based on a lower projected cost of diesel oil and improvements achieved in the production efficiencies at CUC’s power plants.
CUC and Georgetown participated in a prehearing conference with the commission’s hearing examiner and engaged in a series of informal discussions concerning their LEAC rate recommendations.
In the stipulation signed by CUC finance chief officer Charles H. Warren and Larry R. Gawlik of Georgetown, they stated that the recommended LEAC rate is “just and reasonable,” adding that it is based on best regulatory practices and represents the required fuel and lube oil-related expenditure estimated for the period Nov. 1, 2011 to Jan. 31, 2012.
The LEAC rate comprised the following elements: fuel and lube oil element, $0.28761 per kWh; volatility allowance, $0.01783 per kWh; and regulatory/technical support, $0.00247 per kWh.
“CUC’s operation efficiency has improved over what has previously been the prospective efficiency associated with the LEAC,” Gawlik said in his report.
In the stipulation, Georgetown stated that it believes fuel saving can be accomplished by reducing unaccounted for energy.
The unaccounted for energy analysis prepared by KEMA Consulting indicated that CUC’s high unaccounted for energy losses are not of a traditional “technical” loss nature, but instead are administrative in nature, Georgetown stated.
CUC said it will provide the commission a report on its ongoing loss mitigation activities.
The stipulation states that Georgetown and CUC “should continue to be tasked, under hearing examiner’s oversight, to make recommendations to the commission at the Jan. 2012 regulatory session regarding an appropriate regulatory response to the continued government receivable problem.”
