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PURA staff presses United Illuminating on LMP/PPA costs and two-prong RAM deviation test
Summary
At a June 8 evidentiary hearing, PURA staff asked United Illuminating whether recent power purchase and LMP changes could trigger the RAM two-prong deviation test; UI said a $1.5 million change is a reduction in credit and that the 10% RAM-prong would need about $9.375 million of deviation, while staff sought a late-file showing of the dollar value that would trigger the 1% whole-bill prong.
Tom Wheel, chairman of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, convened an evidentiary hearing in docket 260104 on June 8 to examine phase two of United Illuminating Company's RAM (rate adjustment mechanism) filings.
Russ Bowman, a staff attorney with the authority, led cross-examination on location-based marginal pricing and UI's power purchase agreements. Bowman asked witnesses to confirm numbers in UI's May 13 compliance filing and to quantify deviations that would trigger the RAM's two-prong test for adjustments.
UI witness John Stanley clarified the company's May filing: the $1.5 million figure Bowman read from UI's attachment reflects a decrease in a net credit, not a positive cost increase. Stanley told the panel that, mathematically, the NBFMCC 10% deviation prong would require approximately $9.375 million in deviation to be reached.
Bowman also pressed UI to calculate the dollar value that would trigger the second prong'a 1% impact on the total bill'and requested that UI file a late exhibit showing that readout. Chairman Wheel granted the request (late file 1).
On PPAs, Bowman asked whether any contract costs outside of current rates merited special attention. Stanley identified UI's treatment of a Revolution Wind PPA in the confidential attachment as a notable consideration, but said the company's approach appeared reasonable and not determinative for the RAM result. He agreed to provide more detail in the confidential record.
Why it matters: the RAM two-prong test is meant to catch both concentrated program-area deviations and economy-wide (whole-bill) impacts. Staff is seeking timely numerical readouts so the Commission can know whether interim adjustments are warranted before the final decision later this year.
