STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION. Docket No. DE 17-

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1 STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION Docket No. DE - Liberty Utilities (Granite State Electric) Corp. d/b/a Liberty Utilities Reliability Enhancement Program and Vegetation Management Program Report of Calendar Year 0 DIRECT TESTIMONY OF HEATHER M. TEBBETTS March, 0 0

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3 Page of I. INTRODUCTION AND QUALIFICATIONS Q. Please state your name, business address, and position. A. My name is Heather M. Tebbetts and my business address is Buttrick Road, Londonderry, New Hampshire. I am a Utility Analyst for Liberty Utilities Service Corp., which provides services to Liberty Utilities (Granite State Electric) Corp. ( Granite State or the Company ) and in this capacity, am responsible for providing rate-related services for the Company. 0 Q. Please briefly describe your educational background and training. A. I graduated from Franklin Pierce University in 00 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance. I received a Master s of Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University in 00. Q. What is your professional background? A. In October 0, I joined Liberty as a Utility Analyst. Prior to my employment at Liberty, I was employed by Public Service Company of New Hampshire ( PSNH ) as a Senior Analyst in NH Revenue Requirements from 00 to 0. Prior to my position in NH Revenue Requirements, I was a Staff Accountant in the PSNH Property Tax group from 00 to 00 and a Customer Service Representative III in the PSNH Customer Service Department from 00 to Q. Have you previously testified or participated in proceedings before the Commission? A. Yes. I have testified on numerous occasions before the Commission. 0

4 Page of II. PURPOSE OF TESTIMONY Q. What is the purpose of your testimony? A. This testimony supports Granite State s request for Commission approval to recover the incremental operating and maintenance ( O&M ) expense and the revenue requirement for capital investment associated with the Reliability Enhancement Program ( REP ) and Vegetation Management Program ( VMP ) for 0. The programs were implemented during calendar year 0 ( CY 0 ) as described in the Company s Calendar Year 0 Reliability Enhancement Program and Vegetation Management Program Report dated March, 0 (the CY 0 REP/VMP Report ) included in this filing. 0 The Company seeks to refund $,0 of CY 0 O&M costs. The $,0 is the amount by which the total O&M spending for the year, less FairPoint reimbursements, was below the base amount of $,0,000 that is included in distribution rates, consistent with Attachment F to the Settlement Agreement in Docket No. DE -0 (and included as Appendix to the CY 0 REP/VMP Report contained in this filing). The Company also seeks to recover the revenue requirement associated with a total of $,0 in capital investment for CY 0. III. SUMMARY OF SCHEDULES 0 Q. Please describe Schedule HMT- attached to this testimony. A. Schedule HMT- provides the calculation of the revenue requirement for the capital and O&M expenditures for CY 0. Schedule HMT-, Page, provides the summary of the revenue requirement calculation. The total program spend for CY 0 for O&M was 0

5 Page of $,,, which includes $,, for CY 0 and $, of carryover for CY 0. After subtracting $0,000 for amounts billed to FairPoint for vegetation management, the net O&M spending was $,,. As compared to the base level in rates of $,0,000, the net result is a refund to customers in the amount of $,0. The total REP capital investment was $,0. The revenue requirement associated with that investment is $0,0. Q. What is the total amount owed to Granite State for 0 from FairPoint? A. Granite State invoiced FairPoint $0,000 for CY 0. 0 Q. Does the Company include accruals in its calculation of total O&M spending for the VMP calculation? A. No. From its inception, the reconciliation has been performed on a cash basis (i.e., using only the costs actually paid in a particular year). The 0 reconciliation was calculated without accruals, but Liberty has been discussing this subject as part of Docket No. DE -. 0 Q. Please describe the calculation of tax depreciation expense that underlies the calculation the deferred tax reserve described above. A. Tax depreciation expense for federal and state taxes for each year is comprised of three components: () a capital repairs tax deduction; () bonus depreciation for federal tax only; and () accelerated depreciation based on the Internal Revenue Service s ( IRS ) Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System ( MACRS ) rates for 0-year utility property. 0

6 Page of 0 The calculation of the components of tax depreciation expense described above for each year is shown on Pages and of Schedule HMT-. The capital repairs deduction component is shown on Lines through of Pages through. During 00, the IRS issued guidance under Internal Revenue Code ( IRC ) Section related to certain expenditures that could be deemed to be repair and maintenance expenses, and thus eligible for immediate tax deduction for income tax purposes, but were capitalized by the Company for book purposes. This tax deduction has the effect of increasing deferred taxes and lowering the revenue requirement that customers will pay under the REP. The percentage of REP capital expenditures that could be classified as repair expense varies by year. For calendar years 0 through 0, none of the REP capital work performed was in the nature of capital repairs, so zero percent (0%) was used in the calculation of the revenue requirement. Bonus depreciation for federal tax purposes was then calculated on the REP capital additions, net of additions subject to the capital repairs deduction. During 00, Congress passed the Economic Stimulus Act of 00 which established a 0 percent bonus depreciation deduction for certain eligible plant additions. Congress subsequently passed additional laws that extended and changed the bonus depreciation rate over the succeeding years. The bonus depreciation deduction rate applicable to capital additions made in CY 0 is 0 percent. 0 For federal tax purposes, any capital additions not subject to the capital repairs deduction or bonus depreciation are subject to the 0-year MACRS depreciation rates as shown in 00

7 Page of the Remaining Tax Depreciation (Federal) section of Pages through. For state tax purposes, any capital additions not subject to the capital repairs deduction are then subject to 0-year MACRS depreciation rates as shown in the Remaining Tax Depreciation (State) section of Pages through. Total tax depreciation for federal and state taxes is shown on the last two lines of Pages through. Q. Please describe how the return allowance for the REP capital investment was calculated. A. The Company s year-end net rate base of $,0,0 on which the Company s return allowance is calculated, is shown in HMT-, Page, Line. 0 0 The return allowance for the REP capital investment for each rate adjustment is based on the prior year-end rate base times the Company s currently approved pre-tax weighted average cost of capital of. percent, determined using the capital structure and weighted costs of debt and equity found in Attachment A, Schedule B of the Settlement Agreement in Docket No. DE -0. The resulting return allowance is the fiscal yearend rate base of $,0,0 times the stipulated pre-tax return rate of. percent, or $, as shown on Line. Annual depreciation expense of $, and property taxes of $,, on Lines and, respectively, are added to the return amount to arrive at the total revenue requirement of $,, on Line. The property tax amount is based on the actual ratio of municipal tax expense to net plant in service for CY 0, as calculated in HMT- applied to the year-end net plant in service, or the sum of Lines and. 0

8 Page of 0 Q. Why didn t the Company calculate book depreciation and property tax amounts for CY 0? A. The Company uses the FERC Form to calculate the book depreciation and property tax expenses for the REP/VMP reconciliation filing. The FERC Form for 0 will not be available until mid-april and according to the Settlement Agreement in Docket No. DE -0, the REP/VMP filing is due March each year. In 0, the request for rates was extended from May to June, 0, so Liberty updated its filing with the most recent FERC Form data available after April, 0. Due to the fact that the REP/VMP filing is due prior to the FERC Form completion, the property tax and book depreciation rates for the 0 calendar year are not available at the time of this filing, thus Liberty uses the 0 calendar year calculation as seen in Schedules HMT- and HMT-. 0 Q. Please describe Schedule HMT- attached to this testimony. A. Schedule HMT- provides the calculation of proposed rates for: i) the capital expenditures recorded during CY 0 (i.e., the REP Capital Investment Allowance ); and ii) the REP/VMP Adjustment Factor associated with incremental O&M spending. The total percentage adjustment proposed for the REP Capital Investment Allowance is 0.%. The Company is proposing a REP/VMP Adjustment Factor of ($0.0000) per kilowatt-hour (kwh), a decrease of $0.000, or %, from the current charge of $0.000 per kwh. 0

9 Page of Q. Please describe the procedure for adjusting distribution rates for the REP Capital Investment Allowance. A. The procedure for adjusting distribution rates is in Schedule HMT-. On page of Schedule HMT-, the capital investment allowance related to the REP on Line is divided by the revenue requirement (Line ) calculated by using a forecast of billing determinants, which are then applied to each of the Company s base distribution charge components. 0 Q. Please provide a summary of Schedule HMT- attached to this testimony. A. Schedule HMT- provides the reconciliation of the CY 0 O&M expense. The Company is proposing to charge the remaining $, through the REP/VMP Adjustment Factor effective May, 0. IV. EFFECTIVE DATE AND BILL IMPACT Q. How and when is the Company proposing that this rate change be implemented? A. The Company is proposing that these distribution rate changes be made effective for service rendered on and after May, 0. 0 Q. Has the Company determined the impact of these REP/VMP rate changes on customers bills? A. Yes. For an Energy Service residential customer using kwh per month, based on average usage for a residential customer in 0, the total bill impact of the REP/VMP rates proposed in this filing as compared to rates in effect today, is a monthly bill decrease of $0., or a decrease of 0.%. The primary reason for the decrease is that the 0

10 Page of O&M adjustment factor charged for the 0 reconciliation is less than the proposed O&M adjustment factor request for the 0 reconciliation. V. CONCLUSION Q. Does this conclude your testimony? A. Yes, it does. 0

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION. Docket No. DE DIRECT TESTIMONY

EXHIBIT Liberty Utilities STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION Liberty Utilities (Granite State Electric) Corp. d/b/a Liberty Utilities Distribution Service Rate Case DIRECT TESTIMONY