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South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Meeting
April 19, 2011, at 9:30 A.M. CDT
Room 413, Capitol Building
Pierre, South Dakota
MINUTES OF THE COMMISSION MEETING
Chairman Steve Kolbeck called the meeting to Order. Present were: Commissioner Chris Nelson; Commission Counsel: John Smith and Rolayne Wiest; Staff Attorneys: Karen Cremer and Kara Semmler; Staff Analysts: Bobbi Bourk, Chris Daugaard, Dave Jacobson, Bob Knadle, Brittany Mehlhaff, Ross Pedersen and Jon Thurber; and Staff: Deb Gregg and Demaris Axthelm.
Also present were: Rich Coit, South Dakota Telecommunications Association; Talbot Wieczorek, Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLC, representing Sprint Communications Company, L.P.; Brett Koenecke, May, Adam, Gerdes, and Thompson, representing Verizon Business Services; Margo Northrup, Riter, Rogers, Wattier and Northrup, representing South Dakota Network LLC, RC Communications, Inc., dba RC Services, and Midstate Communications; Bill Van Camp, Olinger, Lovald, McCahren, & Reimers, PC, representing AT&T; Senator Deb Peters; Jeff Carmon, Qwest; Mark Benton, Midstate Communications, Inc.; Midcontinent Communications representatives: Dan Nelson and Mary Lohnes; and Black Hills Corporation representatives: Kyle White and Chris Kilpatrick.
Joining the meeting by telephone was: Vice Chair Gary Hanson; George Evans, Slater Consulting, representing South Dakota Public Utilities Commission; Otter Tail Power Company representatives: Bruce Gerhardson, Ron L. Spangler, Jr., Bryan D. Morlock, Pete Beithon, Tom Brause and David G. Prazak; Kathryn Ford, Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz, & Smith, representing Midcontinent Communications; James Cremer, Bantz, Gosch, & Cremer, representing Northern Valley Communications, LLC; Meredith Moore, Cutler & Donahoe LLP, representing SSTELECOM, Inc. and Splitrock Properties, Inc.; Paul Lundberg, Lundberg Law, representing Aventure Communication Technology, L.L.C. dba Aventure Communications; Sharon Thomas, Technologies Management, Inc., representing Aventure Communication Technology, L.L.C. dba Aventure Communications and Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC; and Jason Topp, Qwest Corporation.
(NOTE: For the purpose of continuity, these minutes are not necessarily in chronological order.)
Administration
1. Approval of the Minutes of the Commission Meeting Held on March 22, 2011 and the Ad Hoc Commission Meeting Held on March 30, 2011. (Staff: Seanna Regynski)
Commissioner Nelson moved to approve the minutes of the Commission Meeting held on March 22, 2011, and the Ad Hoc Commission Meeting Held on March 30, 2011. Motion passed 3-0.
Consumer Reports
1. Status Report on Consumer Utility Inquiries and Complaints Received by the Commission. (Consumer Affairs: Deb Gregg)
Ms. Deb Gregg, Consumer Affairs, reported that the Commission received a total of 125 contacts since the last report was prepared for the April 5, 2011, Commission meeting.
31 of the contacts involved telecommunication services, 41 of the contacts involved electrical services, 10 contacts involved natural gas service, 14 contacts involved cell phone service, 20 contacts were related to the Do Not Call Registry, and 9 contacts were related to issues not regulated by the PUC.
741 of the 799 complaints received in 2011 have been resolved.
Electric
A lengthy discussion took place regarding Otter Tail Power's Joint Motion for Approval of the Second Settlement Stipulation and updated customer rate schedule brochures. An audio of the discussion can be found on the PUC website under Commission Actions, Commission Meeting Archives, 2011, April 5, 2011, recording located at: http://puc.sd.gov/Archives/2011/default.aspx.
Commissioner Kolbeck moved to grant the Joint Motion for Approval of the Second Settlement Stipulation and to approve the updated customer rate schedule and the proposed tariff sheets subject to correction of sheet numbers.
Commissioner Nelson amended the motion to specify an effective date of June 1, 2011, for the new rates, terms and conditions. Motion carried 3-0.
Rulemaking
Chairman Kolbeck asked the interested parties if they wished to make any comments. No further comments were made.
Commissioner Hanson moved to adopt revised switched access rules from the March 18, 2011, meeting. Motion carried 3-0.
Telecommunications
Mr. Talbot Wieczorek, Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLC, representing Sprint Communications Company, L.P. stated that on April 11, 2011, Sprint filed a First Amendment to Confidentiality Agreement which would allow non-parties to designate information confidential during the discovery process. Ms. Karen Cremer, Staff Attorney, Staff recommended approving the First Amendment to the Confidentiality Agreement.
Commissioner Nelson moved to approve the First Amendment to the Confidentiality Agreement. Motion carried 3-0.
Ms. Sharon Thomas, Technologies Management, Inc., representing Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC (Bandwidth) stated on March 18, 2011, Bandwidth filed a petition for approval of its Initial Access Services Tariff. Bandwidth petitioned for exemptions pursuant to ARSD 20:10:27:11 and 20:10:27:02. Specifically the company requested waivers of cost-based rate development, ARSD 20:10:27:12, 20:10:27:13, and 20:10:27:07 to allow Bandwidth to mirror Qwest's interstate switched access rates. Mr. Chris Daugaard, Staff Analyst, recommended approval of the Initial Access Services Tariff and the waivers.
Commissioner Nelson moved to approve the Access Services Tariff and grant the exemption and waivers. Motion carried 3-0.
Mr. Paul Lundberg, Lundberg Law, representing Aventure Communication Technology, LLC dba Aventure Communications (Aventure) filed for approval Switched Access Services Tariff No.3 on march 18, 2011. The tariff is intended to cancel and replace South Dakota Tariff No. 2. Currently, Aventure does not have any customers in South Dakota. Mr. Jason Topp, Qwest Communications Company, filed a Motion to Intervene and a Request to Open an Investigation and Suspend Tariff during the Investigation. Qwest asked the Commission to suspend the tariff filed for 120 days. Ms. Kathryn Ford, Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz, & Smith, representing Midcontinent Communications filed a Petition to Intervene and agrees with Qwest's request. Mr. Talbot Wieczorek, Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLC, representing Sprint Communications Company, L.P. (Sprint) filed a Petition for Intervention and a Request for Investigation and Certificate of Service and agrees with Qwest's request and is asking for the tariff be suspended for 120 days. Mr. Bill Van Camp, Olinger, Lovald, McCahren, & Reimers, PC, representing AT&T filed a Petition for Intervention and a Request for Investigation and is asking for the tariff be suspended for 120 days. Mr. Brett Koenecke, May, Adam, Gerdes, and Thompson, representing Verizon Business Services filed a Petition for Intervention and a Request for Investigation and is asking for the tariff be suspended for 120 days. Ms. Kara Semmler, Staff Attorney, recommended to the Commission to grant all the interventions and further grant the suspension until the Commission can hear all the evidence regarding this tariff.
Commissioner Kolbeck moved to grant intervention to Qwest, Midcontinent Communications, Sprint and AT&T and to suspend the filed tariff for 120 days. Motion carried 3-0.
Mr. Jason Topp, representing Qwest Corporation asked the Commission to approve the request for a Resale Agreement. Ms. Kara Semmler, Staff Attorney, recommended the Commission approve the Resale Agreement.
Commissioner Hanson moved to approve the Resale Agreement. Motion passed 3-0.
Mr. Jason Topp, representing Qwest Corporation asked the Commission to approve the request for an Amendment to the Interconnection Agreement. Ms. Kara Semmler, Staff Attorney, recommended the Commission approve the Amendment to the Interconnection Agreement.
Commissioner Nelson moved to approve the Amendment to the Interconnection Agreement. Motion passed 3-0.
Ms. Margo Northrup, Riter, Rogers, Wattier and Northrup, representing South Dakota Network LLC asked the Commission to approve the request for the Wireline Interconnection Agreement. Mr. Jason Topp, representing Qwest Corporation also asked the Commission to approve the request for the Wireline Interconnection Agreement. Ms. Kara Semmler, Staff Attorney, recommended the Commission approve the Wireline Interconnection Agreement.
Commissioner Nelson moved to approve the Wireline Interconnection Agreement. Motion passed 3-0.
/S/ Tina Douglas
Tina Douglas
Administrative Secretary
April 19, 2011
