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South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Meeting
April 27, 2016, at 9:30 A.M. CDT
Room 413, Capitol Building
Pierre, South Dakota
MINUTES OF THE COMMISSION MEETING
Chairman Chris Nelson called the meeting to order. Present were: Commissioners: Kristie Fiegen and Gary Hanson; Acting Commissioner: Richard Sattgast; Commission Counsel: Rolayne Wiest and Karen Cremer; Staff Attorneys: Kristen Edwards and Adam de Hueck; Staff Analysts: Patrick Steffensen, Eric Paulson, Joseph Rezac, Brittany Mehlhaff, and Lorena Reichert; Consumer Affairs Supervisor: Deb Gregg; Finance Manager: Cindy Kemnitz; and Staff: Joy Lashley.
Also present were:
Brett Koenecke, May, Adam, Gerdes and Thompson, LLP, representing Dakota Plains Ag Center, LLC; Kara Semmler, May, Adam, Gerdes and Thompson, LLP, representing Dakota Access, LLC; Brian Rounds, AESL Consulting; Jason Sutton and Tom Welk, Boyce Law Firm, representing Otter Tail Power Company; Dave Eide, Codington-Clark Electric Cooperative, Inc; Kevin Kouba, Pete Beithon, and Cary Stephenson, Otter Tail Power Co.; Ed Anderson, South Dakota Rural Electric Association; Bob Riter, Riter, Rogers, Wattier & Northrup, LLP, representing South Dakota Rural Electric Association.
Joining the meeting by telephone were:
Staff Analyst: Darren Kearney; Brad Howard and Jennifer Moore, MidAmerican Energy Company; Jeff Decker, Rick Edwards, Jerry Birch, and Pam Bonrud, NorthWestern Corporation dba NorthWestern Energy; Sheila Woodward, Johnson, Miner, Marlow, Woodward & Huff, Prof. LLC, representing Bon Homme Yankton Electric Association, Inc.; Kevin Schnack and Eric Pauli, Northern States Power Company dba Xcel Energy; Dave Prazak, Otter Tail Power Company; William Taylor, Taylor Law Firm, representing Valley Queen Cheese Factory, Inc.; James Moore, Woods, Fuller, Shultz and Smith P.C., representing Valley Queen Cheese Factory, Inc.; Brian Sandvig, Valley Queen Cheese Factory, Inc.; and Jason Keil, Mutch Usera, Todd Brink and Monni Karim, Black Hills Power, Inc. dba Black Hills Energy.
Administration
1. Approval of the minutes of the Commission meeting held on April 11, 2016. (Staff: Joy Lashley)
Commissioner Fiegen moved to approve the minutes of the April 11, 2016, Commission meeting. Motion carried 3-0.
Consumer Reports
1. Status Report on Consumer Utility Inquiries and Complaints Received by the Commission (Consumer Affairs: Deb Gregg)
The Commission received a total of 71 contacts since the last report was prepared for the April 11, 2016, Commission meeting.
Four contacts involved telecommunication services, 24 contacts involved electrical services, one contact was related to natural gas service, one contact was related to gas and electric service, nine contacts were related to wireless service, 14 contacts were related to the Do Not Call Registry, two contacts were related to Wind Energy, one contact was related to the Grain Warehouse Division, one contact was related to the Dakota Access Pipeline and 14 contacts were related to issues not regulated by the PUC.
Complaints received in 2014: 1,914 of the 1,916 have been resolved.
Complaints received in 2016: 421 of the 436 have been resolved.
Hydrocarbon Pipeline
Ms. Kara Semmler, May, Adam, Gerdes and Thompson, LLP, representing Dakota Access, LLC (Dakota Access), asked that the Commission approve Dakota Access' construction bond. Ms. Kristen Edwards, staff attorney, recommended that the Commission approve Dakota Access' request.
Commissioner Hanson moved to grant approval of Dakota Access' construction bond. Motion carried 3-0.
Complaint
1. CE15-001 In the Matter of the Complaint filed by Valley Queen Cheese Factory, Inc., Milbank, South Dakota, against Otter Tail Power Company Regarding an Electric Service Dispute (Staff Analysts: Darren Kearney, Eric Paulson; Staff Attorney: Kristen Edwards)
A lengthy discussion took place regarding Docket CE15-001. An audio of the discussion can be found on the PUC website under Commission Actions, Commission Meeting Archives, 2016, April 27, 2016, recording located at: http://puc.sd.gov/commission/media/2016/puc04272016.mp3.
Commissioner Nelson moved to grant approval of the contract with deviations and the revised tariff sheet, grant approval of the Joint Motion and dismiss the complaint with prejudice, and grant waivers of ARSD 20:10:13:15 and 20:10:13:17, effective May 1, 2016. Motion carried 3-0.
Electric
Mr. Jason Keil, Black Hills Power, Inc. dba Black Hills Energy (BHE), asked that the Commission approve BHE's 2015 Economic Development Report and its 2016 Economic Development Plan. Mr. Joseph Rezac, staff analyst, recommended that the Commission approve BHE's request.
Commissioner Fiegen moved to approve BHE's 2015 Economic Development Report and its 2016 Economic Development Plan. Motion carried 3-0.
Mr. Rick Edwards, NorthWestern Corporation dba NorthWestern Energy (NorthWestern), asked that the Commission approve NorthWestern's 2016 Economic Development Budget. Mr. Eric Paulson, staff analyst, recommended that the Commission approve NorthWestern's request.
Commissioner Nelson moved to approve NorthWestern's 2016 Economic Development Budget.Motion carried 3-0.
Mr. Brett Koenecke, May, Adam, Gerdes and Thompson, LLP, representing Dakota Plains Ag Center (Dakota Plains), asked that the Commission grant Dakota Plain's Motion to Dismiss Petition for Temporary Electric Service. Ms. Kristen Edwards, staff attorney, stated staff had no objection to Dakota Plains request.
Commissioner Hanson moved to grant Dakota Plain's Motion to Dismiss Petition for Temporary Electric Service.Motion carried 3-0.
Natural Gas
Ms. Jennifer Moore, MidAmerican Energy Company (MidAmerican), asked that the Commission approve MidAmerican's 2015 Economic Development Activities and Proposed 2016 Budget. Mr. Joseph Rezac, staff analyst, recommended that the Commission approve MidAmerican's request.
Commissioner Nelson moved to approve MidAmerican's 2015 Economic Development Activities and Proposed 2016 Budget. Motion carried 3-0.
Ms. Jeff Decker, NorthWestern Corporation dba NorthWestern Energy (NorthWestern), asked that the Commission approve a contract with deviations to construct a natural gas line to serve Novita Aurora, LLC. Mr. Joseph Rezac, staff analyst, recommended that the Commission approve NorthWestern's request, effective May 1, 2016.
Commissioner Hanson moved to approve the contract with deviations and associated tariff revision with an effective date of May 1, 2016. Motion carried 3-0.
Mr. Rick Edwards, NorthWestern Corporation dba NorthWestern Energy (NorthWestern), asked that the Commission approve NorthWestern's 2016 Economic Development Proposed Budget and 2015 Economic Development Expenses. Mr. Eric Paulson, staff analyst, recommended that the Commission approve NorthWestern's request.
Commissioner Fiegen moved to approve NorthWestern's 2015 Economic Development Expenses and 2016 Economic Development Budget. Motion carried 3-0.
Rule Making
A lengthy discussion took place regarding Docket RM16-001. An audio of the discussion can be found on the PUC website under Commission Actions, Commission Meeting Archives, 2016, April 27, 2016, recording located at: http://puc.sd.gov/commission/media/2016/puc04272016.mp3.
Commissioner Nelson moved to adopt the rules as follows:
- For the definition of resistance in 20:10:39:01(13), do not accept the LRC change of the word "quantity" to "quality."
- For the definition of voltage in 20:10:39:01(21), do not accept LRC's changes that deleted the words "the electrical quantity that describes."
- For 20:10:39:04, regarding the notice to utilities, accept LRC's proposed changes, except that "if" be changed to "whether."
- For 20:10:39:10, regarding requirements for measuring and recording, do not make the changes that were requested by Xcel to add language to subdivision 3.
- For 20:10:39:17, regarding the testing sequence, accept LRC's changes, including the deletion of the language in the middle of the first sentence.
- For 20:10:39:18, regarding when the preventive action level is not exceeded, do not accept LRC's deletion of the reference to the statute.
- For 20:10:39:19, regarding when the preventive action level is exceeded, do not change the word "utility" to "service provider" as questioned by LRC.
- For 20:10:39:22, regarding the use of remote reference electrodes, make the changes recommended by both SDREA and LRC.
- For 20:10:39:23, regarding inspection, repair, and measurement requirements, do not make LRC's changes that referenced "service provider" instead of "utility."
- For 20:10:39:26, regarding suspension of testing due to safety hazards, add in the words "in the drawing of the dairy and the report" after the word "noted" in the last sentence.
- For 20:10:39:27, regarding the cow contact test, accept SDREA's insertion of "where" in place of "at which" and accept LRC's remaining changes.
- For 20:10:39:32, regarding recording the cow contact test, do not accept LRC's insertion of abbreviations in place of the actual terms.
- For 20:10:39:35, regarding data collection for the 48 hour test, do not accept LRC's insertion of abbreviations in place of the actual terms.
- For 20:10:39:38, regarding reduced recording period for the 48 hour test, do not delete the rule, but instead delete the last sentence of 20:10:39:19 as that is already covered by 20:10:39:38.
- For 20:10:39:45, regarding the measurements for secondary neutral voltage drop test, do not define "significantly" as requested by LRC.
- For 20:10:39:49, regarding data collection for the load box test, do not accept LRC's substitution of subdivisions for actual terms.
- For 20:10:39:50, regarding conducting the load box test, accept LRC's insertion of "only" in the last sentence and change "service provider to "qualified testing professional."
- For 20:10:39:51, regarding calculating the K factor for the load box test, accept SDREA's change of inserting "divided by" between cow contact voltage and secondary neutral to reference voltage in the first sentence.
- For 20:10:39:53, regarding the signature test, do not accept LRC's deletion of the final sentence.
- For 20:10:39:57, regarding the determination of contributions for single phase dairies, accept the changes as proposed by SDREA.
- For 20:10:39:58, regarding the determination of contributions for three-phase dairies, accept the changes as proposed by SDREA.
- For 20:10:39:59, regarding the written report, change "reasonable period of time" for completion of the written report to "30 days."
- For the rules in general, do not change references from "utility" to "service provider" as proposed by LRC.
- For the rules in general, do not change the terms to abbreviations as proposed by LRC and do not change references from "utility" to "service provider" as proposed by LRC.
Chairman Nelson also accepted a friendly amendment from Commissioner Hanson to require the written test be sent to the dairy provider within 30 days for 20:10:39:59.
Commission Fiegen moved to defer the final vote until the May 10, 2016, Commission meeting. Motion carried 2-1. Commissioner Nelson dissenting.
ADDENDUM TO THE
AGENDA OF COMMISSION MEETING
A lengthy discussion took place regarding Docket EL16-013. An audio of the discussion can be found on the PUC website under Commission Actions, Commission Meeting Archives, 2016, April 27, 2016, recording located at: http://puc.sd.gov/commission/media/2016/puc04272016.mp3.
Commissioner Hanson moved to deny intervention to the South Dakota Rural Electric Association.
Commissioner Fiegen made a substitute motion to grant the intervention to the South Dakota Electric Association. Motion carried 2-1. Commissioner Hanson dissenting.
There being no further business, at the hour of 12:15 p.m. the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission meeting adjourned.
/s/Joy Lashley .
Joy Lashley
Administrative Assistant
PUC Email
April 27, 2016
