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OAH 3-2500-20148-2
PUC E-002/GR-08-1065 |
STATE OF
OFFICE
OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
FOR THE
PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
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In the Matter of the Application of Northern States Power
Company d/b/a Xcel Energy for Authority to Increase Rates for Electric
Service in |
FIRST
PREHEARING ORDER |
A prehearing conference was held before Administrative Law
Judge Kathleen D. Sheehy on January 16, 2009, at the Public Utilities
Commission,
Michael J. Bradley, Moss & Barnett, 90 South Seventh
Street, 4800 Wells Fargo Center, Minneapolis, MN 55402; and Christopher B. Clark, Managing
Attorney, Xcel Energy, 800 Nicollet Mall, 29th Floor, Minneapolis,
MN 55402, appeared for Xcel Energy.
Linda S. Jensen and Julia Anderson, Assistant Attorneys
General,
Ronald M. Giteck and William Stamets, Assistant Attorneys
General, 445 Minnesota Street, Suite 900, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101, appeared
for the Office of the Attorney General Residential and Small Business Utility
Division (OAG/RUD).
Andrew P. Moratzka, Mackall, Crounse & Moore, 1400
James Strommen, Kennedy & Graven, 470
Richard J. Savelkoul, Felhaber, Larson, Fenlon and Vogt,
Pam Marshall, Executive Director,
Lloyd W. Grooms, Winthrop & Weinstine,
Alan R. Jenkins, Jenkins at Law, LLC,
Susan Mackenzie and Janet Gonzalez appeared for the staff of
the Public Utilities Commission.
Based upon the
record and the discussion among the participants at the prehearing conference, the Administrative
Law Judge makes the following:
ORDER
Parties,
Intervention, and Public Participation
1.
The parties to this matter, as named in the Commission’s
Notice and Order for Hearing issued on December 23, 2008, are Xcel Energy and OES. Prior to the prehearing conference, Petitions
to Intervene were filed by Xcel Large Industrials, the Minnesota Chamber of
Commerce, the Suburban Rate Authority, the Commercial Group, the OAG/RUD, ECC,
and Verso Paper. Upon inquiry at the
prehearing conference, there were no objections to those Petitions, and they
were GRANTED. In addition, Xcel had no
objection to the proposed intervention of the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local Union 949, Local Union 23, and Local Union
160, and those Petitions for Intervention were GRANTED. All of these Petitioners are, therefore,
admitted to this proceeding as full parties.
2.
Other persons who wish to intervene as parties in this
proceeding must file a Petition to Intervene that complies with Minn. R. 1400.6200
with the Administrative Law Judge no later than February 19, 2009. Petitioners shall provide an e-mail address
on the Petition or Notice of Appearance.
Any person who is not affiliated with a party or a participant will be
removed from the service list after that date.
Copies of the Petition to Intervene must be served upon all existing
parties and the Commission. A Notice of
Appearance must be filed with the Petition.
Objections to such a petition must be filed within seven days of the
filing of the petition.
3.
Members of the public need not become parties to participate
in this matter. Members of the public
may participate in the public hearings and may offer oral or written testimony
and exhibits pursuant to Minn. R. 1400.6200, subp. 5, and 1400.7150, subp.
1. If time permits, public participation
may also be permitted by the Administrative Law Judge during the evidentiary
hearing. Any person who participates in
a public or evidentiary hearing may be questioned by the parties and the
ALJ. Written public comments must be
received by the Administrative Law Judge no later than May 15, 2009.
Schedule
4.
Xcel Energy has agreed to waive the statutory deadline for
the Commission’s final order on its application for a change in rates until
October 23, 2009. It has filed a formal
waiver with the Commission through that date.
Based on this waiver, the following schedule is adopted:
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Event or Document |
Event Date or Due Date |
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Intervenor Direct Testimony |
April 7, 2009 |
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Public Hearings (Tentative Schedule[1]) |
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April 13, 2009 |
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April 14, 2009 |
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April 16, 2009 |
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Oakdale |
April 20, 2009 |
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April 21, 1009 |
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April 23, 2009 |
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April 28, 2009 |
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April 29, 2009 |
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Rebuttal |
May 5, 2009 |
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Surrebuttal |
May 26, 2009 |
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Evidentiary Hearings[2] |
June 2-9, 2009 |
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Initial Briefs |
July 10, 2009 |
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Reply Briefs and Proposed Findings |
July 24, 2009 |
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ALJ Report |
August 24, 2009 |
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5.
Notice of the public and evidentiary hearings shall be given
by Xcel Energy as set forth in the Commission's Notice and Order for Hearing.
Settlement
6.
Minn. Stat. § 216B.16, subd. 1(a), requires the
Administrative Law Judge to convene a proceeding for the purpose of encouraging
settlement of any or all of the issues in this proceeding. The Administrative Law Judge encourages the
parties to discuss opportunities for settlement with each other prior to the
public hearings. During the days of the
public hearings, an informal conference will be held to discuss the progress of
such discussions.
Discovery
7.
A party may serve requests for information on any other
party. All requests for information
shall be made in writing by e-mail, and the requesting party shall follow the
e-mail with a copy of the request sent by regular
8.
The party responding to the request shall provide the
requested information to the requesting party within eight business days of
receipt of the information request. A
business day does not include a weekend day or a
9.
Public responses to information requests shall be submitted
by e-mail, and the responding party shall follow the e-mail with a copy of the
response sent by regular
10.
If the responding party is unable to send the response by
e-mail because of the volume or nature of information included in a response,
the responding party shall send the response by facsimile,
11.
A party that wishes to receive e-mail copies of requests or
responses shall notify the requesting or responding party, who shall provide
the information in that format. If the
request or response contains material designated as Trade Secret or Nonpublic
information, the providing party may require that the requesting party comply
with the terms of the Protective Order in this matter before providing the
information.
12.
If the responsive information cannot be supplied within
eight business days, the responding party shall notify the requesting party as
soon as reasonably possible in advance of the deadline of the reasons for not
being able to supply the information and attempt to work out a schedule of
compliance with the requesting party.
13.
For Xcel, the following persons shall be served with an
e-mail copy of any information requests or responses:
Christopher Clark (christopher.b.clark@xcelenergy.com)
Rebecca Eilers (rebecca.d.eilers@xcelenergy.com)
Gail Baranko (gail.baranko@xcelenergy.com)
Mary Martinka (mary.a.martinka@xcelenergy.com)
Hard copies of requests/responses should
be mailed to:
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Christopher
B. Clark Managing Attorney Xcel Energy Services, Inc. 414 Nicollet Mall, 5th
Floor |
SaGonna Thompson Records Analyst Xcel Energy Services, Inc. 414 Nicollet Mall |
14.
All disputes concerning the reasonableness of discovery
requests and the timing and sufficiency of responses shall be resolved by the
Administrative Law Judge upon motion of a party. Such motions may be brought informally by e-mail. Notice of such motions will be made by e-mail. Informal motions to address discovery
requests and responses will usually be heard by telephone conference.
Prefiled Testimony
15.
Prefiled testimony and exhibits may be in any reasonable
format that is understandable, logically organized, and capable of being cited
by page and line number, paragraph number, or similar identifier.
16.
A paper copy of prefiled testimony being offered for admission
into the record at the hearing shall be provided for use at the hearing. The offering party will identify the document
as having been eFiled (with the unique eFile identifying number of the document). The Administrative Law Judge will assign a
hearing exhibit number to the document at the time that it is offered for
admission at the hearing.
17.
Corrections to any prefiled testimony shall be identified
and marked on the paper copy of the exhibit.
Those changes will be eFiled as soon as practical after the
hearing. A hearing exhibit list will be
prepared that identifies each exhibit in the hearing record, with its hearing
exhibit number and unique eFile identifying number. The eFiled documents constitute the official
record of the proceeding, along with any supplemental record data that cannot
be eFiled. Any such supplemental record
data will be identified by the ALJ as included in the official record.
18.
Prefiled testimony that is not offered into the record, or
stricken portions of prefiled testimony that is offered, shall be considered
withdrawn and no witness shall be cross-examined concerning the withdrawn testimony. Any new affirmative matter that is not
offered in reply to another party's direct case will not be allowed in rebuttal
testimony and exhibits. Except for good
cause shown, all revisions or corrections to any prefiled testimony shall be in
writing and served upon the Administrative Law Judge and the parties no later
than three days prior to the commencement of the evidentiary hearing.
Witnesses
19.
Subject to change by agreement of the parties or further
order of the Administrative Law Judge, the order of testimony shall be: Xcel, Xcel Large Industrials, Chamber of
Commerce, Suburban Rate Authority, Commercial Group, ECC, IBEW Local Unions, Verso
Paper, other intervenors in the order of intervention, OAG/RUD, and OES. Questioning of the witnesses shall proceed in
the same order, followed by Commission staff and the Administrative Law Judge.
20.
In the event that a witness must be scheduled for a day
certain to offer testimony, the sponsoring party should attempt to reach
agreement with the other parties and then submit a request to the
Administrative Law Judge.[4]
21.
Witnesses will
be allowed ten minutes in which to summarize their prefiled testimony. In order for a witness to include new
information in his or her summary, the party offering that witness’ testimony
must obtain the prior approval of the Administrative Law Judge upon a motion
with a showing of good cause for not having addressed that information in
prefiled testimony.
22.
Parties shall examine and cross-examine witnesses through
their attorneys if they are represented by counsel. Any party not represented by counsel may
examine and cross-examine each witness through any one representative chosen by
the party.
23.
Except for good cause shown, objections by any party
relative to the qualifications of a witness or the admissibility of any portion
of a witness' prefiled testimony (except surrebuttal testimony) shall be
considered waived unless the objecting party states its objection by motion
made to the Administrative Law Judge, no later than June 1, 2009.
Filing
of Documents (Excluding Information Requests and Responses)
24.
Original documents shall be filed using the Commission's eFiling
system where feasible, in accordance with
25.
The effective date of filing shall be the date the document
is eFiled, mailed by U.S. Mail, or delivered to the Administrative Law
Judge. Parties using the eFiling system
should retain the unique document identifier as proof of filing through that
system. Proof of service to the service
list in this proceeding shall be filed with each document or within three
business days thereafter.
26.
With the exception of Trade Secret and other Nonpublic Data,
copies of all documents that are filed shall be served by e-mail according to
the attached official service list by 4:00 p.m., and a hard copy shall also be
mailed or delivered that day to the persons so indicated on the official
service list. The list will be revised
as necessary by the Office of Administrative Hearings.
27.
Hard copies of trade secret and other nonpublic data shall
be transmitted by U.S. Mail or delivery to the parties who have signed Exhibit
A to the Protective Order. Such
documents may be served on the next business day following the filing of the
public version.
28.
After the Administrative Law Judge's Report is issued, the
parties shall file the original of all documents with the Executive Secretary
of the Commission in accordance with the Commission’s standards.
29.
Where Trade
Secret or Nonpublic Data is filed with the Administrative Law Judge, that
filing shall be prepared and marked in accordance with the Public Utilities
Commission's September 1, 1999, Revised Procedures for Handling Trade Secret
and Privileged Data. The procedures are
available from the Commission website and may be viewed at www.puc.state.mn.us/docs/tradsecret.pdf. Access to nonpublic data shall be governed by
the Protective Order to be issued in this proceeding.
Dated: January 28, 2009 s/Kathleen D.
Sheehy
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KATHLEEN D. SHEEHY Administrative Law Judge |
[1] The public
hearing schedule may be changed depending on room availability. All public
hearings will commence at 7:00 p.m.
[2] The
Evidentiary Hearings will commence at 9:30 a.m. at the PUC.
[3] The parties
may modify the provision precluding e-mailing of requests or responses containing
Trade Secret or Nonpublic Data by agreement.
[4] The parties
have already reached agreement to take the testimony of Jeffrey Pollock on June
9, 2009.