XML 36 R25.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.22.2.2
Regulatory matters
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2022
Regulated Operations [Abstract]  
Regulatory Matters Regulatory matters The Company regularly reviews the need for electric and natural gas rate changes in each of the jurisdictions in which service is provided. The Company files for rate adjustments to seek recovery of operating costs and capital investments, as well as reasonable returns as allowed by regulators. Certain regulatory proceedings and cases may also contain recurring mechanisms that can have an annual true-up. Examples of these recurring mechanisms include: infrastructure riders, transmission trackers, renewable resource cost adjustment riders, as well as weather normalization and decoupling mechanisms. The following paragraphs summarize the Company's significant open regulatory proceedings and cases by jurisdiction including updates to those reported in the 2021 Annual Report and should be read in conjunction with previous filings. The Company is unable to predict the ultimate outcome of these matters, the timing of final decisions of the various regulators and courts, or the effect on the Company's results of operations, financial position or cash flows.
MNPUC
Great Plains defers the difference between the actual cost of gas spent to serve customers and that recovered from customers on a monthly basis. Annually, Great Plains prepares a true-up pursuant to the purchased gas adjustment tariff. On August 30, 2021, the MNPUC issued an order to allow Great Plains recovery of an out-of-cycle cost of gas adjustment of $8.8 million over a period of 27 months. The order was effective September 1, 2021, and was subject to a prudence review by the MNPUC. The requested increase was for the February 2021 extreme cold weather, primarily in the central United States, and market conditions surrounding the natural gas commodity market. On October 19, 2022, the MNPUC issued a final order disallowing $845,000 of the gas costs. These costs, which were deferred as a regulatory asset in natural gas costs recoverable through rate adjustments, were then recorded to expense as they were no longer recoverable from customers.
On June 1, 2022, Great Plains filed an application with the MNPUC for a decrease in its depreciation and amortization rates of approximately $1.2 million annually or a decrease from a combined rate of 4.5 percent to 2.8 percent. Great Plains has requested the rates be retroactive to January 1, 2022. This matter is pending before the MNPUC.
NDPSC
On May 16, 2022, Montana-Dakota filed an application with the NDPSC for an electric general rate increase of approximately $25.4 million annually or 12.3 percent above current rates. The requested increase is primarily to recover investments in production, transmission and distribution facilities and the associated depreciation, operation and maintenance expenses and taxes associated with the increased investment. The NDPSC has 7 months to render a final decision on the rate case. On July 14, 2022, the NDPSC approved an interim rate increase of approximately $10.9 million annually or 5.3 percent above current rates, subject to refund, for service rendered on and after July 15, 2022. The lower interim rate increase is largely due to excluding the recovery of Heskett Unit 4, which is expected to be in service in the first half of 2023.
On July 15, 2022, Montana-Dakota filed an application with the NDPSC to request an update to its transmission cost adjustment rider requesting to recover revenues of $12.9 million, which includes a true-up of the prior period adjustment, resulting in a decrease of $1.6 million from current rates. The request is to recover transmission-related expenses and the revenue requirement for transmission facilities not currently recovered through electric service rates. On October 5, 2022, the NDPSC approved the decrease with rates effective November 1, 2022.
Montana-Dakota has a renewable resource cost adjustment rate tariff that allows for annual adjustments for recent projected capital costs and related expenses for projects determined to be recoverable under the tariff. On November 1, 2022, Montana-Dakota filed an annual update to its renewable resource cost adjustment requesting to recover a revenue requirement of approximately $17.9 million annually. The update reflects a decrease of approximately $127,000 from the revenues currently included in rates.
WUTC
On September 30, 2021, Cascade filed an application with the WUTC for a natural gas rate increase of approximately $13.7 million annually or approximately 5.1 percent above current rates. The requested increase was primarily to recover investments made in infrastructure upgrades, as well as to recover 2021 wage increases. On March 22, 2022, Cascade filed a multi-party settlement and stipulation on behalf of Cascade and the staff of the WUTC that would result in a revenue requirement increase of approximately $10.7 million annually or approximately 4.0 percent above current rates. The WUTC issued a final order on August 23, 2022, adjusting the settlement primarily for 2020 actual depreciation expense. The final order approved an increase of $7.2 million annually with an effective date of September 1, 2022.
On March 24, 2022, Cascade filed a request for a tariff revision with the WUTC to rectify an inadvertent IRS normalization violation resulting from its tariff established in 2018 that passes back to customers the reversal of plant-related excess deferred income taxes through an annual rate adjustment. This request was made in response to the issuance of an IRS private letter ruling to another Washington utility with the same annual rate adjustment tariff, which addressed its normalization violation. The private letter ruling concluded the tariff to refund excess deferred income taxes without corresponding adjustments for other components of rate base or changes in depreciation or income tax expense, is an impermissible methodology under the IRS normalization and consistency rules. Cascade's request proposes a similar remedy through the tariff to recover the excess amounts refunded to customers while this tariff has been in place, and revises the method going forward to reflect excess deferred income taxes in rates in the same manner as other components of rate base from its most recent general rate case. Cascade has requested recovery of the excess refunded to customers of approximately $3.3 million and elimination of the currently deferred, but not yet refunded balance. A multi-party settlement was filed with the WUTC on October 21, 2022. This matter is pending before the WUTC.
On October 14, 2022, Cascade filed an update to its annual pipeline cost recovery mechanism requesting an increase in annual revenue of approximately $1.2 million or approximately 0.4 percent. The filing was effective November 1, 2022.
FERC
On September 1, 2022, Montana-Dakota filed an update to its transmission formula rate under the MISO tariff for its multi-value project and network upgrade charges for $15.4 million, which is effective January 1, 2023.