Cooperative Living July 2020 - 31

Virginia's Electric Cooperatives
NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING
CASE NO. PUR-2020-00023
On February 10, 2020, the Virginia, Maryland &
Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives
( " VMDAEC " or " Association " ) filed with the State
Corporation Commission ( " Commission " ) an Application
to Initiate a Rulemaking ( " Application " ) pursuant to
5 VAC 5-20-110 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and
Procedure ( " Rules of Practice " ). Specifically, VMDAEC
seeks a rulemaking to revise the Cooperative Streamlined
Rate Case Rules contained in 20 VAC 5-200-21(C) (the
" Streamlined Rate Case Rules " or " Streamlined Rules " ).
According to VMDAEC, these revisions would assist
electric cooperatives subject to regulation by this
Commission by making ratemaking proceedings more
efficient through the increased use of the Streamlined Rate
Case Rules outside of a general rate proceeding.
VMDAEC states that the Association has worked
through a collaborative process with various stakeholders
to propose the revisions, which would:
* Limit streamlined cooperative rate increases to 4% of
total operating revenues;
* Remove references to the Consumer Price Index
(CPI-U) for purposes of calculating rate change
minimums or maximums;
* Add a new and additional Times Interest Earned
Ratio (TIER) limit of 2.5 (or other appropriate
metrics), consistent with the Commission's history
of rate regulation for electric cooperatives;
* Allow for participation from member-consumers
affected by rate changes;
* Remove references in the current rules that would
limit use of the rules by the cooperatives in a period
of years from their last general rate case;
* Limit use of the Streamlined Rules to no more than
three (3) times in any ten (10) year period;
* Limit use of Streamlined Rules such that any such
rate change approved by the Commission would also
limit use of a cooperative's statutory authority,
limiting rate changes to once every three years
(absent other order of the Commission); and
* Make other miscellaneous updates to the
Streamlined Rules, including adding references to
websites and the use of electronic mail in addition
to traditional notification methods.
VIRGINIA'S ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES
Interested persons are encouraged to review
the Application for further details of the
Association's proposals.
Copies of the Application and the Order Establishing
Proceeding that the Commission entered in this case may
be obtained by submitting a written request to counsel for
the Association, Samuel R. Brumberg, Esquire, VMDAEC,
4201 Dominion Boulevard, Suite 101; Glen Allen, Virginia
23060, or via email to sbrumberg@vmdaec.com.
Copies of the Application and the proposed
Streamlined Rules also are available for interested
persons to review at the website of each Virginia
Electric Cooperative. Interested persons also
may download unofficial copies from the
Commission's website and the Association's website:
http://scc.virginia.gov/pages/Case-Information and
http://www.vmdaec.com/streamlined-rules/.
On or before September 7, any interested person
wishing to comment on the Association's Application
may comment on or propose modifications or
supplements to the Streamlined Rules by following
the instructions available at the Commission's website:
https://scc.virginia.gov/casecomments/Submit-PublicComments.
Refer to Case No. PUR-2020-00023.
Any person needing to hand deliver or physically
file or submit any pleading or other document may
need to contact the Clerk's Office Document Control
Center at (804) 371-9838 to arrange the delivery,
pursuant to the Commission's Rules of Practice,
as amended by the Commission's COVID-related
Revised Operating Procedures Order,
available at the Commission's website at:
http://scc.virginia.gov/pages/Case-Information and
https://scc.virginia.gov/docketsearch/DOCS/4lyc01!.PDF.
co-opliving.com
July 2020 | Cooperative Living | 29
http://scc.virginia.gov/pages/Case-Information http://www.vmdaec.com/streamlined-rules/ https://scc.virginia.gov/casecomments/Submit-Public http://scc.virginia.gov/pages/Case-Information https://scc.virginia.gov/docketsearch/DOCS/4lyc01!.PDF http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living July 2020

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