Colorado-Ute Elec. Ass'n, Inc. v. Public Utilities Com'n of State of Colo., COLORADO-UTE
| Decision Date | 11 July 1988 |
| Docket Number | 86SA246,Nos. 86SA244,COLORADO-UTE,s. 86SA244 |
| Citation | 760 P.2d 627 |
| Parties | ELECTRIC ASSOCIATION, INC.; Delta-Montrose Electric Association; Empire Electric Association, Inc.; Grand Valley Rural Power Lines, Inc.; Gunnison County Electric Association, Inc.; Holy Cross Electric Association, Inc.; Intermountain Rural Electric Association; La Plata Electric Association, Inc.; Sangre De Cristo Electric Association, Inc.; San Isabel Electric Association, Inc.; San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc.; San Miguel Power Association, Inc.; Southeast Colorado Power Association; White River Electric Association, Inc.; Yampa Valley Electric Association, Inc., Petitioners-Appellees, v. The PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF the STATE OF COLORADO; Shell Oil Company; Atlantic Richfield Company; Exxon Company, U.S.A.; City of Delta, Colorado, Respondents-Appellants. ATLANTIC RICHFIELD COMPANY and Exxon Corporation, Petitioners-Appellees, v. PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF the STATE OF COLORADO; Commissioners Edythe S. Miller, Ronald L. Lehr, as Successor to Former Commissioner Daniel E. Muse; Andra Schmidt, as Successor to Former Commissioner Clarence Raymond Clark, III, Respondents-Appellants, and Colorado-Ute Electric Association, Inc., Respondent-Appellee.ELECTRIC ASSOCIATION, INC.; Delta-Montrose Electric Association; Empire Electric Association, Inc.; Grand Valley Rural Power Lines, Inc.; Gunnison County Electric Association, Inc.; Holy Cross Electric Association, Inc.; Intermountain Rural Electric Association; La Plata Electric Association, Inc.; Sangre De Cristo Electric Association, Inc.; San Isabel Electric Association, Inc.; San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc.; San Miguel Power Association, Inc.; Southeast Colorado Power Association; White River Electric Association, Inc.; Yampa Valley Electric Association, Inc., Petitioners-Appellees, v. The PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF the STATE OF COLORADO; Atlantic Richfield Company; Exxon Corporation; Shell Western E & P, Inc., Respondents- Appellants. ATLANTIC RICHFIELD COMPANY and Exxon |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Robert T. James, Colorado Springs, for Delta-Montrose Elec. Ass'n, Grand Valley Rural Power Lines, Inc., Gunnison County Elec. Ass'n, Inc., Holy Cross Elec. Ass'n, Inc., Intermountain Rural Elec. Ass'n, La Plata Elec. Ass'n, Inc., Sangre De Cristo Elec. Ass'n, Inc., San Isabel Elec. Ass'n, Inc., San Luis Valley Rural Elec. Co-op., Inc., White River Electric Ass'n, Inc., Yampa Valley Elec. Ass'n, Inc.
Gorsuch, Kirgis, Campbell, Walker & Grover, William Hamilton McEwan, Joseph B. Wilson, Denver, for Empire Electric Association, Inc.,
Carol A. Curran, John R. McNeill, Montrose, for Colorado-Ute Elec. Ass'n, Inc.
Holland & Hart, Robert M. Pomeroy, Jr., Timothy M. Rastello, Marcy G. Glenn, Denver, for Atlantic Richfield Co. and Exxon Corp.
Jones, Meiklejohn, Kehl & Lyons, Edward T. Lyons, Jr., Denver, for Shell Western E & P, Inc. Duane Woodard, Atty. Gen., Charles B. Howe, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Richard H. Forman, Sol. Gen., Eugene Cavaliere, Deputy Atty. Gen., Denver, for Public Utilities Com'n of the State of Colo.
These two cases concern a judgment of the Montrose County District Court which set aside orders promulgated by the Public Utilities Commission of Colorado (PUC or Commission) involving the design of electric power rates to be charged by Colorado-Ute Electric Association (Colo-Ute).
We reject Colo-Ute's claim that this appeal is moot. We further hold, contrary to the district court's order, that the PUC possessed statutory authority to determine whether the tariffs filed by Colo-Ute were just and reasonable. Moreover, the PUC's order that Colo-Ute's proposed all-energy rate should be replaced by a seasonally-differentiated demand-energy rate is supported by adequate findings of fact and substantial evidence. We do, however, affirm the ruling of the district court setting aside that portion of the PUC's order which allocated $24,084,126 of generation fixed costs to the energy component of the demand-energy rate design. Accordingly, we reverse in part, affirm in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Colo-Ute generates and transmits electrical power on a wholesale basis to 14 member rural electrical cooperatives (co-ops), which in turn market the electrical power on a retail basis to electrical consumers. The co-ops are consumer owned and have representatives on the board of directors of Colo-Ute, a non-profit corporation.
In December 1981, Colo-Ute filed Advice Letter No. 45 with the PUC. The purpose of the filing was to increase Colo-Ute's wholesale electric power rates and thus increase annual revenue from the co-ops by approximately $11,120,603. At the time Advice Letter No. 45 was filed, Colo-Ute's pricing scheme for its member co-ops was on a "flat" or "all-energy" rate basis. 1 This pricing method had been approved by the PUC in February 1981. To reach its desired revenue increase, Colo-Ute proposed increasing its all-energy rate by a uniform 12.157 percent.
A revised rate schedule became effective on January 15, 1982. As a result of a statutory provision adopted by the legislature in 1981, which is central to a resolution of the jurisdictional issue in this case, the Commission is without authority to suspend the effective date of tariff changes filed by cooperative electric associations. See § 40-6-111(4)(a), 17 C.R.S. (1984). The PUC, assuming that this statutory provision relating to suspension had no effect on its authority to investigate rate filings, on January 12, 1982, initiated Case No. 6076 for the purpose of investigating the reasonableness of the tariffs filed by Colo-Ute, and set the matter for hearing.
A number of parties intervened and participated in Case No. 6076. Intervening parties included the co-ops, as well as customers of the co-ops: Union Carbide Corporation, Shell Oil Company, Exxon Company, USA (Exxon), Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), and the City of Delta, Colorado. At the hearings, Colo-Ute and some of the co-ops presented evidence both in support of the revenue increase and in the continued use of a flat or all-energy rate. The PUC's staff offered evidence generally supporting a revenue increase, but recommended abandoning the continued use of the all-energy rate, which the staff asserted was not "cost tracking," and therefore, no longer appropriate for Colo-Ute. 2 In its place, the staff recommended a seasonally-differentiated demand-energy rate. 3 The intervening customers concurred in the recommendations of the Commission's staff.
The Commission approved the revenue increase sought by Colo-Ute. However, it disapproved the continued use of the all-energy rate, and ordered Colo-Ute to file "demand energy rates for its wholesale electric customers with seasonally differentiated demand charges and an annualized energy [charge] on a uniform kwh basis." Decision No. C83-1176.
Intervenors ARCO and Exxon, while in general agreement with the PUC's ultimate findings regarding the revenue increase and the substitution of the demand-energy rate, objected to that part of the PUC's decision which allocated over $24 million in generation fixed or demand costs to the energy component of the demand-energy rate design. Thereupon, ARCO, Exxon, Colo-Ute, and the co-ops filed applications for rehearing, reargument, and reconsideration. In Decision No. C83-1392, the Commission denied the application of Colo-Ute and the co-ops and granted the application of ARCO and Exxon in part. Decision No. C83-1176 was modified as a result, but such modifications are not at issue. 4
Colo-Ute and the co-ops sought judicial review in the Montrose County District Court. The appeal was assigned Case No. 83CV218. They challenged the authority of the PUC to commence an investigation concerning the rate increase on its own motion. They also claimed that the Commission's orders with respect to rate design were arbitrary, capricious, unconstitutional, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with the law and the evidence. Finally, they moved for a stay or suspension of the Commission's decisions, pending final determination by the district court of their challenge. This motion was granted.
ARCO and Exxon sought judicial review in the Denver District Court of that portion of the PUC's decisions which allegedly had misclassified certain demand costs as energy costs. Given the similarities of the parties in the Denver and Montrose District Court actions, and the presence of common questions, the Denver District Court ordered the case transferred to the Montrose District Court, pursuant to C.R.C.P. 98(f)(1), where it was assigned Case No. 84CV7. Subsequently, the court consolidated the two cases for hearing. The only issue in Case No. 84CV7 concerns the PUC's decision to shift substantial demand costs onto the energy portion of the demand-energy rate.
With respect to Colo-Ute's claims in Case No. 83CV218, the district court held, inter alia, that: (1) The...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Turney v. Civil Service Com'n, No. 08CA0215.
...in non-deadly force encounters. These facts, as found by the hearing officer, are entitled to deference. Colorado-Ute Elec. Ass'n v. Pub. Utils. Comm'n, 760 P.2d 627, 640 (Colo.1988). The phrase "highest standards of safety and efficiency" is not independently capable of specific, objective......
-
Dempsey v. Romer, 91SA9
...has become moot. Consumer Counsel v. Mountain States Tel. & Tel. Co., 816 P.2d 278, 281 n. 5 (Colo.1991); Colorado-Ute Elec. v. Public Utils. Comm'n, 760 P.2d 627, 633 (Colo.1988); Bestway Disposal v. Public Utils. Comm'n, 184 Colo. 428, 520 P.2d 1039, 1040 (1974). The questions raised here......
-
Committee for Better Health Care for All Colorado Citizens by Schrier v. Meyer
...legislative standards to particular administrative proceedings is neither arbitrary nor capricious. Colorado-Ute Elec. Ass'n, Inc. v. Public Utils. Comm'n, 760 P.2d 627 (Colo.1988); Kaiser v. Wright, 629 P.2d 581 (Colo.1981); Bennett v. Price, 167 Colo. 168, 446 P.2d 419 (1968). However, in......
-
Romer v. Colorado General Assembly, 90SC36
...appropriations bill is an annual process and is therefore "capable of repetition, yet evading review." Colorado-Ute Elec. Ass'n v. Public Utils. Comm'n, 760 P.2d 627, 633 (Colo.1988). Not only is this particular dispute between the Governor and the legislature capable of recurring, it also ......