E-Docketed. September 11, 2014

Transcription

1 Randall L. Speck office The McPherson Building 901 Fifteenth Street, NW Washington, DC main fax E-Docketed September 11, 2014 Ms. Brinda Westbrook-Sedgwick Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia 1333 H Street, NW 2nd Floor, West Tower Washington, D.C Re: Formal Case No In the Matter of the Joint Application of Exelon Corporation, Pepco Holdings, Inc., Potomac Electric Power Company, Exelon Energy Delivery Company, LLC, and New Special Purpose Entity, LLC for Authorization and Approval of Proposed Merger Transaction Dear Ms.Westbrook-Sedgwick: Enclosed for electronic filing are the Comments of DC SUN Supporting the District of Columbia Government s Motion for Revision of Procedural Schedule. Pursuant to the Commission s rule , we are sending the original and 15 copies to the Commission via hand delivery. If you have any questions regarding this filing, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, /s/ Randall L. Speck Randall L. Speck cc: Service List

2 BEFORE THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IN THE MATTER OF THE MERGER OF EXELON CORPORATION, PEPCO HOLDINGS, INC., POTOMAC ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY, EXELON ENERGY DELIVERY COMPNAY, LLC AND NEW SPECIAL PURPOSE ENTITY LLC Formal Case No COMMENTS OF DC SUN SUPPORTING THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GOVERNMENT S MOTION FOR REVISION OF PROCEDURAL SCHEDULE Pursuant to Rule of the Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia (the Commission, DC Solar United Neighborhoods ( DC SUN submits these brief comments supporting the District of Columbia Government s motion requesting the Commission to enlarge two key periods in the procedural schedule by 30 days. 1 In Order No , the Commission made several enhancements to the public interest factors that it will apply to evaluate Joint Applicants proposed merger transaction. In particular, the Commission established a new factor providing for consideration of the conservation of natural resources and preservation of environmental quality. See Order No at 124. DC SUN 1 Motion of the District of Columbia Government for Revision of Procedural Schedule Announced in Order No (filed Sept. 8, Neither the Commission s procedural schedule nor the DC Government s proposed procedural schedule sets dates for the Community Hearings. DC SUN urges the Commission to notice the dates of these meetings as soon as possible.

3 is actively engaged in promoting distributed solar energy in the District and applauds the Commission s decision to incorporate resource conservation and environmental quality into its evaluation of the proposed transaction. This additional factor enlarges the scope of the proceeding, and permits the Commission to consider Exelon s commitments to energy efficiency and renewable resources, like solar, for the benefit of District residents and businesses. As the DC Government correctly points out, however, these changes will require additional case preparation for interested parties like DC SUN. Because Joint Applicants have to-date provided no information about how the proposed merger will affect the conservation of natural resources and preservation of environmental quality for District electric customers, this issue will be addressed for the first time when Joint Applicants file their Supplemental Direct Testimony on September 19. The procedural schedule set by Order No , however, would give DC SUN only a narrow window of time to analyze Joint Applicants position on conservation and environmental quality, to conduct necessary discovery, and to develop their direct case. Under the compressed procedural schedule set by Order No , DC SUN has only five business days to analyze the Joint Applicants response and prepare discovery. Then, after receiving Joint Applicants responses, DC SUN has a bare six business days to prepare its direct case. This schedule improbably assumes no discovery disputes or production delays and allows no reasonable opportunity to conduct depositions as provided under Rule The DC 2 Indeed, Rule requires that any motion to take a deposition be filed no less than ten days before the proposed date for taking the deposition, thereby effectively precluding 2

4 Government correctly points out in its motion that the OPC and intervenors will be unable to incorporate follow-on discovery in their direct case because Joint Applicants production obligation on follow-up discovery falls on a date after intervenors direct testimony is to be filed with the Commission. DC SUN agrees with the DC Government that the timing between Joint Applicants filing of rebuttal testimony and the close of discovery also limits the time available to it and other intervenors for evaluation of the Joint Applicants rebuttal testimony. If Joint Applicants raise new issues for the first time on rebuttal as is likely to be the case, given the addition for the first time of a heretofore undefined resource conservation and environmental quality criterion for evaluation of the proposed transaction the compressed schedule will be especially prejudicial to DC SUN. DC SUN respectfully requests that the Commission revise the procedural schedule as proposed by the DC Government. This schedule better serves the Commission s intention to allow for ample discussion and deliberation of the proposed merger (Order No at 135 by providing interested parties like DC SUN the time and access to follow-on discovery that is necessary to reasonably develop their case. depositions of Exelon or Pepco witnesses before intervenors must file their direct testimony under Order s procedural schedule. 3

5 Date: Sept. 11, 2014 Respectfully submitted, /s/ Randall L. Speck Randall L. Speck D.C. Bar No Kimberly Frank D.C. Bar No KAYE SCHOLER LLP 901 Fifteenth Street, NW Washington, DC ( ATTORNEYS FOR DC SUN 4

6 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE Formal Case No I hereby certify on this 11th day of September, 2014, the attached Comments Supporting DCG Motion on Procedural Schedule was filed electronically on behalf of the DC SUN in Formal Case No and an original and fifteen (15 copies of the above Notice was sent by hand delivery to Brinda Westbrook- Sedgwick, Commission Secretary, District of Columbia Public Service Commission, 1333 H Street, N.W., 2 nd Floor, West Tower, Washington, D.C , and copies were either hand-delivered, ed, or mailed, first-class, postage prepaid, to the service list. Sandra Mattavous-Frye, Esq. Office of the People s Counsel th Street, NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC smfrye@opc-dc.gov Richard D. Beverly, Esq. Office of General Counsel D.C. Public Service Commission 1333 H Street, N.W., 7 th Floor East Tower Washington, D.C rbeverly@psc.dc.gov Olivia Wein On behalf of NCLC/NHT/NHT-Enterprise 1001 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste. 300 Washington, DC owein@nclc.org Larry Martin GRID Blagden Ave., NW Washington, DC lmartindc@gmail.com Richard M. Lorenzo Loeb & Loeb LLP 345 Park Avenue New York, NY rlorenzo@loeb.com Jeffrey W. Mayes Monitoring Analytics, LLC 2621 Van Buren Avenue, Suite 160 Eagleville, PA jeffrey.mayes@monitoringanalytics. com Abraham Silverman NRG Energy, Inc. 211 Carnegie Center Drive Princeton, NJ abe.silverman@nrgenergy.com Dennis Goins Potomac Management Group P.O. Box Alexandria, VA dgoinspmg@verizon.net Brian R. Caldwell The District of Columbia Government th Street, NW, Suite 600-S Washington, DC Brian.caldwell@dc.gov Leonard E. Lucas III The United States General Services Administration 1800 F Street NW 2 nd Floor Washington, DC Leonard.lucs@gsa.gov

7 Frann G. Francis, Esq. Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington th Street, N.W. Suite 300 Washington, D.C Randy E. Hayman, Esq. DC Water and Sewer Authority 5000 Overlook Avenue, SW Washington, DC Brian R. Greene GreeneHurlocker, PLC 707 East Main Street, Suite 1025 Richmond, VA Date: Sept. 11, 2014 Respectfully submitted, /s/ Randall L. Speck Randall L. Speck D.C. Bar No KAYE SCHOLER LLP 901 Fifteenth Street, NW Washington, DC ( ATTORNEY FOR DC SUN