Okla. Admin. Code § 165:5-7-61

Current through Vol. 42, No. 3, October 15, 2024

Section 165:5-7-61 - Procedures for causes filed pursuant to OAC 165:70

(a)Purpose. The purpose of this Section is to establish procedures regarding rate change causes filed on the Public Utility Docket pursuant to OAC 165:70 which will allow the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to fulfill its responsibility to process rate changes within the time prescribed by Title 17 O.S. (Supp. 1993) § 152 et seq.

(1) This Section shall apply to all parties to the proceeding, including the utility, the Commission Staff, the Attorney General and any intervening party of record.

(2) To the extent this Section conflicts with other Sections of the Commission's Rules of Practice, OAC 165:5, the procedures established in this Section shall control.

(b)Definitions. The definitions set forth in OAC 165:70-1-2 shall be deemed applicable to this Section.

(c)Intervening party requirement.

(1) The Commission Staff, the Attorney General and any intervening party of record shall conform their testimony and exhibits to the format set forth in OAC 165:70-5-4. A waiver of any requirements of Chapter 70 shall be obtained as outlined in OAC 165:70-3-6.

(2) Any interested person seeking to intervene pursuant to OAC 165:5-9-4 shall request permission to intervene no later than ninety (90) days following the filing date of the application for a general rate change. The filing or granting of any Motion to Intervene shall not be grounds to delay, continue or extend any hearing date, deadline or time limit set or to be set in a proceeding.

(3) If the Commission does not rule on a motion to intervene within twenty (20) days from the date the motion to intervene is filed, the motion to intervene shall be deemed to have been granted.

(d)Data requests/responses. Any party, including but not limited to the utility, the Commission Staff, the Attorney General and any other intervening party of record, shall answer, within ten (10) business days from the date of receipt, all data requests issued, unless an objection is filed or the parties agree in writing to a different response time. Any data requests received after 3:00 p.m. shall be deemed received the next regular business day.

(1) Data requests submitted by any party prior to the date of filing the application package shall be deemed received the date the application package is filed pursuant to OAC 165:70-3-1.

(2) A copy of all data requests and/or answers to data requests shall be submitted to all counsel of record by regular mail, facsimile, electronic mail or in person at the same time they are issued or answered.

(3) The party served with the data request shall notify the issuing party within five (5) business days of receipt of the requests that the ten (10) business day requirement or otherwise agreed-upon response time cannot be met and provide an explanation for the delay. The party served with the data request shall commit, at the time of such notification, to a response date.

(4) Any objection(s) relating to a data request or the date a response is to be provided shall be presented by the objecting party within five (5) business days of receipt of the data request. If the parties are unable to reach a resolution regarding the dispute within three (3) business days of the date of the objection, the objecting party shall file a written objection and a hearing on all such objections shall be set on the next Public Utility Motion Docket. It shall be the responsibility of the objecting party to notify the Commission or the Administrative Law Judge that the matter will appear on the Docket.

(e)General instructions regarding testimony and exhibits. The following instructions are applicable to all classes of utilities, the Commission Staff, the Attorney General and any intervening party of record who filed testimony and exhibits regarding a general rate change filed pursuant to OAC 165:70:

(1) All schedules and exhibits shall be mathematically correct and properly cross-referenced.

(2) All schedules and exhibits shall be designated as provided in 165:70-5-4.

(3) Headings on all schedules and exhibits shall clearly indicate the party's name, the nature and content of the schedule, the test period covered and the cause number.

(4) All schedules and exhibits shall be typed and/or clearly legible.

(f)Filing of responsive and rebuttal testimony, notice of major issues to be raised and oral surrebuttal.

(1) The Commission Staff, the Attorney General and any intervening party of record seeking to present evidence shall file responsive testimony and exhibits no later than the one hundred twentieth (120th) day subsequent to the filing date of the application for a general rate change. Any party seeking only to cross-examine witnesses shall file a statement of position no later than the one hundred twentieth (120th) day subsequent to the filing date of the application for a general rate change. At the time of filing testimony the Commission Staff, the Attorney General and any intervening party of record shall, upon request, provide a copy of the workpapers which support the recommendations contained in their testimony to the requesting party of record. The workpapers shall be organized and presented in the same format as required of the utility by Part 5 of OAC 165:70-5.

(2) If the utility elects to present rebuttal testimony, the rebuttal testimony shall be filed by the one hundred fortieth (140) day subsequent to the filing date of the application for a general rate change.

(3) A hearing on the merits shall commence no later than the one hundred fiftieth (150th) day subsequent to the date the application for a general rate change was filed pursuant to OAC 165:70-3-1.

(4) Parties filing direct testimony pursuant to this subsection (f) may present oral rebuttal testimony to any issue raised for the first time during the hearing. Parties filing responsive testimony pursuant to this subsection (f) may present oral surrebuttal.

(5) Nothing in this Section shall preclude the trier of fact from permitting parties who filed testimony to present oral surrebuttal regarding issues raised for the first time in oral testimony presented during the hearing, if deemed appropriate.

(g)Hearings regarding intervention, waiver of requirements, deficiencies, the confidentiality agreement and/or protective order. Any hearings regarding motions to intervene, disputes related to the Waiver of Requirements contained in OAC 165:70, Deficiencies, the Confidentiality Agreement and/or the need for a protective order shall be set before an Administrative Law Judge.

(h)Amending an application.

(1) A utility may not significantly amend an application for a general rate change filed pursuant to OAC 165:70 after it has been docketed by the OCC Court Clerk, except as provided in this subsection.

(2) An amendment may be accommodated by withdrawing the initial filing and substituting a new, amended filing in place of the original cause, which will establish a new filing date. An amended filing must conform to the requirements of OAC 165:70-5-1 and will be subject to the sanctions in OAC 165:70-5-2.

(3) For purposes of this Section, an amendment shall be deemed "significant" if it changes the test year, or if it requests more than a five percent (5%) increase in the previously requested revenue requirement, unless such changes are the result of arithmetical error or are mandated by law.

(4) A utility may incorporate a significant change without refiling an entirely new case by agreeing to restart the 180-day period. The new period would begin when the amended application is filed.

(i)Limitations on active applications for a general rate change.

(1) A utility may not have more than one active general rate change application pending before the Commission at any one time, unless the Commission has failed to issue a final order upon the first application within two hundred seventy (270) days of that application's filing date. This shall not prohibit the utility from filing a new application for a general rate change if the utility can show its financial integrity or service reliability is materially impacted during the period from the closing of the record to the time in which the Commission makes a final determination on an active rate application.

(2) A cause which has been remanded to the Commission by the Oklahoma Supreme Court after appellate review shall not be deemed an active general rate change application pursuant to this Section.

Okla. Admin. Code § 165:5-7-61

Added at 11 Ok Reg 3687, eff 7-11-94; Amended at 14 Ok Reg 2474, eff 7-1-97; Amended at 19 Ok Reg 1939, eff 7-1-02; Amended at 27 Ok Reg 2098, eff 7-11-10

Amended by Oklahome Register, Volume 33, Issue 23, August 15, 2016, eff. 8/25/2016

Amended by Oklahoma Register, Volume 37, Issue 24, September 1, 2020, eff. 10/1/2020