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Regulatory Matters | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2015
Regulated Operations [Abstract] |
Regulatory matters | Regulatory Matters On March 31, 2015, Cascade filed an application with the OPUC for a natural gas rate increase. Cascade requested a total increase of approximately $3.6 million annually or approximately 5.1 percent above current rates. The requested increase includes the costs associated with the increased investment in facilities, including ongoing investment in new and replacement distribution facilities and the associated operation and maintenance expenses, depreciation and taxes associated with the increase in investment, as well as environmental remediation expenses. On November 2, 2015, Cascade, staff of the OPUC, the Citizens' Utility Board of Oregon and the Northwest Industrial Gas Users filed a settlement agreement that resolved all issues of the application and reflected a natural gas rate increase of approximately $600,000 annually or approximately .8 percent, to be effective February 1, 2016. The OPUC issued an order on December 28, 2015, accepting the settlement. On June 25, 2015, Montana-Dakota filed an application for an electric rate increase with the MTPSC. Montana-Dakota requested a total increase of approximately $11.8 million annually or approximately 21.1 percent above current rates. The increase is necessary to recover Montana-Dakota’s investments in modifications to generation facilities to comply with new EPA requirements, the addition and/or replacement of capacity and energy requirements and transmission facilities along with the additional depreciation, operation and maintenance expenses and taxes associated with the increases in investment. Montana-Dakota requested an interim increase of approximately $11.0 million annually. The MTPSC denied the request for interim rates on December 15, 2015. On February 8, 2016, Montana-Dakota and the interveners to the case filed a stipulation and settlement agreement reflecting an annual increase of $3.0 million effective April 1, 2016, and an additional increase of $4.4 million effective April 1, 2017. A technical hearing was held February 9, 2016. This matter is pending before the MTPSC. On June 30, 2015, Montana-Dakota filed an application with the SDPUC for an electric rate increase. Montana-Dakota requested a total increase of approximately $2.7 million annually or approximately 19.2 percent above current rates. The increase is necessary to recover Montana-Dakota’s investments in modifications to generation facilities to comply with new EPA requirements, the addition and/or replacement of capacity and energy requirements and transmission facilities along with the additional depreciation, operation and maintenance expenses and taxes associated with the increases in investment. This matter is pending before the SDPUC. An interim increase of $2.7 million, subject to refund, was implemented January 1, 2016. A hearing is scheduled for the week of April 11, 2016. On June 30, 2015, Montana-Dakota filed an application for a natural gas rate increase with the SDPUC. Montana-Dakota requested a total increase of approximately $1.5 million annually or approximately 3.1 percent above current rates. The increase is necessary to recover increased operating expenses along with increased investment in facilities, including the related depreciation expense and taxes, partially offset by an increase in customers and throughput. This matter is pending before the SDPUC. An interim increase of $1.5 million, subject to refund, was implemented January 1, 2016. A hearing is scheduled for April 4, 2016. On September 1, 2015, and as amended on October 5, 2015, Montana-Dakota submitted an update to its transmission formula rate under the MISO tariff including a revenue requirement for the Company’s multivalue project of $3.8 million, which was effective January 1, 2016. On September 30, 2015, Great Plains filed an application for a natural gas rate increase with the MNPUC. Great Plains requested a total increase of approximately $1.6 million annually or approximately 6.4 percent above current rates. The increase is necessary to recover increased operating expenses along with increased investment in facilities, including the related depreciation expense and taxes. Great Plains requested an interim increase of $1.5 million or approximately 6.4 percent, subject to refund. The interim request was approved by the MNPUC on November 30, 2015, and was effective with service rendered on and after January 1, 2016. This matter is pending before the MNPUC. A technical hearing is scheduled for April 7 and 8, 2016. On October 21, 2015, Montana-Dakota filed an application with the NDPSC for an update of an electric generation resource recovery rider and requested a renewable resource cost adjustment rider. Montana-Dakota requested a combined total of approximately $25.3 million with approximately $20.0 million incremental to current rates, to be effective January 1, 2016. This application was resubmitted as two applications on October 26, 2015. On October 26, 2015, Montana-Dakota filed an application requesting a renewable resource cost adjustment rider of $15.4 million for the recovery of the Thunder Spirit Wind project, placed in service in the fourth quarter of 2015. A settlement was reached with the NDPSC Advocacy Staff whereby Montana-Dakota agreed to a 10.5 percent return on equity on the renewable resource cost adjustment rider, as well as committed to file an electric general rate case no later than September 30, 2016. The renewable resource cost adjustment rider was approved by the NDPSC on January 5, 2016, to be effective January 7, 2016, resulting in an annual increase of $15.1 million on an interim basis pending the determination of the return on equity in the upcoming rate case. On October 26, 2015, Montana-Dakota filed an application for an update to the electric generation resource recovery rider, which currently includes recovery of Montana-Dakota's investment in the 88-MW simple-cycle natural gas turbine and associated facilities near Mandan, North Dakota. The application proposed to also include the 19 MW of new generation from natural gas-fired internal combustion engines and associated facilities, near Sidney, Montana, placed in service in the fourth quarter of 2015, for a total of $9.9 million or an incremental increase of $4.6 million to be recovered under the rider. On January 25, 2016, Montana-Dakota and the NDPSC Advocacy Staff filed a settlement agreement. If approved by the NDPSC, the settlement would result in an interim increase of $9.7 million or an incremental increase of $4.4 million, subject to refund, a 10.5 percent return on equity and Montana-Dakota would commit to filing an electric general rate case no later than September 30, 2016. A technical hearing on this matter was held on February 4, 2016. On November 25, 2015, Montana-Dakota filed an application with the NDPSC for an update of its transmission cost adjustment for recovery of MISO-related charges and two transmission projects located in North Dakota, equating to $6.8 million to be collected under the transmission cost adjustment. An update to the transmission cost adjustment was submitted on January 19, 2016, to reflect the provisions of the settlement agreement approved by the NDPSC for the renewable resource cost adjustment rider. An informal hearing with the NDPSC was held January 20, 2016, regarding this matter. The NDPSC approved the filing on February 10, 2016, with rates to be effective February 12, 2016. On December 1, 2015, Cascade filed an application with the WUTC for a natural gas rate increase. Cascade requested a total increase of approximately $10.5 million annually or approximately 4.2 percent above current rates. The requested increase includes costs associated with increased infrastructure investment and the associated operating expenses. The filing is pending before the WUTC. The natural gas rate increase is expected to be effective November 1, 2016. A hearing on this matter has been scheduled to begin August 2, 2016.

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