FortisBC Inc. (FortisBC) Application for a Certificate of Public ...

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Response:
FortisBC Inc. (FortisBC or the Company)
Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity
for the Advanced Metering Infrastructure Project
Response to British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC or the Commission)
Information Request (IR) No. 1
92.2 Provide the current reconnection charge.
Submission Date:
October 5, 2012
Page 222
There are three different reconnection charges depending on the time of day a customer is
reconnected.
The charge for Normal working hours is $100.00. The charge for Overtime hours is $132.00
and the charge for Callout hours is $339.00.
Response:
92.2.1 Will FortisBC be reducing the reconnection charge considering the ability
of the AMI reconnect feature? If not, please explain why not.
Once the AMI project is completed, the marginal cost of a remote reconnection is likely to be
less than $10, meaning that in theory the reconnection fee could be dropped substantially.
However, FortisBC proposes to maintain the current reconnection charge until the next COSA in
order to better understand all costs associated with the new processes.
The reconnection charge also deters disconnections, the costs of which are borne by all
customers. Although disconnection process costs would go down with the AMI project, there are
still related costs such as site visits for 50% of vacant sites and 100% of non-pay sites (Exhibit
B-1, Section 5.3.3, p60) and the contact centre processes related to non-pay disconnects.
93.0 Reference: Project Costs and Benefits
Exhibit B-1, Tab 5.0, Section 5.3.5
Meter Exchange Costs Post-AMI
“The AMI Project will result in the replacement of nearly all existing meters with new AMI
enabled meters. This will avoid operating costs that would have been incurred sampling
and retesting meters for six years after meter deployment. After year six, the cost of
meter exchanges is expected to begin returning to the pre-AMI deployment levels.”