NOTICE OF RATE CHANGE REQUEST
On December 30, 2016, as required by order of the
Public Utility Commission of Texas
(“PUCT” or “Commission”) in Docket No. 45414, Sharyland Utilities, L.P. (“Sharyland”) and Sharyland Distribution & Transmission Services, L.L.C. (“SDTS”) (collectively “Applicants”), regulated electric utility companies, filed an application with the PUCT titled Amended Application of Sharyland Utilities, L.P. and Sharyland Distribution & Transmission Services, L.L.C., Statement of Intent to Change Rates, and Request for Grant of a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity and Transfer of Certificate Rights (“Amended Application”).
The Amended Application requests: (1) the setting of new wholesale and retail rates that Sharyland will charge its customers; (2) the establishment of rates that SDTS will charge its only customer, Sharyland; and (3) the grant of a certificate of convenience and necessity (“CCN”) and transfer of CCN rights to SDTS. This proceeding is the first in which Sharyland’s rates will be set on a system-wide basis.
The Amended Application is based on a twelve-month test year ending December 31, 2015. The Amended Application supports an increase in Sharyland’s adjusted test-year retail base rate revenues of approximately $1.4 million or 1.4 percent, exclusive of riders. Sharyland’s system-wide costbased retail base rate revenue requirement is $101.2 million, plus an additional $2.23 million that Sharyland is seeking to recover on an annual basis through certain riders. This includes a proposal to recover $30 million for deferred costs associated with construction of the electric system in the McAllen division during its initial years of operation. As proposed, monthly delivery rates for an average residential customer consuming 1,333 kWh in the Stanton, Brady, and Celeste divisions will decrease by approximately $3.14 per month, exclusive of riders, but in McAllen and Mission they will increase by approximately $35.69 per month, exclusive of riders. The Amended Application also supports a total wholesale transmission cost of service of $147.6 million, plus an additional $3.7 million that Sharyland is seeking to recover on an annual basis through certain riders.
The Amended Application also supports a total revenue requirement for SDTS of approximately $170 million. SDTS’ proposed rates are lease payments that SDTS will charge only to Sharyland for leasing its transmission and distribution assets. In a new tariff for SDTS, separate rates will be provided for the leasing of transmission assets and for the leasing of distribution assets.
The Amended Application also requests that the PUCT grant a CCN to SDTS and transfer rights under Sharyland’s CCNs to SDTS authorizing SDTS to own transmission and distribution assets and lease those assets to Sharyland for the provision of electric service, along with any other rights as necessary. No new facilities are being sought in the Amended Application.
The Amended Application potentially affects all customers and classes of customers in Sharyland’s Stanton, Brady, Celeste, and McAllen divisions. The Amended Application also affects all customers taking service under Sharyland’s Tariff for Wholesale Transmission Service. In addition, the result could be a change in Sharyland’s transmission cost of service rates, which would impact all load serving entities in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The Applicants have proposed that the requested rates be made effective February 3, 2017.
A complete copy of the Amended Application is available for inspection at the following locations:
• Sharyland 1031 Andrews Highway, Suite 400 Midland, Texas 79701 -or- 807 Ross Avenue, Suite 460 Dallas, Texas 75201
• Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP 600 Congress Avenue, Suite 2000 Austin, Texas 78701
Persons who wish to intervene in or comment upon these proceedings should notify the Public Utility Commission of Texas (Commission) as soon as possible, as an intervention deadline will be imposed. A request to intervene or for further information should be mailed to the Public Utility Commission of Texas, P.O. Box 13326, Austin, Texas 78711 -3326. Further information may also be obtained by calling the Public Utility Commission at
(512) 936-7120
or
(888) 782-8477. Hearing- and speech impaired individuals with text telephones (TTY) may contact the commission through Relay Texas by dialing 7-1-1. The deadline for intervention in the proceeding is February 13, 2017.