Title: In re Central Vermont Public Corp.

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

In re Central Vermont Public Corp. (2005-287); 180 Vt. 563; 905 A.2d 616

2006 VT 70

[Filed 18-Jul-2006]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                                 2006 VT 70

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 2005-287

                             JANUARY TERM, 2006


  In re Appeal of Investigation        }         APPEALED FROM:
  into the Existing Rates of           }
  Central Vermont Public Service       }
  Corp. and Tariff Filing of Central   }
  Vermont Public Service Corp.         }         Public Service Board
                                       }  
                                       }
                                       }         DOCKET NO. PSB 6946 & 6988


             In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

       ¶  1.  In this appeal, Central Vermont Public Service Corporation
  (CVPS) asks this Court to review four aspects of the Public Service Board's
  May 29, 2005 order setting the company's rates.  We find no cause for
  reversal and thus affirm the Board's order.

       ¶  2.  A review of related past Board dockets is helpful in setting
  the context for the instant appeal.  In 2001, CVPS and the Department of
  Public Service settled the company's prior rate increase requests through a
  memorandum of understanding (MOU) that allowed CVPS to raise its rates by
  nearly four percent but set a cap on its rate of return and required the
  company to return to ratepayers any earnings above that cap in the years
  2001, 2002, and 2003.  The Board accepted the 2001 MOU to protect CVPS's
  economic viability while ensuring that the company would not profit
  unreasonably from the Board allowing rates over and above what normally
  would have been allowed through application of traditional ratemaking
  methodologies.  The parties later negotiated another MOU related to CVPS's
  sale of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Generating Station.  The Board approved
  the MOU subject to certain conditions.  When CVPS objected to the
  conditions, the Department asked the Board to investigate the company's
  rates.  CVPS then sought another rate increase, which caused the Board to
  open another docket and consolidate it with the previous one.  With respect
  to these dockets, the Board determined that calendar year 2003 would be the
  test year.  On May 29, 2005, following discovery, briefing, and two rounds
  of evidentiary hearings, the Board issued a 179-page final order.  The
  following month, the Board denied CVPS's motion for reconsideration.

       ¶  3.  On appeal, CVPS challenges four aspects of the Board's order,
  to which we apply a deferential standard of review.  Board orders directed
  at proper regulatory objectives enjoy a strong presumption of validity.  In
  re Citizens Utils. Co., 171 Vt. 447, 450,