Orders

ORDER NUMBER

G-18-25

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

and

Corix Burnaby Mountain DE Limited Partnership

Compliance Filing for Orders G-321-24 and G-348-24

BEFORE:

W. E. Royle, Commissioner

on January 28, 2025

ORDER

WHEREAS:

A.      On January 20, 2025, Corix Burnaby Mountain DE Limited Partnership (Corix) submitted a compliance filing to the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC), in accordance with Orders G-321-24 and G-348-24, requesting acceptance of permanent rates, approval of a rate rider proposal, and endorsement of tariff pages by January 31, 2025 (Compliance Filing);

B.      On November 29, 2024, the BCUC issued Decision and Order G-321-24 on Stage 2 of the Generic Cost of Capital (GCOC) proceeding (GCOC Stage 2 Decision), which established Corix’s deemed equity component at 49 percent and an allowed return on equity of 10.4 percent, effective January 1, 2024. The GCOC Stage 2 Decision also directed Corix to establish a GCOC Variance Deferral Account to record the variance between the previously approved 2024 interim rates and the revised rates reflecting the new cost of capital for the UniverCity customer group (UniverCity), and considered a one-time bill adjustment to be reasonable for the Simon Fraser University customer group (SFU), to address the variance between the interim and the revised 2024 rates;

C.      On December 19, 2024, the BCUC issued Decision and Order G-348-24 in the matter of the Corix Burnaby Mountain District Energy Utility (BMDEU) 2024-2025 Revenue Requirements and Rates application (Corix BMDEU 2024-2025 RRRA), which noted the determinations in GCOC Stage 2 Decision and approved the Basic Charge ($/square metre [m²]/month) of $1.3672 and $1.4903, effective March 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025, respectively, on a permanent basis, for UniverCity. The BCUC also approved Capacity, Consumption, and Availability charges for service to SFU on a permanent basis, effective March 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025, subject to the compliance filing directives as set out in the GCOC Stage 2 Decision;

D.      In the Compliance Filing, Corix seeks the following:

                     i.            Confirmation of the revised revenue requirements for SFU and UniverCity for 2024 and 2025, as presented in Schedule 2 of Appendix A to the Compliance Filing, based on the updated cost of capital components;

                   ii.            Acceptance of the permanent rates, which, for UniverCity, consists of a Basic Charge ($/m²/month) of $1.3672 and $1.5906, effective March 1, 2024 and January 1, 2025, respectively, and for SFU, consists of the following:

                 iii.            Acceptance to recover the 2024 variance between the interim and the final cost of capital parameters applicable to SFU through a one-time debit bill adjustment of $82,200, before taxes;

                 iv.            Approval to amortize the 2024 balance of $262,930 in the UniverCity GCOC Variance Deferral Account over a twelve-month period from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026 through a UniverCity Rate Rider 1 set at $0.1386/m²/month;

                   v.            Approval to record any variance between the revenue collected from the UniverCity Rate Rider 1 and the UniverCity GCOC Variance Deferral Account balance as at March 31, 2026, in the UniverCity Revenue Deficiency Deferral Account; and

                 vi.            Acceptance and endorsement of the updated rate schedule for UniverCity in Appendix C and the updated tariff supplement pages for SFU in Appendix E, reflecting the requests above; and

E.       The BCUC has reviewed the Compliance Filing and considers that the proposed permanent rates, revised revenue requirements, and one-time bill adjustment are consistent with Orders G-321-24 and G-348-24. The BCUC determines that establishing a regulatory timetable for the review of Corix’s requests for UniverCity Rate Rider 1 and its variance treatment is warranted.

NOW THEREFORE pursuant to sections 59 to 61 and 99 of the Utilities Commission Act, the BCUC orders as follows:

1.       Directive 1a of Order G-348-24 is varied to read as follows:

1.       For UniverCity, Corix is approved to implement the following:

a.       The monthly Basic Charge ($/m²/month) of $1.3672 and $1.5906, effective March 1, 2024 and January 1, 2025, respectively, on a permanent basis.

2.       For SFU, the following Capacity, Consumption, and Availability charges are approved on a permanent basis, as set out below:

3.       For SFU, a one-time debit bill adjustment of $82,200, before taxes, is approved to account for the difference between the interim and final cost of capital parameters applicable to SFU in compliance with Order G-321-24.

4.       A regulatory timetable as set out in Appendix A to this order is established for the review of the following approvals sought by Corix:

                     i.            Approval to amortize the 2024 balance of $262,930 in the UniverCity GCOC Variance Deferral Account over a twelve-month period from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026 through a UniverCity Rate Rider 1 set at $0.1386/m²/month; and

                   ii.            Approval to record any variance between the revenue collected from the UniverCity Rate Rider 1 and the UniverCity GCOC Variance Deferral Account balance as at March 31, 2026 in the UniverCity Revenue Deficiency Deferral Account.

5.       On or before Tuesday, February 4, 2025, Corix is directed to:

                     i.            Provide a copy of this order and the Public Notice, attached as Appendix B to this order, electronically where possible, to all Corix customers and registered interveners in the Corix BMDEU 2024–2025 RRRA proceeding;

                   ii.            Request each UniverCity customer to post the Public Notice, attached as Appendix B to this order, on major notice boards of the customer’s buildings served by Corix and request each customer to provide confirmation of this posting to Corix; and

                 iii.            Provide notice of the Compliance Filing and this order, or post the Public Notice attached as Appendix B to this order, on its website and its existing social media platforms.

6.       Corix is directed to provide confirmation of compliance with the public notice requirements set out in Directive 5, including a list of all parties notified and a list of social media platforms on which the Public Notice was posted, in accordance with the regulatory timetable.

7.       Corix is directed to amend the proposed rate schedule filed in Appendix C of the Compliance Filing to remove Rate Rider 1. Corix is directed to file the amended rate schedule with the BCUC for endorsement by Tuesday, February 4, 2025.

8.       The updated tariff supplement pages for SFU in Appendix E of the Compliance Filing are accepted.

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this          28^th          day of January 2025.

BY ORDER

Electronically signed by Wendy Royle

W. E. Royle

Commissioner

Attachment

Corix Burnaby Mountain DE Limited Partnership

Compliance Filing for Orders G-321-24 and G-348-24

Corix Burnaby Mountain DE Limited Partnership – Review of UniverCity Rate Rider

On January 20, 2025, Corix Burnaby Mountain DE Limited Partnership (Corix) submitted a compliance filing and requests permanent rates for customers of the Burnaby Mountain District Energy Utility (UniverCity and Simon Fraser University) and approval of a 12-month rate rider for UniverCity, among other matters. The BCUC established permanent rates for March 1, 2024 and January 1, 2025, updated in accordance with Corix’s new allowed return in the BCUC’s Generic Cost of Capital proceeding and the Corix Burnaby Mountain District Energy Utility 2024–2025 Revenue Requirements and Rates proceeding.

The BCUC started a review of Corix’s compliance filing, which includes a request to recover $262,930 from UniverCity customers to adjust for the difference in Corix’s allowed return in 2024. Corix proposes a UniverCity rate rider of $0.1386 per square metre per month over a 12-month period starting on April 1, 2025 until March 31, 2026.

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