Background
PacifiCorp is a multi-jurisdictional utility that provides retail electric service to customers in California, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. According to the application, PacifiCorp serves approximately 45,000 customers in Del Norte, Modoc, Shasta, and Siskiyou counties in California.
PacifiCorp owns 10 percent of units three and four of the Colstrip generation plant located in Montana. The remainder of the Colstrip generation plant is owned by PPL-Montana, Puget Sound Energy, Avista, Northwestern Energy, and Portland General. Due to limited housing in the area for employees of the plant, the Colstrip township was developed. The owners of the plant, including PacifiCorp, own or owned many of the parcels of property located in the Colstrip Township. Most of these parcels are zoned for residential use, but a few parcels are zoned for commercial use, and one parcel is zoned for light industrial use. PacifiCorp and the other owners of the plant occasionally sell these parcels to individuals or businesses.
According to the application, approximately 85 residential lots, three commercial lots, and one light industrial lot are currently available for sale in the Colstrip Township. The application states that the value of the sale of individual lots ranges from approximately $5,000 to $100,000, with most transactions valued below $20,000. As a minority shareholder, PacifiCorp's share of the proceeds from these sales is approximately 10 percent.
PacifiCorp requests an exemption from Section 851's requirement for advance Commission approval of the sales of these properties. PacifiCorp states that unless an exemption is granted, PacifiCorp would need to file approximately 89 individual advice letters pursuant to Resolution ALJ-244 (as extended by Resolution ALJ-272) to request advance Commission approval of these sales pursuant to Section 851.2
In addition, according to the application, PacifiCorp found, upon review of its records, that between 1981 and the present, a number of parcels in the Colstrip Township were sold without prior Commission approval as required by Section 851. These sales occurred through a real estate broker, and PacifiCorp did not become aware of the sales until the closing process when, as an owner, PacifiCorp was required to sign the deeds. PacifiCorp is therefore also asking the Commission to exempt these past sales from the requirements of Section 851 pursuant to Section 853(b).
In support of the application for an exemption pursuant to Section 853(b), PacifiCorp explains that, as a minority owner of Colstrip units three and four, PacifiCorp does not actively negotiate the sales of these properties and usually is not notified of a sale until after the transaction closes, when PacifiCorp's signature on the deed is required to transfer title. PacifiCorp states that it does not control the sales, because the transactions can be approved by the other owners of the Colstrip plant without PacifiCorp's consent. Under these circumstances, PacifiCorp finds it difficult to comply with Section 851 by applying for advance Commission approval of these sales of property in the Colstrip Township.
According to the application, none of the properties which may be sold house PacifiCorp facilities used for the generation, transmission, or distribution of electric services, and these properties are not necessary for PacifiCorp to provide reliable utility service at reasonable rates to the public. All of these properties are located within the Colstrip Township and are intended to be used for Township development purposes.
PacifiCorp states that the sale of these properties has a minimal impact on its ratebase and does not require environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
2 Since the value of each sale will be less than $5 million, these transactions could generally be approved pursuant to the Commission's advice letter review process pursuant to Resolution ALJ-244 (as extended by Resolution ALJ-272), rather than through formal Section 851 applications.
