6. Productivity

D.98-04-059 directed customers to demonstrate productivity by assigning a reasonable dollar value to the benefits of their participation to ratepayers. The costs of a customer's participation should bear a reasonable relationship to the benefits realized through their participation. This showing assists us in determining the overall reasonableness of the request.

As is often the case, it is difficult to determine a dollar value to the work undertaken by intervenors in this proceeding. Much of the work of the intervenors relates to long-term policy issues with the potential of millions of dollars of ratepayer savings. However, GPI clearly contributed materially to each of the decisions for which they now seek compensation and significantly advanced our thinking on the important legal, technical, and policy questions we addressed in those decisions. We therefore find that GPI's work was productive.