4. Significant Financial Hardship
Pursuant to § 1804(a)(2)(B), a NOI to claim compensation may include a showing that participation in the proceeding will pose a significant financial hardship to the customer. Section 1802(g) defines "significant financial hardship" to mean:
Either that the customer cannot afford, without undue hardship, to pay the costs of effective participation, including advocates fees, expert witness fees, and other reasonable costs of participation, or that, in the case of a group or organization, the economic interest of the individual members of the group or organization is small in comparison to the costs of effective participation in the proceeding.
CARE alleges that it can establish significant financial hardship under either criteria: (1) neither CARE as a group nor its individual members have the financial resources to pay the costs of effective participation in this proceeding, and (2) the weight of the estimated cost of participation at $72,000 against the economic interest of the individual ratepayers who make up CARE, tips in favor of the ratepayers. CARE claims that it is clear that it satisfies the requirements that effective participation in this proceeding will pose a significant financial hardship.
To further bolster its claim of significant financial hardship, CARE provided financial information on one of its members, Lynne Brown.2 In sum, it is clear from Mr. Brown's financial status that he could not fully participate in the Commission proceeding absent financial assistance from the intervenor compensation program. In addition, CARE provided financial information on its own financial situation.3 Basically, CARE's financial status also shows that the organization could not fully participate in a Commission proceeding without a significant financial burden absent the intervenor compensation program.
CARE presented information in its Supplemental NOI in A.02-09-043 that a typical residential electric bill for an individual CARE member was approximately $245 per month. When that amount is compared to the estimated amount of $72,000 for full participation in this proceeding, CARE has demonstrated that the economic interest of the individual members of CARE is small in comparison to the costs of effective participation in the proceeding.
2 CARE provided the financial statement of Lynne Brown, one of the customers that authorized CARE to represent him, in a Supplement to CARE's NOI in A. 02-09-043.
3 CARE provided its own bank statement for the months of December 2003 and 2004 in a Supplement to CARE's NOI in A. 02-09-043.
