Laserfiche WebLink
ORDER NO. PSC -2021 -0421 -PAA -EG <br />DOCKET NO. 20210132 -EG <br />PAGE 8 <br />FPL contended that roughly $18.5 million of the asset balance is related to installed equipment, <br />and that such equipment will remain in place after the program is closed. FPL expected no <br />salvage value related to the plant in service or inventory when the Energy Select Program is <br />terminated. We agree that the creation of a regulatory asset in the amount of $22.7 million is <br />appropriate and is approved. <br />FPL proposed the amortization period of 12 years for the recovery of the regulatory asset <br />because that time frame approximates the currently -authorized depreciation rate for FERC <br />Account 370, which is 7.9 percent .7 The Company indicated that the 12 -year recovery period <br />was the only interval that FPL considered. We note that a 12 -year recovery period through the <br />ECCR clause factors adds about $1.9 million dollars per year in projected costs to the ECCR <br />clause, or about $0.01 on the recovery factor for the bill of a residential customer using 1,000 <br />kWh of electricity. <br />We considered the proposed 12 -year recovery period in comparison to other actions we <br />have taken in prior circumstances of Gulf's retiring minor assets. In 2010, we established a <br />Capital Recovery Schedule over a 4 -year period for assets primarily recorded in plant Account <br />370 — Meters and Meter Accessories.' At page 3 in the order issued in that case, we stated "we <br />hereby approve recovery periods tailored to the remaining period the related equipment is <br />planned by the Company to be in service." In the referenced case, the assets being retired were <br />AMI meters, which had a remaining life of 25 years. In the instant case, we find that our earlier <br />decision to create a capital recovery schedule for accrual of the unrecovered book value in <br />Account 370 over a 4 -year period supports a shorter recovery period than 12 years for the <br />retiring Gulf's Energy Select assets. <br />We also find that a 5 -year recovery through the ECCR would add about $4.5 million <br />dollars per year in projected costs, and the recovery factor for this amount over a 5 -year time <br />increment would add about $0.03 to the bill of a residential customer using 1,000 kWh of <br />electricity. We find the incremental impact of $0.03 to a residential 1,000 kWh bill for a 5 -year <br />recovery period versus a $0.01 amount for a 12 -year recovery period would impose a minimal <br />impact on customers, address the regulatory asset balance in a relatively short period of time, and <br />provide a better timing match of expenses incurred and benefits (service) received. We have <br />concluded that a 5 -year recovery period for the $22.7 million regulatory asset is appropriate, <br />rather than recovering the balance over a 12 -year period. <br />Schedule C-3, Schedule of Capital Investment, Depreciation, Return and Property Taxes, as fled in Exhibit JNF-4 <br />in Docket No. 20210002 -EG on August 6, 2021, reflects that Energy Select Property Additions are depreciated at <br />7.9 percent per year. <br />'Order No. PSC -10 -0458 -PAA -EI, issued July 19, 2010, in Docket No. 090319 -EI, In re: Depreciation and <br />dismantlement studv at December 31, 2009, by Gulf Power Company. <br />