Specifications include, but are not limited to: The consultant will be hired and supervised by the Department of Energy (DOE) to perform the consulting work, and will work at the direction of, and in consultation with, DOE Staff. The consultant(s) chosen will be expected to work on the two decoupling dockets identified above, Dockets No. DG 22-41 and DG 22-045 to review whether Liberty’s requested collections were appropriate (i.e., just and reasonable and in the public interest). Under the proposed procedural schedules in the relevant gas dockets, investigation of both of Liberty’s request to collect will occur essentially between February 1, 2023 and July 1, 2023. If warranted by the results of the inquiry, DOE will request the consultant to provide expert testimony in these dockets (pre-filed written in April 2023, and live in June and July 2023, with the possibility of live remote testimony, subject to permission from the NH Public Utilities Commission). Among other things, tasks will include: • Analysis of the Company’s calculation of actual revenue (including revenue “true ups” the Company accomplishes over a four-month period, target revenue, number of customers, and equivalent bills (see tariff language below) • Analysis and review of the Company’s RDAF as originally designed in Docket No. DG 17-048, see Order No. 26, 122 at 37-43 (April 27, 2018), including the tariff formula that “compares actual base revenue per customer with benchmarked base revenue per customer” wherein o “Actual Base Revenue” is “the actual revenue derived from the Company’s distribution rates for a given Decoupling Year for a Customer Class,” and o “Actual Number of Customers” is the actual number of Equivalent Bills for the applicable Customer Class for the applicable month of the Decoupling Year o “Customer Class is the group of all customers taking service pursuant to the same Rate Schedule and o “Benchmark Base Revenue Per Customer” is “the monthly allowed distribution revenue per Equivalent Bill for a given Decoupling year for a given Customer Class reflecting the distribution revenue level and approved equivalent bills from the Company’s most recent rate case or other proceeding that results in an adjustment to base rates.
