1 BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF OHIO 2 - - - 3 In the Matter of the : Application of Aqua Ohio, : 4 Inc. to Increase its Rates : Case No. 16-0907-WW-AIR and Charges for its : 5 Waterworks Service. : 6 - - - 7 PROCEEDINGS 8 Before Megan Addison and Jeffrey Jones, Attorney 9 Examiners, at the Public Utilities Commission of 10 Ohio, 180 East Broad Street, Room 11C, Columbus, 11 Ohio, called at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, January 27th, 12 2017. 13 - - - 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC. 222 East Town Street, Second Floor 22 Columbus, Ohio 43215-4620 (614) 224-9481 - (800) 223-9481 23 Fax - (614) 224-5724 24 - - - 25 Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 2 1 APPEARANCES: 2 Michael DeWine, Ohio Attorney General William L. Wright, Section Chief 3 By Steven L. Beeler, Esq. Robert A. Eubanks, Esq. 4 Assistant Attorneys General 180 East Broad Street, 6th Floor 5 Columbus, Ohio 43215 6 On behalf of the Staff of the PUCO. 7 Whitt, Sturtevant, LLP Andrew J. Campbell, Esq. 8 Rebekah J. Glover, Esq. The KeyBank Building, Suite 1590 9 88 East Broad Street Columbus, Ohio 43215 10 Campbell@whitt-sturtevant.com Glover@whitt-sturtevant.com 11 On behalf of Aqua Ohio, Inc. 12 - - - 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 3 1 INDEX 2 - - - 3 COMPANY'S CASE 4 WITNESSES: PAGE None 5 - - - 6 JOINT EXHIBITS IDENTIFIED ADMITTED 1 - Stipulation and Recommendation 5 8 7 2 - Stipulation Schedules 7 8 3 - Revised Tariffs 7 8 8 4 - Customer Notices 7 8 COMPANY EXHIBITS IDENTIFIED ADMITTED 9 1 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 Edmund P. Kolodziej, Jr. 10 2 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 Robert A. Kopas 11 3 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 Richard A. Hideg 12 4 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 Elaine J. Martin 13 5 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 Peter Kusky 14 6 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 Dylan W. D'Ascendis 15 7 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 Paul Herbert 16 8 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 John Spanos 17 9 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 Daniel Franceski 18 10 - Application filed on 7 8 May 31st, 2016 19 STAFF EXHIBITS IDENTIFIED ADMITTED 1 - Staff Report of Investigation 7 8 20 2 - Prefiled Testimony of 7 8 Dorothy Bremer 21 OCC EXHIBITS IDENTIFIED ADMITTED 1 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 22 Wm. Ross Willis 2 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 23 Daniel J. Duann, Ph.D. 3 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 24 Robert B. Fortney 4 - Direct Testimony of 7 8 25 James D. Williams Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 4 1 Friday Morning Session, 2 January 27, 2017. 3 - - - 4 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: The Public 5 Utilities Commission of Ohio has assigned for hearing 6 at this time and place Case No. 16-907-WW-AIR, being 7 In the Matter of the Application of Aqua Ohio, 8 Incorporated, to Increase its Rates and Charges for 9 its Waterworks Service. 10 My name is Megan Addison, and presiding with me is 11 Jeffrey Jones. We are Attorney-Examiners assigned by 12 the Commission to hear this case. 13 At this time we will go ahead and take appearances of 14 the parties beginning with the applicant. 15 MR. CAMPBELL: For the Company, Andrew 16 Campbell with the law firm Whitt, Sturtevant, LLP, 88 17 East Broad Street, Suite 1590, Columbus, Ohio, and 18 Becky Glover is here with me. 19 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you. 20 On behalf of Staff. 21 MR. BEELER: On behalf of the Staff of 22 the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Ohio 23 Attorney General Mike DeWine, Steven Beeler and 24 Robert Eubanks, Assistant Attorneys General, 30 East 25 Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 5 1 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you 2 very much, Mr. Beeler. 3 I'd also like to note that the Ohio Consumers' 4 Counsel and the City of Marion are also intervening 5 parties to this proceeding, and counsel for both of 6 those parties do not appear to be present this 7 morning. 8 It's our understanding that a Joint Stipulation and 9 Recommendation has been filed in this proceeding, but 10 I believe we can go ahead and move forward with the 11 marking of exhibits. 12 Mr. Beeler, would you like to begin? 13 MR. BEELER: Thank you, your Honor. I 14 will start with the Stipulation and Recommendation 15 that was filed in the docket yesterday, January 26, 16 2017. I would like to mark that as Joint Exhibit 1. 17 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: It will be so 18 marked. 19 (EXHIBIT MARKED FOR IDENTIFICATION.) 20 MR. BEELER: And then the stipulation 21 does mention a list of exhibits that are agreed to to 22 be admitted into the record, and I'll just run 23 through, for right now, what they are. 24 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you. 25 MR. BEELER: I already covered Joint Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 6 1 Exhibit 1, which is the Stipulation and 2 Recommendation. 3 Joint Exhibit 2, which is the Stipulation Schedules. 4 Joint Exhibit 3 is the Revised Tariffs. Joint 5 Exhibit 4, Customer Notices. 6 Now I'm going to start with Aqua exhibits. Aqua 7 Exhibit 1 is the Direct Testimony of Edmund P. -- and 8 I'm going to mess this up -- Kolodziej, Jr. Aqua 9 Exhibit 2.0 is the Direct Testimony of Robert A. 10 Kopas. Aqua Exhibit 3 is the Direct Testimony of 11 Richard A. Hideg. 12 Aqua Exhibit 4 is the Direct Testimony of Elaine J. 13 Martin. Aqua Exhibit 5 is the Direct Testimony of 14 Peter Kusky. Aqua Exhibit 6 is the Direct Testimony 15 of Dylan W. D'Ascendis. 16 Aqua Exhibit 7 is the Direct Testimony of Paul 17 Herbert. Aqua Exhibit 8 is the Direct Testimony of 18 John Spanos. Aqua Exhibit 9 is the Direct Testimony 19 of Daniel Franceski. Aqua 20 Exhibit 10 is the Application which was filed in the 21 docket on May 31st, 2016. 22 Moving on to Staff exhibits. Staff Exhibit 1 is the 23 Staff Report filed on November 17th, 2017. 24 Finally, moving on to OCC exhibits. OCC Exhibit 1 is 25 Direct Testimony of William Ross Willis. OCC Exhibit Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 7 1 2 is the Direct Testimony of Daniel J. Duann. OCC 2 Exhibit 3 is the Direct Testimony of Robert B. 3 Fortney. And OCC Exhibit 4 is the Direct Testimony 4 of James D. Williams. 5 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you, 6 Mr. Beeler. All those exhibits will be marked 7 accordingly. 8 (EXHIBITS MARKED FOR IDENTIFICATION.) 9 MR. BEELER: And I have one more 10 exhibit, your Honor, that was not listed in the 11 Stipulation, and it will be Staff Exhibit 2, which is 12 the Prefiled Testimony of Dorothy Bremer, Regulatory 13 Service Division Rates and Analysis Department, 14 Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, in support of 15 the Joint Stipulation and Recommendation which was 16 filed in the docket yesterday, January 26, 2017. And 17 that's testimony that is in support of the 18 stipulation. 19 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you, 20 Mr. Beeler. That will be so marked. 21 (EXHIBIT MARKED FOR IDENTIFICATION.) 22 MR. BEELER: And I would also -- if your 23 Honors have no questions for Ms. Bremer, I would also 24 move for the admission of Staff Exhibit 2. 25 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: I don't Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 8 1 believe we had any questions. Are you also moving 2 for the admission of the Joint Exhibit 1, as well as 3 all of the exhibits listed in the Joint Stipulation? 4 MR. BEELER: Yes. I would move for the 5 admission of Joint Exhibit 1 and all of the exhibits 6 listed in Joint Exhibit 1. 7 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you. 8 As the admission of Joint Exhibit 1 through 4, Aqua 9 Exhibits 1 through 10, Staff Exhibit 1, and OCC 10 Exhibits 1 through 4 have been -- admission has been 11 stipulated to, those will be admitted. 12 (EXHIBITS ADMITTED INTO EVIDENCE.) 13 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: And as the 14 Attorney-Examiners have no questions for Staff's 15 witness, Staff Exhibit 2 will also be admitted at 16 this time. 17 (EXHIBIT ADMITTED INTO EVIDENCE.) 18 MR. BEELER: Thank you, your Honor. 19 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you. 20 And as a final matter, Mr. Beeler, has Staff heard 21 anything from the Ohio Consumers' Counsel or the City 22 of Marion indicating their support or opposition to 23 the stipulation filed in this case? 24 MR. BEELER: Thank you, your Honor. 25 The -- it has been indicated through the process Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 9 1 through an e-mail that both the Ohio Consumers' 2 Counsel and the City of Marion do not oppose the 3 stipulation. It has been recommended to us that 4 something will be filed in the record to reflect 5 that. 6 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: Thank you, 7 Mr. Beeler. 8 I believe that is everything we needed to address 9 this morning, unless there is something else that the 10 parties would like to raise at this time? 11 (No response.) 12 HEARING EXAMINER ADDISON: Okay. Seeing 13 none, we are adjourned. Thank you all very much, and 14 please do not show up on Monday. 15 (Thereupon, the hearing was 16 concluded at 9:09 a.m.) 17 - - - 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 10 1 CERTIFICATE 2 I do hereby certify that the foregoing 3 is a true and correct transcript of the proceedings 4 taken by me in this matter on Friday, January 27, 5 2017, and carefully compared with my original 6 stenographic notes. 7 8 ___________________________ 9 Valerie J. Grubaugh, Registered Merit Reporter 10 and Notary Public in and for the State of Ohio. 11 12 13 My Commission expires August 11, 2021 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481