1 PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF OHIO 2 3 - - - 4 In the Matter of the ; Application of Duke Energy : 5 Ohio, Inc, for Administration : Case No. of the Significantly Excessive : 16-781-EL-UNC 6 Earnings Test under Section : 4928.143(F), Revised Code, and : 7 Rule 4901:1-35-10, Ohio : Administrative Code. : 8 9 - - - 10 PROCEEDINGS 11 Before Nick Walstra and Patricia Schabo, 12 Attorney Examiners, held at the Public Utilities 13 Commission of Ohio, 180 East Broad Street, 14 Hearing Room 11-D, Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, 15 June 14, 2017, at 1:00 P.M. 16 17 18 19 20 - - - 21 22 Armstrong & Okey, Inc. 23 222 East Town Street, 2nd Floor Columbus, Ohio 43215 24 (614) 224-9481 - (800) 223-9481 25 - - - ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC., Columbus, Ohio (614)224-9481 2 1 APPEARANCES: 2 Ms. Jeanne W. Kingery 3 139 East 4th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 4 On behalf of Duke Energy 5 Ohio. 6 7 Mr. Thomas McNamee 8 Assistant Attorney General 30 East Broad Street, 16th Floor 9 Columbus, Ohio 43215 10 On behalf of the Staff of the Public Utilities Commission 11 of Ohio. 12 13 - - - 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC., Columbus, Ohio (614)224-9481 3 1 INDEX TO WITNESSES 2 DIRECT CROSS 3 STAFF WITNESSES 4 Joseph Buckley 7 5 - - - 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC., Columbus, Ohio (614)224-9481 4 1 INDEX TO EXHIBITS 2 - - - MARKED ADT 3 JOINT EXHIBITS 4 1 Stipulation and 8 10 5 Recommendation 6 DUKE ENERGY OHIO EXHIBITS 7 1 Application 6 7 8 2 Direct Testimony of 6 7 9 Peggy A. Laub 10 11 12 - - - 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC., Columbus, Ohio (614)224-9481 5 1 Tuesday Morning, 2 June 14, 2017. 3 - - - 4 ATTORNEY EXAMINER SCHABO: The 5 Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has called 6 for hearing at this time and place Case No. 7 16-781-EL-UNC being in the Matter of 8 the Application of Duke Energy Ohio for 9 Administration of the Significantly Excessive 10 Earnings Test. 11 My name is Trish Schabo and with me 12 is Nick Walstra, and we are the Attorney 13 Examiners assigned by the Commission to hear 14 this case. 15 I would like to begin taking 16 appearances. 17 MS. KINGERY: Thank you, Your Honor. 18 My name is Jeanne Kingery, along with Amy 19 Spiller. We are here on behalf of Duke Energy 20 Ohio, 139 East 4th Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. 21 ATTORNEY EXAMINER: Thank you. 22 MR. MCNAMEE: On behalf of the Staff 23 of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, I am 24 Thomas McNamee, Assistant Attorney General. 25 The address is 30 East Broad Street, 16th Floor, ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC., Columbus, Ohio (614)224-9481 6 1 Columbus, Ohio 43215. 2 ATTORNEY EXAMINER: Thank you. I 3 understand there is a stipulation. 4 MS. KINGERY: Yes, there is, your 5 Honor. 6 ATTORNEY EXAMINER: How would you 7 like to proceed? 8 MR. MCNAMEE: I would suggest, your 9 Honor, that we might have Ms. Kingery mark her 10 exhibits first, and I will stipulate to their 11 admission. And then we can proceed with the 12 stipulation itself and the examination of Mr. 13 Buckley will support it. 14 MS. KINGERY: Thank you, your Honor. 15 We would mark at this time Duke Energy Ohio 16 Exhibit 1, which is the Application in this case 17 filed on April 15, 2016. 18 As well as as Duke Energy Ohio 19 Exhibit 2, which is the testimony of Peggy A. 20 Laub on behalf of Duke Energy Ohio submitted on 21 the same date. 22 ATTORNEY EXAMINER: All right. 23 MS. KINGERY: May we approach with 24 copies? 25 ATTORNEY EXAMINER: Absolutely. ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC., Columbus, Ohio (614)224-9481 7 1 MR. MCNAMEE: And, you Honor, Staff 2 would stipulate to the admission of those 3 documents. 4 ATTORNEY EXAMINER: So admitted. 5 Thank you. 6 (EXHIBITS ADMITTED INTO EVIDENCE) 7 MR. MCNAMEE: At this time the 8 Staff would call Joseph Buckley. 9 (WITNESS SWORN) 10 - - - 11 JOSEPH BUCKLEY 12 called as a witness, being first duly sworn, 13 testified as follows: 14 DIRECT EXAMINATION 15 By Mr. McNamee: 16 Q. Mr. Buckley, could you tell me by 17 whom you are employed? 18 A. I am employed by the Public 19 Utilities Commission of Ohio. Our address is 20 180 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215. 21 Q. In what capacity are you employed by 22 the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio? 23 A. I am a Utility Specialist. 24 MR. MCNAMEE: At this point, your 25 Honor, I would ask to have marked for ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC., Columbus, Ohio (614)224-9481 8 1 identification the stipulation that was 2 submitted in this case and ask to have it marked 3 as Joint Exhibit 1. 4 ATTORNEY EXAMINER: Any objection? 5 MS. KINGERY: No objection, your 6 Honor. 7 ATTORNEY EXAMINER: So marked. 8 (EXHIBIT MARKED FOR THE PURPOSE OF 9 IDENTIFICATION) 10 Q. Mr. Buckley, do you have what's 11 been marked for identification as Joint Exhibit 12 1 before you? 13 A. I do. 14 Q. What is it? 15 A. It is the Stipulation and 16 Recommendation entered into by the Staff and 17 the company regarding this proceeding. 18 Q. Does it resolve all issues in this 19 case? 20 A. I believe it does. 21 Q. Good. Was it entered into between 22 knowledgeable and capable parties? 23 A. I believe it was. 24 Q. Okay. Does that stipulation benefit 25 the public? ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC., Columbus, Ohio (614)224-9481 9 1 A. I believe it does. 2 Q. In what way? Let me rephrase my 3 question. 4 Does the acceptance of the 5 stipulation avoid needless litigation? 6 A. It does. 7 Q. It does. Okay. Does it reflect 8 staff's view that Duke Energy Ohio has not 9 experienced significantly excessive earnings 10 within the meaning of the statute during the 11 relevant period? 12 A. It does. 13 Q. Good. Does this stipulation violate 14 any important regulatory policy or principle? 15 A. I don't believe it does. 16 Q. The Staff entered into this 17 stipulation after its normal review of 18 the company's filings; did it not? 19 A. It did. 20 Q. Okay. And the result of the Staff's 21 review of the Company's filings was a 22 determination that the company had not 23 experienced significant excessive earnings 24 during the relevant period; correct? 25 A. Correct. ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC., Columbus, Ohio (614)224-9481 10 1 MR. MCNAMEE: That is all I have. 2 The witness is available for cross. 3 MS. KINGERY: I have no questions. 4 Thank you. 5 MR. MCNAMEE: At this point the 6 Staff has nothing further to present. Thank 7 you. 8 We would ask for the Joint Exhibit 1 9 to be admitted. 10 MS. KINGERY: And I have no 11 objections to the admission of Joint Exhibit 1. 12 And I would ask that Duke Energy Ohio Exhibits 1 13 and 2 be admitted into the record. 14 ATTORNEY EXAMINER: All the exhibits 15 will be admitted. Thank you. 16 (EXHIBITS ADMITTED INTO EVIDENCE) 17 ATTORNEY EXAMINER: Give me just one 18 second. 19 Mr. Buckley, you are excused. Is 20 there anything further? 21 MR. MCNAMEE: Nothing further. 22 ATTORNEY EXAMINER: All right. 23 Then we are adjourned. 24 MS. KINGERY: Talk you, your Honor. 25 (At 1:07 P.M. The hearing was ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC., Columbus, Ohio (614)224-9481 11 1 concluded) 2 3 CERTIFICATE 4 I do hereby certify that the foregoing 5 is a true and correct transcript of the proceedings taken by me in this matter on June 6 14, 2017, and carefully compared with my original stenographic notes. 7 8 __________________________ Michael O. Spencer, 9 Registered Professional Reporter. 10 - - - 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC., Columbus, Ohio (614)224-9481