Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a) A
public utility subject to this Part shall, upon request during discovery, make
information available to parties of record to assist them in developing a
recommended amount of rate case expense and to assist the Commission in
assessing the justness and reasonableness of amounts paid to compensate all
persons covered by Section 288.10. This information shall include, but not be
limited to, the following:
1) Facts and
documentation describing the terms of the engagement between the public utility
and outside counsel/support staff and the public utility and outside technical
experts/support staff that include the nature of the services to be provided,
by whom the services would be provided, and the hourly rates to be charged. In
a flat fee contract, this documentation shall include the estimated hourly rate
charged for work of similar nature or some other unit of time
measurement.
2) For services
provided, including, but not limited to, under an hourly rate contract, a flat
fee contract, or a contract with a not-to-exceed provision, invoices disclosing
time entries for each outside counsel/support staff that clearly indicate:
A) a description of the services
provided;
B) by whom the services
were provided;
C) the time spent
providing the services on a daily basis;
D) the applicable hourly rate, or some other
unit of time measurement, charged by the persons providing the services;
and
E) For outside counsel and
their support staff, the applicable codes from the American Bar Association's
Uniform Task-Based Management System Litigation Code Set or a similar
standardized billing system, if and to the extent that the outside
counsel/support staff use that coding system in their billing
invoices.
3) For
services provided under an hourly rate contract, including, but not limited to,
a contract with a not-to-exceed provision, invoices or other documents
disclosing time entries for each outside technical expert/support staff that
clearly indicates:
A) a description of the
services provided;
B) by whom the
services were provided;
C) the time
spent providing the services on a daily basis;
D) the hourly rate charged, or some other
unit of time measurement.
4) For services provided under a flat fee
contract, all invoices provided by the outside counsel/support staff or outside
technical expert/support staff to the public utility that are performed under
the contract, as well as any existing invoices or documentation disclosing time
entries and summaries of any proposals reviewed before the selection for
service.
5) For a flat fee
contract, documents created or reviewed by the public utility in considering
the reasonableness of the contracted fee, including any fee-related
calculations that the public utility performed or reviewed before executing the
contract. This includes the estimated hourly rate that would be charged in an
hourly rate contract and the presumed or estimated number of hours to be
worked.
6) For services provided by
utility affiliate counsel/support staff and utility affiliate technical
experts/support staff, documentation that clearly indicates:
A) a description of the services
provided;
B) the name and title of
the persons providing the services;
C) the time spent providing the services on a
daily basis; and
D) the amounts and
rates charged, excluding incentive compensation costs.
b) In addition to the information
required in subsection (a), the public utility shall provide the following
information at the time of filing its direct case:
1) All information required by 83 Ill. Adm.
Code 285.3085 (Schedule C-10) and 285.3090 (Schedule C-10.1).
2) Invoices or documentation from the counsel
and expert witnesses that specify the work performed, by whom the work was
performed, and the charges for the services.
3) An explanation of the processes,
procedures, and controls the public utility has in place to ensure that the
work performed by all persons covered by Section 288.10 does not duplicate work
performed by a public utility employee.
4) An explanation of the process, procedures,
and controls the public utility has in place to ensure that the bills from all
persons covered by Section 288.10 are accurate, reasonable, and not redundant
before payment is made to those vendors.
5) An explanation of the reasonableness of
the fees to be paid to all persons covered by Section 288.10 with consideration
of the factors enumerated in Section 288.110.
6) An explanation of the public utility's
rationale for the proposed amortization period of total rate case expense that
approximates the time between rate cases.
c) At the time of filing its direct or
rebuttal case and, if applicable, its surrebuttal case, and as otherwise
directed by the Administrative Law Judge, the public utility shall file a
summary schedule of the compensation costs for which rate recovery is sought
that includes, for all persons covered by Section 288.10, the following:
1) Identification of the outside
counsel/support staff, outside technical experts/support staff, utility
affiliate counsel/support staff, and utility affiliate technical
experts/support staff;
2) Total
projected expense update, if the projection is the basis for the total
requested rate case expense;
3)
Actual expense incurred to date, with supporting invoices made available upon
request;
4) Remaining costs
projected to be incurred, if any; and
5) Total rate case expense that was approved
by the Commission in the utility's previous rate case for the work performed by
all persons covered by Section 288.10.
d) Inclusion of overhead expenses for all
persons covered by Section 288.10 (e.g., photocopying, binding) shall be
accompanied by evidence that the rates charged to the public utility by the
attorney or expert specifically exclude those overhead expenses from the rates
charged to the public utility.
e)
Not later than five business days before the start of evidentiary hearings in
the rate case, the public utility shall file an affidavit signed by a public
utility representative with authority to make affirmations on behalf of the
public utility that, to the best of the public utility representative's
knowledge, information, and belief:
1) The
compensation paid or to be paid to all persons covered by Section 288.10 that
the public utility is seeking to recover as rate case expense in the instant
rate case is supported by billings or other documentation that:
A) Are true and accurate;
B) Support costs that were reasonable to
prepare and litigate the rate case;
C) Were reviewed and approved by public
utility management before payment; and
D) Are not duplicative;
2) The public utility paid or will pay the
billed amounts requested to be recovered as rate case expense;
3) Additional compensation, if any, to be
paid to all persons covered by Section 288.10 that are not yet billed to the
public utility, or not yet performed, will be made in accordance with the
affirmations required in this subsection (e); and
4) The filing of the public utility
representative affidavit is informational in nature and shall not be binding on
the Commission in its assessment of the justness and reasonableness of the
amount of rate case expense requested by the public utility.
f) All updates and supporting
documentation of the rate case expense amounts requested by the utility for
recovery in rates shall be submitted for inclusion in the evidentiary record of
the rate case.