47_2016 — Direction to the British Columbia Utilities Commission Respecting Mining Customers

s. 1 — Definitions

In this direction:

s. 1 — account balance

account balance, in relation to each applicable mine of a mining customer, means an amount determined as follows:

s. 1 — Act

Act means the Utilities Commission Act;

s. 1 — adjusted amount

adjusted amount means an amount, calculated in accordance with section 3 (1) (b), paid under the supplement by a mining customer to the authority;

s. 1 — applicable mine

applicable mine means any of the following mines:

s. 1(a)

Coal Mountain;

s. 1(b)

Copper Mountain;

s. 1(c)

Elkview;

s. 1(d)

Fording River;

s. 1(e)

Gibraltar;

s. 1(f)

Greenhills;

s. 1(g)

Highland Valley;

s. 1(h)

Huckleberry;

s. 1(i)

Line Creek;

s. 1(j)

Mount Milligan;

s. 1(k)

Mount Polley;

s. 1(l)

New Afton;

s. 1(m)

Red Chris;

s. 1 — application period

application period means the period that begins on the date the supplement begins to apply to a mining customer and ends on the closing date;

s. 1 — billing month

billing month means the month in which the authority issues a bill to a mining customer for electricity service respecting an applicable mine;

s. 1 — closing date

closing date means the date that is 5 years after the date the supplement comes into effect;

s. 1 — eligible customer

eligible customer means a customer of the authority who, immediately before this direction comes into force, was receiving electricity service from the authority respecting an applicable mine;

s. 1 — mining customer

mining customer means an eligible customer who has made a request referred to in section 3 (1) (a) (i) and to whom the supplement applies;

s. 1 — prime

prime means the prime lending rate of the principal banker of the authority on the date interest is calculated in accordance with section 3 (1) (f);

s. 1 — service price

service price means the total that would have been payable by a mining customer in accordance with the first 2 years of bills that would have been issued to the mining customer under rate schedule 1823, but for the application of the supplement, while the supplement applies to the mining customer;

s. 1 — settlement price period

settlement price period, in relation to a mining customer, means a period that

s. 1(a)

begins 30 days before the day referred to in paragraph (b) (i) or (ii), as applicable, and

s. 1(b)

ends on a day that is either

s. 1(b)(i)

the 15th day of the month that immediately precedes the billing month, if the authority issues the bill before the 15th day of the billing month, or

s. 1(b)(ii)

the 15th day of the billing month, if the authority issues the bill on or after that day;

s. 1 — supplement

supplement means the supplement to be added in accordance with section 3 (1).

s. 2 — Application

This direction is issued to the commission under section 3 of the Act.

s. 3 — Rate

s. 3(1)

Within 10 days of the date of an application by the authority for the purposes of this section, the commission must issue an order so that the authority's Electric Tariff Supplement No. 5 is amended by adding a supplement that

s. 3(1)(a)

applies only to a mining customer who,

s. 3(1)(a)(i)

as an eligible customer, requests that the supplement apply respecting amounts that will be payable to the authority for electricity service provided for the operation of an applicable mine that is, on the date of the request, a producing mine, and

s. 3(1)(a)(ii)

has no overdue bills with the authority on the date of the request,

s. 3(1)(b)

subject to paragraphs (c) and (d), requires a mining customer, for each bill issued during the application period, to pay an adjusted amount, in Canadian dollars, calculated as follows:

s. 3(1)(c)

provides that if a mining customer's account balance, once adjusted to subtract amounts representing interest, is, on the date the authority issues a bill to the mining customer, equal to 75% of the service price, the mining customer must pay

s. 3(1)(c)(i)

the amounts required under rate schedule 1823 instead of the adjusted amounts, if the AP calculated in accordance with paragraph (b) is less than zero, and

s. 3(1)(c)(ii)

the adjusted amount, if the AP calculated in accordance with paragraph (b) is zero or more,

s. 3(1)(d)

provides that if a mining customer's account balance is, on the date a bill is issued to the mining customer, equal to zero, the mining customer must pay

s. 3(1)(d)(i)

the amounts required under rate schedule 1823 instead of the adjusted amounts, if the AP calculated in accordance with paragraph (b) is zero or more, and

s. 3(1)(d)(ii)

the adjusted amount, if the AP calculated in accordance with paragraph (b) is less than zero,

s. 3(1)(e)

requires a mining customer who has a positive account balance to pay the amount of that balance to the authority on the closing date, unless the mining customer and the authority agree that payment of that amount will be made over a period specified in the agreement,

s. 3(1)(f)

provides that the interest included in the account balance of a mining customer is compounded monthly and is calculated by applying the following annualized interest rates to the account balance:

s. 3(1)(f)(i)

prime plus 5% for the mining customers operating a mine referred to in paragraphs (a) to (g) and (i) to (m) of the definition of "applicable mine" in section 1;

s. 3(1)(f)(ii)

12% for the mining customer operating the mine referred to in paragraph (h) of the definition of "applicable mine" in section 1, and

s. 3(1)(g)

on request by a mining customer, allows the authority to cease applying the supplement to amounts payable by the mining customer, if at the time of the request the mining customer's account balance is zero.

s. 3(2)

The commission must allow the authority

s. 3(2)(a)

to establish a regulatory account to defer to future fiscal years of the authority amounts equal to the sum of the following:

s. 3(2)(a)(i)

the account balances of mining customers, if those account balances are impaired;

s. 3(2)(a)(ii)

any other amounts that are payable to the authority by mining customers before the closing date and that are impaired;

s. 3(2)(a)(iii)

any taxes paid by the authority on behalf of mining customers on the account balances referred to in subparagraph (i) and the amounts referred to in subparagraph (ii),

s. 3(2)(b)

to reduce the account referred to in paragraph (a) by an amount collected from an applicable mining customer, and

s. 3(2)(c)

to include in the account referred to in paragraph (a) interest determined in a fiscal year at a rate equal to the authority's weighted average cost of debt in that fiscal year.

s. 3(3)

After the closing date, the commission must allow the authority to recover in rates, over a period determined by the authority, the amounts in the regulatory account referred to in subsection (2).

s. 3(4)

The commission may not cancel, suspend or amend the supplement or require the authority to retire the regulatory account referred to in subsection (2), except on application by the authority.