Answering Testimony with Revised Exhibit Numbering of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers under RP10-729.

Exhibit No. ___ (CAP-9)

1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

2 BEFORE THE

3 FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

4

5 IN THE MATTER OF

6 PORTLAND NATURAL GAS TRANSMISSION SYSTEM

7 DOCKET NO. RP10-729-000

8

9 PREPARED ANSWERING

10 TESTIMONY OF DAVID C. PARCELL

11 ON BEHALF OF

12 THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF PETROLEUM PRODUCERS

13

14

15 I. INTRODUCTION

16

17 Q. PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME, OCCUPATION, AND BUSINESS ADDRESS.

18 A. My name is David C. Parcell. I am President and Senior Economist of Technical

19 Associates, Inc. My business address is Suite 601, 1051 East Cary Street, Richmond,

20 Virginia 23219.

21

22 Q. PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE.

23 A. I hold a B.A. (1969) and M.A. (1970) degrees in economics from Virginia Polytechnic

24 Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and a M.B.A. (1985) from Virginia

25 Commonwealth University. I have been continuously employed by Technical Associates

26 since 1970. The large majority of my consulting experience has involved the provision

27 of cost of capital testimony in utility ratemaking proceedings. I have previously testified

28 in over 460 utility proceedings before some 50 regulatory agencies in the United States

29 and Canada, including over 20 natural gas pipeline proceedings before the Federal

30 Energy Regulatory Commission.

31 A more complete description of my background and experience is contained in

32 Exhibit No. CAP-10.

33

34 Q. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF YOUR TESTIMONY IN THIS PROCEEDING?

35 A. I have been retained The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) to

36 evaluate the cost of equity for Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS), in

Prepared Answering Testimony of David C. Parcell

RP10-729

Exhibit No._____(CAP-9)

Page 2 of 28

1 connection with this Section 4 rate proceeding.

2

3 Q. PLEASE CONTRAST YOUR COST OF EQUITY RECOMMENDATIONS WITH

4 THOSE OF PNGTS.

5 A. PNGTS has submitted a Section 4 rate filing that includes a cost of capital of 10.60

6 percent, which in turn reflects a cost of equity of 13.41 percent. My analysis indicates

7 that this proposed return on equity is substantially excessive, for the reasons explained

8 below.

9 My testimony and conclusions more properly relate to the cost of equity models

10 and methodologies employed by the Commission in recent decisions and other directives

11 involving interstate natural gas pipeline companies. In so doing, I have primarily relied

12 on the two-stage DCF model preferred by the Commission. I have also considered the

13 current appropriateness of including Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) in the proxy

14 group as cited by the Commission in its April 17, 2008 Policy Statement in Docket No.

15 PL07-2-000 (Policy Statement). My DCF analyses are applied to a group of seven

16 publicly-traded corporations and MLPs ...

For complete details, download the full document: Download

Back to blog