BEFORE THE MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION ENTERGY MISSISSIPPI, LLC IN RE: ENTERGY MISSISSIPPI, LLC'S RP 29 NOTICE FILING EC-123-0082-00 2019-UA-232 ENTERGY MISSISSIPPI, LLC'S RESPONSE IN OPPOSITION TO SOUTHERN ALLIANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY'S MOTION TO INTERVENE Entergy Mississippi, LLC ("Entergy Mississippi," this Response or the "Company") files in Opposition to Southern Alliance for Clean Energy's ("SACE") Motion to Intervene. Based on past Commission rulings and policy, SACE interest in this proceeding status "EML," and its generalized interest given that such general interests will is not does not have a substantial sufficient to merit intervenor than adequately represented by the be more Mississippi Public Service Commission ("Commission"), Public Utilities Staff ("Staff'), and the office of the Mississippi Attorney General. The Company respectfully urges the Commission to follow its past practice with respect to denying SACE's intervention, as there are multiple additional entities that EML does seek not oppose the Commission intervention based on similar grounds as SACE. allowing SACE to participate in this docket as a public witness, which will provide them with ample opportunity to make the Commission aware of any concerns that SACE has regarding EML's proposed IRP. BACKGROUND 1. On November 22, 2019, the Commission adopted its Final Order Amending Rule 29 to Establish Integrated Resource Planning Requirements in Docket 2018-AD-64. SACE and was **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** Annual Energy Delivery Reporting actively involved as a party in the rulemaking docket, filing four 2018; February 15, sets 2019; October of comments 1, (see SACE Comments filed 2019; and November 18, on August 1, 2019). The new Rule 29 ("IRP Rule") of the Public Utilities Rules of Practice and 2. Procedure of the Mississippi Public Service Commission and Utilities Staff Public ("Procedural Rules") defines the relationship of the Commission and utilities to IRP. The IRP process does not drive a specific outcome or produce specific utility investment decisions. Rather, it provides transparency The periodic filing by electric utilities of an IRP report provides transparency for the Commission, Mississippi ratepayers, and other interested stakeholders. ******* The IRP reporting requirements embodied in this Rule are not intended to drive any specific outcome or dictate any specific utility investment decisions. To that end, these IRP reporting requirements do not supplant or equate with a prudence determination or otherwise replace the Commission's existing regulatory processes for petition and approval of requisite certificates of convenience and necessity for new resources. RP 29.102 (emphasis added). 3. can be Rule The IRP Rule "establishes tailored to the specific 29 to needs workable framework for a of Mississippi customers. . ." resource planning that Final Order Amending Establish Integrated Resource Planning and Annual Energy Delivery Reporting Requirements, p. 7, Docket 2018-AD-64 (emphasis added). The IRP Rule was written to place the interests of Mississippi customers at the forefront. 4. The IRP Rule requires each electric IRP Rule to file a Notice of IRP Cycle in a new utility subject Commission docket. 2019, EML filed its Notice of IRP Cycle in this docket. 2 - **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** provision of the On December 23, The Commission sent notice of EML's filing to the Clarion Ledger, which published the notice - to the IRP on January 7, 2020. SACE moved to intervene on January 21, 2020. SACE responsible energy choices that Southeast." support - See clean, safe and healthy communities throughout the SACE Motion to Intervene, p. to have because SACE ensure that "its mission to promote asserts SACE claims 1. substantial interest in the proceeding. a has not docket that will not be shown that they have a without factual - Intervention should legal or be denied substantial interest in the outcome of this adequately represented by another party nor did SACE state an interest different that the general public's interest. LEGAL AUTHORITY A. Intervenors Must have a proceeding. See proceeding when the movant or outcome Substantial Interest in the Proceeding The Procedural Rules allow intervention only by parties with 5. interest in a RP 6.121.1 ("any person may has a of the proceeding at proceeding may as a a substantial permitted to intervene in be a substantial interest relating to the property, transaction issue and the movant practical matter impair or situated that the disposition of the is so impede his her ability to protect that or interest." (emphasis added) RP 6.121 6. states: is "[U]pon timely application, anyone shall when the applicant claims subject of the action and matter similar to Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2), which impair or impede an permitted to intervene in interest relating to the property he is so his be or unless as a The Commission Recently Affirmed the Standards for Intervention - 3 - **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** is . . . the practical the applicant's interest adequately represented by existing parties." B. action transaction which situated that the disposition of the action may ability to protect that interest, an is When comparing RP 6.121 to Miss. R. Civ. P. 24(a)(2), however, the 7. Commission a affirmed that "[u]nlike civil courts, intervention [at the Commission] has of right but matter is only granted at discretion." the Commission's See is not "Order Consolidating Issue and Denying Intervention," Notice of Intent of Entergy Mississippi, Inc. to Implement Net Metering Energy Rate, Docket No. 2016-UN-32 (May 13, 2016) (hereafter "2016 Order Denying Intervention"). The 2016 Order Denying Intervention confirms the long-standing principle that "[g]enerally, the grant or denial of a petition to intervene is within the sound discretion of the administrative agency involved."1 The Commission 8. as it has looked to the Mississippi Supreme Court for guidance, allowed to do, regarding the standard for intervention. "In order to intervene, is movant must assert a A movant found to be An "interest" claim to or is 'direct, substantial, legally protectable interest' in the proceedings... 'a real party in interest' generally establishes sufficient interest.' defined as "[a] legal share in something; all right in property.'" Madison HMA, Inc. v. St. Dominic-Jackson Mem'l Hosp., The Commission (8th or part of a legal or . . . equitable 2016 Order Denying Intervention, pp. 3-4 (citing See (citing Black's Law Dictionary 828 9. a ed. also has 35 So. 3d 1209, 1216 (Miss. 2010) 2004) (emphasis added)). clarified that it will balance the factors involved in the standard for intervention: timeliness, substantial interest, impairment of interest, and adequacy of representation. See 2016 Order Denying Intervention, p. 4. "In balancing the relevant factors, the Commission considers the availability of public witness status that i 2 Am. Jur. 2d Administrative Law § 309 (citing Cortland Glass Co., Inc. v. Angello, 300 A.D.2d 891 (3d 2002); West Chester Area School Dist. v. Collegium Charter School, 571 Pa.503 (2002). - 4 - **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** Dep't allows non-parties to submit written comments and evidence for Commission consideration." Id. (citing RP 6.121.7) The IRP Rule participate 6.121. as an does not automatically allow any interested party to intervenor; it requires that "interested parties" RP 29.105. RP 6.121 then categorizes parties See public witnesses. Rule 29.101.8 defines as move to intervene under RP intervenors, other parties, or "stakeholder" as "[a]ny interested party eligible to a appear and/or intervene in Commission proceedings pursuant to Rule 6.121 of the [Procedural Rules]." Thus, the IRP Rule specifically requires interested parties to satisfy the requirements for intervention of Rule 6.121 and contemplates that, failing to qualify intervenor, 10. a party could be given public witness status only. "Additionally, the Commission considers its own duty, as delegated by the Legislature, to promote the public interest in its consideration of all matters before it, as as an as well the duty of the Public Utilities Staff to 'represent the broad interests of the State of Mississippi by balancing the respective concerns of the residential, commercial or industrial ratepayers, and the state and its agencies and departments, and the public utilities.'" pp. 4-5 (citing Miss. Code Ann. § 77-3-2, § Id. at 77-3-1). C. The Commission's Precedent and Policy Demonstrate that a Generalized Interest in the Proceeding is Not Adequate to Merit Intervenor Status 11. In the 2016 Order Denying Intervention, the Commission exercised its discretion and denied the interventions of several parties that it found to have but not substantial, interest in the proceeding. interest promotes, among other things, efficiency particular and significant interest will be "Requiring the existence of and thoroughness because motivated and to protect that vested interest, drawing a can be the Commission's -5- **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** a generalized, a substantial party with a expected to present evidence and Staff's attention to a particularized consideration costs on the that might matter or have gone unnoticed evidentiary support. Interventions not or been given sufficient privilege that necessarily imposes are a utility, and of course, ratepayers ultimately bear the cost of a utility's efforts to respond to data requests, engage in regulatory proceedings and defend appeals, among other things. The Rules are Denying Intervention, p. crafted to fairly judge the merits of the intervention." 2016 Order 6. Public Witness Option Provides Intervention in a Proceeding D. The 12. When intervention inappropriate, is Meaningful Alternative a the Commission's provide for meaningful participation by "public witnesses," allowed to introduce evidence at 13. a hearing by either oral or (see for Procedural Rules RP 6.121.7) who may be written statements and exhibits. The 2016 Order Denying Intervention noted that the Commission welcomed party's desire to participate and contribute to designation of public witnesses." Id. review the public evidence, file its a proceeding: "it A public witness at p. 7. can is the for the "monitor the proceedings, written evidence and comments, and own reason a be assured that the Commission will consider its filings." Id. DISCUSSION 14. asks Based upon the above law and the facts of this proceeding, EML respectfully the Commission to deny SACE's request for intervenor status for the following reasons. A. SACE Does Not have a Substantial Interest in EML's IRP Docket 15. asserts SACE does not have a substantial interest in this docket. that "its mission to promote responsible energy choices that healthy communities throughout the Southeast." -6- **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** See ensure i Again, SACE clean, safe and SACE Motion to Intervene, p. 1. Without narrowing its generally-asserted statement SACE claims to have outcomes about operating in "the Southeast," substantial interest in this proceeding because of the potential a coming from the docket, including "Mississippi's evaluation of resource options including, but not limited to, demand side management and energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy storage, same well as generalized interest as traditional common to EML sources of supply generation." Id. This and its customers is the (assuming such options are economic and feasible), the Commission, the Staff, and the Mississippi Attorney General. Again, the IRP Rule 16. customers. Mississippians are was created to protect the interests of Mississippi the parties most likely to have a substantial interest in the I various IRP dockets. Further, Entergy Mississippi's customers have a An out-of-state special interest group, like SACE, which EML, cannot satisfy the "substantial interest" standard not a the parties most likely to substantial interest in this docket. 17. has not are set of is not a customer forth by the Commission. SACE asserted any direct, substantial, legally protectable interest in the proceedings. It real party in interest because it does not have a legal or is equitable claim to any property that could be impacted by this proceeding. Ability to Protect its Purported Interests will not be Impeded Impaired by the Commission's Denial of SACE's Motion to Intervene B. SACE's 18. or Further, the disposition of the proceeding will not impede SACE's ability to protect any substantial interest. does not have a specific, substantial interest in this proceeding. as a or practical matter impair As discussed above, ÑACE As to its general interests that further its mission statement, SACE had the full opportunity to advocate in the rulemaking docket and did so in the four sets of Comments that it submitted to the Commission. - 7 - **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** \ Further, 19. create a noted in Paragraph above, Section 102 of the IRP Rule 2, does not definitive plan for execution. Any substantial utility investment resulting from the IRP Rule (e.g. generation) must new proceeding. SACE a as and be approved by the Commission in other entities would have an opportunity to assert a separate CCN whether they have substantial interest in the CCN proceedings. C. The Commission and Staff will Adequately Represent the General Interests of SACE Finally, SACE's intervention in this proceeding 20. interest it may have however, are is is unnecessary, because any already adequately represented by other parties. Its general interests, sufficiently protected by the Commission, the Staff, and the Mississippi Attorney General. The Commission is charged with the task of "promot[ing] adequate, reliable and economical service to all citizens and residents of the state" and promoting the I provision of "just and reasonable rates and charges for public utility services without unjust discrimination, undue preferences or advantages, or unfair or destructive competitive practices and consistent with long-term management and conservation of energy avoiding wasteful, uneconomic and inefficient uses resources by of energy."2 In addition, the Staff has the statutory duty to "represent the broad interests of the State of Mississippi by balancing the respective concerns of the residential, commercial its agencies and department, and the 9(3), the Staff has a or industrial ratepayers, and the state and public utilities."3 Pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. 3 77-2- list of fourteen duties and responsibilities aimed at protecting the public health and safety, promoting the general welfare, and ensuring 2 § Miss. Code Ann. § 77-3-2(1)(c)-(d). Miss. Code Ann. §77-2-1. - 8 - **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** just and reasonable rates for Mississippi ratepayers. Given the nature of the instant proceeding, the Commission and the Staff adequately represent the interests of EML customers, advocate for unwarranted. re11ewable energy sources as well as organizations who in Mississippi, making intervention unnecessary and Further, the Mississippi Attorney General "is charged with the duty to and advise the [Commission] assist [and]... protect the interest of the general public." Mississippi Attorney General's Motion to Intervene at p. 1, See Docket No. 2019-UA-232 (Jan. 22, 2020). D. SACE's Presence as an Intervenor Would Result in Inefficiency and Risk of Increased Customer Costs in the EML IRP Process 21. In addition, granting intervenor status to third parties like SACE in this docket would result in inefficiency and is likely to cause delays in the approval of EML's IRP. In considering whether to grant motions to intervene, administrative agencies also consider whether allowing intervention would substantially change the nature of the proceeding and deny intervention in such circumstances.* 22. Allowing Parties like SACE have only these types of parties to intervene a generalized interest in the proceeding. propounding data requests, requesting and - reviewing confidential information would substantially change the nature of the proceeding - because it would shift focus away from EML actually finalizing its IRP. Moreover, granting parties like SACE intervenor status is likely to increase EML's 4 costs to finalize its IRP See, e.g., Code of Miss. Rules 60-015-001 (2014), Mississippi Fair Commission Rule 9 ("A petition to intervene in a proceeding will be denied if the inclusion of the Intervenor in the proceeding would cause unjustifiable delay or substantially change the nature of the proceeding"); Texas Administrative Code, Department of Agriculture Rule §1.10). - 9 - **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** and would expose customers compromised 23. to increased risk that confidential information would be further exposing customers to the risk of substantially increased costs. - As the Commission proceeding will be more found in its 2016 Order Denying Intervention, efficient when the intervening parties have a a particular and significant interest because those types of parties will draw the Commission's attention to particular matters that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. Intervention, p. renewable for a 6. SACE's focus would resources. public witness See (see be on to engage in discovery, request and 2016 Order Denying generally promoting the SACE's Motion to Intervene, p. below) it would See only contribute to 2. use and While that may inefficiency development be appropriate SACE allowed were review confidential documents, and examine EML's witnesses. AllowingSACE to Participate Only as a Public Witness Honors the Intention of the IRP Rule while Simultaneously Honoring the Intervention Rule E. 24. In developing the stakeholder process contained in the IRP Rule, the Commission affirmed its desire for "meaningful participation options for provide input into the resource plan's development . . . . . . stakeholders to Nevertheless, the Commission f[ound] I that the ultimate responsibility for resource planning decisions must remain with the Final Order Amending Rule 29 to Establish Energy Delivery Reporting Requirements, p. access to be utility." Integrated Resource Planning and Annual 15, Docket 2018-AD-64. This means that the details of EML's IRP, including confidential and sensitive information, should limited to those parties who truly have a substantial interest. substantial interest to intervene in the docket and contain access Allowing entities without to commercially information increases the risk that the confidential information could -10- **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** be a sensitive inadvertently publicly disclosed - a harm that would irreparable for customers. be Given this risk, a weighing of interests balances in favor of limiting participation to public interest status. SACE 25. states that it is actively involved in IRP dockets in other relevant experience" to this proceeding. However, if relevant, SACE with the Commission as a public witness. As can share its states "has experience public witness, SACE will have access to all a public filings that EML and other parties in the IRP docket submit, including comments and EML's IRP. EML's most recent voluntary IRP filing in 2018 (see Exhibit A to the Comments of Entergy Mississippi, Inc. in Docket 2018-AD-64, filed Aug. background, planning key considerations, primary planning objectives, reserve assessments, requirements, fleet and projected current portfolio design and analytics, and resource needs, the path forward. 1, 2018) included adequacy and assumptions Providing a and detailed public IRP honors the IRP Rule's goal of transparency, while protecting confidential information that should not be disclosed to parties without IRP. If the Commission determines that opportunity to participate, EML is as a willingto a substantial interest in EML's public witness SACE should have additional conduct a bifurcated technical conference under Rule 29.105.3, allowing public witnesses to participate in all portions that do not discuss confidential and sensitive information. 26. not have a EML believes that the appropriate status of SACE, and other parties who substantial interest in this docket, should be limited to intervenor. PRAYER FOR RELIEF - 11 - **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** a public witness, not do an WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, Entergy Mississippi requests that the Commission: (a) deny SACE's Request for Intervenor Status; and (b) if the Commission order that SACE comments be agrees and if SACE- desires to participate in this capacity, granted public witness status pursuant to R.P. 121.7, with rights to file in this proceeding but without rights to that EML shall be SACE shall have no under no rights to issue written discovery in this proceeding, obligation to respond to written discovery froin SACE, that access confidential information, and SACE shall have no rights to examine witnesses. Entergy Mississippi further prays for such other, further, and general relief Conimission deems necessary, useful, or appropriate. This the 28* of January 2020. ENTERGY MISSISSIPPI, LLC ALIC Tianna H. Raby (MSB No. 100256) Alicia S. Hall (MSB No. 103580) Alexander C. Martin,:II (MSB No. 103634) Entergy Services, LLC P.O. Box 1640 (M-ELEC-6C) Jackson, Mississippi 39215-1640 (601) 969-2344 ATTORNEYS FOR ENTEltGY MISSISSIPPI, LLC - 12 - **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** S. HAL as the RP 6.111 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, ALICIA S. HALL, Attorney for Entergy Mississippi, LLC, hereby certify that on this day I have caused to be filed the.original and twelve (12) copies of the foregoing with: Katherine Collier Executive Secretary Mississippi Public Service Commission . katherine.collier@psc.ms.gov and that on this day I have aused to be provided one copy of the foregoing to: Virden C. Jones Tad Campbell General Counsel: Executive Director Mississippi Public Utilities Staff Mississippi Public Utilities Staff virden.joneš@tupus.ms.gov tad.campbell@mpus.ms.göv Frank Farmer General Counsel Mississippi Public Service Commission frank.farmer@mpus.ms.gov and that, in the filing of the same, Forest Bradley-Wright Energy Efficiency Director Southern Alliance for Clean Energy forest@cleanenergy.org I have complied with Rule 6 of the Commission's Public Utilities Rules of Practice and Procedure. This, the 28th day of January, 2020. Box 1640 (M-ELEC-6C) Jackson, Mississippi 39215-1640 P.O. ALICI (601) 969-2344 **MSPSC Electronic Copy ** 2019-UA-232 Filed on 01/28/2020 ** . HALL/