Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for Facilities

(a)A utility seeking authority to construct and to operate a facility, or an extension or expansion of a facility, pursuant to § 40-5-101, C.R.S., shall file an application in accordance with this rule. The utility shall apply to the Commission for issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity for approval of construction and operation of a facility, or an extension or expansion of a facility, which is not in the ordinary course of business.#

(b)For a utility with 500,000 full-service customers or more, the utility shall apply to the Commission for issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity for construction and operation of a facility, or an extension or expansion of a facility, where the total utility capital investment value is greater than $12 million in 2020 dollars, unless the utility has already received approval by the Commission pursuant to paragraph 4555(c).#

(c)For a utility with more than 50,000 full-service customers but less than 500,000 customers, the utility shall apply to the Commission for issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity for construction and operation of a facility, or an extension or expansion of a facility where the total utility capital investment value is greater than $10 million in 2020 dollars, unless the utility has already received approval by the Commission pursuant to paragraph 4555(c).#

(d)For any utility with less than 50,000 full-service customers, the utility shall apply to the Commission for issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity for construction and operation of a facility, or an extension or expansion of a facility where the total utility capital investment value is greater than $5 million in 2020 dollars, unless the utility has already received approval by the Commission pursuant to paragraph 4555(c).#

(e)The cost thresholds set forth in paragraphs (b) through (d) above shall be adjusted for inflation annually on March 1 of each year, based upon the annual percentage change in the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index - Denver-Aurora-Lakewood as published by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs for the immediately preceding calendar year. These adjustments shall be compounded annually. For reference, the Commission will post a notice on its website, https://puc.colorado.gov/, by March 15 of each year reporting the annual inflation adjustments applicable pursuant to this paragraph.#

(f)An application for issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity to construct and to operate facilities, or an extension or expansion of a facility, pursuant to § 40-5-101, C.R.S., shall include, in the following order and specifically identified, the following information, either in the application or in appropriately identified attachments:#

(I)the information required in rule 4002;#

(II)a statement of the facts (not conclusory statements) relied upon by the applying utility to show that the public convenience and necessity require the granting of the application or citation to any Commission decision that is relevant to the proposed facilities;#

(III)the project category, consistent with the categories defined in subparagraph 4553(a)(III), or otherwise identified and justified by the utility;#

(IV)a description of the general scope of work and an explanation of the need for the proposed facilities, including any applicable U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration code requirements for the facilities;#

(V)the projected life of the proposed facilities;#

(VI)the anticipated construction start date, construction period, with any phases indicated, and the expected in-service date for the proposed facilities;#

(VII)relevant technical details, such as physical equipment characteristics of the proposed facilities, pipeline length, pipeline diameter, project material(s), and maximum allowable operating pressure;#

(VIII)the estimated total cost and annual incremental revenue requirements of the proposed facilities, assuming both conventional depreciation and accelerated depreciation as applicable;#

(IX)a cost estimate classification using the utility's or an industry-accepted cost estimate classification index, and explanation and support of methodology;#

(X)the project location and an illustrative map of the proposed facilities (subject to necessary and appropriate confidentiality provisions), which includes:#

(A)the pressure district or geographic area that requires the proposed facilities;#

(B)the existing and proposed regulator stations and existing and proposed distribution piping and higher capacity pipelines served by or representing the proposed facilities;#

(C)whether the facilities will be located in any disproportionately impacted community;#

(D)identification of the electric utility service provider(s); and#

(E)any other information necessary to allow the Commission to make a thorough evaluation of the application.#

(XI)to the extent practicable, the number of customers, annual sales, and design peak demand requirements, by customer class, directly impacted or served by the proposed facilities;#

(XII)the application shall include information about Best Value Employment metrics consistent with paragraph 4211(a) or, in the alternative, information to demonstrate that the project qualifies for an exemption under paragraph 4211(e). If the information required in paragraph 4211(a) is not available at the time an application is filed because relevant contracts have not yet been entered into, the applicant shall file a status report in the proceeding within 45 days after the last contract has been entered into that identifies how selected contractor(s) meet Best Value Employment metrics;#

(XIII)the application shall address whether it includes one or more projects that are also ESPW projects, and if so, the applicant shall further attest that material contract terms that comply with paragraph 4211(b) have been or will be included in any relevant contracts and that such terms will be required to be included in any relevant subcontracts;#

(XIV)if the proposed facilities are located in a disproportionately impacted community, a description of:#

(A)the nature of the utility's outreach to members of that disproportionately impacted community, as appropriate to the filing;#

(B)the communications and materials employed; and#

(C)the findings from those outreach efforts.#

(XV)identification of any permit(s) required to begin work;#

(XVI)a description of the environmental requirements associated with completion of the proposed facilities, if any;#

(XVII)the change in projected utility-wide greenhouse gas emissions due to the proposed facilities, as calculated relative to the utility's most recently approved clean heat plan greenhouse gas emission forecast or subsequent interim-year update, in accordance with subparagraphs 4731(a)(I) and 4731(c)(I) or 4733(a)(VI), as applicable; and#

(XVIII)for proposed facilities meeting the definition of a new business project or a capacity expansion project, as defined in subparagraphs 4553(a)(III)(B) and (C), the utility shall also present an analysis of alternatives including non-pipeline alternatives, costs for those alternatives, and criteria used to rank or eliminate such alternatives.#

(A)An analysis of alternatives shall consider, at a minimum:#

(i)one or more applicable clean heat resources consistent with the utility's most recently approved clean heat plan, pursuant to rule 4732, demand side management plan, pursuant to rule 4753, or beneficial electrification plan, as applicable;#

(ii)a cost-benefit analysis including the costs of direct investment and the social costs of carbon and methane for emissions due to or avoided by the alternative, and other costs determined appropriate by the Commission; and#

(iii)available Best Value Employment metrics associated with each alternative, as defined in paragraph 4211(a), including a projection of gas distribution jobs affected by the alternative and jobs made available through the alternative, opportunities to transition any affected gas distribution jobs to the alternative, pay and benefit levels of the affected gas distribution jobs and the jobs available through a transition opportunity, and how employment impacts associated with each alternative could affect disproportionately impacted communities.#

(B)An analysis of alternatives shall include, at a minimum:#

(i)the technologies or approaches evaluated;#

(ii)the technologies or approaches proposed, if applicable;#

(iii)the projected timeline and annual implementation rate for the technology or approaches evaluated;#

(iv)the technical feasibility of the alternative assuming full adoption of the technologies and approaches evaluated; and#

(v)the utility's strategy to implement the technologies or approaches evaluated.#

(XIX)For proposed facilities meeting the definition of a system safety and integrity project, as defined in subparagraph 4553(a)(III)(A), the utility shall provide the risk ranking and detailed information regarding the utility's risk ranking methodology including, but not limited to, the material, age, maximum allowable operating pressure, density of surrounding residences and businesses, and any other physical and operating characteristics relevant to the risk ranking of the proposed facilities and the risk ranking methodology. The utility must also identify, explain, and provide the output to any risk-related models developed or employed by the utility in conducting risk analyses to support planned system safety and integrity projects.#

(g)A separate certificate of public convenience and necessity is not required for mandatory relocations of a utility's gas infrastructure.#

(h)In accordance with subparagraph 4552(d)(II), the utility may satisfy the requirements of rule 4102 in an application submitted pursuant to the Gas Infrastructure Planning Rules.#

(i)Within 30 days of final Commission approval of an application pursuant to this rule, or after the last contract has been entered into that includes one or more ESPW projects, the applicant or its subcontractor(s) shall notify the Department of Labor Standards and Statistics within the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment about the project to facilitate the collection of craft labor certification(s).#