Arkansas Public Service Commission Rejects Motion to Strike Testimony of AAEA Witness

Strategic Insights -

The Arkansas Public Service Commission has refused to strike a portion of testimony from Lauren Waldrip, a witness for the Arkansas Advanced Energy Association (AAEA), in a case regarding a proposed tariff revision by the Southwest Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation. The association, representing the interests of renewable energy producers, had filed a response to the cooperative's motion, citing failure to serve the association with the motion.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Arkansas Public Service Commission has denied the Southwest Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation's motion to strike a portion of AAEA witness Lauren Waldrip's surrebuttal testimony.
  • The commission based its decision on the failure of the cooperative to serve the AAEA with the motion, as required by Commission Rule of Practice and Procedure (RPP) 3.08(b)(1).
  • The AAEA has two persons on the official service list for this docket: Executive Director Lauren Waldrip and counsel Randall Bynum, neither of whom received the motion by electronic filing.
  • AAEA believes that the failure to serve the motion unfairly curtailed their response time and placed an undue burden on AAEA and its counsel.
  • The Cooperative's motion to strike has no basis in law or fact and is meant to unfairly silence AAEA witness Lauren Waldrip.
  • The financial difficulty imposed by the insurance requirement is entirely unreasonable and inappropriate, and may lead to sticker shock for cooperative members.
  • Policies are unobtainable for residential owners of DRs, and will only get them laughed out of their insurance agent's offices after requesting such substantial and unique insurance coverages to meet the Cooperative's requirement.

Statistics:

  • The Cooperative's motion to strike was filed on May 7, 2025.
  • The motion was served on the Commission's electronic filing system, but failed to include the name of each person served, as required by RPP 3.08(b)(1).
  • The two AAEA representatives did not receive the motion by electronic filing, despite being on the official service list.
  • The email serving the motion was sent by Administrative Law Judge and Commission Advisor Wesley Hunt on May 15, 2025, a week after the motion was filed in this docket.

Sources:

  • BEFORE THE ARKANSAS PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, DOCKET NO. 24-053-TF, Arkansas Advanced Energy Association's Response to Objection to and Motion to Strike a Portion of AAEA Witness Lauren Waldrip's Surrebuttal Testimony, received 5/19/2025 3:03:13 PM: Recvd 5/19/2025 3:02:05 PM: Docket 24-053-TF-Doc. 35.