Report of Power Advisory. LLC Prior to reaching the central determinations in this case, the Commission must address the “Independent Third Party Consultant Final Report Pursuant to South Carolina Act 62” which was submitted by Power Advisory, LLC on November 4, 2019 (the “Power Advisory Report”). As noted above, the Commission retained Power Advisory to serve as “a qualified independent third party” in these proceedings, as such is contemplated by S.C. Code Xxx. § 58-41-20(I). Under that statute, the Commission is authorized to engage such a third party, whose responsibility it is “to submit a report that includes the third party’s independently derived conclusions as to that third party’s opinion of each utility’s calculation of avoided costs.” § 58-41-20(I). The Commission may then use any conclusions based on the evidence in the record and included in the third-party’s report “along with all other evidence submitted during the proceeding to inform its ultimate decision setting the avoided costs for each utility.” Id. The Power Advisory Report is attached as Order Exhibit 1 and is explicitly incorporated into this order. After the Power Advisory Report was submitted, on November 8, 2019, DESC timely submitted its Comments in Response to the Power Advisory, LLC Report, and at the same time filed a Motion to Strike Final Report of Power Advisory, LLC. Both in its Comments and Motion, DESC essentially sought to eliminate Power Advisory, LLC’s Final Report from the Commission’s consideration in the decision or decisions made in Docket No. 2019-184-E. The reasoning given by DESC to exclude such information is that Power Advisory, LLC did not 12 As to all factual matters, they reflect the Commission’s decision that the preponderance of the evidence as presented in this hearing, and after weighing the probative value and credibility of the testimony of each witness, supports the conclusion reached. To the extent the following findings of fact are conclusions of law, they are adopted as such. perform completely independent analyses in the proceeding, and instead, relied upon the information provided by the parties. DESC’s Motion and Comments both ignore the plain language of Act No. 62; specifically, Section 58-41-20(I), which instructs the qualified independent third party “to submit a report that includes the third party’s independently derived conclusions as to that third party’s opinion of each utility’s calculation of avoided costs for purposes of proceedings conducted pursuant to ...
