Specifications include, but are not limited to: The Department seeks an expert witness to assist the Department in its review of GMP’s Petition, which will ultimately be reviewed by the Commission. Specifically, the Department seeks assistance in reviewing and scrutinizing: (1) The cost-effectiveness of the proposed capital expenditures in the Petition, from both a ratepayer and a societal perspective. The ratepayer perspective assessment should consider whether the electric-system benefits of reducing storm-related and other outages to near-zero justify the electric system costs. The societal perspective should estimate societal benefits such as “avoided economic impacts,” “greater safety,” and “other tangible and intangible benefits” as well as evaluate any incremental costs to ratepayers and/or society that are proposed to achieve these benefits. The evaluation should also include recommendations for defining, measuring, and valuing grid “resilience,” including differentiating it from reliability as typically measured through indices such as CAIDI, SAIDI, and SAIFI; (2) The potential impact of the Petition on customer rates, including with regards to low-income customers and small businesses, customer benefits, and the reasonableness of such impacts; (3) GMP’s risk management strategies for extreme weather events and other high impact threats, including (a) the likelihood and severity of future storms and other threats, and (b) GMP’s ability to adequately address these storms and threats through its Petition; (4) The resilience of GMP’s proposed infrastructure upgrades to ensure the Company is implementing technologies and designs that enhance the overall resilience of the electric grid against various types of storms and threats; (5) GMP’s compliance with existing regulations, standards, and best practices related to infrastructure development, safety, environmental impact, and its other plans including its MYRP, Climate Plan, and Integrated Resource Plan; (6) The technological feasibility and reasonableness of the proposed upgrades in the Petition, including whether GMP’s chosen technologies are effective, reliable, and the best fit for achieving the desired outage reductions at least cost; (7) The environmental impact of the proposed projects in the Petition, including a review of whether or not GMP’s proposed practices will be environmentally sustainable; (8) GMP’s plans to coordinate with other State agencies and related entities, such as emergency management, environmental agencies, Regional Planning Commissions, FEMA, etc.; (9) GMP’s plans for customer outreach and education regarding GMP’s proposed capital expenditures, including ensuring that (a) customers understand the purpose, potential benefits, and potential impacts of these projects proposed under the Petition, and (b) customers know where and who to contact for support; (10) GMP’s plans for a transparent process for customer engagement including public input as well as GMP’s consideration of the concerns and suggestions of the communities it serves
