OGE Energy : PUD 2021-00164 - Direct Testimony of Jason De Stigter

BEFORE THE CORPORATION COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA

IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF	)
OKLAHOMA GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY	)
FOR AN ORDER OF THE COMMISSION	) CAUSE NO. PUD 202100164
AUTHORIZING APPLICANT TO MODIFY ITS	)
RATES, CHARGES, AND TARIFFS FOR RETAIL	)
ELECTRIC SERVICE IN OKLAHOMA	)

Direct Testimony

of

Jason D. De Stigter

on behalf of

Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company

December 30, 2021

Direct Testimony of Jason D. De Stigter	Page 1 of 45
Cause No. PUD 202100164

1	1.0 INTRODUCTION

1. Q1. Please state your name and business address.
2. A1. My name is Jason De Stigter, and my business address is 9400 Ward Parkway, Kansas

4	City, Missouri 64114.

1. Q2. By whom are you employed and in what capacity?
2. A2. I am employed by 1898 & Co. as a Director, and lead the Utility Investment Planning team

7	as part of our Utility Consulting Practice. 1898 & Co. was established as the consulting
8	and technology consulting division of Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc.
9	("Burns & McDonnell") in 2019. 1898 & Co. is a nationwide network of over 250
10	consulting professionals serving the Manufacturing & Industrial, Oil & Gas, Power
11	Generation, Transmission & Distribution, Transportation, and Water industries.
12	Burns & McDonnell has been in business since 1898, serving multiple industries, including
13	the electric power industry. Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies made up of more
14	than 8,300 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants, and
15	entrepreneurs with more than 40 offices across the country and throughout the world.

1. Q3. Briefly describe your educational background and certifications.
2. A3. I have received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering and a Bachelor's in Business

18	Administration from Dordt College, now called Dordt University. I am a registered
19	Professional Engineer in the state of Kansas.

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Cause No. PUD 202100164

1. Q4. Please briefly describe your professional experience and duties at 1898 & Co.
2. A4. I am a professional engineer with 14 years of experience providing consulting services to

3	electric utilities. I have extensive experience in asset management, capital planning and
4	optimization, risk and resiliency assessments and analysis, asset failure analysis, and
5	business case development for utility clients. I have been involved in numerous studies
6	modeling risk for utility industry clients. These studies have included risk and economic
7	analysis engagements for several multi-billion-dollar capital projects and large utility
8	systems. In my role as a project manager, I have worked on and overseen risk and resiliency
9	analysis consulting studies on a variety of electric power transmission and distribution
10	assets, including developing complex and innovative risk and resiliency analysis models.
11	My primary responsibilities are business development and project delivery within the
12	Utility Consulting Practice with a focus on developing risk and resiliency-based business
13	cases for large capital projects/programs.
14	Prior to joining 1898 & Co. and Burns & McDonnell, I served as a Principal Consultant at
15	Black & Veatch inside their Asset Management Practice performing similar studies to the
16	effort performed for Oklahoma Gas & Electric ("OG&E").

1. Q5. Have you previously testified before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission?
2. A5. I have not testified before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission; I ask that my
3. credentials be accepted. I provided written, rebuttal, and oral testimony on behalf of
4. Indianapolis Power & Light, now AES Indiana, before the Indiana Utility Regulatory

21	Commission. Additionally, I provided written and rebuttal testimony on behalf of Tampa
22	Electric Company before the Florida Public Service Commission. I have also supported
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	Cause No. PUD 202100164

1	many other regulatory filings. I have also testified in front the Alaska Senate Resources
2	Committee.

1. Q6. Are you sponsoring any attachments in support of your testimony?
2. A6. Yes, I am sponsoring the Grid Enhancement Plan Business Case for 2020 & 2021

5	Investments Report prepared by 1898 & Co. ("1898 & Co. Report"), which is included as
6	Direct Exhibit JDD-1.

7 Q7. Were your testimony and the attachment identified above prepared or assembled by

8		you or under your direction or supervision?
9	A7.	Yes.

10 Q8. What was the extent of your involvement in the preparation of the Grid Enhancement

11		Business Case?
12	A8.	I served as the 1898 & Co. project director on the OG&E Grid Enhancement Plan Business
13		Case Assessment. I worked directly with the OG&E Team involved in the investment
14		planning. I was responsible for the overall project and was involved in the development of
15		the business case assessment, as well as being the main author of the report.
16		2.0	EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Q9. What is the purpose of your direct testimony in this proceeding?
2. A9. The purpose of my testimony is to summarize the results and methodology used by 1898

19	& Co. to develop a business case for OG&E's 2020 and 2021 Grid Enhancement Plan with
20	the following objectives:

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Cause No. PUD 202100164

1	1.	Calculation of benefits from a customer centric perspective, mainly avoided future
2		costs and customer outages.
3	2.	Perform the business case evaluation using a bottoms-up approach to produce
4		business cases at the project, circuit, substation, and portfolio levels.
5	3.	Prepare the business case results using a revenue requirements methodology for
6		avoided reactive cost benefits excluding customer outage benefits.
7	Through my testimony, I will describe the integrated and comprehensive nature of the Grid
8	Enhancement Plan and how to understand the business case evaluation. I will describe the
9	two main approaches utilized to estimate benefits for grid investments, the data that served
10	as the foundation for the evaluation, and how benefits were mapped to investments. I will
11	also describe results of the business case assessment performed for OG&E. Finally, I
12	provide my conclusions and recommendations.

1. Q10. Please describe the assessment 1898 & Co. conducted for OG&E.
2. A10. 1898 & Co. developed a business case for the 2020 and 2021 Grid Enhancement Plan

15	investments developed by OG&E. 1898 & Co. utilized a risk and resiliency-based planning
16	approach to provide a business case for each Grid Enhancement investment. The evaluation
17	leverages 1898 & Co.'s AssetLens Analytics Engine, an asset investment planning tool to
18	evaluate the life-cycle benefits of replacing Transmission and Distribution (T&D)
19	infrastructure and deploying smart devices across the distribution system. Investment costs
20	for each of the investments were provided by OG&E.

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Cause No. PUD 202100164