Enbridge Gas Business Risk
Dr. Asa Hopkins provided testimony in Enbridge Gas's rate case on behalf of the Industrial Gas Users Association. Dr. Hopkins evaluated Enbridge's claim that it faces increased business risk as a result of the energy transition, and therefore its capital structure should be re-evaluated to increase the equity fraction. Dr. Hopkins concluded that Enbridge had not sufficiently demonstrated that it faced increased business risk and that it should conduct a more detailed analysis of its business in the context of energy transition. In its order on this case, the Ontario Energy Board cited Dr. Hopkins’s testimony regarding energy transition when ordering the utility to undertake an in-depth risk analysis regarding energy transition before its next rate case. The OEB further ruled that Enbridge had not presented an adequate assessment of energy transition-related stranded asset risk to show that its capital spending plan is prudent.
The Ontario provincial Electrification and Energy Transition Panel cited Dr. Hopkins’s testimony (along with two other Synapse products) in its analysis of protecting gas utility customers through the energy transition.