and United’s joint motion for partial summary judgment, leaving issues related to the contract termination amount as the only issue to be tried.
A hearing was held on May 18-20, 2020 and statements of position were filed on May 28, 2020. On July 10, 2020, the administrative law judge issued a recommended decision that determined that us not providing LPEA and United a contract termination payment number was unjust, unreasonable, and discriminatory and adopted United’s contract termination payment methodology to calculate United’s and LPEA’s contract termination payment amount. The recommended decision references that United’s contract termination payment methodology applied to United would result in a contract termination payment of approximately $234 million. However, the recommended decision provides that a technical conference will be scheduled to update any financial numbers and provide an exact contract termination payment amount. On July 27, 2020, the COPUC on its own motion stayed the recommended decision. On July 30, 2020, we filed our exceptions (essentially an appeal) to the recommended decision. Other entities have also filed exceptions to the recommended decision.
FERC Tariff and Declaratory Order. Because of increased pressure by states to regulate our rates and charges with impact in other states setting up untenable conflict, we sought consistent federal jurisdiction by FERC. This was accomplished with the addition of non-cooperative members in 2019, specifically MIECO, Inc. as a Non-Utility Member on September 3, 2019. On the same date, we became FERC jurisdictional for our Utility Member rates, transmission service, and our market based rates. We filed our tariff for wholesale electric service and transmission at FERC in December 2019. The request was made to FERC to make the new tariffs retroactive to September 3, 2019. In addition, on December 23, 2019, we filed our Petition for Declaratory Order, or PDO, with FERC asking FERC to confirm our jurisdiction under the FPA and that FERC’s jurisdiction preempts the jurisdiction of the COPUC to address any rate related issues, including the complaints filed by United and LPEA, EL20-16-000.
On March 20, 2020, FERC issued orders regarding our PDO and our tariff filings. FERC’s orders generally accepted our tariff filings and recognized that we became FERC jurisdictional on September 3, 2019, but did not make the tariffs retroactive to September 3, 2019. However, FERC specifically provided that no refunds are due on our Utility Member rates and our transmission service rates prior to March 26, 2020. FERC did not impose any civil penalties on us. FERC also did not determine that our Utility Member rates and transmission service rates were just and reasonable and ordered a 206 proceeding to determine the justness and reasonableness of our rates and wholesale electric service contracts. The tariff rates were referred to an administrative law judge to encourage settlement of material issues and to hold a hearing if settlement is not reached. The settlement proceedings are continuing. Any refunds to the applicable tariff rates would only apply after March 26, 2020. FERC’s March 20, 2020 order regarding our PDO denied our requested declaration regarding the preemption of the United and LPEA proceedings at the COPUC stating they are not currently preempted.
On April 13, 2020, we filed a request for rehearing limited to the issue of preemption of the United and LPEA proceedings at the COPUC related to the contract termination payment amount as described in our PDO. Requests for rehearing related to both the PDO and tariff filings have been filed with FERC by other parties. On May 14, 2020, FERC entered an order granting our request for rehearing for further consideration on our PDO. On July 13, 2020, we filed a petition for review with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, or D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, to protect our interest, and requested review of FERC’s order granting in part and denying in part our PDO and FERC’s order granting rehearings for further consideration. Petitions for review related to both the PDO and tariff filings have been filed with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals by other parties. It is not possible to predict if FERC will require us to refund amounts to our customers for sales after March 26, 2020, if FERC will approve our current practices regarding use of regulatory assets are just and reasonable, or to estimate any liability associated with this matter. In addition, we cannot predict the outcome of the 206 proceedings, our April 13 request for rehearing or any other request for rehearing filed with FERC, or our petition for review or any other petition for review filed with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
United Adams District Court Complaint. On May 4, 2020, United filed a Complaint for Declaratory Judgement and Damages in the Adams County District Court, 2020CV030649, against us and our three Non-Utility Members alleging, among other things, that the April 2019 Bylaws amendment that allows our Board to establish one or more classes of membership in addition to the then existing all-requirements class of membership is void, the April 2020 Board approvals related to a “Make-Whole” methodology for a contract termination payment and buy-down payment formula