(1) In order to satisfy its electricity supply service responsibilities, a utility should pursue the following objectives in assembling and managing an electricity supply resource portfolio:

(a) provide customers adequate and reliable electricity supply services, stably and reasonably priced, at the lowest long-term total cost;

(b) design rates that are equitable and promote rational, economically efficient consumption decisions;

(c) assemble and maintain a balanced, environmentally responsible portfolio of electricity supply resources coordinated with economically efficient cost allocation and rate design that most efficiently provides electricity supply services to customers over the planning horizon;

(d) maintain an optimal mix of electricity supply resources with respect to underlying fuels, technologies, and associated environmental impacts, and a diverse mix of long, medium, and short duration power supply contracts with staggered start and expiration dates; and

(e) maximize the dissemination of information to customers regarding the mix of resources and the corresponding level of emissions and other environmental impacts associated with electricity supply service through itemized labeling and reporting of the portfolio's energy products.

(2) These objectives are listed in order of importance, but no single objective should be pursued such that others are ignored. Simultaneously achieving these multiple objectives will require a balanced approach. A utility should apply the recommendations in ARM 38.5.8209 through 38.5.8213, 38.5.8218 through 38.5.8221, 38.5.8225, and 38.5.8226, in addition to relevant commission orders, to achieve these goals and objectives.