Title 18—Conservation of Power and Water Resources--Volume 1
PART 382—ANNUAL CHARGES
§ 382.101   Purpose.
The purpose of this part is to establish procedures for calculating and assessing annual charges to reimburse the United States for all of the costs incurred by the Commission, other than costs incurred in administering Part I of the Federal Power Act and costs recovered through the Commission's filing fees.
§ 382.102   Definitions.
For the purpose of this part:
(a) Natural gas pipeline company means any person:
(1) Engaged in natural gas sales for resale or natural gas transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission under the Natural Gas Act whose sales for resale and transportation exceed 200,000 Mcf at 14.73 psi (60 °F) in any of the three calendar years immediately preceding the fiscal year for which the Commission is assessing annual charges; and
(2) Not engaged solely in “first sales” of natural gas as that term is defined in section 2(21) of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978; and
(3) To whom the Commission has not issued a Natural Gas Act Section 7(f) declaration; and
(4) Not holding a limited jurisdiction certificate.
(b) Public utility means any person who owns or operates facilities subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission under Parts II and III of the Federal Power Act, and who has rate schedule(s) on file with the Commission and who is not a “qualifying small power producer” or a “qualifying cogenerator”, as those terms are defined in section 3 of the Federal Power Act, or the United States or a state, or any political subdivision of the United States or a state, or any agency, authority, or instrumentality of the United States, a state, political subdivision of the United States, or political subdivision of a state.
(c) Oil pipeline company means any person engaged in the transportation of crude oil and petroleum products subject to the Commission's jurisdiction under the Interstate Commerce Act with annual operating revenues greater than $350,000 in any of the three calendar years immediately preceding the fiscal year for which the Commission is assessing annual charges.
(d) Natural gas regulatory program is the Commission's regulation of the natural gas industry under the Natural Gas Act; Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978; Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Act; Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act; Department of Energy Organization Act; Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act; Energy Security Act; Regulatory Flexibility Act; Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act; National Environmental Policy Act; National Historic Preservation Act.
(e) Electric regulatory program is the Commission's regulation of the electric industry under Parts II and III of the Federal Power Act; Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act; Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act; Department of Energy Organization Act; Energy Security Act; Regulatory Flexibility Act; Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act; Flood Control and River and Harbor Acts; Bonneville Project Act; Federal Columbia River Transmission Act; Reclamation Project Act; Nuclear Waste Policy Act; National Environmental Policy Act; and the Public Utility Holding Company Act.
(f) Oil regulatory program is the Commission's regulation of the oil pipeline industry under the Interstate Commerce Act; Department of Energy Organization Act; Regulatory Flexibility Act; Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act; and the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act.
(g) Person means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, joint stock company, public trust, or organized group of persons, whether incorporated or not.
(h) Operating revenues means the monies:
(1) Received by an oil pipeline company for providing interstate common carrier services regulated by the Commission, and
(2) Included in FERC Account No. 200, 210, or 220 in FERC Annual Report Form No. 6, page 301, lines 1, 2 and 3, column d, under part 352 of the Commission's regulations.
(i) Fiscal year means the twelve-month period that begins on the first day of October and ends on the last day of September.
(j) Preceding calendar year means the twelve-month period that begins on the first day of January and ends the last day of December and immediately precedes the end of the fiscal year for which the Commission is assessing annual charges.
(k) Adjusted costs of administration means the difference between the estimated costs of administering a regulatory program for each fiscal year adjusted to reflect any overcollection or undercollection of cost attributable to that regulatory program in the annual charge assessment for the preceding fiscal year, and the estimated amount of filing fees collected during that fiscal year under the provisions of parts 346 and 381 of the Commission's regulations for activities that relate to that regulatory program.
(l) Power Marketing Agencies means the Bonneville Power Administration, the Alaska Power Administration, the Southeastern Power Administration, the Southwestern Power Administration, and the Western Area Power Administration.
§ 382.103   Payment.
(a) Annual charges assessed under this part must be paid within 45 days of the issuance of the bill by the Commission, unless a petition for waiver has been filed under § 382.105 of this part.
(b) Payment must be made by check, draft, or money order, payable to the United States Treasury.
(c) If payment is not made within 45 days of issuance of a bill, interest will be assessed. Interest will be computed in accordance with § 154.501(d) of this chapter, from the date on which the bill becomes delinquent.
§ 382.104   Enforcement.
The Commission may refuse to process any petition, application, or other filing submitted by or on the behalf of any person that does not pay the annual charge assessed when due, or may take any other appropriate action permitted by law.
§ 382.105   Waiver.
(a) Filing of petition. Any annual charges bill recipient may submit a petition for waiver of the regulations in this part. An original and two copies of a petition for waiver must include evidence, such as a financial statement, clearly showing either that the petitioner does not have the money to pay all or part of the annual charge, or, if the petitioner does pay the annual charge, that the petitioner will be placed in financial distress or emergency. Petitions for waiver must be filed with the Office of the Secretary of the Commission within 15 days of issuance of the bill.
(b) Decision on petition. The Commission or its designee will review the petition for waiver and then will notify the applicant of its grant or denial, in whole or in part. If the petition is denied in whole or in part, the annual charge becomes due 30 days from the date of notification of the denial.
§ 382.106   Accounting for annual charges paid under part 382.
(a) Any natural gas pipeline company subject to the provisions of this part must account for annual charges paid by charging the account to Account No. 928, Regulatory Commission Expenses, of the Commission's Uniform System of Accounts.
(b) Any public utility subject to the provisions of this part must account for annual charges paid by charging the amount to Account No. 928, Regulatory Commission Expenses, of the Commission's Uniform System Accounts.
(c) Any oil pipeline company subject to the provisions of this part must account for annual charges paid by charging the amount to Account No. 510, Supplies and Expenses, of the Commission's Uniform System of Accounts.
§ 382.201   Annual charges under Parts II and III of the Federal Power Act and related statutes.
(a) Determination of costs to be assessed to public utilities. The adjusted costs of administration of the electric regulatory program, excluding the costs of regulating the Power Marketing Agencies, will be assessed to public utilities that provide transmission service (measured, as discussed in paragraph (c) of this section, by the sum of the megawatt-hours of all unbundled transmission and the megawatt-hours of all bundled wholesale power sales (to the extent these latter megawatt-hours were not separately reported as unbundled transmission)).
(b) Determination of annual charges to be assessed to public utilities. The costs determined under paragraph (a) of this section will be assessed as annual charges to each public utility providing transmission service based on the proportion of the megawatt-hours of transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce of each such public utility in the immediately preceding reporting year (either a calendar year or fiscal year, depending on which accounting convention is used by the public utility to be charged) to the sum of the megawatt-hours of transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce in the immediately preceding reporting year of all such public utilities.
(c) Reporting requirement. (1) For purposes of computing annual charges, as of January 1, 2002, a public utility, as defined in § 382.102(b), that provides transmission service must submit under oath to the Office of the Secretary by April 30 of each year an original and conformed copies of the following information (designated as FERC Reporting Requirement No. 582 (FERC-582)): The total megawatt-hours of transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce, which for purposes of computing the annual charges and for purposes of this reporting requirement, will be measured by the sum of the megawatt-hours of all unbundled transmission (including MWh delivered in wheeling transactions and MWh delivered in exchange transactions) and the megawatt-hours of all bundled wholesale power sales (to the extent these latter megawatt-hours were not separately reported as unbundled transmission). This information must be reported to 3 decimal places; e.g., 3,105 KWh will be reported as 3.105 MWh.
(2) Corrections to the information reported on FERC-582, as of January 1, 2002, must be submitted under oath to the Office of the Secretary on or before the end of each calendar year in which the information was originally reported (i.e., on or before the last day of the year that the Commission is open to accept such filings).
(d) Determination of annual charges to be assessed to power marketing agencies. The adjusted costs of administration of the electric regulatory program as it applies to Power Marketing Agencies will be assessed against each power marketing agency based on the proportion of the megawatt-hours of sales of each power marketing agency in the immediately preceding reporting year (either a calendar year or fiscal year, depending on which accounting convention is used by the power marketing agency to be charged) to the sum of the megawatt-hours of sales in the immediately preceding reporting year of all power marketing agencies being assessed annual charges.
§ 382.202   Annual charges under the Natural Gas Act and Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 and related statutes.
The adjusted costs of administration of the natural gas regulatory program will be assessed against each natural gas pipeline company based on the proportion of the total gas subject to Commission regulation which was sold and transported by each company in the immediately preceding calendar year to the sum of the gas subject to the Commission regulation which was sold and transported in the immediately preceding calendar year by all natural gas pipeline companies being assessed annual charges.
§ 382.203   Annual charges under the Interstate Commerce Act.
(a) The adjusted costs of administration of the oil regulatory program will be assessed against each oil pipeline company based on the proportion of the total operation revenues of each oil pipeline company for the immediately preceding calendar year to the sum of the operating revenues for the immediately preceding calendar year of all oil pipeline companies being assessed annual charges.
(b) No oil pipeline company's annual charge may exceed a maximum charge established each year by the Commission to equal 6.339 percent of the adjusted costs of administration of the oil regulatory program. The maximum charge will be rounded to the nearest $1000. For every company with an annual charge determined to be above the maximum charge, that company's annual charge will be set at the maximum charge, and any amount above the maximum charge will be reapportioned to the remaining companies. The reapportionment will be computed using the method outlined in paragraph (a) of this section (but excluding any company whose annual charge is already set at the maximum amount). This procedure will be repeated until no company's annual charge exceeds the maximum charge.