Title 18—Conservation of Power and Water Resources--Volume 1
PART 346—OIL PIPELINE COST-OF-SERVICE FILING REQUIREMENTS
§ 346.1   Content of filing for cost-of-service rates.
A carrier that seeks to establish rates pursuant to § 342.2(a) of this chapter, or a carrier that seeks to change rates pursuant to § 342.4(a) of this chapter, or a carrier described in § 342.0(b) of this chapter that seeks to establish or change rates by filing cost, revenue, and throughput data supporting such rates, other than pursuant to a Commission-approved settlement, must file, consistent with the requirements of §§ 341.1 and 341.2 of this chapter:
(a) A letter of transmittal which conforms to §§ 341.2(c) and 342.4(a) of this chapter;
(b) The proposed tariff; and
(c) The statements and supporting workpapers set forth in § 346.2.
§ 346.2   Material in support of initial rates or change in rates.
A carrier that files for rates pursuant to § 342.2(a) or § 342.4(a) of this chapter, or a carrier described in § 342.0(b) that files to establish or change rates by filing cost, revenue, and throughput data supporting such rates, other than pursuant to a Commission-approved settlement, must file the following statements, schedules, and supporting workpapers. The statement, schedules, and workpapers must be based upon an appropriate test period.
(a) Base and test periods defined. (1) For a carrier which has been in operation for at least 12 months:
(i) A base period must consist of 12 consecutive months of actual experience. The 12 months of experience must be adjusted to eliminate nonrecurring items (except minor accounts). The filing carrier may include appropriate normalizing adjustments in lieu of nonrecurring items.
(ii) A test period must consist of a base period adjusted for changes in revenues and costs which are known and are measurable with reasonable accuracy at the time of filing and which will become effective within nine months after the last month of available actual experience utilized in the filing. For good cause shown, the Commission may allow reasonable deviation from the prescribed test period.
(2) For a carrier which has less than 12 months' experience, the test period may consist of 12 consecutive months ending not more than one year from the filing date. For good cause shown, the Commission may allow reasonable deviation from the prescribed test period.
(3) For a carrier which is establishing rates for new service, the test period will be based on a 12-month projection of costs and revenues.
(b) Cost-of-service summary schedule. This schedule must contain the following information:
(1) Total carrier cost of service for the test period.
(2) Throughput for the test period in both barrels and barrel-miles.
(3) For filings pursuant to § 342.4(a) of this chapter, the schedule must include the proposed rates, the rates which would be permitted under § 342.3 of this chapter, and the revenues to be realized from both sets of rates.
(c) Content of statements. Any cost-of-service rate filing must include supporting statements containing the following information for the test period.
(1) Statement A—total cost of service. This statement must summarize the total cost of service for a carrier (operating and maintenance expense, depreciation and amortization, return, and taxes) developed from Statements B through G described in paragraphs (c) (2) through (7) of this section.
(2) Statement B—operation and maintenance expense. This statement must set forth the operation, maintenance, administration and general, and depreciation expenses for the test period. Items used in the computations or derived on this statement must consist of operations, including salaries and wages, supplies and expenses, outside services, operating fuel and power, and oil losses and shortages; maintenance, including salaries and wages, supplies and expenses, outside services, and maintenance and materials; administrative and general, including salaries and wages, supplies and expenses, outside services, rentals, pensions and benefits, insurance, casualty and other losses, and pipeline taxes; and depreciation and amortization.
(3) Statement C—overall return on rate base. This statement must set forth the rate base for return purposes from Statement E in paragraph (c)(5) of this section and must also state the claimed rate of return and the application of the claimed rate of return to the overall rate base. The claimed rate of return must consist of a weighted cost of capital, combining the rate of return on debt capital and the real rate of return on equity capital. Items used in the computations or derived on this statement must include deferred earnings, equity ratio, debt ratio, weighted cost of capital, and costs of debt and equity.
(4) Statement D—income taxes. This statement must set forth the income tax computation. Items used in the computations or derived on this statement must show: return allowance, interest expense, equity return, annual amortization of deferred earnings, depreciation on equity AFUDC, underfunded or overfunded ADIT amortization amount, taxable income, tax factor, and income tax allowance.
(5) Statement E—rate base. This statement must set forth the return rate base. Items used in the computations or derived on this statement must include beginning balances of the rate base at December 31, 1983, working capital (including materials and supplies, prepayments, and oil inventory), accrued depreciation on carrier plant, accrued depreciation on rights of way, and accumulated deferred income taxes; and adjustments and end balances for original cost of retirements, interest during construction, AFUDC adjustments, original cost of net additions and retirements from land, original cost of net additions and retirements from rights of way, original cost of plant additions, original cost accruals for depreciation, AFUDC accrued depreciation adjustment, original cost depreciation accruals added to rights of way, net charge for retirements from accrued depreciation, accumulated deferred income taxes, changes in working capital (including materials and supplies, prepayments, and oil inventory), accrued deferred earnings, annual amortization of accrued deferred earnings, and amortization of starting rate base write-up.
(6) Statement F—allowance for funds used during construction. This statement must set forth the computation of allowances for funds used during construction (AFUDC) including the AFUDC for each year commencing in 1984 and a summary of AFUDC and AFUDC depreciation for the years 1984 through the test year.
(7) Statement G—revenues. This statement must set forth the gross revenues for the actual 12 months of experience as computed under both the presently effective rates and the proposed rates. If the presently effective rates are not at the maximum ceiling rate established under § 342.3 of this chapter, then gross revenues must also be computed and set forth as if the ceiling rates were effective for the 12 month period.
§ 346.3   Asset retirement obligations.
(a) A carrier that files material in support of initial rates or change in rates under § 346.2 and has recorded asset retirement obligations on its books must provide a schedule, as part of the supporting workpapers, identifying all cost components related to the asset retirement obligations that are included in the book balances of all accounts reflected in the cost of service computation supporting the proposed rates. However, all cost components related to asset retirement obligations that would impact the calculation of rate base, such as carrier property and related accumulated depreciation and accumulated deferred income taxes, may not be reflected in rates and must be removed from the rate base calculation through a single adjustment.
(b) A carrier seeking to recover nonrate base costs related to asset retirement costs in rates must provide, with its filing under § 346.2 of this part, a detailed study supporting the amounts proposed to be collected in rates.
(c) A carrier who has recorded asset retirement obligations on its books but is not seeking recovery of the asset retirement costs in rates, must remove all asset retirement obligations related cost components from the cost of service supporting its proposed rates.