Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3111

1Pipeline Service Obligations and Revisions to

Regulations Governing Self-Implementing

Transportation; and Regulation of Natural Gas

Pipelines After Partial Wellhead Decontrol, Order

No. 636, 57 FR 13267 (April 16, 1992), FERC

Statutes and Regulations ¶ 30,939 (April 8, 1992);

order on reh’g, Order No. 636–A, 57 FR 36128

(August 12, 1992), FERC Statutes and Regulations

¶ 30,950 (August 3, 1992); order on reh’g, Order No.

636–B, 57 FR 57911 (December 8, 1992), 61 FERC

¶ 61,272 (1992), reh’g denied, 62 FERC ¶ 61,007

(1993), appeal re-docketed sub nom. Atlanta Gas

Light Company and Chattanooga Gas Company, et

al. versus FERC, No. 94–1171 (D.C. Cir. May 27,

1994).

will thereafter be continuously published in

the Airport/Facility Directory.

* * * * *

Paragraph 6002—Subpart E-Class E Airspace

Areas Designated as a Surface Area for an

Airport

* * * * *

AGL WI E2 Madison Dane County Regional

Airport-Truax Field, WI [New]

Dane County Regional Airport-Truax Field,

WI

(Lat. 43°08′22′′ N., long. 89°20′13′′ W.)

Waunakee Airport

(Lat. 43°11′00′′ N., long 89°27′00′′ W.)

Within a 4.4-mile radius of the Dane

County Regional Airport-Truax Field, and

within 2.4 miles each side of the 358° bearing

from the airport extending from the 4.4 mile

radius to 7 miles north of the airport and

within 2.4 miles each side of the 320° bearing

from the airport extending from the 4.4-mile

radius to 7 miles northwest of the airport,

and within 2.4 miles each side of the 134°

bearing from the airport extending from 4.4-

mile radius to 7 miles southeast if the airport

excluding that airspace within 1 1/2-mile

radius of the Waunakee Airport. This Class

E airspace area is effective during the specific

dates and times established in advance by a

Notice to Airmen. The effective date and time

will thereafter be continuously published in

the Airport/Facility Directory.

* * * * *

ASO MS E2 Jackson International Airport,

MS [New]

Jackson International Airport, MS

(Lat. 32°18′41′′ N., long. 90°04′33′′ W.)

Within a 5-mile radius of Jackson

International Airport. This Class E airspace

area is effective during the specific dates and

times established in advance by a Notice to

Airmen. The effective date and time will

thereafter be continuously published in the

Airport/Facility Directory.

* * * * *

Issued in Washington, DC, on January 6,

1995.

Nancy B. Kalinowski

Acting Manager, Airspace-Rules and

Aeronautical Information Division.

[FR Doc. 95–950 Filed 1–12–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

18 CFR Part 154

[Docket No. RM95–3–000]

Filing and Reporting Requirements for

Interstate Natural Gas Company Rate

Schedules and Tariffs; Notice of

Proposed Rulemaking

Issued: December 16, 1994.

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

SUMMARY: The Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission proposes to

amend part 154 of the Commission’s

regulations under the Natural Gas Act.

The Commission proposes to reorganize,

rewrite and update its regulations

governing the form, composition and

filing of rates and charges for the

transportation of natural gas in

interstate commerce. This proposal is

part of the Commission’s ongoing

program to review its filing and

reporting requirements and reduce

unnecessary burdens by eliminating the

collection of data that are not necessary

to the performance of the Commission’s

regulatory responsibilities. The

Commission also proposes to require

that certain data, necessary to the

analysis of a proposed rate, be filed at

an earlier stage of the process.

DATES: Comments are due no later than

April 13, 1995.

ADDRESSES: An original and 14 copies of

written comments must be filed. All

filings must refer to Docket No. RM95–

3–000 and be addressed to Office of the

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, 825 North Capitol Street,

NE., Washington, DC 20426.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Richard A. White, Office of the General

Counsel, Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, 825 North Capitol Street,

NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 208–

0491.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In

addition to publishing the full text of

this document in the Federal Register,

the Commission also provides all

interested persons an opportunity to

inspect or copy the contents of this

document during normal business hours

in Room 3104, 941 North Capitol Street,

NE., Washington, DC 20426.

The Commission Issuance Posting

System (CIPS), an electronic bulletin

board service, provides access to the

texts of formal documents issued by the

Commission. CIPS is available at no

charge to the user and may be accessed

using a personal computer with a

modem by dialing (202) 208–1397. To

access CIPS, set your communications

software to 19200, 14400, 12000, 9600,

7200, 4800, 2400, 1200, or 300 bps, full

duplex, no parity, 8 data bits, and 1 stop

bit. The full text of this document will

be available on CIPS for 60 days from

the date of issuance in ASCII and

WordPerfect 5.1 format. After 60 days,

the document will be archived, but still

accessible. The complete text on

diskette in Wordperfect format may also

be purchased from the Commission’s

copy contractor, La Dorn Systems

Corporation, also located in Room 3104,

941 North Capitol Street, NE.,

Washington, DC 20426.

I. Introduction

The Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission (Commission) proposes to

amend part 154 of its regulations

governing the form and composition of

interstate natural gas pipeline tariffs and

the filing of rates and charges for the

transportation of natural gas in

interstate commerce under sections 4

and 5 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) and

section 311 of the Natural Gas Policy

Act. This notice of proposed rulemaking

is a companion to the notice of

proposed rulemaking, issued

concurrently, titled ‘‘Revisions to the

Uniform System of Accounts and to

Forms and Statements and Reporting

Requirements for Natural Gas

Companies’’ which proposes to amend,

among other things, the Uniform System

of Accounts and FERC Form No. 2.

The Commission intends to make the

filing and reporting requirements reflect

recent regulatory changes, in particular

the implementation of Order No. 636,

and the realities of the process of a

modern rate case.1 The restructuring of

the pipeline industry has rendered

many of the current rate and tariff

regulations superfluous or outdated.

The Commission is proposing filing

requirements that reflect the current

part 284 service regulations that

mandate unbundled pipeline sales and

open-access transportation of natural

gas. The current part 154 rate

regulations are not designed for the type

of rate changes that will occur in the

restructured service environment. These

filing requirements were originally

designed to focus on pipeline sales

activities. The revised regulations focus

on transportation services.

Before the recent industry

restructuring, natural gas pipelines

primarily provided a merchant service.

A typical pipeline company would

purchase gas from producers or other

suppliers, transport the gas from the

supply area to storage fields or sales

delivery points, and sell the gas on a

bundled basis. Now, pipeline
3112 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

2 15 U.S.C. 717c(a).

3 15 U.S.C. 717c(d). 4 15 U.S.C. 717(c).

companies are primarily transporters of

natural gas. However, in the

Commission’s view, the change in the

primary role of the pipeline from

merchant to transporter requires that the

filing requirements be adapted to the

change. Therefore, the Commission

proposes to delete all of the current

regulations in part 154 and replace them

with new regulations that reflect the

restructured industry.

The changes to the Commission’s

regulations are proposed to be effective

90 days after publication in the Federal

Register.

II. Public Reporting Burden

Due to offsetting changes, the

expected impact of the proposal is

minimal.

The Commission estimates the public

reporting burden for filing under the

rule will decrease the existing reporting

burden by an average of 69 hours per

filing.

Interested persons may send

comments regarding these burden

estimates or any other aspect of this

information collection, including

suggestions for reducing the burden, by

contacting the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, 941 North

Capitol Street, NE., Washington, DC

20426 [Attention: Michael Miller,

Information Services Division, (202)

208–1415], and to the Office of

Information and Regulatory Affairs,

Office of Management and Budget,

Washington DC 20503 (Attention: Desk

Officer for the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission), FAX: (202)

395–5167.

III. Discussion

A. Overview and Objectives of the

Proposed Rule

Section 4(a) of the Natural Gas Act

(NGA) requires that any rate charged by

a natural gas company must be ‘‘just and

reasonable.’’ 2 In order to aid the

Commission in establishing whether a

change in a rate meets the statutory

standard, section 4 of the NGA grants

authority to the Commission to establish

procedures for the review of proposed

changes. Section 4(c) of the NGA

requires that a natural gas company file

proposed changes in rates with the

Commission thirty days prior to the

proposed effective date.3 The

Commission may suspend the

effectiveness of the proposed changes to

that rate for up to five months, permit

the changed rates to take effect subject

to refund, and may order a hearing to

determine the lawfulness of the

proposed rates.4 At such hearing, the

company bears the burden of proof that

the proposed changed rates are just and

reasonable. Part 154 currently imposes

specific filing and reporting

requirements on jurisdictional natural

gas companies in order for the

Commission to fulfill its statutory

review functions.

In this proceeding, the Commission

proposes a major overhaul of its

regulations governing natural gas

company filing and reporting

requirements. The proposed new part

154 incorporates both basic

‘‘housekeeping’’ changes to eliminate

obsolete language and sections, and

substantive changes to update the

regulations to reflect the many

developments that have taken place in

the natural gas industry since the

regulations were first promulgated.

The proposed part 154 represents the

reorganization, rewriting, updating,

modification, consolidation, and

pruning of the current regulations. The

changes provide for more useful and

less burdensome data filed in electronic

format; a schedule by schedule revision

of the current § 154.63 filing

requirements for an NGA section 4(e)

general rate case; and, new filing

requirements for initial rates and

various limited section 4 filings,

miscellaneous tariff change filings, and

cost tracking filings.

1. Organization and Editorial Changes

Proposed Part 154—Rate Schedules

and Tariffs has been reorganized into

subparts: Subpart A—General

Provisions and Conditions; Subpart B—

Form and Composition of Tariff;

Subpart C—Procedures for Changing

Tariffs; Subpart D—Material to be Filed

With Changes; Subpart E—Limited Rate

Changes; Subpart F—Refunds and

Reports; Subpart G—Other Tariff

Changes.

The revised part 154 is organized in

such a way that the filing requirements

are cumulative. That is, all filings must

meet the requirements of Subpart A

even if no other subpart applies. All

tariff sheets or executed service

agreements must conform to the

requirements of Subpart B. Changes to

tariff sheets or executed service

agreements, whether additions or

modifications, must conform to the

requirements of Subpart B and comply

with the filing requirements of Subpart

C. Additional filing or reporting

requirements applicable to specific

types of filings fall under Subparts D

through G.

The entire part 154 has been edited

for clarity and to remove outdated

references. For example all references to

filing fees have been removed because

fees are no longer required. Also, the

current regulations contain some

sections which have never been updated

and refer to the Commission as the

‘‘FPC’’ or direct the applicant to comply

with sections that have been removed.

The Commission proposes appropriate

editorial revisions to these sections.

Some current sections contain

provisions on several different matters

and, for the sake of clarity, have been

broken out into several smaller sections.

For example, the provisions of current

§ 154.63 are proposed to be

redistributed throughout the proposed

part 154. Current § 154.38(d)(5) and (6)

deal with the substantive rules for

obtaining rate treatment for research,

development, and demonstration costs

(RD&D) and annual charge adjustment

(ACA) expenditures, respectively. These

sections are proposed to be moved to a

separate subpart and revised.

Many provisions the Commission

proposes to redraft to reflect prevalent

practice in the industry. For example,

proposed § 154.207 formally adds to the

regulations the requirement that the

company must serve notice upon its

customers. Proposed § 154.208 sets out

a new form of notice to reflect current

practice. Proposed § 154.107 formalizes

the general practice of providing a

detailed statement of rates and charges

in a particular location in the tariff.

Proposed § 154.107(b) requires rates to

be stated in terms of thermal units

instead of units of volume. Proposed

§ 154.4 provides that any filing must be

on electronic media and proposed

§ 154.2(d) allows mailing to customers

and state commissions to be

accomplished either through electronic

media or traditional methods.

2. Substantive Changes

The Commission is proposing changes

to create filing requirements that reflect

the current service regulations that

mandate unbundled pipeline sales and

open-access transportation of natural

gas. The primary objectives of the

substantive changes are to update the

filing and reporting requirements to

reflect restructured services and

operations, streamline rate case

processing by receiving important

information earlier in the process, and

remove outdated requirements. The

Commission does not intend to propose

changes in its substantive rate policies

in this rulemaking, but rather to bring

its filing requirements and procedures

up to date to match its current

substantive policies.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3113

5E.g., Avoca Natural Gas Storage, 68 FERC

¶ 61,045 (1994); Koch Gateway Pipeline Co., 66

FERC ¶ 61,385 (1994); Bay Gas Storage Co., Ltd., 66

FERC ¶ 61,354 (1994); Petal Gas Storage Co., 64

FERC ¶ 61,190 (1993); Richfield Gas Storage

System, 59 FERC ¶ 61,316 (1992).

6These pipelines do not provide open access

transportation under part 284 of this chapter; and

so, were not subject to restructuring under Order

No. 636.

As a result of Order No. 636, virtually

all of a pipeline’s services are covered

by a blanket certificate issued under

section 7 of the NGA and pursuant to

part 284 of this chapter. As a practical

matter, this means that filings for

changes in transportation services or

new services generally will be treated as

tariff filings under section 4 of the NGA;

not certificate amendment applications

under section 7. Therefore, the

Commission must act within 30 days of

filing and can suspend the changes for

no more than five months. This usually

does not leave sufficient time to

complete a full hearing that involves

extensive discovery. Therefore, it is

important that filings contain as full an

explanation of the rate or tariff change

as possible.

Currently, when a pipeline proposes a

rate increase its customers routinely ask

for a hearing and the rates are routinely

suspended. When the issues are clear

and the parties committed to rapid

closure, the hearing process need not

take an inordinate length of time. The

time required to complete a hearing and

ready the case for decision is affected by

a variety of factors including the scope

of issues set for hearing, the scope of

discovery needed, and the progress of

settlement discussions. The proposed

filing requirements would improve the

support of a pipeline’s filing, reduce

discovery needs by all parties, and

facilitate more rapid settlement or

adjudication of pipeline rate proposals.

More complete support of rate filings

would enable the Commission to speed

the processing of rate cases by resolving

as many issues as possible in the

suspension order.

The proposed filing requirements are

intended to permit parties to address the

important issues more quickly. For

example, pipelines currently file their

Statement P testimony 15 days after

filing the rate proposal. The

Commission’s experience is that

Statement P provides the most

comprehensive description of the

proposed change. The proposed rule

would require Statement P to be filed

concurrently with the rate case so as to

make a more complete explanation of

the rate proposal available at the outset.

To achieve its intended purpose of

expediting the hearing, Statement P

must serve as the applicant’s complete

case-in-chief not a mere description of

proposed rates.

One of the most time consuming

aspects of the hearing process is

discovery. Parties must often resort to

discovery to obtain an adequate

explanation of the pipeline’s rate

proposals. The Commission proposes to

expand the filing requirements in

certain areas so that discovery can be

reduced, and eliminate other data that

are not being used by the parties.

Therefore, though the burden on filing

companies to provide information in the

first submittal is increased, the net

burden remains relatively unaffected

because the only change is in the timing

of the submission.

The current approach to rate

regulation sets an annual revenue

requirement based on operating and

capital costs occurring during a test

period adjusted for known and

measurable changes expected to occur

by the time suspended rates take effect.

Rates are generally designed to recover

the required revenue based on contract

capacity entitlements and projected

annual volumes. The proposed filing

requirements have been designed to

obtain the information needed to justify

rates under this cost-of-service method.

However, the Commission has been

receiving increasing numbers of rate

filings in which the pipeline seeks to

justify its rates on a basis other than the

traditional cost-of-service method.

However, the Commission also

recognizes that the significant changes

in the industry over the last decade have

also heightened interest in the industry

in the prospect for non-cost-based rate

proposals. In the past several years, the

Commission has processed on a case-bycase basis proposals that are not

necessarily confined to a traditional

revenue requirement. For example, the

Commission has approved market-based

rates for storage services in several

cases.5 The Commission plans to

continue the case-by-case evaluation of

new filings. However, in the process of

developing specific new filing

requirements in this proceeding, the

Commission has concluded that it

should also begin a more

comprehensive examination of different

ratemaking standards and

methodologies. These might include, for

example, market-based rates or

incentive rates. Among other things, the

Commission must consider the

appropriate criteria to evaluate such

proposals, to ensure consistency with

the just and reasonable standard, and to

develop filing requirements for the

information that would be needed to

justify those rates. Such alternative rate

designs may provide customers and

pipelines with needed flexibility as the

market continues to evolve. The

Commission, therefore, will move

forward with an initiative in the very

near future in which it will explore the

criteria and filing requirements that

could be employed to achieve non-cost

based rates that also meet the ‘‘just and

reasonable’’ standard of the NGA. The

Commission will not commence such a

proceeding here since the instant

rulemaking is limited to filing and

reporting requirements for rates justified

under the traditional cost-of-service

method.

Certain regulations are, as a practical

matter, no longer of general interest. The

Commission proposes to remove them

from the general regulations. The

regulations concerning Research,

Development, and Demonstration

expenses (RD&D) for example, are

currently a lengthy and cumbersome

part of § 154.38. These regulations were

originally developed to apply to all

pipelines and to any number of RD&D

organizations. However, in practice,

there is one predominant and principal

research organization, Gas Research

Institute (GRI). Thus, the Commission

proposes to streamline the regulations,

recognizing that GRI is the principal

research organization funded by the

natural gas industry.

The Commission proposes to remove

the regulations governing Purchase Gas

Adjustments (PGAs) from the general

regulations. As a result of the

restructuring of the industry under

Order No. 636, most pipelines have

shed their traditional merchant

function. Only two natural-gas

companies, Eastern Shore Natural Gas

Company and West Texas Gas, Inc.,

continue to pass through gas purchase

costs under the PGA regulations.6 The

Commission proposes to require those

two natural-gas companies to

incorporate all of the existing PGA

regulatory requirements applicable to

them into their tariffs. The PGA

regulations will be removed from part

154. The Commission also proposes to

require the provisions governing PGAs

in current § 154.111 to be incorporated

into these companies’ tariffs so that the

section may also be removed.

The Commission is proposing to

delete current § 154.201–213. Those

regulations apply primarily to shippers

seeking to recover charges incurred for

the conditioning and transportation of

Alaska natural gas through the Alaska

Natural Gas System (ANGTS) for sale in

the contiguous 48 states of the United

States. Those provisions establish the

terms and conditions for a permanent
3114 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

7Alaska Natural Gas Transportation System Act,

15 U.S.C. 719–719.

8Order No. 636–A, III FERC Stats. & Regs.

Preambles ¶ 30,950 at p. 30,674 (1992).

9Northern Border Pipeline Co., 63 FERC ¶ 61,289

(1993).

10 65 FERC ¶ 61,356 (1993); reh’g denied, 67 FERC

¶ 61,196 (1994).

11The appendix will not appear in the Code of

Federal Regulations. The formats for the electronic

filing and paper copy can be obtained at the Federal

Energy Regulatory Commission, Division of Public

Information, Washington, DC 20426.

tariff provision that a shipper may

propose to adjust its rates semiannually

to flow through to its jurisdictional

customers the jurisdictional portion of

changes its ANGTS charges.

Alternatively, a shipper may recover the

jurisdictional portion of these charges

through a cost-of-service tariff approved

by the Commission.

The Commission proposes to delete

these regulations because the ANGTS

project has not been built as originally

contemplated, and the regulations are

obsolete in light of the post-Order No.

636 unbundled environment.

Nonetheless, the Commission remains

ready to facilitate the construction of

ANGTS, which Congress has found to

be in the public interest.7 Hence, if

action is warranted in the future to

facilitate financing and progress on the

ANGTS and the recovery of ANGTS

costs, the Commission will act

expeditiously. What was stated in Order

No. 636–A applies here as well:

‘‘nothing in the rule [Order No. 636] is

intended to disturb the United States

government’s commitment to the

ANGTS prebuild.’’ 8 Further, the

Commission continues to view the

Northern Border prebuild segment as

remaining subject to the various

agreements between the United States

and Canadian governments and

subsequent findings in Commission

orders certificating Northern Border

Pipeline Company’s system.9 Removing

these regulations is not intended to have

any effect on the ANGTS prebuild

revenue stream.

3. Electronic Filing

The Commission recognizes that

changes to these regulations and to the

forms in the companion notice of

proposed rulemaking titled ‘‘Revisions

to the Uniform System of Accounts and

to Forms and Statements and Reporting

Requirements for Natural Gas

Companies’’ necessitate modifications

to the electronic formats for the affected

filings and forms. To ensure the widest

possible input, the Commission directs

its staff to convene a technical

conference to obtain the participation of

the industry and other users of the filed

information in designing the electronic

filing requirements. By the time the

Commission issues a final rule in these

companion rulemakings, the

Commission expects staff, with the

participation of interested parties, to

have developed the changes needed to

make the electronic filings that would

be required under the regulations

proposed in these two notices of

proposed rulemaking. The Commission

intends to move toward a PC-based

electronic filing system and away from

mainframes. The Commission intends to

employ user friendly form-fill, word

processing, or spreadsheet application

software as much as possible. If these

revisions are not complete by the time

the Commission issues the final rule,

since the changes will make the current

electronic formats obsolete upon the

adoption of revised filing requirements

and forms, the Commission would

suspend collection of the formats for

rate filings subject to proposed Subpart

D in electronic form, until new

electronic formats are devised.

The electronic tariff sheet formats will

not be included in this effort. The

Commission has derived substantial

benefit from the electronic tariff sheet

filings and proposes only modest

changes to the electronic tariff filing

requirements. Those changes are

attached as an appendix and briefly

discussed below.

B. The Revised Regulations

The proposed part 154 has a

completely new organization from the

current regulations, and virtually every

section has been changed in some way.

The text has been edited to remove

outdated and incorrect references, and

rewritten in a more concise style.

Although many filing and reporting

requirements have not been changed,

they have been relocated. The proposed

regulations may be best understood by

a comparison to the current regulations

they replace. Details of the proposed

regulations are provided below.

a. Subpart A—General Provisions and

Conditions

i. Section 154.1 Application;

obligation to file—The Commission

proposes to retain the description of the

purpose of part 154 (current § 154.1(a)),

which reflects the requirement of

Section 4(c) of the NGA that every

natural gas company must file with the

Commission, and maintain for open

inspection, its schedules and contracts.

The Commission proposes to delete

outdated language (i.e., ‘‘On or after

December 1, 1948’’). The Commission

proposes to remove the electronic

medium requirements from this

paragraph and place them in proposed

§ 154.4.

The Commission proposes to require

that any executed service agreement

which deviates in a material aspect from

the form of service agreement in the

tariff must be filed with the

Commission. (See also discussion of

proposed § 154.112). This requirement

conforms to current Commission policy

as set forth in Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Co.10 In that order, the Commission

recognized that parties may negotiate

terms in their service agreements but

indicated a preference for all part 284

services to be conducted under the same

terms and conditions. The Commission

clarified that if parties agree to terms

that in any way materially differ from

the form of service agreement on file,

then the pipeline must file the

agreement under NGA section 4.

b. Section 154.2 Definitions

The Commission proposes to define

terms of general applicability in

proposed § 154.2. The Commission is

proposing stylistic changes only to

definitions for: ‘‘Rate Schedule,’’

currently in § 154.11, ‘‘Contract,’’

currently in § 154.12, ‘‘Service

Agreement,’’ currently in § 154.13, and

‘‘Tariff or FERC Gas Tariff,’’ currently in

§ 154.14. ‘‘Posting,’’ currently in

§ 154.16, has been defined to allow the

parties to agree to alternative methods of

‘‘mailing’’ such as electronic mail.

c. Section 154.3 Effective Tariff

The Commission proposes to describe

the term ‘‘Effective tariff’’ in § 154.3,

currently § 154.21. The proposed

description clarifies that a pipeline may

not avoid filing for a rate change by

making the rate subject to an exception

or condition, such as a periodic rate

change under a price index. At present

this concept is found in § 154.38(d)(3).

d. Section 154.4 Electronic and Paper

Media

Current § 154.26 calls for 6 paper

copies to cover the Commission’s

internal distribution needs but allows

electronic filing as an exception.

Proposed § 154.4 requires electronic

media filings in addition to paper

copies.

The proposed section consolidates in

one place the Commission’s

requirements with respect to electronic

submittal of filings required by part 154.

Currently, these requirements are

strewn throughout part 154, often

redundantly.

The appendix to this notice of

proposed rulemaking includes updated

electronic tariff filing formats as well as

tariff pagination guidelines.11 The
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3115

12On February 28, 1990, the Commission issued

the ‘‘Notice of Tariff Retrieval System Software

Availability,’’ otherwise referred to as the FASTR

software package.

13The guidelines and electronic and filing

instructions for tariff sheets may be obtained at the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Division of

Public Information, Washington, DC 20426.

14Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, 65 FERC

¶ 61,224 (1993).

revised formats take into consideration

improvements in the FASTR software

which reads the tariff ASCII files

submitted by the companies to the

Commission.12 All companies that have

not yet restated their paper tariffs

electronically must do so on or before

June 1, 1995.

e. Section 154.5 Incomplete Filings

Proposed § 154.5 replaces current

§ 154.15 with a description of filing date

based on § 35.2(c) of the Commission’s

regulations for public utilities under the

Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 797(b)).

Proposed § 154.5 provides that a

document will be considered filed on

the date of receipt in the Office of the

Secretary, if it is complete and is not

rejected. The Commission proposes to

allow the Director of the Office of

Pipeline Regulation to notify a natural

gas company that its filing is incomplete

within 15 days of receipt of the

document. Under this proposal, the date

of receipt stamped by the Secretary may

not be the officially recognized filing

date.

f. Section 154.6 Acceptance for Filing

Not Approval

Proposed § 154.6 would replace

current §§ 154.23 and 24. The rejection

language of § 154.24 is amended and the

reference to fees is deleted.

g. Section 154.7 General Requirements

for the Submission of a Tariff Filing or

Executed Service Agreement

The Commission proposes § 154.7 as

a new section setting forth the content

of a tariff filing or executed service

agreement. In part, proposed § 154.7

reflects current § 154.63(b)(1). Proposed

§ 154.7 concerns all filings of tariff

sheets and executed service agreements.

In light of the short time period in

which the Commission and interested

parties have to review the filing, several

items have been added to speed

processing of the filing and minimize

additional requests for information.

These include an expanded definition of

the reference to the authority under

which the filing is made, addition of the

name and telephone number of an

official able to respond to questions

regarding the filing, and clarification of

the contents of the statement of the

nature, reasons, and basis for the filing.

h. Section 154.8 Informal Submission

for Staff Suggestions

The Commission proposes § 154.8 to

replace current § 154.25.

2. Subpart B—Form and Composition of

Tariff

a. Section 154.101 Form. The

Commission proposes § 154.101 as the

replacement for current § 154.32. The

Commission is proposing to eliminate

the requirement that electronic media

record format duplicate the page size,

borders, and margins of the paper copy.

The electronic filing requirements are in

proposed § 154.4. In addition, the

Commission proposes to eliminate the

requirement of a binder.

b. Section 154.102 Title Page and

Arrangement. The Commission

proposes § 154.102 as the replacement

for current § 154.33. The Commission

proposes to eliminate the reference to

§ 154.52, as special exceptions are

covered by proposed § 154.112. The

Commission proposes to eliminate the

requirement of a binder, and to require

that the numbering of sheets be as

provided in the Tariff Sheet Pagination

Guidelines.13

Currently, compliance with these

guidelines is optional although the

Commission has required use of the

pagination guidelines in individual

cases. Many companies have already

voluntarily adopted the use of the

Commission’s guidelines. The

Commission proposes to make these

guidelines mandatory. The guidelines

provide the only means to ensure that

tariff sheets are in the proper order in

the Commission’s electronic database.

The guidelines also provide the basic

knowledge necessary to create a sorting

methodology for any party that wishes

to create a database. Most importantly,

the guidelines help to create a clear

guide to the succession of tariff sheets.

c. Section 154.103 Composition of

Tariff. The Commission proposes

§ 154.103 as the replacement for current

§ 154.34. In recognition of prevailing

practice, the proposed section

specifically requires that the tariff set

forth all the currently effective rates.

The Commission also proposes to delete

the reference to special exceptions and

change the examples of classes of

service to reflect the current prevalent

designations.

d. Section 154.104 Table of

Contents. The Commission proposes

§ 154.104 as the replacement for current

§ 154.35 with the clarification that the

table of contents must contain a list of

the sections of the general terms and

conditions.

e. Section 154.105 Preliminary

Statement. The Commission proposes

§ 154.105 as the replacement for current

§ 154.36 with stylistic changes only.

f. Section 154.106 Map. The

Commission proposes § 154.106 as the

replacement for current § 154.37. The

Commission proposes that maps must

be submitted on paper and updated to

reflect major changes. The proposed

section states a preference for zones to

be displayed on separate sheets.

g. Section 154.107 Currently

Effective Rates. The Commission

proposes new § 154.107 to govern the

tariff sheets setting forth the natural gas

company’s currently effective rates. In

part, this new section would replace

§ 154.38(d)(1) and (2) and would require

rates to be stated in thermal units, as is

the prevalent practice, rather than in

units of volume.

h. Section 154.108 Composition of

Rate Schedules. The Commission

proposes § 154.108 as a replacement for

current § 154.38. Current § 154.38(d)(4),

Refunds, is moved to proposed

§ 154.501. Current § 154.38(d)(5), RD&D,

is moved to proposed § 154.401. Current

§ 154.38(d)(6), ACA expenditures, is

moved to § 154.402. Current

§§ 154.38(d)(1) and (2) are revised and

moved to proposed § 154.107. Current

§ 154.38(d)(3) is moved to § 154.3.

Current § 154.38(e), minimum bill, is

deleted.

i. Section 154.109 General Terms

and Conditions. The Commission

proposes § 154.109 as the replacement

for current § 154.39. The company’s

discounting policies are added to the

tariff.

j. Section 154.110 Form of Service

Agreement. The Commission proposes

§ 154.110 as the replacement for current

§ 154.40 with the addition of receipt

points as an item for insertion on the

form when appropriate.

k. Section 154.111 Index of

Customers. The Commission proposes

§ 154.111 as a replacement for current

§ 154.41, Index of Purchasers, but with

applicability specifically limited to

natural gas activities not subject to part

284 of this chapter. The Commission

proposes to expand the index of

customers to include all firm

transportation services and contract

demand for each customer for each rate

schedule. In the order issued in

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company’s

restructuring proceeding,14 the

Commission clarified that § 154.41 is

not limited to the requirement to file

sales-related information. The changes

proposed here make that interpretation

explicit. Some pipelines have provided

contract demand information on a
3116 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

voluntary basis before this. The

information has proven valuable to the

Commission in analyzing pipelines’

filings and in eliminating additional

requests for information.

The Commission proposes that

pipelines that offer services under part

284 of this chapter, exclusively or in

addition to services authorized under

part 157 of this chapter, comply with

the requirements proposed in the

companion rulemaking instead of this

provision. In the companion

rulemaking, the Commission is

proposing that pipelines providing

service pursuant to part 284 of this

chapter, provide an index of customers

on the electronic bulletin board (EBB).

The Commission proposes, as an

interim measure, to require pipelines

providing transportation service under

part 284 to comply with the nonelectronic index of customers

requirements as set forth in § 154.111

until the electronic index is

implemented.

l. Section 154.112 Exception to Form

and Composition of Tariff. The

Commission proposes § 154.112 as a

replacement for current § 154.52 with

the deletion of those paragraphs dealing

with the sale of gas or purchased gas

cost tracking. Because the requirements

of proposed § 154.101 (Form) and

§ 154.102 (Title page and arrangements)

are applicable, the proposed § 154.112

does not refer to those matters. Proposed

§ 154.112 specifies that special rate

schedules for service under part 157 of

this chapter would be included in

Volume No. 2 and that non-conforming

contracts for service under part 284 of

this chapter would be included in

Volume No. 1.

3. Subpart C—Procedures for Changing

Tariffs

a. Section 154.201 Filing

Requirements. The Commission

proposes § 154.201 as a replacement for

current § 154.63(b)(1)(v), Marked

Versions of Tariff Changes, and current

§ 154.63(e)(4), Workpapers and

Supporting Data. The intent of this

proposed regulation is to ensure that

any mathematical calculations are

complete and logically follow from the

first calculation to the last; so that,

anyone attempting to recreate the

calculations can do so, and to ensure

that any numbers that are not directly

from the company’s source documents

are explained.

Other parts of current § 154.63 are

revised and distributed elsewhere in

proposed part 154 (discussed supra).

b. Section 154.202 Filings To Initiate

a New Rate Schedule. The Commission

proposes § 154.202 as the replacement

for current § 154.62. The proposed

section does not apply to initial

executed service agreements. Very little

data is currently required to support an

initial rate schedule or executed service

agreement. Because many services are

now provided under blanket

authorizations, there is no review prior

to the tariff filing. Thus, the current

filing requirements are no longer

consistent with the needs of the

Commission for reviewing new rate

schedules. The proposed section relates

to the requirements for a new rate

schedule under the blanket authority

granted under part 284 of this chapter

as well as to other initial filings.

c. Section 154.203 Compliance

Filings. Section 154.203 is a proposed

new section dealing with filings to

comply with a Commission order.

Filings made to comply with

Commission orders must include only

those changes required to comply with

the order. Such compliance filings must

not be combined with other rate or tariff

change filings. A compliance filing that

includes other changes or that does not

comply with the applicable order in

every respect may be rejected.

d. Section 154.204 Changes Related

to Suspended Tariffs, Executed Service

Agreements or Parts Thereof. The

Commission proposes § 154.204 as the

replacement for current § 154.66. The

proposed change adds two exceptions to

the ban on tariff filings during a

suspension period. The exceptions are

‘‘changes made under previously

accepted tariff provisions permitting

periodic limited rate changes’’ and

‘‘accepted limited rate changes.’’

Proposed § 154.204 recognizes that the

Commission allows periodic limited

rate changes pursuant to accepted tariff

provisions and ACA and GRI surcharge

changes to take place during the period

of suspension. This reflects current

Commission policy.

e. Section 154.205 Motion To Place

Suspended Rates Into Effect. The

Commission proposes § 154.205 as the

replacement for current § 154.67.

Current § 154.67(b), Reports, is deleted.

The proposed section requires that,

when rates have been suspended for

more than a minimal period and the

Commission has ordered changes or the

rates include costs of facilities that are

not in service, the motion to place

suspended tariff sheets into effect must

be filed not less than 30 days nor more

than 60 days prior to the date the sheets

are to take effect. This will allow the

Commission sufficient time to ensure

compliance with its orders and rules

before the rates take effect at the end of

the suspension period. A motion is not

required in all circumstances; only

where the Commission has ordered

changes or the rates include facilities

that are not in service. Further, if the

rates have been suspended for a

minimal period, they will go into effect

without a motion, as has been the

Commission practice.

f. Section 154.206 Notice

Requirements. The Commission

proposes § 154.206 as the replacement

for current § 154.22 and § 154.51. The

proposed section applies only to

proposed changes. Reference to § 154.5,

which is no longer in part 154, is

removed.

g. Section 154.207 Service on

Customers and Other Parties. The

Commission proposes new § 154.207 to

formally require the filing company to

serve its customers and state regulatory

commissions on or before the filing

date. The Commission invites comments

on whether the informational needs of

customers and state regulatory

commissions would be adequately

fulfilled if the filing company was only

required to serve the transmittal letter

and provide the rest of the filing upon

request. Some pipelines have used this

procedure recently to minimize the

costs of reproduction and mailing where

their lists of shippers are quite large.

h. Section 154.208 Form of Notice

for Federal Register. The Commission

proposes § 154.208, as the replacement

for current § 154.28. The modified form

reflects current practice. The

Commission invites comments on

whether the Federal Register notice is

useful and should be retained in

addition to the Commission’s electronic

notice.

i. Section 154.209 Protests,

Interventions and Comments. The

Commission proposes § 154.209 as the

replacement for current § 154.27. The

intervention, comment, and protest

periods are proposed to be standardized

as has been the practice with oil

pipeline tariff filings. Interventions,

comments, and protests must be filed

within 10 days of the filing date and

comments must be filed at the same

time as interventions and protests.

The Commission intends to continue

the practice of liberally granting

motions for late intervention in the early

stages of a proceeding.

4. Subpart D—Material To Be Filed

With Changes

a. Section 154.301 Changes in Rate

Schedules, Forms of Service

Agreements, or the General Terms and

Conditions. Proposed § 154.301

provides distinct requirements for

filings to change rate schedules, forms

of service agreements, or the general

terms and conditions of a tariff. Such
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3117

filings must explain the necessity for the

change and the impact on existing

customers.

b. Section 154.302 Changes in Rates.

Proposed § 154.302 establishes that

proposed subpart D pertains to rate

change filings under the cost-of-service

methodology; i.e., all rate change filings

except those filed under subparts E, F,

G, H, and I. The Commission proposes

subpart D to be applicable to both rate

increase and decrease filings and

proposes to eliminate special filing

requirements for ‘‘minor pipelines.’’ The

Commission proposes § 154.302(c) as

the replacement for current

§ 154.63(e)(1). Minor rate increase

filings, as now covered by

§ 154.63(b)(4), and rate decreases have

reduced filing requirements under

proposed § 154.314. In addition, the

Commission proposes that changes

other than in rate level be made under

subpart G, discussed supra.

c. Section 154.303 Previously

Submitted Material. The Commission

proposes § 154.303 as the replacement

for current § 154.63(c)(1) and (2). A

current FERC Form No. 2 must

accompany the filing.

d. Section 154.304 Test Periods. The

Commission proposes § 154.304 as a

replacement for current § 154.63(e)(2)(i)

and (ii). The section has been

completely rewritten. The Commission

proposes to clarify that the pipeline

must remove from its rates moved into

effect the cost of any facilities not

certificated (where a certificate is

required) and in service as of the end of

the test period.

e. Section 154.305 Format of

Statements, Schedules, Workpapers,

and Supporting Data. The Commission

proposes § 154.305 as the replacement

for current § 154.63(c)(3) and

§ 154.63(e)(4). The Commission

proposes to require a narrative

explanation of each proposed

adjustment to base period actual

volumes and costs.

f. Section 154.306 Tax

Normalization. The Commission

proposes § 154.306 to replace current

§ 154.63a with revisions to clarify the

section’s applicability. Pipelines will

continue to be required to use tax

normalization to compute the income

tax component of cost-of-service and to

adjust rate base by accumulated

deferred income taxes related to

jurisdictional activities.

g. Section 154.307 Cash Working

Capital. The Commission proposes

§ 154.307 to replace current § 154.63b.

h. Section 154.308 Joint Facilities.

The Commission proposes § 154.308 as

the replacement for current

§ 154.63(e)(3) with stylistic changes.

i. Section 154.309 Representation of

Chief Accounting Officer. Proposed

§ 154.309 replaces current § 154.63(e)(5)

with only stylistic changes.

j. Section 154.310 Incremental

Expansions. Proposed § 154.310

requires separate statements and

schedules for incremental facilities,

including those with Commission

imposed at-risk provisions. In some

cases, pipelines maintain independent

rate schedules (incremental rates) that

are based on the costs of specific

facilities. Separate statements and

schedules for such facilities need to be

provided to permit a proper evaluation

of the rates based on the costs of those

facilities. When pipelines have been

unable to fully subscribe certain

construction projects, the Commission

has permitted construction to go

forward with the pipeline placed at-risk

for recovery of the unsubscribed

capacity. Separate statements and

schedules for at-risk facilities need to be

provided so that the Commission can

compare the revenue generated from the

use of the facilities with the cost of the

facilities, and determine whether to

remove the at-risk condition.

k. Section 154.311 Zones. Proposed

§ 154.311 requires a cost breakdown by

zone if the pipeline maintains records of

costs by zone.

l. Section 154.312 Updating of

Statements. The Commission proposes

to require certain Statements and

Schedules to be updated, quarterly, for

each month of the test period. Under

this provision, the last update would be

one month after the end of the test

period.

m. Section 154.313 Composition of

Statements. The Commission proposes

§ 154.313 as the replacement for current

§ 154.63(f) with revisions to the

statements and schedules as discussed

below. Many changes are self

explanatory or merely editorial and are

not discussed here.

In proposed Schedule C–1, End of

Base Period Plant Functionalized, the

Commission proposes to (1) no longer

list storage facilities as ‘‘underground’’

or ‘‘local’’ and (2) require the showing

of plant in service by functional

classifications.

Proposed Schedule C–2, Plant in

Service as Adjusted, requires the test

year adjusted plant in service to be set

out by function.

Proposed Schedule C–3 shows, for

Account Nos. 106 and 107, a list of work

orders claimed in the rate base.

Proposed Schedule D–1 requires

actual end of base period depreciation,

depletion, and amortization by

functional classifications.

Proposed Schedule D–2 requires

projected end of test year depreciation,

depletion, and amortization by

functional classifications.

Proposed Statement F–2 revises and

clarifies the information required with

respect to the claimed overall rate of

return.

The Commission proposes to remove

current Statement F–5.

Proposed Statement G, Revenues,

Credits, and Billing Determinants,

replaces current Statement G (Gas

operating revenues and sales volumes)

to reflect the need for complete

information on all jurisdictional

services. The sixth paragraph of current

Statement G(e), dealing with credits,

would be moved to Statement G. The

Commission proposes to require the

allocated GSR component of IT rates to

be unbundled and treated as a separate

component for rate case filing purposes

in order to better compare and reconcile

the cost-of-service to revenues.

Proposed Schedule G–1, Base Period

Revenues, requires actual revenues for

all services and customers rather than

solely sales revenues, as in present

Schedule G(a), or solely aggregate

transportation revenues, as in present

Schedule G(c). The proposed Schedule

G–1 also requires (1) identification of

revenues by customer, by rate schedule,

by contract, by month and by billing

determinant (not adjusted for

discounting) similar to present Schedule

G(e) fifth paragraph, (2) separate

identification of revenues for short-term

firm transportation services, (3) capacity

release information, (4) an identification

of affiliated customers, and (5) an

identification of rate schedules where

revenues are credited as in present

Schedule G(c).

The Commission proposes Schedule

G–2, Adjustment Period Revenues, with

information similar to that required in

proposed Schedule G–1.

The Commission proposes Schedule

G–3, a description of adjustments to the

base period, as a replacement for current

Schedule G(e) third paragraph. The

Commission proposes Schedule G–3 in

order to require a quantification of the

impact of each proposed change rather

than providing only the throughput and

contract level differences. The

Commission believes this requirement is

necessary in order for a pipeline to meet

its burden of proof.

The Commission proposes Schedule

G–4, At-risk Revenue, to compare

revenues generated by ‘‘at-risk’’

facilities to the cost of those facilities, as

specified in § 154.310.

The Commission proposes Schedule

G–5, Other Revenues, to collect revenue

data regarding the sale of products
3118 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

extracted from natural gas and other

activities reported in Account Nos. 490–

495. New requirements to quantify and

explain changes to base period actuals

and provide information about releases,

penalties, cash outs, other imbalances,

and exit fees are incorporated in this

schedule. Revenues from miscellaneous

services must be reflected in Account

No. 495, as is currently required.

Further, the pipeline must explain the

circumstances relating to revenues from

‘‘special’’ types of ‘‘X’’ rate schedules.

Revenues from the release of Account

No. 858 capacity must be reflected as a

credit to Account No. 858 in both

Schedule G–5 and the proposed

Schedule I–4.

The Commission proposes Schedule

I–1, Functionalization of Cost of

Service, to replace current Statement I

(Allocation of overall cost of service).

The jurisdictional and nonjurisdictional

sales allocation is eliminated as no

longer needed.

The Commission proposes Schedule

I–2(i) and (ii) as a replacement for

present Schedule I–2. Proposed

Schedule I–2(iii) requires an

explanation of changes in classification

from the currently effective rates. This

information is required by current

Schedule K–2, but is often difficult to

distinguish from other information.

The Commission proposes Schedule

I–3, Allocation of Cost-of-Service, to

replace current Schedule J. Schedule I–

3(ii) bridges the gap between the cost of

service and rates. The information

required is now filed under current

Schedule K–1. Proposed Schedule I–

3(ii) follows a more logical order. It also

recognizes that there are often several

allocation steps before rates are actually

calculated. Proposed Schedule I–3(iii)

requires the formulae and allocation

determinants. Proposed Schedule I–

3(iv) requires an explanation of any

changes from the current methodology

as is required under current Schedule

K–2.

The Commission proposes Schedule

I–4, Transmission and Compression of

Gas by Others (Account No. 858), to

replace current Schedule I–4. The

proposed revisions reflect current

operations. Proposed Schedule I–4(i)

requires information on the expiration

date of each contract with an upstream

pipeline. This will provide the

Commission with information about the

status of contracts. Proposed Schedule

I–4(iii) requires the pipeline to report

monthly usage volumes and monthly

revenues. Proposed Schedule I–4(v)

requires minimal information about

capacity release. It does not request any

information on the identity of the

contracting party. The information on

revenues for releases is necessary to

ensure that the pipelines’ customers that

pay the Account No. 858 costs receive

a credit for revenue from capacity

releases made by the pipeline of this

upstream capacity.

Current Schedule I–5, requiring

information on meters, is deleted.

Proposed Schedule I–5, Three-day peak

deliveries, replaces current Schedule I–

6 and clarifies that data on deliveries

must be by customer by rate schedule.

Proposed Schedule I–5 also requires a

breakout by zone. Current Schedule I–

6 requires information on deliveries to

non-jurisdictional customers. Current

Schedule I–6 requires information on

storage withdrawals, line pack

fluctuations and temperature. Proposed

Schedules I–5 (iii), (iv), and (v) require

the same information. However,

proposed Schedule I–5(iii) requires that

storage be broken out by field and

between contract storage and system

use. This information was not needed

when pipelines were primarily in the

sales business; however, since storage

has been unbundled and the pipelines

can only retain storage for operational

purposes, more detail is necessary in

order to examine how storage is used at

peak times.

The Commission proposes Schedule

I–6, Gas Balance, to replace current

Schedule I–7 with the deletion of that

schedule’s last sentence.

The Commission proposes Statement

J, Comparison and Reconciliation of

Estimated Revenues With Cost-ofservice, as a replacement for current

Statement K. Proposed Statement J will

provide the same type of comparison as

the current schedule, except that it

specifically states that Schedule G–2

must be compared to Statement I. It also

requires surcharges to be reflected and

recognizes that they are not derived

from the cost of service, but are

jurisdictional revenues.

The Commission proposes new

Schedule J–1, Summary of Billing

Determinants, to help correlate the

volumes in proposed Schedule G to the

volumes used to develop rates.

The Commission proposes Schedule

J–2, Derivation of Rates, to replace

current Schedule K–1. Proposed J–2

more clearly specifies what information

is required and requires the costs and

billing determinants to be crossreferenced. Proposed Schedule J–2(iii)

requires the same information as current

Schedule K–2.

xiii. Section 154.314 Schedules for

Minor Rate Changes

The Commission proposes that the

filing burden for minor rate increases

and rate decreases be less than other

rate changes. Minor rate increases

usually relate to a few schedules and are

designed to bring such schedules into

harmony with general tariff policy, to

eliminate inequities, and to achieve

other formal adjustments, in cases

where any increase in revenue is

subordinate to some other purpose.

They include changes that are not

designed to provide general revenue

increases such as to offset increased

costs or otherwise achieve a fair return

on the overall jurisdictional business.

The Commission proposes that

increases in rates or charges which, for

the test period, do not exceed the

smaller of $1,000,000 or 5 percent of the

revenues under the jurisdiction of the

Commission will be considered minor.

A change in rate level, no part of which

directly or indirectly results in any

increased charge to a customer or class

of customers, will also be considered a

minor rate change.

xiv. Section 154.315 Other Support for

a Filing

Proposed § 154.315 provides that any

company filing for a rate change is

responsible for preparing prior to filing,

and maintaining, workpapers sufficient

to support the filing. In addition to the

workpapers, certain other material,

related to the test period, must be

provided such as copies of monthly

financial reports prepared for

management purposes and copies of

accounting analyses of balance sheet

accounts.

6. Subpart E—Limited Rate Changes

i. Section 154.401 RD&D

Expenditures. The Commission

proposes § 154.401 to replace current

§ 154.38(d)(5).

ii. Section 154.402 ACA

Expenditures. The Commission

proposes § 154.402 to replace current

§ 154.38(d)(6).

iii. Section 154.403 Periodic Rate

Adjustments. The Commission proposes

new § 154.403 to govern the

passthrough on a periodic basis of a

single cost item or revenue item not

otherwise covered by subpart E, such as

remaining purchased gas adjustment

mechanisms, Fuel Loss and

Unaccounted-For, and transition cost

filings. These new regulations are

consistent with current Commission

policy governing these filings and

generally reflect currently effective tariff

provisions.

The requirements of this section are

subdivided into two parts. The initial

part sets forth the minimum general

requirements the Commission proposes

a pipeline to meet if it proposes, or the

Commission requires, a periodic
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3119

15 5 U.S.C. 601–612.

16 5 U.S.C. 601(3), citing to section 3 of the Small

Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 632. Section 3 of the Small

Business Act defines a ‘‘small-business concern’’ as

a business which is independently owned and

operated and which is not dominant in its field of

operation.

17 18 CFR 380.4.

18 18 CFR 380.4(a)(2)(ii).

19 5 CFR 1320.13.

passthrough mechanism in the future.

Significant among the proposed

requirements of this section is the

requirement to include a sample

calculation in the tariff provision

governing the periodic rate change

methodology. This sample calculation

will assist the Commission and

interested parties in understanding the

proposal and ensure that the tariff

language adequately explains the

calculation steps. Further, it will

provide a template for future filings

under the tariff provision.

The general requirements portion of

section 154.503 also includes the

requirement that all periodic rate

change mechanisms include a

description of the timing and

methodology of the adjustments,

including a description of all

mathematical calculations. No steps

should be excluded. Given the numbers

from the source documents, anyone

reading the tariff should be able to

arrive at the rate component by

following the steps described in the

tariff.

The second portion of proposed

section 154.503 is devoted to the

information to be submitted with each

filing. The filings should contain

working papers which show the

calculations described by the tariff. The

Commission proposes to collect

sufficient supporting calculations to

show a clear path from the source data

to the rate component.

7. Subpart F—Refunds and Reports

i. Section 154.501 Refunds. The

Commission proposes § 154.501 to

replace current § 154.67(c). The refund

carrying charge rule, currently

§ 154.38(d)(4), is proposed to apply to

all refunds. The proposed section

reflects current Commission policy.

The Commission proposes to add a

requirement for refunds of the pipeline

to be made within 60 days to ensure

refunds are disbursed on a timely basis.

Refunds received by the pipeline must

be disbursed within 30 days of receipt.

This period of time should be adequate

to disburse a refund.

Proposed § 154.501(c) is added to

reflect current Commission policy with

respect to supplier refunds which apply

to the period during which the company

had a purchased gas adjustment clause

in its tariff. Instructions regarding the

contents of a refund report are added to

provide guidance.

ii. Section 154.502 Reports. The

Commission proposes new § 154.502 to

require that the tariff include

information about reports required by

the Commission.

8. Subpart G—Other Tariff Changes

i. Section 154.601 Change in

Executed Service Agreement. The

Commission proposes § 154.601 to

replace current § 154.63(d)(2). The

proposed section concerns executed

service agreements ‘‘on file with the

Commission’’ and does not refer to

‘‘well names.’’

ii. Section 154.602 Cancellation or

Termination of a Tariff, Executed

Service Agreement or Part Thereof. The

Commission proposes § 154.602 as the

replacement for current § 154.64. The

proposed section does not require sales

information. It does require a list of the

affected customers and the contract

demand under the service to be

canceled.

iii. Section 154.603 Adopting of a

Tariff by a Successor. The Commission

proposes § 154.603 as the replacement

for current § 154.65. The proposed

section concerns adopted tariffs or

contracts ‘‘on file with the Commission’’

as opposed to any tariff or contracts.

IV. Regulatory Flexibility Act

Certification

The Regulatory Flexibility Act

(RFA) 15 requires agencies to prepare

certain statements, descriptions, and

analyses of proposed rules that will

have a significant economic impact on

a substantial number of small entities.

The Commission is not required to make

such analyses if a rule would not have

such an effect.

The Commission does not believe that

this rule will have such an impact on

small entities. Most filing companies

regulated by the Commission do not fall

within the RFA’s definition of small

entity.16 Further, the filing requirements

of small entities are reduced by the rule.

Therefore, the Commission certifies that

this rule will not have a significant

economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities.

V. Environmental Statement

The Commission has excluded certain

actions not having a significant effect on

the human environment from the

requirement to prepare an

environmental assessment or an

environmental impact statement.17 No

environmental consideration is raised

by the promulgation of a rule that is

clarifying, corrective, or procedural or

that does not substantially change the

effect of legislation or regulations being

amended.18 The instant rule changes the

information to be filed, and the manner

by which that information is filed, with

the Commission but does not

substantially change the effect of the

underlying legislation or the regulations

being replaced or revised. Accordingly,

no environmental consideration is

necessary.

VI. Information Collection Statement

The Office of Management and

Budget’s (OMB) regulations 19 require

that OMB approve certain information

and recordkeeping requirements

imposed by an agency. The information

collection requirements in this proposed

rule are contained in the following:

FERC Form 542 ‘‘Gas Pipeline Rates:

Initial Rates, Rate Change and Rate

Tracking’’ (1902–0070); FERC Form

542A Tracking and Recovery of Alaska

Natural Gas Transportation System’’

(1902–0129); FERC Form 543 ‘‘Gas

Pipeline Rates: Rate Tracking, Formal

Rates’’ (1902–0152); FERC Form 544

‘‘Gas Pipeline Rates: Rate Change,

Formal Rates’’ (1902–0153); FERC Form

545 ‘‘Gas Pipeline Rates: Rate Change,

Nonformal Rates’’ (1902–0154); FERC

Form 546 ‘‘Certificated Rate Filings: Gas

Pipeline Rates’’ (1902–0155); and, FERC

Form 547 Gas Pipeline Rates: Refund

Report Requirements’’ (1902–0084).

The Commission, in this proposed,

rule intends to modernize its regulations

to reflect the current regulatory

environment that it instituted with

Order No. 636 and the restructuring of

the natural gas industry. Specifically,

the Commission intends to replace its

regulations in part 154 to focus on

transportation services instead of

pipeline sales activities. The proposed

filing requirements will improve the

internal support of a pipeline’s filing,

reduce the discovery process in rate

hearings for all parties and facilitate

more rapid settlement or adjudication of

pipeline rate proposals. The

Commission’s Office of Pipeline

Regulation uses the data in its various

rate proceedings to review rate and tariff

changes by natural gas companies for

the transportation of gas and for general

industry oversight under the Natural

Gas Act. The Commission’s Office of

Economic Policy also uses these data in

its analysis of interstate natural gas

pipelines.

The Commission is submitting to the

Office of Management and Budget a

notification of these proposed

collections of information. Interested

persons may obtain information on
3120 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

these reporting requirements by

contacting the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, 941 North

Capitol Street, NE., Washington, DC

20426 [Attention: Michael Miller,

Information Services Division, (202)

208–1415]. Comments on the

requirements of this rule can be sent to

the Office of Information and Regulatory

Affairs of OMB, Washington, D.C.

20503, (Attention: Desk Officer for

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)

FAX: (202)395–5167.

VII. Public Comment Procedures

The Commission invites all interested

persons to submit written comments on

this proposal. An original and 14 copies

must be filed with the Commission by

April 13, 1995. Comments must refer to

Docket No. RM95–3–000 and be

submitted to the Office of the Secretary,

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

825 North Capitol Street, NE.,

Washington DC 20426.

All written submissions will be

placed in the Commission’s public file

and will be available for public

inspection, during regular business

hours, at the Commission’s Public

Reference Section, Room 3104, 941

North Capitol Street, NE., Washington

DC 20426.

List of Subjects in 18 CFR Part 154

Natural gas companies, Rate

schedules and tariffs.

By direction of the Commission.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

For the reasons set out in the

preamble, 18 CFR part 154 is proposed

to be revised to read as follows.

PART 154—RATE SCHEDULES AND

TARIFFS

Subpart A—General Provisions and

Conditions

Sec.

154.1 Application; obligation to file.

154.2 Definitions.

154.3 Effective tariff.

154.4 Electronic and paper media.

154.5 Incomplete filings.

154.6 Acceptance for filing not approval.

154.7 General requirements for the

submission of a tariff filing or executed

service agreement.

154.8 Informal submission for staff

suggestions.

Subpart B—Form and Composition of Tariff

154.101 Form.

154.102 Title page and arrangement.

154.103 Composition of tariff.

154.104 Table of contents.

154.105 Preliminary statement.

154.106 Map.

154.107 Currently effective rates.

154.108 Composition of rate schedules.

154.109 General terms and conditions.

154.110 Form of service agreement.

154.111 Index of customers.

154.112 Exception to form and composition

of tariff.

Subpart C—Procedures for Changing

Tariffs

154.201 Filing requirements.

154.202 Filings to initiate a new rate

schedule.

154.203 Compliance filings.

154.204 Changes related to suspended

tariffs, executed service agreements, or

parts thereof.

154.205 Motion to place suspended rates

into effect.

154.206 Notice requirements.

154.207 Service on customers and other

parties.

154.208 Form of notice for Federal

Register.

154.209 Protests, interventions, and

comments.

Subpart D—Material to be Filed With

Changes

154.301 Changes in rate schedules, forms of

service agreements, or the general terms

and conditions

154.302 Changes in rates.

154.303 Previously submitted material.

154.304 Test periods.

154.305 Format of statements, schedules,

workpapers and supporting data.

154.306 Tax normalization.

154.307 Cash working capital.

154.308 Joint facilities.

154.309 Representation of chief accounting

officer.

154.310 Incremental expansions.

154.311 Zones.

154.312 Updating of statements.

154.313 Composition of statements.

154.314 Schedules for minor rate changes.

154.315 Other support for a filing.

Subpart E—Limited Rate Changes

154.400 Additional requirements.

154.401 RD&D expenditures.

154.402 ACA expenditures.

154.403 Periodic rate adjustments.

Subpart F—Refunds and Reports

154.501 Refunds.

154.502 Reports.

Subpart G—Other Tariff Changes

154.600 Compliance with other subparts.

154.601 Change in executed service

agreement.

154.602 Cancellation or termination of a

tariff, executed service agreement or part

thereof.

154.603 Adoption of the tariff by a

successor.

Authority: 15 U.S.C. 717–717w; 31 U.S.C.

9701; 42 U.S.C. 7102–7352.

Subpart A—General Provisions and

Conditions

§ 154.1 Application; Obligation to file.

(a) The provisions of this part apply

to filings pursuant to section 4 of the

Natural Gas Act.

(b) Every natural gas company must

file with the Commission and post in

conformity with the requirements of this

part, schedules showing all rates and

charges for any transportation or sale of

natural gas subject to the jurisdiction of

the Commission, and the classifications,

practices, rules, and regulations

affecting such rates, charges, and

services.

(c) No natural gas company may file,

under this part, any new or changed rate

schedule or contract for the performance

of any service for which a certificate of

public convenience and necessity or

certificate amendment must be obtained

pursuant to section 7(c) of the Natural

Gas Act, until such certificate has been

issued.

(d) For the purposes of paragraph (b)

of this section, any contract that

conforms to the form of service

agreement that is part of the pipeline’s

tariff pursuant to § 154.110 does not

have to be filed. Any contract or

executed service agreement which

deviates in any material aspect from the

form of service agreement in the tariff is

subject to the filing requirements of this

part.

§ 154.2 Definitions.

(a) Contract means any agreement

which in any manner affects or relates

to rates, charges, classifications,

practices, rules, regulations, or services

for any transportation or sale of natural

gas subject to the jurisdiction of the

Commission. This term includes an

executed service agreement.

(b) FERC Gas Tariff or tariff means a

compilation, either in book form or on

electronic media, of all of the effective

rate schedules of a particular natural gas

company, and a copy of each form of

service agreement.

(c) Form of service agreement means

an unexecuted agreement for service

included as an example in the tariff.

(d) Post means: to make a copy of a

natural gas company’s tariff and

contracts available during regular

business hours for public inspection in

a convenient form and place at the

natural gas company’s offices where

business is conducted with affected

customers; and, to mail to each affected

customer and interested state

commission a copy of the tariff, or part

thereof. Mailing must be accomplished

by U.S. Mail, unless some other method

is agreed to by the parties.

(e) Rate schedule means a statement

of a rate or charge for a particular

classification of transportation or sale of

natural gas subject to the jurisdiction of

the Commission, and all terms,

conditions, classifications, practices,
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3121

rules, and regulations affecting such rate

or charge.

§ 154.3 Effective tariff.

(a) The effective tariff of a natural gas

company is the tariff filed pursuant to

the requirements of this part, and

permitted by the Commission to become

effective. A natural gas company must

not directly or indirectly, demand,

charge, or collect any rate or charge for,

or in connection with, the

transportation or sale of natural gas

subject to the jurisdiction of the

Commission, or impose any

classifications, practices, rules, or

regulations, different from those

prescribed in its effective tariff and

executed service agreements on file with

the Commission, unless otherwise

specifically permitted by order of the

Commission.

(b) No tariff provision may purport to

change an effective rate or charge except

in the manner provided in section 4 of

the Natural Gas Act, and the regulations

in this part. The tariff may not provide

for any rate or charge to be

automatically changed by an index or

other periodic adjustment, without

filing for a rate change pursuant to these

regulations.

§ 154.4 Electronic and paper media.

(a) General rule. All statements filed

pursuant to subpart D of this part, and

all workpapers in spreadsheet format,

and tariff sheets other than those in

Volume No. 2, must be submitted on

electronic media. Filings pursuant to

part 154 of this chapter must also

include the prescribed number of paper

copies. Tariffs, rate schedules and

contracts, or parts thereof, and material

related thereto, including any change in

rates, notice of cancellation or

termination, and certificates of

adoption, must be submitted to the

Commission in an original and 6 paper

copies, except that filings pursuant to

subpart D of this part must be submitted

in an original and 12 paper copies.

(b) All filings must be signed in

compliance with the following.

(1) The signature on a filing

constitutes a certification that: the

signer has read the filing signed and

knows the contents of the paper copies

and electronic media; the paper copies

contain the same information as

contained on the electronic media; the

contents as stated in the copies and on

the electronic media are true to the best

knowledge and belief of the signer; and,

the signer possesses full power and

authority to sign the filing.

(2) A filing must be signed by one of

the following:

(i) the person on behalf of whom the

filing is made;

(ii) an officer, agent, or employee of

the governmental authority, agency, or

instrumentality on behalf of which the

filing is made; or,

(iii) a representative qualified to

practice before the Commission under

§ 385.2101 of this chapter who

possesses authority to sign.

(c) Electronic media suitable for

Commission filings are listed in the

instructions for each form and filing.

Lists of suitable electronic media are

available upon request from the

Commission. The formats for the

electronic filing and paper copy can be

obtained at the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, Division of

Public Information, 825 North Capitol

Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.

(d) Where to file. The electronic

media, the paper copies and

accompanying transmittal letter must be

submitted in one package to: Office of

the Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, Washington, D.C. 20426.

(e) Waiver. A natural gas company

may request a waiver of the requirement

to submit filings by electronic media, by

filing an original and 6 copies of a

request for waiver. The request must

demonstrate that the natural gas

company does not have, and is unable

to acquire, the technical capability to

file the information on electronic media.

§ 154.5 Incomplete filings.

Incomplete filings will not be

accepted for filing. If the material

submitted is incomplete, the Director of

the Office of Pipeline Regulation will so

notify the submitter within 15 days of

receipt of the material by the

Commission. A filing is complete and

will be accepted for filing, when all

supporting cost or other data required to

be filed by this part is received by the

Office of the Secretary. The date of

receipt stamped on the material by the

Secretary is not necessarily the filing

date and does not fix the date upon

which the 30-day notice requirement of

section 4(c) of the NGA begins. The 30-

day notice period will begin when the

filing is complete. The affixing of a date

stamp is not a determination that the

document is in compliance with the

rules and regulations of the

Commission.

§ 154.6 Acceptance for filing not approval.

The acceptance for filing of any tariff,

contract or part thereof does not

constitute approval by the Commission.

Any filing which does not comply with

any applicable statute, rule, or order,

may be rejected.

§ 154.7 General requirements for the

submission of a tariff filing or executed

service agreement.

The following must be included with

the filing of any tariff, executed service

agreement, or part thereof, or change

thereto.

(a) A letter of transmittal containing:

(1) A list of the material enclosed,

(2) The name of a responsible

company official to whom questions

regarding the filing may be addressed,

with a telephone number at which the

official may be reached,

(3) The date on which such filing is

proposed to become effective,

(4) Reference to the authority under

which the filing is made, including the

specific section of a statute, subpart of

these regulations, order of the

Commission, provision of the

company’s tariff, or any other

appropriate authority. If an order is

referenced, the letter must include the

citation to the FERC Reports, the date of

issuance, and the lead docket number of

the proceeding in which the order was

issued.

(5) A list of the tariff sheets enclosed,

(6) A statement of the nature, the

reasons, and the basis for the filing. The

statement must include a summary of

the changes or additions made to the

tariff or executed service agreement, as

appropriate. A detailed explanation of

the need for each change or addition to

the tariff or executed service agreement

must be included. The natural gas

company also must note all relevant

precedents relied upon to prepare its

filing.

(7) Any requests for waiver. A request

for waiver must include a reference to

the specific section of the statute,

regulations, or the company’s tariff from

which waiver is sought, and a

justification for the waiver.

(b) a certification of service to all

affected customers and interested state

commissions.

§ 154.8 Informal submission for staff

suggestions.

Any natural gas company may

informally submit a proposed tariff or

any part thereof or material relating

thereto for the suggestions of the

Commission staff prior to filing.

Opinions of the Commission staff are

not binding upon the Commission.

Subpart B—Form and Composition of

Tariff

§ 154.101 Form.

The paper copies of the tariff must be

printed, typewritten, or otherwise

reproduced on 81⁄2 by 11 inch sheets of

a durable paper so as to result in a clear
3122 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

and permanent record. The sheets of the

tariff must be ruled to set off borders of

11⁄4 inches on top, bottom, and left sides

and 1⁄2 inch on the right side, and

punched (3 holes) on the left side.

§ 154.102 Title page and arrangement.

(a) The title page must show on the

front cover:

FERC Gas Tariff

[Volume number. For example: ‘‘Original

Volume No. 1’’] of [Name of Natural-Gas

Company]

Filed with The Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

(b) If the tariff consists of two or more

volumes, the volumes must be

identified by ‘‘(Original) Volume No.

(1)’’, directly below the words ‘‘FERC

Gas Tariff.’’

(c) When any volume of a tariff is to

be superseded or replaced in its

entirety, the replacing volume must

show prominently on the title page the

volume number being superseded or

replaced. For example:

FERC Gas Tariff

First Revised Volume No. 1

(Supersedes Original Volume No. 1)

(d) The first page must be a title page

which must carry the information

shown in paragraph (b) of this section

and, in addition, the name, title, and

address of the person to whom

communications concerning the tariff

should be sent.

(e) All sheets must have the following

information placed in the margins:

(1) Identification. At the left, above

the top marginal ruling, the exact name

of the company must be shown, under

which must be set forth the words

‘‘FERC Gas Tariff,’’ together with

volume identification.

(2) Numbering of sheets. Except for

the title page, at the right above the top

marginal ruling, the sheet number must

appear after the words ‘‘(Original) Sheet

No. (number).’’ All sheets must be

numbered in the manner set forth in the

Tariff Sheet Pagination Guidelines

contained in the instructions for filing

natural gas company tariffs on

electronic media.

(3) Issuing officer and issue date. On

the left below the lower marginal ruling,

must be placed ‘‘Issued by’’: followed by

the name and title of the person

authorized to issue the sheet.

Immediately below must be placed

‘‘Issued on’’ followed by the date of

issue.

(4) Effective date. On the right below

the lower marginal ruling must be

placed ‘‘Effective’’: followed by the

specific effective date proposed by the

company.

(5) Tariff Sheets filed to comply with

Commission orders. Tariff sheets which

are filed to comply with Commission

orders must carry the following notation

in the bottom margin: ‘‘Filed to comply

with order of the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, Docket No.

(number), issued (date), (FERC Reports

citation).’’

§ 154.103 Composition of tariff.

(a) The tariff must contain sections, in

the following order: a table of contents,

a preliminary statement, a map of the

system, currently effective rates,

composition of rate schedules, general

terms and conditions, form of service

agreement, and an index of customers.

(b) Rate schedules must be grouped

according to class and numbered

serially within each group, using letters

before the serial number to indicate the

class of service. For example: FT–1, FT–

2 may be used for firm transportation

service; IT–1, IT–2 may be used for

interruptible transportation service; X–

1, X–2 may be used for schedules for

which special exception has been

obtained.

§ 154.104 Table of contents.

The table of contents must contain a

list of the rate schedules, sections of the

general terms and conditions, and other

sections in the order in which they

appear, showing the sheet number of the

first page of each section. The list of rate

schedules must consist of: the

alphanumeric designation of each rate

schedule, a very brief description of the

service, and the sheet number of the

first page of each rate schedule.

§ 154.105 Preliminary statement.

The preliminary statement must

contain a brief general description of the

company’s operations and may also

contain a general explanation of its

policies and practices. General rules and

regulations, and any material necessary

for the interpretation or application of

the rate schedules, may not be included

in the preliminary statement.

§ 154.106 Map.

(a) The map must show the general

geographic location of the company’s

principal pipeline facilities and of the

points at which service is rendered

under the tariff. The boundaries of any

rate zones or rate areas must be shown

and the areas or zones identified. The

entire system should be displayed on a

single map. In addition, a separate map

should be provided for each zone.

(b) The map must be provided on

paper only.

(c) The map must be revised to reflect

any major changes. The revised map

must be filed no later than April 30 of

the calendar year after the major change.

§ 154.107 Currently effective rates.

(a) This section of the tariff must

present the currently effective rates and

charges under each rate schedule.

(b) All rates must be clearly stated in

cents or in dollars and cents per thermal

unit. The unit of measure must be stated

for each component of a rate.

(c) A rate having more than one part

must have each component set out

separately under appropriate headings

(e.g., ‘‘Reservation Charge,’’ ‘‘Usage

Charge.’’)

(d) Where a component of a rate is

adjusted by a limited rate change, the

adjustment must be stated in a separate

column on the rate sheet.

(e) A total rate, indicating the sum of

the rate components under paragraph (c)

of this section plus the adjustments

under paragraph (d) of this section,

must be shown in the last column at the

end of a line for a rate, so that a reader

can readily determine the separate

components comprising the total rate for

a service.

§ 154.108 Composition of rate schedules.

The rate schedule must contain a

statement of the rate or charge and all

terms and conditions governing its

application, arranged as follows:

(a) Title. Each rate schedule must

have a title consisting of a designation

of the type or classification of service

(see § 154.103(b)), and a statement of the

type or classification of service to which

the rate is applicable.

(b) Availability. This paragraph must

describe the conditions under which the

rate is offered, including any geographic

zone limitations.

(c) Applicability and character of

service. This paragraph must fully

describe the kind or classification of

service to be rendered.

(d) Summary of rates. This paragraph

must briefly set forth all components of

the rates, refer to the location of the

rates in the Currently Effective Rates,

and provide a description of the

calculation of the monthly charges for

each rate component.

(e) Other provisions. All other major

provisions governing the application of

the rate schedule, such as determination

of billing demand, contract demand,

heat content, and measurement base,

must be set forth with appropriate

headings or incorporated by reference to

the applicable general terms and

conditions.

(f) Applicable terms and conditions.

This paragraph either states that all of

the general terms and conditions set

forth in the tariff apply to the rate

schedule, or specifies which of the

general terms and conditions do not

apply.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3123

§ 154.109 General terms and conditions.

(a) This section of the tariff contains

terms and conditions of service

applicable to all or any of the rate

schedules. Subsections and paragraphs

must be numbered for convenient

reference.

(b) The general terms and conditions

of the tariff must contain a statement of

the company’s policy with respect to the

financing or construction of laterals

including when the pipeline will pay

for or contribute to the construction

cost. The term ‘‘lateral’’ means any

pipeline extension (other than a

mainline extension) built from an

existing pipeline facility to deliver gas

to one or more customers, including

new delivery points and enlargements

or replacements of existing laterals.

(c) The general terms and conditions

of the tariff must contain a statement of

the manner in which the company

discounts its rates and charges. The

statement, specifying the order in which

each rate component will be discounted,

must be in accordance with Commission

policy.

§ 154.110 Form of service agreement.

The tariff must contain an unexecuted

pro forma copy of each form of service

agreement. The form for each service

must refer to the service to be rendered

and the applicable rate schedule of the

tariff; and, provide spaces for insertion

of the name of the customer, effective

date, expiration date, and term. Spaces

may be provided for the insertion of

receipt and delivery points, contract

quantity, and other specifics of each

transaction as appropriate.

§ 154.111 Index of customers.

(a) If a pipeline is in compliance with

the reporting requirements of § 284.106

or § 284.223 of this chapter, then an

index of customers need not be

provided in the tariff.

(b) If all of a pipeline’s jurisdictional

transportation and sales are pursuant to

part 157 of this chapter, then an index

of customers must be provided that

contains an alphabetical list of all firm

transportation, storage, and sales

customers under the tariff, and show,

for each rate schedule or schedules: the

execution date, effective date, expiration

date, and the term of the contract, and

the contract units (in Mcf, MMBtu,

therm, or Dth).

(c) The index of customers must be

kept current by filing new or revised

sheets semi-annually. The filings must

coincide with the filings of the

company’s FERC Form No. 2 or 2–A and

FERC Form No. 11.

§ 154.112 Exception to form and

composition of tariff.

(a) The Commission may permit a

special rate schedule to be filed in the

form of an agreement in the case of a

special operating arrangement,

previously certificated pursuant to part

157 of this chapter, such as for the

exchange of natural gas. The special rate

schedule must contain a title page

showing the parties to the agreement,

the date of the agreement, a brief

description of services to be rendered,

and the designation: ‘‘Rate Schedule X–

[number].’’ Special rate schedules may

not contain any supplements.

Modifications must be by revised or

insert sheets. Special rate schedules

must be included in Volume No. 2 of

the tariff. Volume No. 2 must contain a

table of contents which is incorporated

with the table of contents of Volume No.

1.

(b) Contracts for service pursuant to

part 284 of this chapter that do not

conform to the form of service

agreement must be filed. Such nonconforming agreements must be

referenced in Volume No. 1.

Subpart C—Procedures for Changing

Tariffs

§ 154.201 Filing requirements.

In addition to the requirements of

subparts A and B of this part, the

following must be included with the

filing of any tariff, executed service

agreement, or part thereof, that changes

or supersedes any tariff, contract, or part

thereof, on file with the Commission.

(a) A marked version of the pages to

be changed or superseded showing

additions and deletions. All new

language must be marked by either

highlight, background shading, bold

text, or underlined text. Deleted

language must be indicated by strikethrough. A marked version of the pages

to be changed must be included in each

copy of the filing required by these

regulations.

(b) Documentation whether in the

form of worksheets, or otherwise,

sufficiently detailed to support the

company’s proposed change.

(1) The documentation must include

but is not limited to the schedules,

workpapers, and supporting

documentation required by these rules

and regulations and the Commission’s

orders.

(2) All rate changes in the filing must

be supported by step-by-step

mathematical calculations and sufficient

written narrative to allow the

Commission and interested parties to

duplicate the company’s calculations.

(3) Any data or summaries included

in the filing purporting to reflect the

books of account must be supported by

accounting workpapers setting forth all

necessary particulars from which an

auditor may readily verify that such

data are in agreement with the

company’s books of account. All

statements, schedules, and workpapers

must be prepared in accordance with

the classifications of the Commission’s

Uniform System of Accounts.

Workpapers in support of all

adjustments, computations, and other

information, properly indexed and

cross-referenced to the filing and other

workpapers, must be available for

Commission examination.

(4) Where a rate, cost, or volume is

derived from another rate, cost, or

volume, the derivation must be shown

mathematically and be accompanied by

a written narrative sufficient to allow

the Commission and interested parties

to duplicate the calculations. If the

derivation is due to a load factor

adjustment, application of a percentage,

or other adjusting factor, the pipeline

must also note or explain the origin of

the adjusting factor.

(5) Where workpapers show

progressive calculations, any

discontinuity between one working

paper and another must be explained.

§ 154.202 Filings to initiate a new rate

schedule.

(a) When the filing is to initiate a new

service authorized under a blanket

authority in part 284 of this chapter, the

filing must comply with the

requirements of this paragraph.

(1) Filings under this paragraph must:

(i) Adhere to the requirements of

subparts A, B, and C of this part;

(ii) Contain a description of the new

service, including, but not limited to,

the proposed effective date for

commencement of service, applicability,

whether the service is interruptible or

firm, and the necessity for the service;

(iii) Explain how the new service will

differ from existing services, including a

concise description of the natural gas

company’s existing operations;

(iv) Explain the impact of the new

service on existing firm and

interruptible customers, including but

not limited to:

(A) The adequacy of existing capacity,

if the proposed service is a firm service,

and

(B) The effect on receipt and delivery

point flexibility, nominating and

scheduling priorities, allocation of

capacity, operating conditions, and

curtailment, for any new service;

(v) Include workpapers that detail the

computations underlying the proposed
3124 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

rate under the new rate schedule; or, if

the rate is a currently effective rate,

include the appropriate reference and

an explanation of why the rate is

appropriate;

(vi) Give a justification, similar in

form to filed testimony in a general

section 4 rate case, explaining why the

proposed rate design and proposed

allocation of costs are just and

reasonable;

(vii) If the costs relating to existing

services are reallocated to new services,

explain the method for allocating the

costs and the impact on the existing

customers;

(viii) Include workpapers showing the

estimated effect on revenue and costs

over the twelve-month period

commencing on the proposed effective

date of the filing.

(ix) List other filings pending before

the Commission at the time of the filing

which may significantly affect the filing.

Explain how the instant filing would be

affected by the outcome of each related

pending filing;

(2) Any interdependent filings must

be filed concurrently and contain a

notice of the interdependence.

(b) If a new service, facility, or rate is

specifically authorized by a Commission

order pursuant to section 7 of the

Natural Gas Act, with the filing of tariff

sheets to implement the new rate

schedule, the natural gas company

must:

(1) Comply with the requirements of

§ 154.203; and

(2) Where the rate or charge proposed

differs from the rate or charge approved

in the certificate order, the natural gas

company must: show that the change is

due to a rate adjustment under a

periodic rate change mechanism

previously accepted under § 154.505

which has taken effect since the

certificate order was issued; or, show

that the rate change is in accordance

with the terms of the certificate, and

provide workpapers justifying the

change.

§ 154.203 Compliance filings.

(a) In addition to the requirements of

subpart A, B, and C of this part, filings

made to comply with orders issued by

the Commission, including those issued

under delegated authority, must contain

the following:

(1) A list of the directives with which

the company is complying;

(2) Revised workpapers, data, or

summaries with cross-references to the

originally filed workpapers, data, or

summaries;

(b) Filings made to comply with

Commission orders must include only

those changes required to comply with

the order. Such compliance filings may

not be combined with other rate or tariff

change filings. A compliance filing that

includes other changes or that does not

comply with the applicable order in

every respect may be rejected.

§ 154.204 Changes related to suspended

tariffs, executed service agreements, or

parts thereof.

(a) Changes in suspended tariffs,

executed service agreements, or parts

thereof. A natural gas company may not,

within the period of suspension, file any

change in a proposed tariff, executed

service agreement, or part thereof, that

has been suspended by order of the

Commission, except by special

permission of the Commission granted

upon application therefor and for good

cause shown.

(b) Changes in tariffs, executed service

agreements, or parts thereof continued

in effect, and which were to be changed

by the suspended filing. A natural gas

company may not, within the period of

suspension, file any change in a tariff,

executed service agreement, or part

thereof, that is continued in effect by

operation of the order of suspension,

and that was proposed to be changed by

the suspended filing, except:

(1) Under a previously approved tariff

provision permitting a limited rate

change, or

(2) By special permission of the

Commission.

§ 154.205 Motion to place suspended rates

into effect.

(a) If a rate proceeding initiated under

section 4(e) of the Natural Gas Act has

not been concluded and an order issued

by the Commission before the expiration

of the suspension period, the filed

change of rate, charge, classification, or

service will go into effect upon motion

of the pipeline company.

(b) If, prior to the end of the

suspension period, the Commission has

issued an order requiring changes in the

filed rates, or the filed rates recover

costs for facilities not certificated and in

service as of the proposed effective date,

the pipeline must file a motion to place

the suspended rates into effect not less

than 30 days nor more than 60 days

prior to the end of the suspension

period, or such later effective date

requested by the pipeline. The motion

must be accompanied by revised tariff

sheets reflecting any changes ordered by

the Commission or modifications

approved by the Commission during the

suspension period under § 154.204. The

filing of the revised tariff sheets must:

(1) Comply with the requirements of

subparts A, B, and C of this part;

(2) Identify the Commission order

directing the revision;

(3) List the modifications made to the

currently effective rate during the

suspension period, the docket number

in which the modifications were filed,

and identify the order permitting the

modifications.

(c) Where the Commission has

suspended the effective date of a change

of rate, charge, classification, or service

for less than one day, the proposed

change of rate, charge, classification, or

service will go into effect without a

motion, subject to refund, on the

authorized effective date.

§ 154.206 Notice requirements.

All proposed changes in tariffs,

contracts, or any parts thereof must be

filed with the Commission and posted

not less than 30 days nor more than 60

days prior to the proposed effective date

thereof, unless a waiver of the time

periods is granted by the Commission.

§ 154.207 Service on customers and other

parties.

The company must serve copies of the

filing upon the company’s customers

and state regulatory commissions on or

before the filing date.

§ 154.208 Form of notice for Federal

Register.

The company must file a form of

notice suitable for publication in the

Federal Register. The company must

also submit a copy of the notice on a

separate 31⁄2’’ diskette in ASCII format.

Each diskette must be labelled with the

name of the company and the words

‘‘notice of filing.’’ The notice must be in

the following form:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FEDERAL

ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

(Name of Company)

Docket No.

Notice of Proposed Changes in FERC Gas

Tariff

Take notice that on (date), (name of

company) tendered for filing as part of its

FERC Gas Tariff, Volume No. (number), the

following tariff sheets, to become effective

(insert effective date). (List tariff sheets) [The

following language in the first paragraph

applies only to rate change filings.] The

proposed changes would (increase/decrease)

revenues from jurisdictional service by

(dollar amount) based on the 12-month

period ending (date), as adjusted. [For

proposed changes other than changed rates

and charges, the company must state

concisely the nature of these changes.]

[The company must briefly describe the

reasons for the proposed changes in the

second paragraph.]

Any person desiring to be heard or to

protest this filing should file a motion to

intervene or protest with the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC

20426, in accordance with sections 385.214

and 385.211 of the Commission’s Rules and

Regulations. All such motions or protests
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3125

must be filed on or before (insert date 10 days

after filing date). Protests will be considered

by the Commission in determining the

appropriate action to be taken, but will not

serve to make protestants parties to the

proceeding. Any person wishing to become a

party must file a motion to intervene. Copies

of this filing are on file with the Commission

and are available for public inspection in the

Public Reference Room.

§ 154.209 Protests, interventions, and

comments.

(a) Unless the notice issued by the

Commission provides otherwise, any

protest, intervention or comment to a

tariff filing made pursuant to this part

must be filed in accordance with

§ 385.211 of this chapter, not later than

10 days after the subject tariff filing. A

protest must state the basis for the

objection. A protest will be considered

by the Commission in determining the

appropriate action to be taken, but will

not serve to make the protestant a party

to the proceeding. A person wishing to

become a party to the proceeding must

file a motion to intervene.

(b) Any motion to intervene must be

filed in accordance with § 385.214 of

this chapter.

Subpart D—Material To Be Filed With

Changes

§ 154.301 Changes in rate schedules,

forms of service agreements, or the general

terms and conditions.

A filing to revise rate schedules, forms

of service agreements, or the general

terms and conditions, must:

(a) Adhere to the requirements of

subparts A, B, and C, of this part;

(b) Contain a description of the

change in service, including, but not

limited to, applicability, necessity for

the change, identification of services

and types of customers that will be

affected by the change;

(c) Explain how the proposed tariff

provisions differ from those currently in

effect, including an example showing

how the existing and proposed tariff

provisions operate. Explain why the

change is being proposed at this time;

(d) Explain the impact of the

proposed revision on firm and

interruptible customers, including any

changes in a customer’s rights to

capacity in the manner in which a

customer is able to use such capacity,

receipt or delivery point flexibility,

nominating and scheduling,

curtailment, capacity release.

(e) Include workpapers showing the

estimated effect on revenues and costs

over the 12-month period commencing

on the proposed effective date of the

filing. If the filing proposes to change an

existing penalty provision, provide

workpapers showing the penalty

revenues and associated quantities

under the existing penalty provision

during the latest 12-month period.

(f) List other filings pending before

the Commission which may

significantly affect the filing.

§ 154.302 Changes in rates.

(a) Except for changes in rates

pursuant to subparts E, F, G, and H, of

this part, any natural gas company filing

for a change in rates or charges, except

for a minor rate change, must submit, in

addition to the material required by

subparts A, B, and C of this part, the

Statements and Schedules described in

§ 154.313.

(b) A natural gas company filing for a

minor rate change must file the

Statements and Schedules described in

§ 154.314.

(c) A natural gas company filing for a

change in rates or charges must be

prepared to go forward at a hearing and

sustain, solely on the material submitted

with its filing, the burden of proving

that the proposed changes are just and

reasonable. The filing and supporting

workpapers must be of such

composition, scope, and format as to

comprise the company’s complete casein-chief in the event that the change is

suspended and the matter is set for

hearing.

§ 154.303 Previously submitted material.

(a) If all, or any portion, of the

information called for by this part has

already been submitted to the

Commission within six months of the

filing date of this application, or is

included in other data filed pursuant to

this part, specific reference thereto may

be made in lieu of resubmission.

(b) If a new FERC Form No. 2 or 2–

A is required to be filed within 60 days

from the end of the base period, the new

FERC Form No. 2 or 2–A must be filed

concurrently with the rate change filing.

There must be furnished to the Director,

Office of Pipeline Regulation, with the

rate change filing, one copy of the FERC

Form No. 2 or 2–A.

§ 154.304 Test periods.

Statements A through M, O, P, and

supporting schedules, in § 154.313 and

§ 154.314, must be based upon a test

period.

(a) If the natural gas company has

been in operation for 12 months on the

filing date, then the test period consists

of a base period followed by an

adjustment period.

(1) The base period consists of 12

consecutive months of the most recently

available actual experience. The last day

of the base period may not be more than

4 months prior to the filing date. The

rate factors (volumes, costs, and billing

determinants) established during the

base period may be adjusted for changes

in revenues and costs which are known

and measurable with reasonable

accuracy at the time of the filing and

which will become effective within 9

months after the base period. The base

period factors must be adjusted to

eliminate nonrecurring items. The

company may adjust its base period

factors to normalize items eliminated as

nonrecurring.

(2) The period of up to 9 months after

the base period is the adjustment

period.

(3) The test period may not extend

more than 9 months beyond the filing

date.

(b) If the natural gas company has not

been in operation for 12 months on the

filing date, then the test period must

consist of 12 consecutive months ending

not more than one year after the filing

date. Rate factors may be adjusted as

above but must not be adjusted for

occurrences anticipated after the 12-

month period.

(c)(1) Adjustments to base period

experience, or to estimates where 12

months’ experience is not available,

may include the costs for facilities for

which either a permanent or temporary

certificate has been granted, provided

such facilities will be in service within

the test period; or a certificate

application is pending. The filing must

identify facilities, related costs and the

docket number of each such outstanding

certificate. Adjustments to base period

experience, or to estimates where 12

months’ experience is not available,

may not include any amounts for

facilities that require a certificate of

public convenience and necessity, if a

certificate has not been issued by the

filing date.

(2) When a pipeline files a motion to

place the rates into effect, the filing

must be revised to exclude the costs

associated with any facilities not in

service as of the earlier of the effective

date or the end of the test period.

(d) The Commission may allow

reasonable deviation from the

prescribed test period.

§ 154.305 Format of statements,

schedules, workpapers and supporting

data.

(a) All statements, schedules, and

workpapers must be prepared in

accordance with the Commission’s

Uniform System of Accounts.

(b) The data in support of the

proposed rate change must include the

required particulars of book data,

adjustments, and other computations

and information on which the company
3126 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

relies, including a detailed narrative

explanation of each proposed

adjustment to base period actual

volumes and costs.

(c) Book data included in statements

and schedules required to be prepared

or submitted as part of the filing must

be reported in a separate column or

columns. All adjustments to book data

must also be reported in a separate

column or columns so that book

amounts, adjustments thereto, and

adjusted amounts will be clearly

disclosed. All adjustments must be

supported by a narrative explanation.

(d) Certain of the statements and

schedules of § 154.313 are workpapers.

Any data or summaries reflecting the

books of account must be supported by

accounting workpapers setting forth all

necessary particulars from which an

auditor may readily identify the book

data included in the filing and verify

that such data are in agreement with the

company’s books of account.

§ 154.306 Tax normalization.

(a) Applicability. (1) An interstate

pipeline must compute the income tax

component of its cost-of-service by

using tax normalization for all

transactions. This section applies, with

respect to rate schedules filed under this

part, to the ratemaking treatment of the

tax effects of all transactions for which

there are timing differences.

(2) Except as provided in paragraph

(d) of this section, application of tax

normalization to compute the income

tax component of the cost-of-service

will not be subject to case-by-case

adjudication.

(b) Definitions.

(1) Tax normalization means

computing the income tax component as

if the amounts of timing difference

transactions recognized in each period

for ratemaking purposes were also

recognized in the same amount in each

such period for income tax purposes.

(2) Timing differences means

differences between amounts of

expenses or revenues recognized for

income tax purposes and amounts of

expenses or revenues recognized for

ratemaking purposes, which differences

arise in one time period and reverse in

one or more other time periods so that

the total amounts of expenses or

revenues recognized for income tax

purposes and for ratemaking purposes

are equal.

(3) Commission-approved ratemaking

method means a ratemaking method

approved by the Commission in a final

decision. This includes a ratemaking

method that is part of an approved

settlement providing that the

ratemaking method is to be effective

beyond the term of the settlement.

(4) Income tax purposes means for the

purpose of computing income tax under

the provisions of the Internal Revenue

Code or the income tax provisions of the

laws of a State or political subdivision

of a State (including franchise taxes).

(5) Income tax component means that

part of the cost-of-service that covers

income tax expenses allowable by the

Commission.

(6) Ratemaking purposes means for

the purpose of fixing, modifying,

accepting, approving, disapproving or

rejecting rates under the Federal Power

Act or the Natural Gas Act.

(7) Tax effect means the tax reduction

or addition associated with a specific

expense or revenue transaction.

(8) Transaction means an activity or

event that gives rise to an accounting

entry that is used in determining

revenues or expenses.

(c) Reduction of, and Addition to,

Rate Base. (1) The rate base of an

interstate pipeline using tax

normalization under this section must

be reduced by the balances that are

properly recordable in Account No. 281,

‘‘Accumulated deferred income taxes—

accelerated amortization property’’;

Account No. 282, ‘‘Accumulated

deferred income taxes—other property’’:

and Account No. 283, ‘‘Accumulated

deferred income taxes—other.’’ Balances

that are properly recordable in Account

No. 190, ‘‘Accumulated deferred income

taxes,’’ must be treated as an addition to

rate base.

(2) Such rate base reductions or

additions must be limited to deferred

taxes related to rate base, construction,

or any revenue or expense item that

affects the jurisdictional cost-of-service.

(3) If an interstate pipeline uses an

approved cost tracking mechanism, the

rate base reductions or additions

required under this paragraph apply

only to the extent that the balances

referenced in paragraph (c)(1) of this

section are not used in calculations of

carrying charges on amounts subject to

the cost tracking mechanism.

(d) Special rules. (1) This paragraph

applies:

(i) If the rate applicant has not

provided deferred taxes in the same

amount that would have accrued had

tax normalization been applied for the

tax effects of timing difference

transactions originating at any time

prior to the test period; or

(ii) If, as a result of changes in tax

rates, the accumulated provision for

deferred taxes becomes deficient in or in

excess of amounts necessary to meet

future tax liabilities as determined by

application of the current tax rate to all

timing difference transactions

originating in the test period and prior

to the test period.

(2) The interstate pipeline must

compute the income tax component in

its cost-of-service by making provision

for any excess or deficiency in deferred

taxes.

(3) The interstate pipeline must apply

a Commission-approved ratemaking

method made specifically applicable to

the interstate pipeline for determining

the cost-of-service provision described

in paragraph (d)(2) of this section. If no

Commission-approved ratemaking

method has been made specifically

applicable to the interstate pipeline,

then the interstate pipeline must use

some ratemaking method for making

such provision, and the appropriateness

of such method will be subject to caseby-case determination.

(4) An interstate pipeline must

continue to include, as an addition or

reduction to rate base, any deficiency or

excess attributable to prior flow-through

or changes in tax rates (paragraphs

(d)(1)(i) and (d)(1)(ii) of this section),

until such deficiency or excess is fully

amortized in accordance with a

Commission approved ratemaking

method.

§ 154.307 Cash working capital.

A natural gas company that files a

tariff change under this part may not

receive a cash working capital

adjustment to its rate base unless the

company or other participant in a rate

proceeding under this part

demonstrates, with a fully developed

and reliable lead-lag study, a net

revenue receipt lag or a net expense

payment lag (revenue lead). Any

demonstrated net revenue receipt lag

will be credited to rate base; and, any

demonstrated net expense payment lag

will be deducted from rate base.

§ 154.308 Joint facilities.

The Statements required by § 154.313

must show all costs (investment,

operation, maintenance, depreciation,

taxes) that have been allocated to the

natural gas operations involved in the

subject rate change and are associated

with joint facilities. The methods used

in making such allocations must be

provided.

§ 154.309 Representation of chief

accounting officer.

The filing must include a statement

executed by the chief accounting officer

or other authorized accounting

representative of the filing company

representing that the cost statements,

supporting data, and workpapers, that

purport to reflect the books of the
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3127

company do, in fact, set forth the results

shown by such books.

§ 154.310 Incremental expansions.

(a) For every expansion for which

incremental rates are charged and for

every major expansion since the

pipeline’s last rate case, the company

must show, on separate statements and

schedules under § 154.313 and

§ 154.314, the costs associated with the

expansion, until the Commission

authorizes the costs of the incremental

facilities to be rolled-in to the pipeline’s

rates. For every expansion that has an

at-risk provision in the certificate

authorization, the costs associated with

the facility must be shown on separate

statements and schedules under

§ 154.313 and § 154.314, until the

Commission removes the at-risk

condition.

(b) The statements and schedules

must provide the formulae and explain

the bases used in the allocation of

common costs to each incremental

facility.

§ 154.311 Zones.

If the company maintains records of

costs by zone, and proposes a zone rate

methodology based on these costs, the

statements and schedules in § 154.313

and § 154.314 must reflect costs detailed

by zone.

§ 154.312 Updating of statements.

(a) Certain statements and schedules

in § 154.313, that include test period

data, must be updated with actual data

by month and must be resubmitted in

the same format and with consecutive

12 month running totals, for each month

of the adjustment period. The first

updated statement or schedule must be

submitted to the Commission one

month after the filing date or one month

after the quarter following the base

period, whichever is later. Subsequent

updated statements or schedules must

be filed, quarterly, one month after the

end of the quarter for each month of the

test period. The updated filings must

reference the associated docket number

and must be filed in the same format,

form, and number as the original filing.

(b) The statements and schedules to

be updated are: Statements C, D and H–

4; Schedules B–1, B–2, C–3, D–2, E–2,

E–4, G–1, G–4, G–5, G–6, H–1(1)(a), H–

1(1)(b), H–1(1)(c), H–1(3)(a) through H–

1(3)(l), H–2(1), H–3(3), I–4, and I–6.

§ 154.313 Composition of Statements.

(a) Statement A. Cost-of-service

Summary. Summarize the overall gas

utility cost-of-service: operation and

maintenance expenses, depreciation,

taxes, credits to cost-of-service, and

return as developed in other statements

and schedules.

(b) Statement B. Rate Base and Return

Summary. Summarize the overall gas

utility rate base shown in Statements C,

D, and E and Schedules B–1 and B–2.

Show the application of the claimed rate

of return to the overall rate base.

(1) Schedule B–1. Accumulated

Deferred Income Taxes (Account Nos.

190, 282, and 283). Show monthly book

balances of accumulated deferred

income taxes for each of the 12 months

during the base period. List all items for

which the accumulated deferred income

taxes are calculated. In adjoining

columns, show additions and

reductions for the adjustment period

balance and the total adjusted balance.

Separately identify the individual

components and the amounts in these

accounts that the company seeks to

include in its rate base.

(2) Schedule B–2. Regulatory Asset

and Liability. Show monthly book

balances of regulatory assets (Account

No. 182.3) and liabilities (Account No.

254) for each of the 12 months during

the base period. In adjoining columns,

show additions and reductions for the

adjustment period balance and the total

adjusted balance. Separately identify the

individual components and the amounts

in these accounts that the company

seeks to include in its rate base. Identify

any specific Commission authority that

required the establishment of these

amounts.

(c) Statement C. Cost of Plant

Summary. Show the amounts of gas

utility plant classified by Account Nos.

101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 117.1,

117.2, and 117.3 as of the beginning of

the 12 months of actual experience, the

book additions and reductions (in

separate columns) during the 12

months, and the book balances at the

end of the 12-month period. In

adjoining columns, show the claimed

adjustments, if any, to the book balances

and the total cost of plant to be included

in rate base. Explain all adjustments in

the following schedules.

(1) Schedule C–1. End of Base Period

Plant Functionalized. Demonstrate the

ending base period balance for Plant in

Service, in columnar form, by detailed

plant account prescribed by the

Commission’s Uniform System of

Accounts for Natural Gas Companies

(part 201 of this chapter) with subtotals

by functional classifications, e.g.,

Intangible Plant, Manufactured Gas

Production Plant, Natural Gas

Production and Gathering Plant,

Products Extraction Plant, Storage Plant,

Transmission Plant, Distribution Plant,

and General Plant. Show zones, to the

extent required by § 154.311, and

expansions, to the extent required by

§ 154.310.

(2) Schedule C–2. Plant in Service as

Adjusted. Show the proposed test

period Adjusted Plant in Service by

function as in Schedule C–1. Separately

identify those facilities and associated

costs claimed for the test period that

require certificate authority but such

authority has not been obtained at the

time of filing. Give the docket number

of the certificate proceeding.

(3) Schedule C–3. Show, for Accounts

106 and 107, a list of work orders

claimed in the rate base. Give the work

order number, docket number,

description, amount of each work order,

and the amounts of each type of

undistributed construction overhead.

(4) Schedule C–4. Give details of each

storage project owned, showing cost by

major functions. Show storage gas

quantities and associated costs by

account for the test period and for the

12 months of actual experience.

(5) Schedule C–5. This schedule is

part of the workpapers. State the

methods and procedures followed in

capitalizing the allowance for funds

used during construction and other

construction overheads.

(6) Schedule C–6. This schedule is

part of the workpapers. Set forth the

cost of Plant in Service carried on the

company’s books as gas utility plant

which was not being used in rendering

gas service. Describe the plant. This

schedule must be provided only if there

is a significant change in such amounts

since the end of the year reported in the

company’s last FERC Form No. 2 or 2–

A.

(d) Statement D. Accumulated

Provisions for Depreciation, Depletion,

and Amortization. Show the

accumulated provisions for

depreciation, depletion, amortization,

and abandonment (Account No. 108,

detailed by functional plant

classification, and Account No. 111), as

of the beginning of the 12 months of

actual experience, the book additions

and reductions during the 12 months,

and the balances at the end of the 12-

month period. In adjoining columns,

show adjustments to these ending book

balances and the total adjusted balances.

All adjustments must be explained in

the supporting material. Any authorized

negative salvage must be reflected as a

separate part of Account 108. For each

functional plant classification, show

depreciation reserve associated with

offshore and onshore plant separately.

The following schedules and additional

material must be submitted as part of

Statement D:

(1) Schedule D–1. This schedule is

part of the work papers. Show the
3128 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

depreciation reserve book balance

applicable to that portion of the

depreciation rate not yet approved by

the Commission, the depreciation rates,

the docket number of the order

approving such rate, and an explanation

of any difference. Reflect actual end of

base period depreciation reserve

functionalized. Show accumulated

depreciation and amortization, in

columnar form, for the ending base

period balances by functional

classifications. (Examples are provided

in Schedule C–1). For each functional

plant classification, show depreciation

reserve associated with offshore and

onshore plant separately.

(2) Schedule D–2. Projected End of

Test Period Depreciation Reserve

Functionalized. Show the ending test

period balance of Accumulated

Depreciation Reserve, in columnar form.

Show the balance by functional

classifications. (Examples are provided

in Schedule C–1). For each functional

plant classification, show depreciation

reserve associated with offshore and

onshore plant separately.

(3) Schedule D–3. This schedule is

part of the workpapers. Give a

description of the methods and

procedures used in depreciating,

depleting, and amortizing plant and

recording abandonments. This schedule

must be filed only if a policy change has

been made effective since the period

covered by the last annual report on

FERC Form No. 2 or 2–A was filed with

the Commission.

(e) Statement E. Working Capital.

Show the components of working

capital in sufficient detail to explain

how the amount of each component was

computed. Components of working

capital, other than cash working capital,

may include an allowance for the

average of 13 monthly balances of

materials and supplies and prepayments

actually expended. To the extent the

applicant files to adjust the average of

any 13 monthly balances, workpapers

must be submitted that support the

adjustment(s). The following schedules

and material must be submitted as part

of Statement E:

(1) Schedule E–1. Show the

computation of cash working capital

claimed as an adjustment to the gas

company’s rate base. Any adjustment to

rate base requested must be based on a

fully-developed and reliable lead-lag

study. The components of the lead-lag

study must include actual total

company revenues, purchased gas costs,

storage expense, transportation and

compression of gas by others, salaries

and wages, administrative and general

expenses, income taxes payable, taxes

other than income taxes, and any other

operating and maintenance expenses for

the base period. Cash working capital

allowances in the form of additions to

rate base may not exceed one-eighth of

the annual operating expenses, as

adjusted, net of non-cash items.

(2) Schedule E–2. Set forth monthly

balances for materials, supplies and

prepayments in such detail as to

disclose, either by subaccounts regularly

maintained on the books or by analysis

of the principal items included in the

main account, the nature of such

charges.

(3) Schedule E–3. This schedule must

be submitted only by applicants

utilizing an authorized PGA

mechanism. Show the quantities and

the respective costs of natural gas stored

at the beginning of the test period; the

input, output, and balance remaining in

storage (on a Dth basis); and, associated

costs, by months, method of pricing the

input, output and balance. Any claimed

adjustments must be explained.

(4) Schedule E–4. If gas is priced in

and out of storage through FERC

Account Nos. 164.1, 164.2, and 164.3,

the base period’s storage activity must

be reconciled with amounts charged to

such accounts and any difference must

be explained. Companies using the lastin-first-out (LIFO) method of storage

inventory accounting, must provide the

data required by this schedule by LIFO

‘‘layers.’’

(5) Schedule E–5. Show the

computations, cross-references, and

sources from which the data used in

computing claimed working capital are

derived.

(f) Statement F–1. Rate of Return

Claimed. Show the percentage rate of

return claimed and the general reasons

therefor. Where any component of the

capital of the filing company is not

primarily obtained through its own

financing, but is primarily obtained

from a company by which the filing

company is controlled, as defined in the

Commission’s Uniform System of

Accounts, then the data required by

these statements must be submitted

with respect to the debt capital,

preferred stock capital, and common

stock capital of such controlling

company or any intermediate company

through which such funds have been

secured. Furnish the Commission staff a

copy of the latest prospectus issued by

the filing natural gas company, any

superimposed holding company, or

subsidiary companies.

(g) Statement F–2. Show.

(1) The capitalization, capital

structure, cost of debt capital, preferred

stock capital, and the claimed return on

stockholders’ equity;

(2) The weighted cost of each capital

class based on the capital structure; and,

(3) The overall rate of return claimed.

(h) Statement F–3. Debt Capital. Show

the weighted average cost of debt capital

based upon the following data for each

class and series of long-term debt

outstanding according to the balance

sheet, as of the end of the 12-month base

period of actual experience and as of the

end of the 9-month test period.

(1) Title.

(2) Date of issuance and date of

maturity.

(3) Interest rate.

(4) Principal amount of issue: Gross

proceeds; Underwriters’ discount or

commission: Amount; Percent gross

proceeds; Issuance expense: Amount;

Percent gross proceeds; Net proceeds;

Net proceeds per unit.

(5) Cost of money: Yield to maturity

based on the interest rate and net

proceeds per unit outstanding

determined by reference to any

generally accepted table of bond yields.

The yield to maturity is to be expressed

as a nominal annual interest rate. For

example, for bonds having semiannual

payments, the yield to maturity is twice

the semiannual rate.

(6) If the issue is owned by an

affiliate, state the name and relationship

of the owner.

(7) If the filing company has acquired,

at a discount or premium, some part of

the outstanding debt which could be

used in meeting sinking fund

requirements, or for other reasons,

separately show: the annual

amortization of the discount or

premium for each series of debt from the

date of reacquisition over the remaining

life of the debt being retired; and, the

total discount and premium, as a result

of such amortization, applicable to the

test period.

(i) Statement F–4. Preferred Stock

Capital. Show the weighted average cost

of preferred stock capital based upon

the following data for each class and

series of preferred stock outstanding

according to the balance sheet, as of the

end of the 12-month base period of

actual experience and as of the end of

the nine-month test period.

(1) Title.

(2) Date of issuance.

(3) If callable, call price.

(4) If convertible, terms of conversion.

(5) Dividend rate.

(6) Par or stated amount of issue:

Gross proceeds; Underwriters’ discount

or commission: Amount; Percent gross

proceeds; Issuance expenses: Amount;

Percent gross proceeds; Net proceeds;

Net proceeds per unit.

(7) Cost of money: Annual dividend

rate divided by net proceeds per unit.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3129

(8) State whether the issue was

offered to stockholders through

subscription rights or to the public.

(9) If the issue is owned by an

affiliate, state the name and relationship

of owner.

(j) Statement G. Revenues, Credits and

Billing Determinants. Show the total

revenues, from jurisdictional and nonjurisdictional services, classified in

accordance with the Commission’s

Uniform System of Accounts for the

base period and for the base period as

adjusted. Separate operating revenues

(e.g., reservation charges, demand

charges, usage charges, commodity

charges, injection charges, withdrawal

charges, etc.) from revenues received

from penalties, surcharges or other

sources (e.g., ACA, GRI, transition

costs). Show each service separately.

Show separately the information for

firm services under contracts with a

primary term of less than one year.

Show the principal components

comprising each of the various items

which are reflected as credits to the

cost-of-service in preparing Statement

A, Overall Cost-of-service. Any

transition cost component of

interruptible transportation revenue

must not be treated as operating

revenues as defined above. The

following schedules must be submitted

as part of Statement G:

(1) Schedule G–1. Base Period

Revenues. For the base period, show

total actual revenues for each customer

by rate schedule, by contract, by month,

by billing determinant and totals.

Billing determinants must not be

adjusted for discounting. Provide actual

throughput (i.e., usage or commodity

quantities, unadjusted for discounting)

and actual contract demand levels

(unadjusted for discounting). Provide

this information separately for firm

service under contracts with a primary

term of less than one year. For each

customer that released capacity during

the base period, show separately the

released usage quantities and associated

revenues by rate schedule, by contract,

by month and totals for the base period.

Separate operating revenues from

revenues received from surcharges or

other sources (e.g., ACA, GRI, transition

costs). Identify customers who are

affiliates. Identify rate schedules under

which costs are allocated and rate

schedules under which revenues are

credited for the base period with crossreferences to the other filed statements

and schedules.

(2) Schedule G–2. Adjustment Period

Revenues. Show comparative revenues

for each customer by rate schedule, by

contract, by month, by billing

determinant, and totals for the base

period adjusted for known and

measurable changes which are expected

to occur within the adjustment period

computed under the rates charged

during the base period; and computed

under the rates expected to be charged.

Billing determinants must not be

adjusted for discounting. Provide

projected throughput (i.e., usage or

commodity quantities, unadjusted for

discounting) and projected contract

demand levels (unadjusted for

discounting). Provide this information

separately for firm service under

contracts with a primary term of less

than one year. For each customer that is

expected to release capacity, show

separately the projected released usage

quantities (unadjusted for discounting)

and associated revenues by rate

schedule, by contract, by month, and

totals for the projected period. Separate

operating revenues from revenues

received from surcharges or other

sources (e.g., ACA, GRI, transition

costs). Identify customers who are

affiliates. Identify rate schedules under

which costs are allocated and rate

schedules under which revenues are

credited for the adjustment period with

cross-references to the other filed

statements and schedules.

(3) Schedule G–3. Specify, quantify,

and justify each proposed adjustment

(discounting, capacity release, plant

closure, contract termination, etc.) to

base period actual billing determinants,

and provide a detailed explanation for

each factor contributing to the

adjustment. Include references to any

certificate docket authorizing changes.

Submit workpapers with all formulae.

(4) Schedule G–4. At-Risk Revenue.

For each instance where there is a

separate cost-of-service associated with

facilities for which the applicant is ‘‘at

risk,’’ show the base period and

adjustment period revenue by customer,

by rate schedule, by contract, by billing

determinant and as 12-month totals.

Provide projected throughput (i.e., usage

or commodity quantities, unadjusted for

discounting) and projected contract

demand levels (unadjusted for

discounting).

(5) Schedule G–5. Other Revenues.

(i) Describe and quantify, by month,

the types of revenue included in

Account Nos. 490–495 for the base and

test periods. Show revenues applicable

to the sale of products. Show the

principal components comprising each

of the various items which are reflected

as credits to cost-of-service in Statement

A.

(ii) To the extent the credits to the

cost-of-service reflected in Statement A

differ from the amounts shown on

Schedule G–5, compare and reconcile

the two statements. Quantify and

explain each proposed adjustment to

base period actuals. For Account No.

490, show the name and location of

each product extraction plant

processing gas for the applicant, and the

inlet and outlet monthly dth of the

pipeline’s gas at each plant. Show the

revenues received by the applicant by

product by month for each extraction

plant for the base period and proposed

for the test period.

(iii) Separately state each item and

revenue received for the transportation

of liquids, liquefiable hydrocarbon, or

nonhydrocarbon constituents owned by

shippers. For both the base and test

periods, indicate by shipper contract:

the quantity transported and the

revenues received.

(iv) Separately state the revenues

received from the release by the

pipeline of transportation and

compression capacity it holds on other

pipeline systems. The revenues must

equal the revenues reflected on

Schedule I–4(iv).

(6) Schedule G–6. Miscellaneous

Revenues.

(i) Separately state by month the base

and adjustment period revenues and the

associated quantities received as

penalties from jurisdictional customers;

the revenues received from cash outs

and other imbalance adjustments; and,

the revenues received from exit fees.

(ii) Statement G must be submitted to

all affected customers and State

commissions having jurisdiction over

the affected customers. The submittal to

each of the affected customers may

exclude the above details by months

(Schedules G–1 and G–2) with respect

to service for all other customers.

Provided, however, that a copy of

Statement G, including details by

months with respect to service for a

particular customer, must be promptly

submitted to that customer upon

request.

(k) Statement H–1. Operation and

Maintenance Expenses. Show the gas

operation and maintenance expenses

according to each applicable account of

the Commission’s Uniform System of

Accounts for Natural Gas Companies.

Show the expenses under columnar

headings, with subtotals for each

functional classification, as follows:

Operation and maintenance expense by

months, as booked, for the 12 months of

actual experience, and the 12-month

total; adjustments, if any, to expenses as

booked; and, total adjusted operation

and maintenance expenses. Provide a

detailed narrative explanation of, and

the basis and supporting workpapers

for, each adjustment. Specify the month

or months during which the
3130 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

adjustments would be applied. The

following schedules and additional

material must be submitted as part of

Statement H–1:

(1) Schedule H–1(1). This schedule is

part of the workpapers. Show the labor

costs, materials and other charges

(excluding purchased gas costs) and

expenses associated with Account Nos.

810, 811, and 812 recorded in each gas

operation and maintenance expense

account of the Uniform System of

Accounts. Show these expenses, under

the columnar headings, with subtotals

for each functional classification, as

follows: operation and maintenance

expenses by months, as booked, for the

12 months of actual experience, and the

12-month total; adjustments, if any, to

expenses as booked; and total adjusted

operation and maintenance expenses.

Disclose and explain any special accrual

or other normalizing accounting entries

for internal purposes reflected in the

monthly expenses presented per book.

Explain any amounts not currently

payable, except depreciation charged

through clearing accounts, included in

operation and maintenance expenses.

(2) Schedule H–1(1)(a). Labor Costs.

(3) Schedule H–1(1)(b). Materials and

Other Charges (Excluding Purchased

Gas Costs and items shown in Schedule

H–1 (1)(c)).

(4) Schedule H–1(1)(c). Expenses and

Associated Quantities Applicable to

Accounts Nos. 810, 811, and 812. Show

the expenses and quantities for each of

the contra-accounts for both base and

test periods.

(5) Schedule H–1(2)(a).

(i) This schedule is to be filed only by

a pipeline which has a Commission

approved PGA clause in its tariff.

(ii) Show total system weighted

average current unit cost of purchased

gas reflected in the pipeline’s latest

effective PGA rate adjustment. Explain

any adjustments to the volumes of gas

taken from any source during the 12

months of actual experience. No

adjustments are to be made to reflect the

attachment of new gas supplies unless

the facilities of the filing company and

the supplier are or will have been in

operation during the test period.

(iii) In the event adjustments to the

volume of gas purchased aggregate more

than 10 percent of the total volume of

gas purchased during the 12 months of

actual experience, and are due to

changes in gas purchasing patterns or

additional gas supply, show the

minimum take-or-pay-for quantities for

each source of supply applicable at the

end of the test year period and explain

the adjustments.

(6) Schedule H–1(2)(b).

(i) This schedule is to be filed only by

a pipeline that has a Commission

approved PGA clause in its tariff.

(ii) Show the development of the

purchased gas costs for the test period

including volumes, the PGA rate

utilized, the filing date, the docket

number and date of Commission order

underlying such unit rate. If the

company purchases and sells gas under

exchange agreements, show the methods

of recording on the books, total gross

volumes exchanged, net dollar amounts

involved and details of each major

exchange.

(7) Schedule H–1(3). This schedule is

part of the workpapers. Show, for the 12

months of actual experience and

claimed adjustments: a classification of

principal charges, credits and volumes;

particulars of supporting computations

and accounting bases; a description of

services and related dollar amounts for

which liability is incurred or accrued;

and, the name of the firm or individual

rendering such services. Expenses

reported in Schedules H–1(3)(a) through

H–1(3)(k) of $100,000 or less per type of

service may be grouped.

(8) Schedule H–1(3)(a). Account Nos.

806, 808.1, 808.2, 809.1, 809.2, 823, and

any other account used to record fuel

use or gas losses.

(9) Schedule H–1(3)(b). Account No.

813. Other Gas Supply Expenses.

Provide details of each type of expense.

(10) Schedule H–1(3)(c). Account Nos.

913 and 930.1. Advertising Expenses.

Disclose principal types of advertising

such as TV, newspaper, etc.

(11) Schedule H–1(3)(d). Account No.

921. Office Supplies and Expenses.

(12) Schedule H–1(3)(e). Account No.

922. Administrative Expenses

Transferred Credit.

(13) Schedule H–1(3)(f). Account No.

923. Outside Services Employed.

(14) Schedule H–1(3)(g). Account No.

926. Employee Pensions and Benefits.

(15) Schedule H–1(3)(h). Account No.

928. Regulatory Commission Expenses.

(16) Schedule H–1(3)(i). Account No.

929. Duplicate Charges. Credit.

(17) Schedule H–1(3)(j). Account No.

930.2. Miscellaneous General Expenses.

(18) Schedule H–1(3)(k).

Intercompany and Interdepartmental

Transactions. If the expense accounts

contain charges or credits to and from

associated or affiliated companies or

nonutility departments of the company,

submit a schedule, or schedules, as to

each associated or affiliated company or

nonutility department showing:

(i) The amount of the charges, or

credits, during each month and in total

for the base period and the adjustment

period.

(ii) The FERC Account No. charged

(or credited).

(iii) Descriptions of the specific

services performed for, or by, the

associated/affiliated company or

nonutility department.

(iv) The bases used in determining the

amounts of the charges (credits) and an

explanation for the bases.

(19) Schedule H–1 (3)(l). Show all

lease payments contained in the

operation and maintenance accounts.

Leases of $500,000 or less may be

grouped by type of lease.

(l) Statement H–2. Depreciation,

Depletion, Amortization and Negative

Salvage Expenses. Show, separately, the

gas plant depreciation, depletion,

amortization, and negative salvage

expenses by functional classifications.

For each functional plant classification,

show depreciation reserve associated

with offshore and onshore plant

separately. Show, in separate columns:

expenses for the 12 months of actual

experience; adjustments, if any, to such

expense; and, the total adjusted expense

claimed. Explain the bases, methods,

essential computations, and derivation

of unit rates for the calculation of

depreciation, depletion, and

amortization expense for the 12 months

of actual experience and for the

adjustments. The amounts of

depreciable plant must be shown by the

functions specified in paragraph C of

Account No. 108, Accumulated

Provisions for Depreciation of Gas

Utility Plant, and Account No. 111,

Accumulated Provision for

Amortization and Depletion of Gas

Utility Plant, of the Commission’s

Uniform System of Accounts for Natural

Gas Companies, and, if available, for

each detailed plant account (300 Series)

together with the rates used in

computing such expenses. Explain any

deviation from the rates determined to

be just and reasonable by the

Commission. Show the rate or rates

previously used together with

supporting data for the new rate or rates

used for this filing. The following

schedule and additional material must

be submitted as a part of Statement H–

2:

(1) Schedule H–2 (1). Depreciable

Plant.

(i) Reconcile the depreciable plant

shown in Statement H–2 with the

aggregate investment in gas plant shown

in Statement C, and the expense charged

to other than prescribed depreciation,

depletion, amortization, and negative

salvage expense accounts. Identify the

amounts of plant costs and associated

plant accounts used as the bases for

depreciation expense charged to

clearing accounts. For each functional
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3131

plant classification, show depreciation

reserve associated with offshore and

onshore plant separately.

(ii) Schedule H–2(1) must be updated,

as set forth in § 154.312, with actual

depreciable plant and reconciled with

updated Statement C.

(m) Statement H–3. Income Taxes.

Show the computation of allowances for

Federal and State income taxes for the

test period based on the claimed return

applied to the overall gas utility rate

base. To indicate the accounting

classification applicable to the amount

claimed, the computation of the Federal

income tax allowance must show,

separately, the amounts designated as

current tax and deferred tax. The

following schedules and additional

material must be submitted as a part of

Statement H–3:

(1) Schedule H–3(1). This schedule is

part of the work papers. Reconcile the

book net income with taxable net

income as reported to the Internal

Revenue Service for the most recent

year for which a tax return was filed.

Explain any items appearing in either

the reconciliation or the tax return but

not both.

(2) Schedule H–3(2). This schedule is

a part of the workpapers. If tax

depreciation differs from book

depreciation, show the computation of

the tax depreciation indicating

differences between book and tax

depreciation on a straight-line basis; and

the excess of liberalized depreciation

over straight-line depreciation for tax

purposes for the taxable year or years.

(3) Schedule H–3(3). This schedule is

part of the workpapers. Show the

income tax paid each State in the

current and/or previous year covered by

the test period.

(4) Schedule H–3(4). This schedule is

part of the workpapers. Show the

computation of an updated

reconciliation between book depreciable

plant and tax depreciable plant and

accumulated provision for deferred

income taxes, for the base period or

latest calendar or fiscal year (depending

on the company’s reporting period).

(n) Statement H–4. Other Taxes. Show

the gas utility taxes, other than Federal

or state income taxes, in separate

columns, as follows: Tax expense per

books for the 12 months of actual

experience (separately identify the

amounts expensed or accrued during

the period); adjustments, if any, to

amounts booked; and, the total adjusted

taxes claimed. Show the kind and

amount of taxes paid under protest or in

connection with taxes under litigation.

Show taxes by state and by type of tax.

The following schedules and additional

material must be submitted as a part of

Statement H–4:

(1) Schedule H–4(1). This schedule is

part of the workpapers. Show the

computations of adjusted taxes claimed

in Statement H(4).

(o) Statement I. Statement I consists of

the following Schedules:

(1) Schedule I–1. Functionalization of

Cost-of-service. Show the overall costof-service contained in Statement A as

supported by Statements B, C, D, E, G

(revenue credits) and H:

(i) Separate overall cost-of-service by

function of facility.

(ii) Separate the transmission, storage

and gathering facilities between

incremental and non-incremental

facilities. If the pipeline proposes to

directly assign the costs of specific

facilities, it must provide a separate

cost-of-service for every directly

assigned facility (e.g., lateral or storage

field).

(iii) For each zone, separately state

transmission, storage, and gathering

costs.

(iv) Show the method used to allocate

common and joint costs to various

functions. Provide the factors

underlying the allocation of general

costs (e.g., miles of pipe, cost of plant,

labor). Show the formulae used and

explain the bases for the allocation of

common and joint costs.

(2) Schedule I–2. Classification of

Costs-of-service.

(i) For each functionalized cost-ofservice provided in Schedule I–1 (i), (ii),

and (iii), show the classification of costs

between fixed costs and variable costs

and between reservation costs and usage

costs. The classification must be for

each element of the cost-of-service (e.g.,

depreciation expenses, state income

taxes). For operation and maintenance

expenses and general and

administrative expenses, the

classification must be provided by

account and by total.

(ii) Explain the basis for the

classification of costs.

(iii) Explain any difference between

the method for classifying costs and the

classification method underlying the

pipeline’s currently effective rates.

(3) Schedule I–3. Allocation of Costof-service.

(i) If the company provides gas sales

and transportation as a bundled service,

show the allocation of costs between

direct sales or distribution sales and the

other services. If the company provides

unbundled transportation, show the

allocation of costs between services

with cost-of-service rates and services

with market-based rates, including

products extraction, sales, and

company-owned production. If the costof-service is allocated among rate zones,

show how the classified cost-of-service

is allocated among rate zones by

function. If the pipeline proposes to

establish rate zones for the first time, or

to change existing rate zone boundaries,

explain how the rate zone boundaries

are established.

(ii) Show how the classified costs of

service provided in Schedule I–2 or

Schedule I–3 (i) are allocated among the

pipeline’s services and rate schedules.

(iii) Provide the formulae used in the

allocation of the cost-of-service. Provide

the factors underlying the allocation of

the cost-of-service (e.g., contract

demand, annual billing determinants,

three-day peak). Provide the load factor

or other basis for any imputed demand

quantities.

(iv) Explain any changes in the basis

for the allocation of the cost-of-service

from the allocation methodologies

underlying the currently effective rates.

(4) Schedule I–4. Transmission and

Compression of Gas by Others (Account

No. 858). Provide the following

information for each transaction for the

base and adjustment period:

(i) The name of the transporter.

(ii) The name of the rate schedule

under which service is provided, and

the expiration date of the contract.

(iii) Monthly usage volumes.

(iv) Monthly revenues.

(v) The monthly revenues for volumes

flowing under released capacity. The

revenues in Schedule I–4(iv) must also

be reflected, separately, as a credit in

Schedule G–5.

(5) Schedule I–5. Three-day Peak

Deliveries. Provide the following data

for the three continuous days of

maximum transmission system

deliveries during the winter heating

season within the 12 months of actual

experience:

(i) Deliveries by customer by rate

schedule by zone;

(ii) Deliveries to direct sale and

distribution customers;

(iii) Withdrawals from storage for

contract storage customers;

(iv) Withdrawals from storage for nonotice service;

(v) Withdrawals from storage for

system use including balancing;

(vi) Fluctuations in line pack or gas

stored in the pipeline;

(vii) Dates and average temperatures;

(viii) If three-day peak deliveries are

used for allocation purposes, explain

any adjustments to the actual three-day

peak deliveries.

(6) Schedule I–6. Gas Balance. Show

by months and total, for the 12 months

of actual experience, the company’s Gas

Account, in the form required by FERC

Form No. 2 pages 520 and 521. Show
3132 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

corresponding estimated data, if

claimed to be different from actual

experience. Provide the basis for any

variation between estimated and actual

base period data.

(p) Statement J. Comparison and

Reconciliation of Estimated Operating

Revenues With Cost-of-service. Compare

the total revenues by rate schedule

(Schedule G–2) to the allocated cost-ofservice (Statement I). Identify any

surcharges that are reflected in

Statement G but not in Statement I.

(1) Schedule J–1. Summary of Billing

Determinants. Provide a summary of all

billing determinants used to derive

rates. Provide a reconciliation of

customers’ total billing determinants as

shown on Schedule G–2 with those

used to derive rates in Schedule J–2.

Provide an explanation of how any

discount adjustment is developed. If

billing determinants are imputed for

interruptible service, explain the

method for calculating the billing

determinants.

(2) Schedule J–2. Derivation of Rates.

Show the derivation of each rate

component of each rate. For each rate

component of each rate schedule,

include:

(i) A reference (by page, line, and

column) to the allocated cost-of-service

in Statement I;

(ii) A reference to the appropriate

billing determinants in Schedule J–1.

(iii) Explain any changes in the

method used for the derivation of rates

from the method used in developing the

underlying rates.

(q) Statement K. [Reserved]

(r) Statement L. Balance Sheet.

Provide a balance sheet in the form

prescribed by the Commission’s

Uniform System of Accounts for Natural

Gas Companies as of the beginning and

end of the base period. Include any

notes. If the natural gas company is a

member of a group of companies, also

provide a balance sheet on a

consolidated basis.

(s) Statement M. Income Statement.

Provide an income statement, including

a section on earnings, in the form

prescribed by the Commission’s

Uniform System of Accounts for Natural

Gas Companies for the base period.

Include any notes. If the natural gas

company is a member of a system group

of companies, provide an income

statement on a consolidated basis.

(t) Statement N. [Reserved]

(u) Statement O. Description of

Company Operations. Provide a

description of the company’s service

area and diversity of operations. Include

the following:

(1) Only if significant changes have

occurred since the filing of the last

FERC Form No. 2 or 2–A, provide a

detailed system map.

(2) A list of each major expansion and

abandonment since the company’s last

general rate case. Provide brief

descriptions, approximate dates of

operation or retirement from service,

and costs classified by functions.

(3) A detailed description of how the

company designs and operates its

systems. Include design temperature.

(v) Statement P. Explanatory Text and

Prepared Testimony. Provide copies of

prepared testimony indicating the line

of proof which the company would offer

for its case-in-chief in the event that the

rates are suspended and the matter set

for hearing. Name the sponsoring

witness of all text and testimony.

Statement P must be filed concurrently

with the other schedules.

§ 154.314 Schedules for minor rate

changes.

(a) A change in a rate or charge that,

for the test period, does not increase the

company’s revenues by the smaller of

$1,000,000 or 5 percent is a minor rate

change. A change in a rate level that

does not directly or indirectly result in

an increased rate or charge to any

customer or class of customers is a

minor rate change.

(b) In addition to the schedules in this

section, filings for minor rate changes

must include Statements L, M, O, P, I–

1 through I–4, and J of § 154.313.

(c) The schedules of this section must

contain the principal determinants

essential to test the reasonableness of

the proposed minor rate change. Any

adjustments to book figures must be

separately stated and the basis for the

adjustment must be explained.

(d) Schedules B–1, B–2, C, D, E, H, H–

2, and H–4 of this section must be

updated with actual data by month and

must be resubmitted in the same format

and with consecutive 12 month running

totals, for each month of the adjustment

period. The first updated statement or

schedule must be submitted to the

Commission one month after the filing

date or one month after the quarter,

whichever is later. Subsequent updated

statements or schedules must be made,

quarterly, one month after the end of the

quarter being updated. The updated

filings must reference the associated

docket number.

(e) Composition of schedules for a

minor rate changes.

(1) Schedule A. Overall Cost-ofservice by Function. Summarize the

overall cost-of-service (operation and

maintenance expenses, depreciation,

taxes, return, and credits to cost-ofservice) developed from the supporting

schedules below.

(2) Schedule B. Overall Rate Base and

Return. Summarize the overall gas

utility rate base by function. Include the

claimed rate of return and show the

application of the claimed rate of return

to the overall rate base.

(3) Schedule B–1. Accumulated

Deferred Income Taxes (Account Nos.

190, 281, 282, and 283). Show monthly

book balances of accumulated deferred

income taxes for each of the 12 months

during the base period. In adjoining

columns, show additions and

reductions for the adjustment period

balance and the total adjusted balance.

(4) Schedule B–2. Regulatory Asset

and Liability. Show monthly book

balances of regulatory asset (Account

No. 182.3) and liability (Account No.

254) for each of the 12 months during

the base period. In adjoining columns,

show additions and reductions for the

adjustment period balance and the total

adjusted balance. Only include these

accounts if recovery of these balances

are reflected in the company’s costs.

Identify the specific Commission

authority which required the

establishment of these accounts.

(5) Schedule C. Cost of Plant by

Functional Classification as of the End

of the Base and Adjustment Periods.

(6) Schedule D. Accumulated

Provisions for Depreciation, Depletion,

Amortization, and Abandonment by

Functional Classifications as of the

Beginning and as of the End of the Test

Period.

(7) Schedule E. Working Capital.

Show the various components provided

for in § 154.313, Statement E.

(8) Schedule F. Show the rate of

return claimed with a brief explanation

of the basis.

(9) Schedule G. (i) Show actual

throughput and revenues for the base

period at rates charged during that

period classified in accordance with the

Commission’s Uniform System of

Accounts and by jurisdictional rate

schedule.

(ii) Show total comparative operating

revenues by month, by rate schedule, by

customer, for the base period as

adjusted for known and measurable

changes which are expected to occur

within the test period computed under

the rates charged during the base period

and computed under the rates expected

to be charged. Provide projected

throughput (i.e., usage or commodity

quantities, unadjusted for discounting)

and projected contract demand levels

(unadjusted for discounting). Separate

operating revenues from revenues

received from penalties, surcharges or

other sources (e.g., ACA, GRI, transition

costs). Identify customers who are

replacement shippers under capacity
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3133

release. Identify customers who are

affiliates.

(iii) Identify rate schedules under

which costs are allocated and rate

schedules under which revenues are

credited for the test period with crossreferences to the other filed statements

and schedules.

(10) Schedule H. Operation and

Maintenance Expenses. Show the gas

operation and maintenance expenses

according to each applicable account of

the Commission’s Uniform System of

Accounts for Natural Gas Companies.

The expenses must be shown under

appropriate columnar-headings, by

labor, materials and other charges, and

purchased gas costs, with subtotals for

each functional classification: Operation

and maintenance expense by months, as

booked, for the 12 months of actual

experience, and the total thereof;

adjustments, if any, to expenses as

booked; and, total adjusted operation

and maintenance expenses claimed.

Explain all adjustments. Specify the

month or months during which the

adjustments would be applicable.

(11) Schedule H–1. Workpapers for

Expense Accounts. Furnish workpapers

for the 12 months of actual experience

and claimed adjustments and analytical

details as set forth in § 154.313,

Schedule H–1(3).

(12) Schedule H–2. Depreciation,

Depletion, Amortization and Negative

Salvage Expenses. Show, separately, the

gas plant depreciation, depletion,

amortization and negative salvage

expenses by functional classifications.

For each functional plant classification,

show depreciation reserve associated

with offshore and onshore plant

separately. The bases, methods,

essential computations and derivation

of unit rates for the calculation of

depreciation, depletion, amortization

and negative salvage expenses for actual

experience must be explained.

(13) Schedule H–3. Income Tax

Allowances Computed on the Basis of

the Rate of Return Claimed. Show the

computation of allowances for Federal

and State income taxes based on the

claimed return applied to the overall gas

utility rate base.

(14) Schedule H–3(1). This schedule

is part of the workpapers. Show the

computation of an updated

reconciliation between book depreciable

plant and tax depreciable plant and

accumulated provision for deferred

income taxes, for the base period or

latest calendar or fiscal year (depending

on the company’s reporting period).

(15) Schedule H–4. Other Taxes.

Show the gas utility taxes, other than

Federal or state income taxes in separate

columns, as follows: Tax expense per

books for the 12 months of actual

experience;) adjustments, if any, to

amounts booked; and, the total adjusted

taxes claimed. Provide the details of the

kind and amount of taxes paid under

protest or in connection with taxes

under litigation. The taxes must be

shown by states and by kind of taxes.

Explain all adjustments.

§ 154.315 Other support for a filing.

(a) Any company filing for a rate

change is responsible for preparing prior

to filing, and maintaining, workpapers

sufficient to support the filing. In

addition to the workpapers

accompanying the filing, the following

material, related to the test period, must

be provided to the Commission on

request:

(1) Copies of monthly financial

reports prepared for management

purposes.

(2) Copies of accounting analyses of

balance sheet accounts.

(3) Complete trial balances of all the

balance sheet accounts, and revenue

and expense accounts for each month of

actual experience used for the base

period with updates for the subsequent

months of the adjustment period.

(4) Analyses of the miscellaneous

revenues (Account No. 495) and related

expenses included in the submitted

cost-of-service.

(5) Copies of all Office of the Chief

Accountant orders, instructions, letters,

findings, and settlements since the

pipeline’s last rate change.

(b) If the natural gas company has

relied upon data other than those in

Statements A through P in § 154.313 in

support of its general rate change, such

other data must be identified and

submitted.

Subpart E—Limited Rate Changes

§ 154.400 Additional requirements.

In addition to the requirements of

subparts A, B, and C of this part, any

proposal to implement a limited rate

change must comply with this subpart.

§ 154.401 RD&D expenditures.

(a) Requirements. Upon approval by

the Commission, a natural gas company

may file to recover research,

development, and demonstration

(RD&D) expenditures in its rates under

this subpart.

(b) Applications for Rate Treatment

Approval. (1) An application for

advance approval of rate treatment may

be filed by a natural gas company for

RD&D expenditures related to a project

or group of projects undertaken by the

company or as part of a project

undertaken by others. When more than

one company supports an RD&D

organization, the RD&D organization

may submit an application that covers

the organization’s RD&D program.

Approval by the Commission of such an

RD&D application and program will

constitute approval of the individual

companies’ contributions to the RD&D

organization.

(2) An application for advance

approval of rate treatment must include

a 5-year program plan and must be filed

at least 180 days prior to the

commencement of the 5-year period of

the plan.

(3) A 5-year program plan must

include at a minimum:

(i) A statement of the objectives for

the 5-year period that relates the

objectives to the interests of ratepayers,

the public, and the industry and to the

objectives of other major research

organizations.

(ii) Budget, technical, and schedule

information in sufficient detail to

explain the work to be performed and

allow an assessment of the probability

of success and a comparison with other

organizations’ research plans.

(iii) The commencement date,

expected termination date, and expected

annual costs for individual RD&D

projects to be initiated during the first

year of the plan.

(iv) A discussion of the RD&D efforts

and progress since the preparation of

the program plan submitted the

previous year and an explanation of any

changes that have been made in

objectives, priorities, or budgets since

the plan of the previous year.

(v) A statement identifying all

jurisdictional natural gas companies

that will support the program and

specifying the amounts of their

budgeted support.

(vi) A statement identifying those

persons involved in the development,

review, and approval of the plan and

specifying the amount of effort

contributed and the degree of control

exercised by each.

(c) Applications must describe the

RD&D projects in such detail as to

satisfy the Commission that the RD&D

expenditures qualify as valid,

justifiable, and reasonable.

(d) Within 120 days of the filing of an

application for rate treatment approval

and a 5-year program plan, the

Commission will state its decision with

respect to acceptance, partial

acceptance, or rejection of the plan, or,

when the complexity of issues in the

plan so requires, will set a date certain

by which a final decision will be made,

or will order the matter set for hearing.

Partial rejection of a plan by the

Commission will be accompanied by a
3134 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

decision as to the partial level of

acceptance which will be proportionally

applied to all contributions listed for

jurisdictional companies in the plan.

Approval by the Commission of a 5-year

plan constitutes approval for rate

treatment of all projects identified as

starting during the first year of the

approved plan. Continued rate

treatment will depend upon review and

evaluation of subsequent annual

applications and 5-year program plans.

§ 154.402 ACA expenditures.

(a) Requirements. Upon approval by

the Commission, a natural gas pipeline

company may adjust its rates, annually,

to recover from its customers annual

charges assessed by the Commission

under part 382 of this chapter pursuant

to an annual charge adjustment clause

(ACA clause). The ACA clause must be

filed with the Commission and indicate

the amount of annual charges to be

flowed through per unit of energy sold

or transported (ACA unit charge). The

ACA unit charge will be specified by the

Commission at the time the Commission

calculates the annual charge bills. A

company must reflect the ACA unit

charge in each of its rate schedules

applicable to sales or transportation

deliveries. The company must apply the

ACA unit charge to the usage

component of rate schedules with twopart rates. A company may recover

annual charges through an ACA unit

charge only if its rates do not otherwise

reflect the costs of annual charges

assessed by the Commission under

§ 382.106(a) of this chapter. The

applicable annual charge, required by

§ 382.103 of this chapter, must be paid

before the company applies the ACA

unit charge.

(b) Application for Rate Treatment

Approval. A company seeking

authorization to use an ACA unit charge

must file with the Commission a

separate ACA tariff sheet containing:

(1) A statement that the company is

collecting an ACA per unit charge, as

approved by the Commission,

applicable to all the pipeline’s sales and

transportation schedules,

(2) The per unit charge of the ACA,

(3) The proposed effective date of the

tariff change (30 days after the filing of

the tariff sheet, unless a shorter period

is specifically requested in a waiver

petition and approved), and

(4) A statement that the pipeline will

not recover any annual charges recorded

in FERC Account No. 928 in a

proceeding under subpart D of this part.

(c) Changes to the ACA unit charge

must be filed annually, to reflect the

annual charge unit rate authorized by

the Commission each fiscal year.

§ 154.403 Periodic rate adjustments.

(a) This section applies to the

passthrough, on a periodic basis, of a

single cost item or revenue item for

which passthrough is not regulated

under another section of this subpart,

and to revisions on a periodic basis of

a gas reimbursement percentage.

(b) Where a pipeline recovers fuel use

and unaccounted-for natural gas in

kind, the fuel reimbursement percentage

must be stated in the tariff either on the

tariff sheet stating the currently effective

rate or on a separate tariff sheet in such

a way that it is clear what amount of

natural gas must be tendered in kind for

each service rendered.

(c) A natural gas company that passes

through a cost or revenue item or

adjusts its fuel reimbursement

percentage under this section, must

state within the general terms and

conditions of its tariff, the methodology

and timing of any adjustments. The

following must be included in the

general terms and conditions:

(1) A statement of the nature of the

revenue or costs to be flowed through to

the customer;

(2) A statement of the manner in

which the cost or revenue will be

collected or returned, whether through

a surcharge, offset, or otherwise;

(3) A statement of which customers

are recipients of the revenue credit and

which rate schedules are subject to the

cost or fuel reimbursement percentage;

(4) A statement of the frequency of the

adjustment and the dates on which the

adjustment will become effective;

(5) A step-by-step description of the

manner in which the amount to be

flowed through is calculated and a stepby-step description of the flowthrough

mechanism, including how the costs are

classified and allocated. Where the

adjustment modifies a rate established

under subpart D of this part, the

methodology must be consistent with

the methodology used in the proceeding

under subpart D of this part;

(6) Where costs or revenue credits are

accumulated over a past period for

periodic recovery or return, the past

period must be defined and the

mechanism for the recovery or return

must be detailed on a step-by-step basis.

Where the natural gas company

proposes to use a surcharge to clear an

account in which the difference

between costs or revenues, recovered

through rates, and actual costs and

revenues accumulate, a statement must

be included detailing, on a step-by-step

basis, the mechanism for calculating the

entries to the account and for passing

through the account balance.

(7) Where carrying charges are

computed, the calculations must be

consistent with the methodology and

reporting requirements set forth in

§ 154.501 using the carrying charge rate

required by that section. A natural gas

company must normalize all income tax

timing differences which are the result

of differences between the period in

which expense or revenue enters into

the determination of taxable income and

the period in which the expense or

revenue enters into the determination of

pre-tax book income. Any balance upon

which the natural gas company

calculates carrying charges must be

adjusted for any recorded deferred

income taxes.

(8) Where the natural gas company

discounts the rate component calculated

pursuant to this section, explain on a

step by-step basis how the natural gas

company will adjust for rate discounts

in its methodology to reflect changes in

costs under this section.

(9) If the costs passed through under

a mechanism approved under this

section are billed by an upstream

natural gas company, explain how

refunds received from upstream natural

gas companies will be passed through to

the natural gas company’s customers,

including the allocation and

classification of such refunds;

(10) A step-by-step explanation of the

methodology used to reflect changes in

the fuel reimbursement percentage,

including the allocation and

classification of the fuel use and

unaccounted for natural gas. Where the

adjustment modifies a fuel

reimbursement percentage established

under subpart D of this part, the

methodology must be consistent with

the methodology used in the proceeding

under subpart D of this part;

(11) A statement of whether the

difference between quantities actually

used or lost and the quantities retained

from the customers for fuel use and loss

will be recovered or returned in a future

surcharge. Include a step-by-step

explanation of the methodology used to

calculate such surcharge. Any period

during which these differences

accumulate must be defined;

(d) Filing Requirements.

(1) Filings under this section must

include:

(i) A summary statement showing the

rate component added to each rate

schedule with workpapers showing all

mathematical calculations.

(ii) If the filing establishes a new fuel

reimbursement percentage or surcharge,

include computations for each fuel

reimbursement or surcharge calculated,

broken out by service, classification,

area, zone, or other subcategory.

(iii) Workpapers showing the

allocation of costs or revenue credits by
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3135

rate schedule and step-by-step

computations supporting the allocation,

segregated into reservation and usage

amounts, where appropriate.

(iv) Where the costs, revenues, rates,

quantities, indices, load factors,

percentages, or other numbers used in

the calculations are publicly available,

include references by source.

(v) Where a rate or quantity

underlying the costs or revenue credits

is supported by publicly available data

(such as another natural gas company’s

tariff or EBB), the source must be

referenced to allow the Commission and

interested parties to review the source.

If the rate or quantity does not match

the rate or quantity from the source

referenced, provide step-by-step

instructions to tie the rate in the

referenced source to the rate in the

filing.

(vi) Where a number is derived from

another number by applying a load

factor, percentage, or other adjusting

factor not referenced in paragraph

(d)(1)(i) of this section, include

workpapers and a narrative to explain

the calculation of the adjusting factor.

(2) If the natural gas company is

adjusting its rates to reflect changes in

transportation and compression costs

paid to others:

(i) The changes in transportation and

compression costs must be based on the

rate on file with the Commission. If the

rate is not on file with the Commission

or a discounted rate is paid, the rate

reflected in the filing must be the rate

the natural gas company is contractually

obligated to pay;

(ii) The filing must include

appropriate credits for capacity released

under § 284.243 of this chapter with

workpapers showing the quantity

released, the revenues received from the

release, the time period of the release,

and the natural gas pipeline on which

the release took place; and,

(iii) The filing must include a

statement of the refunds received from

each upstream natural gas company

which are included in the rate

adjustment. The statement must

conform to the requirements set forth in

§ 154.501.

(3) If the natural gas company is

reflecting changes in its fuel

reimbursement percentage, the filing

must include:

(i) A summary statement of actual gas

inflows and outflows for each month

used to calculate the fuel

reimbursement percentage or surcharge.

For purposes of establishing the

surcharge, the summary statement must

be included for each month of the

period over which the differences

defined in paragraph (c) of this section

accumulate.

(ii) Where the fuel reimbursement

percentage is calculated based on

estimated activity over a future period,

the period must be defined and the

estimates used in the calculation must

be justified. If any of the estimates are

publicly available, include a reference

to the source.

(4) The natural gas company must not

recover costs and is not obligated to

return revenues which are applicable to

the period pre-dating the effectiveness

of the tariff language setting forth the

periodic rate change mechanism, unless

permitted or required to do so by the

Commission.

Subpart F—Refunds and Reports

§ 154.501 Refunds.

(a) Refund Obligation. (1) Any natural

gas company that collects rates or

charges pursuant to this chapter must

refund that portion of any increased

rates or charges either found by the

Commission not to be justified, or

approved for refund by the Commission

as part of a settlement, together with

interest as required in paragraph (d) of

this section. The refund plus interest

must be distributed as specified in the

Commission order requiring or

approving the refund, or if no date is

specified, within 60 days of the order.

(2) Any natural gas company must

refund to its jurisdictional customers

the jurisdictional portion of any refund

it receives within 30 days of receipt.

(b) Costs of Refunding. Any natural

gas company required to make refunds

pursuant to this section must bear all

costs of such refunding.

(c) Supplier Refunds. The

jurisdictional portion of supplier

refunds (including interest received),

applicable to periods in which a

purchased gas adjustment clause was in

effect, must be flowed through to the

natural gas company’s jurisdictional gas

sales customers during that period with

interest as computed in paragraph (d) of

this section.

(d) Interest on Refunds. Interest on the

refund balance must be computed from

the date of collection from the customer

until the date refunds are made as

follows:

(1) At a rate of seven percent simple

interest per annum on all excessive rates

or charges held prior to October 10,

1974;

(2) At a rate of nine percent simple

interest per annum on all excessive rates

or charges held between October 10,

1974 and September 30, 1979; and

(3)(i) At an average prime rate for each

calendar quarter on all excessive rates or

charges held (including all interest

applicable to such rates and charges) on

or after October 1, 1979. The applicable

average prime rate for each calendar

quarter must be the arithmetic mean, to

the nearest one-hundredth of one

percent, of the prime rate values

published in the Federal Reserve

Bulletin, or in the Federal Reserve’s

‘‘Selected Interest Rates’’ (Statistical

Release G, 13), for the fourth, third, and

second months preceding the first

month of the calendar quarter.

(ii) The interest required to be paid

under paragraph (d)(3)(i) of this section

must be compounded quarterly.

(4) The refund balance must be either:

(i) The revenues resulting from the

collection of the portion of any

increased rates or charges found by the

Commission not to be justified; or

(ii) An amount agreed upon in a

settlement approved by the

Commission; or

(iii) The jurisdictional portion of a

refund the natural gas company

receives.

(e) Unless otherwise provided by the

order, settlement or tariff provision

requiring the refund, the natural gas

company must file a report of refunds,

within 30 days of the date the refund

was made, which complies with

§ 154.502 and includes the following:

(1) Workpapers and a narrative

sufficient to show how the refunds for

jurisdictional services were calculated;

(2) Workpapers and a narrative

sufficient to determine the origin of the

refund, including step-by-step

calculations showing the derivation of

the refund amount described in

paragraphs (d)(4)(i) or (d)(4)(ii) of this

section, if necessary;

(3) References to any publicly

available sources which confirm the

rates, quantities, or costs, which are

used to calculate the refund balance or

which confirm the refund amount itself.

If the rate, quantity, cost or refund does

not directly tie to the source, a

workpaper must be included to show

the reconciliation between the rate,

quantity, cost, or refund in the natural

gas company’s report and the

corresponding rate, quantity, cost or

refund in the source document;

(4) Workpapers showing the

calculation of interest on a monthly

basis, including how the carrying

charges were compounded quarterly;

(5) Workpapers and a narrative

explaining how the refund was

allocated to each jurisdictional

customer. Where the numbers used to

support the allocation are publicly

available, a reference to the source must

be included. Where the allocation

methodology has been approved
3136 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

previously, a reference to the order or

tariff provision approving the allocation

methodology must be included.

(6) A letter of transmittal containing:

(i) A list of the material enclosed;

(ii) The name and telephone number

of a company official who can answer

questions regarding the filing;

(iii) A statement of the date the refund

was disbursed;

(iv) A reference to the authority by

which the refund is made, including the

specific subpart of these regulations, an

order of the Commission, a provision of

the company’s tariff, or any other

appropriate authority. If a Commission

order is referenced, include the citation

to the FERC Reports, the date of

issuance, and the docket number;

(v) Any requests for waiver. Requests

must include a reference to the specific

section of the statute, regulations, or the

company’s tariff from which waiver is

sought, and a justification for the

waiver.

(7) A certification of service to all

affected customers and interested state

commissions.

(f) Each report filed under paragraph

(e) of this section must be posted no

later than the date of filing.

§ 154.502 Reports.

(a) When the natural gas company is

required to make a report on a periodic

basis, either by Commission order or as

a part of a settlement, details about the

nature and contents of the report must

be provided in an appropriate section of

the general terms and conditions of its

tariff.

(b) The details in the general terms

and conditions of the tariff must include

the frequency and timing of the report.

Explain whether the report is filed

annually, semi-annually, monthly, or is

triggered by an event. If triggered by an

event, explain how soon after the event

the report must be filed. If the report is

periodic, state the dates on which the

report must be filed.

(c) Each report must include:

(1) A letter of transmittal containing:

(i) A list of the material enclosed;

(ii) The name and telephone number

of a company official who can answer

questions regarding the filing;

(iii) A reference to the authority by

which the report is made, including the

specific subpart of these regulations, an

order of the Commission, a provision of

the company’s tariff, or any other

appropriate authority. If a Commission

order is referenced, include the citation

to the FERC Reports, the date of

issuance, and the docket number;

(iv) Any requests for waiver. Requests

must include a reference to the specific

section of the statute, regulations, or the

company’s tariff from which waiver is

sought, and a justification for the

waiver.

(2) A certification of service to all

affected customers and interested state

commissions.

(d) Each report filed under paragraph

(b) of this section must be posted no

later than the date of filing.

Subpart G—Other Tariff Changes

§ 154.600 Compliance with other subparts.

Any proposal to implement a tariff

change other than in rate level must

comply with subparts A, B, and C of this

part.

§ 154.601 Change in executed service

agreement.

Agreements intended to effect a

change or revision of an executed

service agreement on file with the

Commission must be in the form of a

superseding executed service agreement

only. Service agreements may not

contain any supplements, but may

contain exhibits which may be

separately superseded. The exhibits may

show, among other things, contract

demand delivery points, delivery

pressures, names of industrial

customers of the distributor-customer,

or names of distributors (with one

distributor named as agent where

delivery to several distributors is

effected at the same delivery points).

§ 154.602 Cancellation or termination of a

tariff, executed service agreement or part

thereof.

When an effective tariff, contract, or

part thereof on file with the

Commission, is proposed to be canceled

or is to terminate by its own terms and

no new tariff, executed service

agreement, or part thereof, is to be filed

in its place, the natural gas company

must notify the Commission of the

proposed cancellation or termination on

the form indicated in § 250.2 or § 250.3

of this chapter, whichever is applicable,

at least 30 days prior to the proposed

effective date of such cancellation or

termination. With such notice, the

company must submit a statement

showing the reasons for the cancellation

or termination, a list of the affected

customers and the contract demand

provided to the customers under the

service to be canceled. A copy of the

notice must be duly posted.

§ 154.603 Adoption of the tariff by a

successor.

Whenever the tariff or contracts of a

natural gas company on file with the

Commission are to be adopted by

another company or person as a result

of an acquisition, or merger, authorized

by a certificate of public convenience

and necessity, or for any other reason,

the succeeding company must file with

the Commission, and post within 30

days after such succession, a certificate

of adoption on the form prescribed in

§ 250.4 of this chapter. Within 90 days

after such notice is filed, the succeeding

company must file a revised tariff with

the sheets bearing the name of the

successor company.

Note: This Appendix will not appear in the

Code of Federal Regulations.

Appendix

Natural Gas Pipeline Company Tariff Filings

Revised

Docket No. RM95–3–000

This document replaces the Tariff Filing

Record Formats issued August 31, 1989.

General Information

I. Purpose

All companies which maintain a gas tariff

with the Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission (FERC) are required to submit,

along with the paper copies, an electronic

version of all tariff filings pursuant to section

385.2011 of the Commission’s regulations.

Companies are required to have an electronic

version of their entire gas tariff (excluding

Volume No. 2 contractual rate schedules) on

file with FERC on or before June 1, 1995.

This form does not modify the existing tariff

sheet format required in section 154.102 or

section 385.2003 for tariff sheets filed on

paper. Nor does it modify the requirement in

section 154.201(a) to file a marked paper

version of the pages to be changed by

showing additions and deletions using

highlighting, background shading, bold text,

or underlined text.

II. Who Must File

All companies who are required to

maintain a FERC Gas Tariff on file with the

Commission.

III. What To Submit

All proposed revisions to the FERC Gas

Tariff will be submitted in conformance with

this form. Such proposed revisions include,

but are not limited to, rate changes pursuant

to a section 4 filing or changes in service

pursuant to a certificate issued as a result of

a section 7 proceeding. Upon request of the

Secretary of the Commission, companies

must submit such additional supporting and

clarifying data and information as may be

specified.

All data will be submitted on diskette(s),

preferably 3.5’’ High Density diskettes, and

must conform to the specific instructions

provided in Exhibit A. The diskette(s) must

be accompanied by paper copies of the

information submitted on the diskette. The

paper copies must conform in all respects to

the requirements of parts 154 and 157 and

will consist of the required number of copies

of the transmittal letter, the tariff sheets, the

certification of service, and a form of notice

suitable for publication in the Federal

Register.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3137

The letter of transmittal and the service list

will be submitted on paper only. The letter

of transmittal must include the subscription

provided in section 385.2005(a). The

subscription provided must state, in addition

to the requirement in section 385.2005(a),

that the paper copies contain the same

information as the diskette(s) and that the

signer has read and knows the contents of the

paper copies and that the contents as stated

in the paper copies are true to the best

knowledge and belief of the signer.

Respondents claiming that information is

privileged must file in accordance with

section 385.1112; otherwise, all data

submitted will be considered non-privileged

and will be made available to the public

upon request.

IV. When To Submit

The tariff sheets should be filed with the

Commission at the time the company

proposes a change in service or rate. The

notice period should be consistent with the

Commission’s regulations.

V. Where To Submit

(1) Submit this report to: Office of the

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, Room 3110, 825 N. Capitol

Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426.

(2) Hand deliveries may be made to the

same address.

General Instructions

(1) Schedule TF. Records TF01 through

TF06 and the text line records are intended

to capture all of the tariff elements which the

pipeline has historically filed as part of its

FERC Gas Tariff. Record TF01 identifies the

company and the filing date. Record TF02

captures information about the tariff volume;

and Records TF03, TF04, TF05, and TF06

contain requisite marginal information for an

individual tariff sheet. The actual tariff sheet

text will follow Record TF06.

Each tariff sheet should be identified by

the nature of the sheet, and assigned the

appropriate ‘‘Text ID’’ from among those

listed in the layout for Record TF03. For

example, a tariff sheet which includes the

table of contents must be assigned Text ID =

‘‘1’’. The text of a tariff sheet should include

any footnotes applicable to the individual

tariff sheet. When filing the tariff sheet on

paper, footnotes should appear inside the

ruled borders required by section 154.101.

All of the marginal information required

under 18 CFR 154.102(d) is to be included

only in the tariff sheet header records. These

header records will be utilized to print a hard

copy with the appropriate marginal

information.

If a tariff sheet is filed to be read vertically

in hard copy, this is referred to hereinafter

as ‘‘Portrait’’ orientation. If the sheet will be

read horizontally, the orientation is referred

to as ‘‘Landscape’’. The requirements of

section 154.102(d) imply that the length of a

line of actual text is 6.75 inches in Portrait

orientation, and 10.0 inches in Landscape.

The pitch, the number of print characters per

horizontal inch (cpi); the number of lines per

vertical inch (lpi); and the page orientation

for printing the tariff sheet must be given in

the first Tariff Sheet Header Record, (Record

TF03). The number of characters per

horizontal inch (cpi) must not exceed 17. The

acceptable lines per vertical inch are 6 or 8.

The maximum line length and lines per page

for Portrait and Landscape orientation are as

follows:

Page orientation

Maximum line length (characters) Maximum lines per

page

10cpi 12cpi 15cpi 17cpi 6lpi 8lpi

Vertical (Portrait) ....................................................................................... 65 79 98 112 50 70

Horizontal (Landscape) ............................................................................ 98 118 148 168 31 44

(2) Record Types. Records must be filed in

the following order:

Company Header Record (TF01): One

record per dataset.

Volume Header Record (TF02): One record

per volume. All pages for the same volume

will be grouped together. If more than one

dataset is required for the filing of a volume,

this record must appear in each dataset. Note:

When more than one dataset is needed to

accommodate a filing, name the datasets in

accordance with the instructions in Exhibit

A.

Note: The appropriate tariff sheet header

records must precede each tariff sheet!

Sheet Header Record (TF03): One record

per sheet.

Superseded Sheet Header Record (TF04):

This record pertains to the superseded sheet

information. One record per sheet unless

there is no superseded sheet (e.g., Original

and Substitute Original sheets). In that case,

this record may be omitted.

Issuing Officer Header Record (TF05): One

record per filing, unless the filing contains

sheets that reference more than one issuing

officer or the tariff sheets are submitted in

more than one dataset. Optionally, this

record may precede every tariff sheet filed.

Date and Docket Header Record (TF06):

One record per filing, unless the effective

date or other information in this record

changes from sheet to sheet or the tariff

sheets are submitted in more than one

dataset. Optionally, this record may precede

every tariff sheet filed.

Text Line Records: The actual tariff sheet

text. Note: any special codes placed in the

text (such as bold, italic, underline, etc.) are

removed when converting to ASCII format.

(3) Numeric Fields. All numeric fields in

Records TF01 through TF06 must not be left

blank, and must be right justified unless

indicated otherwise. The following

conventions should be followed in preparing

each header record in the filing:

(A) If a numeric data item is not applicable

to the respondent, enter the numeric value

‘‘0’’ in the field provided for this data item.

(B) Do not include commas in reporting

any numeric value.

(C) Report all dates as six digit numerics

(month, day, year, MMDDYY).

(4) Pipeline Company ID. Use the code for

the pipeline as contained in the Buyer Seller

Code List, U.S. Department of Energy’s

publication DOE/EIA–0176. A code may be

obtained by calling EIA at (202) 586–8841.

(5) Record Lengths. Do not pad the end of

data records with blanks.

Specific Instructions

(1) Effective Date. The date, given as

month, day, and year, on which the

respondent expects the filing to be put into

effect subject to the concurrence of the

Commission.

(2) Tariff Volume Number. The number of

the volume to which the tariff sheets belong.

For example, if the volume is labeled ‘‘First

Revised Volume No. 1’’, report a ‘‘1’’ in this

field.

(3) Tariff Volume Revision Number. Report

the number of the revision. For example, if

the tariff volume is labelled ‘‘Second Revised

Volume No. 1’’, report a ‘‘2’’ in this field. If

the tariff volume is an original volume, report

a zero in this field.

(4) Tariff Volume ID. Report the full tariff

volume name in this field. For example, if

the volume is labelled ‘‘First Revised Volume

No. 1’’, report ‘‘First Revised Volume No. 1’’

in this field.

(5) Sheet Number. Report the number of

the tariff sheet being filed. For example, if the

sheet is numbered ‘‘First Revised Sheet No.

3 superseding Original Sheet No. 3’’, report

a ‘‘3’’ in this field.

(6) Sheet Revision Number. Report the

number of the revision. For example, if the

tariff sheet is numbered ‘‘Second Substitute

Third Revised Sheet No. 4 superseding

Second Revised Sheet No. 4’’, report a ‘‘3’’ in

this field. If this is an original tariff sheet,

report a ‘‘0’’ in this field.

(7) Sheet ID. Report the full designation for

the tariff sheet being reported. For example,

if the sheet is designated ‘‘First Revised Sheet

No. 3 superseding Original Sheet No. 3’’,

report ‘‘First Revised Sheet No. 3’’ in this

field. If the Sheet ID exceeds the allowed 40

character positions for this item, use the

‘‘Abbreviation Conventions List’’ at Exhibit

C.

(8) Superseded Sheet ID. Report the full

designation for the tariff sheet being

superseded. For example, if the tariff sheet

being filed is designated ‘‘First Revised Sheet

No. 3 superseding Original Sheet No. 3’’,

report ‘‘Original Sheet No. 3’’ in this field. If

the Superseded Sheet ID exceeds the allowed

40 character positions for this item, use the
3138 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

‘‘Abbreviation Conventions List’’ at Exhibit

C.

(9) First Superseded Sheet Number. When

a single sheet supersedes a range of sheets

(such as canceling a rate schedule or

reserving sheets for future use), report the

number of the first sheet in the range.

Otherwise this field may be left blank.

(10) Last Superseded Sheet Number. When

a single sheet supersedes a range of sheets

(such as canceling a rate schedule or

reserving sheets for future use), report the

number of the last sheet in the range.

Otherwise this field may be left blank.

(11) Alternate Sheet ID. When filing

primary and alternative tariff sheets, the

sheets are uniquely identified by reporting

‘‘00’’ in this field for the primary sheet, ‘‘01’’

for the first alternate, ‘‘02’’ for the second

alternate, and so on.

(12) Issuing Officer. Report the name and

title of the person authorized to issue the

tariff sheet.

(13) Issue Date. The date given as month,

day, and year when the tariff sheet is issued.

(14) Order Reference. For tariff sheets

which are filed to make rate schedules or

provisions ordered by the Commission

effective, report the Docket Number and the

date of such order. (If more than one docket

applies, report the lead docket relating to the

filing company in the proceeding.)

ELECTRONIC TARIFF FILE LAYOUT—SCHEDULE TF

Item Character

Position Data Type Comments

(1) Company Header Record

Schedule ID ................................................... 1–2 Character ........ Sch = TF.

Record ID ...................................................... 3–4 Numeric ........... Code = 01.

Company ID .................................................. 5–10 Numeric ........... Company code from buyer/seller code list, see general instruction

4.

Date Submitted .............................................. 11–16 Numeric ........... Month, day and year report is filed (mmddyy).

Company Name ............................................ 17–65 Character ........ Name of filing company.

(2) Volume Header Record

Schedule ID ................................................... 1–2 Character ........ Sch = TF.

Record ID ...................................................... 3–4 Numeric ........... Code = 02.

Tariff Volume Number ................................... 5–8 Character ........ See specific instruction 2.

Tariff Volume Revision Number .................... 9–11 Numeric ........... See specific instruction 3.

Tariff Volume ID ............................................ 12–51 Character ........ See specific instruction 4.

(3) Sheet Header Record

Schedule ID ................................................... 1–2 Character ........ Sch = TF.

Record ID ...................................................... 3–4 Numeric ........... Code = 03.

Sheet Number ............................................... 5–12 Character ........ See specific instruction 5.

Sheet Revision Number ................................ 13–15 Numeric ........... See specific instruction 6.

Alternate Sheet ID ......................................... 16–17 Numeric ........... See specific instruction 11.

Text ID ........................................................... 18–19 Numeric ........... 0 = Title Page.

......................... 1 = Table of Contents.

......................... 2 = Preliminary Statement.

......................... 3 = Rate Sheets.

......................... 4 = Rate Schedule Text.

......................... 5 = General Terms and Conditions.

......................... 6 = Form of Service Agreements.

......................... 7 = Index of Customers.

......................... 8 = Other Indices.

......................... 9 = Other Tariff Sheets.

......................... 10 = Sheets Reserved for Future Use.

Orientation ..................................................... 20 Character ........ P = Portrait.

L = Landscape.

Pitch ............................................................... 21–22 Numeric ........... Characters per Horizontal Inch = 10, 12, 15, or 17.

Lines Per Inch ............................................... 23 Numeric ........... Lines per Vertical Inch = 6 or 8.

Sheet ID ........................................................ 24–63 Character ........ See specific instruction 7.

(4) Superseded Sheet Header Record

Schedule ID ................................................... 1–2 Character ........ Sch = TF.

Record ID ...................................................... 3–4 Numeric ........... Code = 04.

First Superseded Sheet Number ................... 5–12 Character ........ See specific instruction 9.

Last Superseded Sheet Number ................... 13–20 Character ........ See specific instruction 10.

Superseded Sheet ID .................................... 21–60 Character ........ See specific instruction 8.

(5) Issuing Officer Header Record

Schedule ID ................................................... 1–2 Character ........ Sch = TF.

Record ID ...................................................... 3–4 Numeric ........... Code = 05.

Issued By ....................................................... 5–58 Character ........ Name and title of issuing official; see specific instruction 12.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3139

ELECTRONIC TARIFF FILE LAYOUT—SCHEDULE TF—Continued

Item Character

Position Data Type Comments

(6) Date and Docket Header Record

Schedule ID ................................................... 1–2 Character ........ Sch = TF.

Record ID ...................................................... 3–4 Numeric ........... Code = 06.

Date Issued ................................................... 5–10 Numeric ........... (mmddyy); see specific instruction 13.

Order Date ..................................................... 11–16 Numeric ........... (mmddyy); see specific instruction 14.

Docket Number ............................................. 17–36 Character ........ See specific instruction 14.

Effective Date ................................................ 37–42 Numeric ........... (mmddyy); see specific instruction 1.

(7) Sheet Text Line Records.

Each entire record consists of the text of

the corresponding line of the tariff sheet,

without prefix of any kind.

Exhibit A—Diskette Filing Procedures

Diskette(s) containing the information

specified for each record ID of the tariff filing

filed with the Commission must conform

with the following requirements:

(1) The character code for representing all

data should be the American National

Standard Code for Information Interchange

(ASCII) as defined in FIPS PUB 1–2. An

exception will be made for the cents (¢)

symbol, which should be coded as

hexadecimal 8B, or decimal 155, as defined

in the IBM–US (PC–8) symbol set. Note that

there are symbol sets which define it

differently.

(2) The definitions, instructions, and

schedule ID/record ID data layouts for this

form specify explicitly the data items to be

reported and the sequence for recording the

information on the diskette(s). The

information required for a tariff filing should

be recorded on the diskette(s) exactly as

specified in the data layout for each

schedule/record and in accordance with the

general instructions.

(3) All tariff sheets filed under a given

docket number should all be included in the

same ‘‘file’’ or data set, if possible. (Large

files may be split as a matter of convenience

or diskette size limitation). The file should be

named: ‘‘TFMMDDYY.ASC’’ where ‘‘TF’’

stands for ‘‘Tariff Filing’’, and ‘‘MMDDYY’’ is

the two digit month, day, and year the tariff

filing is submitted. If more than one tariff

filing is made on the same day, the

subsequent filings should be given file names

‘‘TFMMDDYY.BSC’’, ‘‘TFMMDDYY.CSC’’,

etc., where ‘‘BSC’’ indicates the second filing

of the day, ‘‘CSC’’ the third filing, etc. The

file name for each submission should be

included in the transmittal letter

accompanying the respondent’s filing.

(4) Each logical record must be terminated

by a CR (ASCII carriage return—13 decimal,

OD hexadecimal). An ASCII line feed (LF)

following a CR is accepted but not required

as part of termination. Do Not pad the end

of data records with spaces.

(5) Do not omit any numeric item. Numeric

items do not require leading zeros unless

specifically noted in the description of the

data item. See the General Instructions of this

form for detailed instructions for recording

numeric data on the diskette(s).

(6) When refiling a diskette only to correct

an electronic data error on the electronic

version of a tariff sheet and not in the paper

version, use the same file name, pagination

and submittal date.

(7) Each diskette must state on the label

that tariff sheets are enclosed. If more than

one diskette is necessary to accommodate a

filing, the diskettes should be numbered 1 of

N, 2 of N, etc., where N is the total number

of diskettes.

Exhibit B—Tariff Sheet Pagination

Guidelines

Section 154.102(d)(2) of the Commission’s

regulations requires companies to number

their tariff sheets as provided below.

(1) Original Sheets. Paginate a sheet as

‘‘Original Sheet No. lll’’ when the sheet

number has not been used previously in the

tariff volume. When filing an entire original

or revised tariff volume, all sheets should be

paginated as ‘‘Original Sheet No. lll’’

unless the sheet falls within the exception

under Guideline (11).

(2) Revised Sheets. Designate a sheet as

‘‘Revised’’ if it is (a) filed in a different

proceeding than the sheet it is superseding or

(b) filed in the same proceeding but given a

new proposed effective date. Each

subsequent ‘‘Revised’’ pagination should be

numbered sequentially. (See Examples 1 and

2.)

(3) Substitute Sheets. Designate a sheet as

‘‘Substitute lll Revised Sheet No. lll’’

if it is filed to replace a sheet filed in the

same proceeding with the same effective

date. If a substitute sheet needs to be

replaced, paginate the new sheet as ‘‘Second

Substitute,’’ and so on. (See Example 1.)

(4) Superseded Sheets. Designate as the

superseded sheet the most recent sheet filed

in a different proceeding effective or

proposed to be effective on the same day or

on a day prior to the new sheet. This means

when filing a substitute sheet the designated

superseded sheet stays the same. Provided

that the sheet does not fall under the

exception in guideline (9). Never designate a

rejected or suspended sheet as the

superseded sheet. However, if a sheet

designated as superseded is subsequently

rejected, it is not necessary to refile solely to

correct the superseded sheet designation.

(See Example 1.)

(5) Rejected Sheets. If a sheet is rejected by

order of the Commission, do not reuse the

pagination of the rejected sheets. Designate a

sheet ‘‘Substitute’’ if it is filed to replace a

rejected sheet in the same proceeding, but do

not designate a rejected sheet as the

superseded sheet. Refer to Guidelines (3) and

(4).

(6) Alternate Sheets. When filing two

versions of a proposed tariff sheet, designate

the sheets ‘‘lll Revised Sheet No. lll’’

and ‘‘Alternate lll Revised Sheet No.

lll.’’ Paginate a replacement alternate

sheet ‘‘Sub Alternate.’’

(7) Inserted Sheets. Designate sheets

inserted between two consecutively

numbered sheets using an uppercase letter

following the first sheet number (e.g., sheets

inserted between sheets 8 and 9 would be

8A, 8B, etc.). For sheets inserted between two

consecutively lettered sheets, add a ‘‘.’’

followed by a two digit number (e.g., sheets

inserted between sheets 8A and 8B would be

8A.01 through 8A.99). For further insertions,

add a lowercase letter (e.g., between sheets

8A.01 and 8A.02 would be 8A.01a, 8A.01b,

etc.).

(8) Pre-dated Sheets. When a sheet is filed

with a proposed effective date which predates the effective date of a suspended or

effective sheet with the same number filed in

a different proceeding, designate the new

sheet ‘‘lll Rev lll Revised Sheet No.

lll’’ where the second and third blanks

are numbered the same as the sheet with the

later effective date and the first blank

contains ‘‘1st,’’ ‘‘2nd,’’ etc. Commonly, this

situation occurs when a sheet is suspended

for five months and subsequent sheets need

to be made effective prior to the date the

suspended sheet becomes effective. (See

Example 3.) Note: When using the ‘‘1st Rev’’

pagination, drop extraneous words if the

superseded sheet provides the same

information. (See Example 4.)

(9) Retroactive Sheets. When filing a

retroactive change back to a certain date, all

sheets which are or were in effect from that

date forward need to be changed. The first

sheet should be designated either as

‘‘Substitute’’ in accordance with Guideline

(3) above or ‘‘lll Rev’’ in accordance with

Guideline (8), depending on whether the

retroactive filing is in the same docket as or

a different docket from the sheet being

replaced. The rest of the sheets should be

designated as a ‘‘Substitute’’ of each sheet

already on file. For the first new sheet in the

series of sheets, the superseded sheet shall be

designated in accordance with Guideline (4)

above. However, the remainder of the sheets

in the series should supersede each other in

order, even though they are all filed in the

same docket. In this way, the ‘‘superseded’’

designation will reflect the last sheet in effect

on each given effective date. (See Examples

5 and 6.)

(10) Canceled Sheets. When filing to cancel

a rate schedule, file one sheet with a new
3140 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules

revision number and the sheet number of the

first canceled sheet. Designate as superseded

‘‘Sheet Nos. lll–lll’’ where the blanks

refer to the first and last canceled sheet

numbers in a series. The specific pagination

of each individual canceled sheet should be

included in the body of the tariff sheet. When

using the formerly canceled sheet numbers,

refer to the pagination of the sheets listed in

the body of the canceling sheet, and paginate

each sheet with the next higher revision

number. See Example 8.

(11) Sheets Reserved For Future Use. When

reserving a number of sheets for future use,

file one sheet paginated ‘‘Sheet Nos. lll–

lll’’, where the blanks refer to the first

and last reserved sheet numbers in series. In

the body of the sheet state ‘‘Reserved for

Future Use.’’ (See Example 9.) Note: in the

electronic tariff sheet records, report the first

sheet number in the series in the ‘‘Sheet No.’’

field and the full pagination in the ‘‘Sheet

ID’’ field.

(12) Abbreviations. Pagination cannot

exceed 40 characters. Abbreviate from left to

right using the Abbreviation Conventions List

in Exhibit C. Abbreviate only as needed to

reduce the pagination to 40 characters or less.

(See Example 7.) Electronic and paper

versions of a tariff sheet must be paginated

exactly alike, including abbreviations.

Example 1

‘‘Original Sheet No. 4’’ is filed in Docket No. CP94–44–000 to be effective January 1, 1994. Subsequently, a sheet filed in Docket

RP94–1–000 is to be effective February 1, 1994. Paginate that sheet ‘‘First Revised Sheet No. 4 superseding Original Sheet No. 4.’’

A mistake is discovered and a corrected sheet needs to be filed in Docket No. RP94–1–001. Paginate that sheet ‘‘Substitute First

Revised Sheet No. 4 superseding Original Sheet No. 4.’’ Note the superseded sheet is from the prior proceeding.

Docket Filed Effective Pagination Superseded

sheet

CP94–44–000 ......................................................................................... 11/30/93 1/1/94 Original.

RP94–1–000 ........................................................................................... 12/31/93 2/1/94 First Revised ..................... Original.

RP94–1–001 ........................................................................................... 2/15/94 2/1/94 Sub First Revised ............. Original.

Example 2

‘‘Second Revised Sheet No. 4’’ is filed in Docket No. TM94–1–77–000 to be effective April 1, 1994. Subsequently, a sheet is

filed in Docket No. RS94–1–50–000 to be effective on the same date. Paginate that sheet with the next revision number, ‘‘Third

Revised Sheet No. 4’’ even though it is to be effective on the same date.

Docket Filed Effective Pagination Superseded sheet

TM94–1–77–000 ............................................................... 2/28/94 4/1/94 Second Revised ................ Sub First Revised.

RS94–1–50–000 ............................................................... 3/31/94 4/1/94 Third Revised .................... Second Revised.

Example No. 3

‘‘Fourth Revised Sheet No. 4’’ is filed July 31, 1994, in Docket No. RP94–134–000 to be effective September 1, 1994. An order

suspends this sheet until February 1, 1995. Subsequently two filings are to be made effective prior to February 1, 1995. Paginate

these sheets as ‘‘1st Rev Third Revised Sheet No. 4’’ and ‘‘2nd Rev Third Revised Sheet No. 4.’’ When filing to move the suspended

tariff sheet into effect, paginate the revised tariff sheet as ‘‘Sub Fourth Revised Sheet No. 4’’. Note: using the alpha-numeric ‘‘1st,

2nd’’ for the additional revision number assists in keeping the pagination clear.

Docket Filed Effective Pagination Superseded

sheet

RP94–134–000 ................................................................................. 7/31/94 2/1/95 Fourth Revised ................. Third Revised.

TM94–2–77–000 ............................................................................... 8/31/94 10/1/94 1st Rev Third Revised ...... Third Revised.

TM94–3–77–000 ............................................................................... 10/31/94 11/1/94 2nd Rev Third ................... 1st Rev Third.

RP94–134–001 ................................................................................. 1/31/95 2/1/95 Sub Fourth Revised .......... 2nd Rev Third.

Example 4

When needing to insert a sheet between ‘‘Third Revised’’ and ‘‘Sub Alt Second Revised’’ with the designation 1st Rev Sub Alt

Second Revised, paginate the new sheet ‘‘1st Rev Second Revised’’ (dropping ‘‘Sub Alt’’ from the name), and designate the superseded

sheet ‘‘Sub Alt Second Revised.’’ In the alternative, the abbreviations in Exhibit C may be used.

Example No. 5

The sheet given in Example No. 1, ‘‘Sub First Revised Sheet No. 4’’ filed in Docket No. RP94–1–001 is in effect February 1,

1994, subject to the resolution of issues. A year later, settlement is reached resulting in a restatement of base rates back to that

date. The revised sheets filed under Docket No. RP94–1–002 (using prior examples):

Docket Filed Effective Pagination Superseded

sheet

RP94–1–002 ............................................................................... 4/15/95 2/1/94 2nd Sub First Revised ............ Original.

4/1/94 Sub Second Revised .............. 2nd Sub First.

4/1/94 Sub Third Revised .................. Sub Second.

10/1/94 Sub 1st Rev Third Revised ..... Sub Third.

11/1/94 Sub 2nd Rev Third .................. 1st Rev Third.

2/1/95 2nd Sub Fourth Revised ......... 2nd Rev Third.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 9 / Friday, January 13, 1995 / Proposed Rules 3141

1Section 8 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA), 15

U.S.C. 717g (1988), authorizes the Commission to

prescribe rules and regulations concerning

accounts, records and memoranda as necessary or

appropriate for purposes of administering the NGA.

The Commission may prescribe a system of

accounts for jurisdictional companies and, after

notice and opportunity for hearing, may determine

the accounts in which particular outlays and

receipts will be entered, charged, or credited.

2Section 10 of the NGA, 15 U.S.C. 717i (1988),

authorizes the Commission to prescribe rules and

regulations concerning annual and other periodic or

special reports, as necessary or appropriate for

purposes of administering the NGA. The

Commission may prescribe the manner and form in

which such reports are to be made, and require

from natural gas companies specific answers to all

questions on which the Commission may need

information. The reports must be made under oath

unless the Commission otherwise specifies.

3The Commission proposes to amend Account

117, Account 164.1, and other accounts that refer

to Account 117.

4The Commission proposes to amend Account

489 and Account 495.

5The Commission proposes to amend Account

806.

Example No. 6

Continuing from Example 5, a subsequent tracker filing retroactive to November 1, 1994:

Docket Filed Effective Pagination Superseded sheet

TM96–1–77–000 ................................................................ 4/30/95 11/1/94 3rd Rev Third Revised ............ Sub 2nd Rev Third.

2/1/95 3rd Sub Fourth Revised .......... 3rd Rev Third.

Example No. 7

Abbreviate ‘‘Fourth Revised Twenty-Third

Revised Sheet No. 4’’ as ‘‘4th Rev TwentyThird Revised Sheet No. 4.’’

Example No. 8

To cancel Rate Schedule X–26 which

consists of Original Sheet No. 10, First

Revised Sheet Nos. 11 through 36, Substitute

First Revised Sheet No. 37, and Second

Revised Sheet Nos. 38 and 39, file ‘‘First

Revised Sheet No. 10:’’

My Pipeline Company

FERC Gas Tariff

Original Volume No. 1

First Revised Sheet No. 10 Superseding

Sheet Nos. 10 Through 39

Notice of Cancellation

Rate Schedule X–26

Exchange Agreement with YOUR Pipeline

Company

Dated January 1, 1980

The following tariff sheets have been

superseded:

Original Sheet No. 10

First Revised Sheet Nos. 11 through 36

Substitute First Revised Sheet No. 37

Second Revised Sheet Nos. 38 and 39

Example No. 9

Your general terms and conditions end on

page 75 and you want to reserve sheets 76

through 99 for future use:

My Pipeline Company

FERC Gas Tariff

Original Volume No. 1

Sheet Nos. 76 through 99

Sheet Nos. 76 through 99 are reserved for

future use.

Exhibit C—Abbreviation Conventions List

Substitute: Sub

Alternate: Alt

Revised: /

First, Second, etc.: 1st, 2nd, etc.

Sheet No.: (omit these words)

[FR Doc. 95–654 Filed 1–12–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

18 CFR Parts 158, 201, 250, 260, and

284

[Docket No. RM95–4–000]

Revisions to Uniform System of

Accounts, Forms, Statements, and

Reporting Requirements for Natural

Gas Companies; Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking

December 16, 1994.

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

SUMMARY: The Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission is proposing to

amend its Uniform System of Accounts,

its forms, and its reports and statements

for natural gas companies. The proposed

revisions reflect the current regulatory

environment of unbundled pipeline

sales for resale at market-based prices

and open-access transportation of

natural gas. The Commission seeks to

simplify and streamline its requirements

to reduce the burden of respondents.

DATES: Comments are due no later than

April 13, 1995.

ADDRESSES: An original and 14 copies of

written comments must be filed. All

filings should refer to Docket No.

RM95–4–000 and should be addressed

to Office of the Secretary, Federal

Energy Regulatory Commission, 825

North Capitol Street, NE., Washington,

DC 20426.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jeffrey A. Braunstein, Office of the

General Counsel, Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, 825 North

Capitol Street, NE., Washington, DC

20426, (202) 208–2114.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In

addition to publishing the full text of

this document, excluding Appendices A

(FERC Form No. 2), B (FERC Form No.

2–A), and C (FERC Form No. 11), in the

Federal Register, the Commission also

provides all interested persons an

opportunity to inspect or copy the

contents of this document during

normal business hours in Room 3104,

941 North Capitol Street, NE.,

Washington, DC 20426.

The Commission Issuance Posting

System (CIPS), an electronic bulletin

board service, provides access to the

texts of formal documents issued by the

Commission. CIPS is available at no

charge to the user and may be accessed

using a personal computer with a

modem by dialing (202) 208–1397. To

access CIPS, set your communications

software to 19200, 14400, 12000, 9600,

7200, 4800, 2400, 1200 or 300 bps, full

duplex, no parity, 8 data bits and 1 stop

bit. The full text of this document will

be available on CIPS for 60 days from

the date of issuance in ASCII and

WordPerfect 5.1 format. After 60 days

the document will be archived, but still

accessible. The complete text on

diskette in Wordperfect format may also

be purchased from the Commission’s

copy contractor, La Dorn Systems

Corporation, also located in Room 3104,

941 North Capitol Street, NE.,

Washington, DC 20426.

I. Introduction

The Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission (Commission) proposes to

amend its Uniform System of

Accounts,1 its forms, and its reports and

statements for natural gas companies.2

This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

(NOPR) is a companion to the

Commission’s Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking ‘‘Filing Requirements for

Interstate Natural Gas Company Rate

Schedules and Tariffs’’, which proposes

to amend Part 154 of the Commission’s

regulations and is issued

contemporaneously with this NOPR. In

brief, the Commission proposes, in this

NOPR, changes to the Uniform System

of Accounts’ treatment of gas stored

underground,3 revenues,4 gas supply

expenses,5 and to eliminate all accounts

for Nonmajor respondents and to

redesignate accounts used only by Major

respondents for use by all respondents.

The Commission also proposes to

change or eliminate various forms,

reports, and statements. This includes

changes to, and deletions from, FERC

Form No. 2 (Form No. 2), Annual report